A Rainbow in Your Eyes

Chapter 2

Surprised by his luck, Brian glanced down at the last remnants of the sandwich in his hand before looking at where the little girl had disappeared. He had found this spot a few weeks ago when he had run away from his brother’s gang who had wanted him to use a gun and hold up a shop owner with them. Since then, Gus and he had been eating what they could find from trash cans and what else. This had been the first fresh meal he had had in ages.

Then guilt overtook him as he thought of Gus still being hungry, but it was quickly replaced by rainbow-colored eyes in a too white little face and small, thin little hands thrusting the bread at him. Tomorrow, yes, tomorrow he will keep some leftovers for Gus.

When the first drops started falling, he crawled out of his space and took down the street. He and Gus had found an empty house on the plot a couple of streets away where they hid and stayed dry. If he stayed too long, Gus would get worried and start looking for him. He didn’t want his friend to get mixed up with Justin’s gang. Gus and him, they looked out for one another. If he hurried, he shouldn’t be too wet when he got to that side, the only problem was getting through a part of Justin’s territory to get there.

As he licked off the last crumbs of bread from his fingertips, he found himself smiling. For the first time in a long time, he felt excited about the coming of the next day.

Suddenly, a rough hand pulled him to a stop. “Well, well. What have we got here?”

“If it isn’t the one Justin’s been a searching for!” Another voice sounded up.

Struggling, Brian tried to get lose from the hand that gripped him so tight. His too thin frame was no match to the bouncers his brother had on hire. His struggles instead made the ruffians laugh as they started hauling him off down a side street.

Damnit, he cursed himself. He shouldn’t have been daydreaming like that. He should have paid more attention. He grew up with Dumisani and Bashir working with Justin to petrify everyone. When Justin was the gang leader, the two resented him, so they always found new ways to torture and take out their frustrations on Brian instead. Being caught by them, there were few things worse for him.

“Help!” He struggled some more but got a backhanded cuff for his troubles instead.

“Shut him up before he attracts too much attention.” Bashir looked around as some of the last street stragglers turned around to look at them. It was the only opening he needed, having the two distracted while trying to act like everything was normal. Twisting, he spun himself out of the jacket he had on and even as the two made a grab for him, he was off running.

He knew he was faster than them. He had always liked to run, especially long distances, so he put in a burst of speed at first to get away, but then slowed a little when he knew he had put enough distance between them, quickly falling into an easy rhythm. When he had still been able to attend school, before the drunk killed his mother when she demanded payment for her services, he had run for his school team and knew how to regulate his breathing.

If only Justin had been there that night! But instead, he had been off with Dumisani and Bashir doing drugs and all other kinds of things with their gang. And he had been running from Justin’s gang since then.

After some time, the cold got to him. Soaked to the bone as he had run all kinds of criss-crosses to get the bashers of his trail. Slowing down, he ducked behind a trash can in a darkened area. The sun was setting fast, and he still hadn’t been able to go home. He didn’t want to lead the gang to their only refuge. Slowly he started counting, ticking the minutes to make sure he wasn’t being followed any longer. After approximately 30 minutes, he finally set of towards the place he could currently call him, his stomach announcing that the sandwich of that afternoon was long gone, and with all the running, he needed more energy.

His elation long gone, he trudged despondently through the rain and mud, trying to recall what had actually made him so happy that afternoon.

“Hey you! Where ya been?!” The voice of his friend called him from his thoughts.

“Here and there. Looking for food. Then Justin and his gang chased me for a bit but here I am.” Shrugging nonchalantly, he looked away, feeling the guilt again from eating when his friend would probably go hungry.

“Well, I’ve got some great news!” The thicker, bigger friend of his, announced. Where Brian was lanky and fast, Gus was the opposite; short and stocky, he could punch hard enough to even scare Bashir and Dumisani. The two of them had become fast friend when, in first grade, Bashir had tried to drop Gus into a toilet and the smaller Brian had hit him over the head with a stick. Since then, the faster and more brainy Brian had kept them out of trouble more times than not and Gus swore loyalty to only him.

“Yes?” Brian looked at his friend questioningly.

“Well, I was like in the RICH neighborhood and there was this one couple. They were fighting about a girl or some sort of thing. And then before I knew it, the lady threw this cake in a trash can, Dude! Right there on the sidewalk!”

“Yes, so?” Brian wasn’t in the mood for his friend’s excitement.

“Well, what do you think, man! I took it a’course! Man and it's SUPER nice! Come on, let me show ya!”

Following after Gus, Brian threw a last look in the dark to the street. Suddenly he was much less certain that the girl would keep her word and be at the fence the next day.

Inside the makeshift shelter of the fallen-down house, he took off his clothes to dry before he finally let his excitement take over when he looked at the smashed and kind of destroyed cake. Food was food, and a man must eat. But when, later, he closed his eyes lying on the cold stone floor, the last thing he saw was rainbow eyes earnestly promising him to return.