Page 18 (1/2)

part one

BEFORE

When he was little, the boy used to drearow up to be

Maybe a policeman, or a teacher Mummy’s friend Vance read books for a job, and that seemed fun But the boy wasn’t sure of his own capabilities—he had no talents He couldn’t sing like the kid in his class Joss; he couldn’t add and subtract long nuela; he could barely speak in front of his class he liked to do was read page after page of his books He waited for Vance to bring them by: one a week, sometimes more, sometimes less There were periods when thethe saes of his favorites But he learned to trust that the kind rew taller, grew smarter, an inch and a new book every teeks, it seemed

His parents were changing with the seasons His dad grew louder, sloppier, and his ht, louder and louder The san to fill the walls of the s the sink was the smell of scotch on his dad’s breath As the et what his dad looked like altogether

Vance came around ed in the night He had made friends at this point Well, one friend The friend moved away, and he himself never bothered to make new friends He felt like he didn’t need the alone

Thedeep within the boy What he saw happen to his rier as his dad beca into the sone, and the boy was relieved No more scotch, nohe left behind was a boy without a dad and a living rooarettes

The boy hated the taste the cigarettes left, but loved the way the s his breath He found hiht roup of rebels and delinquents who caused an to stay out late, and the little white lies and har intodarker, so—the deepest level of wrong—but they thought they were just having fun They were entitled and couldn’t deny the adrenaline rush that came with the power they felt After each innocence they stole, their veins pulsed with er, fewer boundaries

This boy was the softest one still a them, but he had lost the conscience that oncea fire wasn’t typical He craved their touch, but shielded hiainst any type of emotional connection This included hiseven a simple “I love you” He barely saw her anyway He spent al the streets, and the house ca to hies occasionally arrived An address froton state was scribbled under Vance’s naes

Vance had left him, too

Girls paid attention to the boy They latched on to hi crescents into his arms as he lied to theirls would try to wrap their ar no kisses or soft caresses to their skin Most of the tiht their breath He spent his days high, his nights higher Hanging out in the alley behind the liquor store or in Mark’s dad’s shop, wasting life away Breaking into liquor stores, irls He had ceased being able to feel any kind of eer