Chapter 1

The car passed me quickly, kicking up water and soaking me through. I hugged the many-sizes-too-big jacket around me. I had one arm in a sleeve and the other inside the jacket, holding my jar of pennies. I trudged through the sopping wet sidewalk until I came to an alley way. I turned into it and continued walking until I found a nice pile of reasonably dry trash. I huddled myself down into the smelly garbage, after scaring away the rats that had made it their home.

I fell asleep there for a few hours, until it began raining again. Rising stiffly, I began to walk back to the streets. As I stepped out of the alley, I collided with someone who had been walking down the sidewalk. I stumbled and fell, dropping the jar. I heard it shatter, and knew that the contents were lost now.

"I'm so sorry," I said as I held my hand out to the woman I had bumped into, not actually looking at her.

"Ryu? Ryu Achlys?" Her voice was soft, not angry but confused.

"Miss, I haven’t gone by that name for a long time," I said, turning to her. She was a tall, pale skinned girl with raven black hair. Her eyes were brown and moist, as if she either were about to or just got done crying.

"Ryu, you probably don't remember me. We went to school together before you vanished. My name is Amaya Dunn; we had homeroom together every year." Memory of my old life flooded back to me. Memory from a long time ago. Amaya used to sit right next to me every year; she was the only person who ever talked to me.

"I remember you, Amaya. You were so nice to me back then. But, that must've been at least three years. I'm shocked you recognized me."

"It's impossible to mistake that deep a voice, Ryu," she said with a musical laugh. "Where have you been? After what happened to your family's home, everyone was so worried. It’s just awful what happened to your parents and grandparents."

For once, I was glad for the rain. It made it impossible for her to see the feeling in my eyes. "Well, to be honest... I've been living on the streets. I had an apartment, but got evicted."

Amaya gave me a look of horror. "On these streets?! With all those filthy criminals? Well, I can't let you keep living like that. If you have no place else to go, you could stay with me. If you want," Amaya said, looking at my attire. She knew already I had no other option. She grabbed my elbow and started walking down the sidewalk, saying "It’s a very big house. Not as big as your old home, but this place is a very good sized home for the area."

　

　

Amaya led me to a large home. It was an older stone house with three floors and tall, narrow windows. The stone was a grey color, almost black or white in some areas. Black curtains covered every window. Leading up to the door that two people could enter shoulder to shoulder were four wide steps. An oak railing was on either side of the steps.

As she opened the heavy wooden door, a bell rang within the home and voices greeted her from inside. I looked at her, "Is that your family?" I thought it might be unlikely for a seventeen year old to own a home of this size, but in a town like Mas Nova, you never know.

"No, my roommates. We share the house together and split the bills evenly. Come on," she grabbed my arm and pulled me into the small room beyond. My family's home had a room like this; you would take your shoes and jackets off here so you don't drag water or mud through the home. "Ryu, take off that wet jacket. Then I'll bring you in to meet everyone."

Carefully, I peeled the two year old jacket off. I reached into the inner pocket and moved the lighter and butterfly-knife to my jeans when Amaya wasn't looking. I never let them away from me in three years, and I wasn't going to start now.

I followed her to the greeting room beyond this afterwards. Against the left wall was a square staircase leading to the second floor. In front of us was a hallway that led to what looked to be the kitchen. Two doors were on the right wall, a red and a green door.

Voices drifted to my ears from each of the passages. From upstairs, in front of us, and both of the doors. I could distinctly hear five voices; two from upstairs and one from each other way. Five high, strictly feminine voices. All of them coming towards us.

Both of the doors on the right opened, and two girls came out. The one from the red door was a short, petite girl with extremely white skin and hair. She looked at Amaya and through her glasses I could see her pale pink eyes. She wore a simple black t-shirt and black shorts. The girl from the green door was half-Asian, her black hair straight and long. She had a wider frame and build than the other girl; not fat, just stocky. She had a big band t-shirt and skinny jeans on.

From the kitchen area, another girl came. She was African-Indian, taller and broader than me. She had very muscular arms, and I didn't doubt that in a fair fight she could take me. Her sleeveless shirt had red stains that I knew were not ketchup or paint. Matching stains covered her blue jeans.

From upstairs came two girls, twins, followed by a very tall girl with her face in a book. The twins were Caucasian, with red hair and green eyes. They wore blue dresses. The tall girl had her strawberry-blonde hair in a long ponytail tied up with a blue ribbon. Her loose t-shirt drifted behind her as she walked. Somehow she didn't trip over her baggy jeans.

Amaya looked at me and pointed to the albino girl, "That is Tania." She pointed to the Asian girl, "Brooke." Then to the black girl, "Kai." Then Amaya pointed to the trio, "The twins are Emily and Madison. The bookworm is Cassandra.

"Everyone, this is Ryu, a former classmate of mine. He doesn't have a place to stay, so I told him he could stay here. Say hi, everyone," Amaya said.

For three seconds, her words were met by silence. Finally, someone spoke. It was Brooke, "Amaya. You do this all the time; you find someone without a home, and you bring them back here." I noticed how she specifically was ignoring me.

"We can barely feed ourselves, and you bring back another person. What are you thinking?" Kai said, her voice deeper than the other girls.

"Guys it’s not like he's useless. I'm sure he'll help out. He already agreed to help if he could stay on the walk here."

One of the twins, Emily, looked from Amaya to me and back again. She shook her head in disbelief and fled up the stairs.

"Great, now look what you did Amaya," Cassandra said as she turned the page of her book. Amaya chased after Emily and I was left standing with the five girls looking at me, not counting Cassandra, who was still reading her book.

Looking down at the floorboards, I said "I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that others already were staying with Amaya..."

"Its fine. It’s just hard, caring for each other," Tania said. She came over to me, "The empty rooms are upstairs, so you might want to just stay down here for now. You can stay in my room until Emily calms down."

"Tania, are you really that desperate? Every guy you see you start hitting on," Madison said to the albino. "No guy wants to be with you, so just give up already!"

I looked back and forth between the two. I heard a sigh and was pulled through the green door. As it shut I could hear the two girls yelling at each other. I felt the hand release me and heard someone lean against the door. I turned around quickly and in the darkness could make out the outline of Brooke. "I'm sorry," I heard her say.

"For what?"

"For our reactions back there. We're all pretty stressed out. All our money goes into bills, and we're constantly fighting over things. Emily... Emily overreacted back there. And Tania... she's not that bad, just lonely. We've been tense all week, and then Amaya brings you here and says you need to stay; it was the last stray."

"Well... I don't need to stay here."

"No, it's fine. There are empty rooms upstairs. You can have one after everyone calms down. But, if you stay here, you'll need to pull your own weight. Everyone does their part," Brooke clapped her hands and a warm light filled the room. The purple walls were clean and fresh. Neat, organized bookcases lined one wall, flanking a standard size TV stand. A simple box TV sat on it, remote on top of that. A bunk-bed, with a sturdy ladder, in the corner that allowed a small path through the room. Back against this was a tall dresser, a dark brown color. An oriental rug covered the floor, everything on it. Overall, the room was neat and clean. "If you want to, you can sleep in here for the night. You can have the top bunk."

I realized that Brooke must have been the most level headed of the entire group. I smiled and thanked her. She grabbed some clothes out of her dresser and walked out of the room. After she left, I climbed onto the top bunk and pulled the white sheet over me. I heard the door open and Brooke came in wearing pajamas and climbed into her bed. Moving to the far corner of the bed, I fell asleep in the blissfully soft caress of the blankets.

Reviews

[MmeCorpse]

Interesting. I'll definitely keep an eye on it and see where it goes from here. Good start though. Not bad at all. :)

[Raven Starhawk]

A delicate treasure held high above a stream of brilliance. I cannot help but regard this piece with great admiration. Your way with words has me enchanted as well as focused on every well woven detail.