“Xole! Hey, Xole, wake up man!”

  Xole stirred, groggy and sluggish. His eyes opened to see his best friend, Gus Amesworth, giving him a confused look from across the lunch table. Xole sat up quickly realizing they were back in the school cafeteria towards the end of lunchtime. He could vaguely remember being scolded by his teacher for something. Gus made some sort of joke, which was probably the reason they were late to lunch.

  Gus adjusted the top of his gray hair, making sure it didn’t get in the way of his black sunglasses. “I know Mr. Lester’s speech was boring as hell but at least try to stay awake when it’s important.” He yawned, stretching his arms back.

  “Says the guy who’s been half sleep all week,” Xole replied shaking his head “Besides, it’s not my fault we’re forced to say the pledge every time we’re late. Why is that even a thing?”

  “Beats me,” Gus shrugged digging into his bag. He slid something across the white table to him. It was a purple aluminum can. “Anyways, that’s not important this is. Happy Birthday, buddy!”

  Xole stared in awe. Cherry grape, his favorite.

  “My guy!” Xole said taking it and snapping the top open. He took a moment to enjoy the sweet scent that filled his nostrils before chugging it.

  “I’m pretty sure the can’s not going anywhere…” Gus said sipping on a concealed bottle wrapped by a brown lunch bag. He was always disturbed whenever Xole did this. “Slow down there’s plenty more where that came from. Remember, this is a double special occasion in case you haven’t noticed!”

  Xole slammed the empty can on the table, throwing his fist to his mouth with a belch. “Oh right. It is today.”

  Gus was already disgusted. Now he scowled “Eh? What do you mean ‘oh right’?”

  “Hahaha! Relax, of course I remembered your birthday.” Xole laughed. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a yellow plastic bag with a ribbon on it. He slid it across the table, “Go ahead. Take your time.”

  “You’re actually hilarious ya ’know.” Gus said as he began to undo the tight knot before giving up and tearing the side open and peering into the small cardboard box inside. He took one look and his eyes lit up.

  “Dude, no way…” He reached in and pulled out a small hamster no larger than the size of his palm.

  “It’s the Chinese version.” Xole said confidently before realizing how awkward it sounded, “Or whatever that means…God, that sounds so wron—”

  Gus just leaned across the table and gave his friend a big hug.

  “Even though my dad hate these things you still went out of your way…I love you, brother, you know that right?”

  “Hey it’s alright, man.” Xole said. He thought to himself, ‘You could always afford anything down to the nicest clothes which I envied you for. Yet this was the one thing you always wanted but could never have; something to care for, especially being an only child.’

  “Afternoon fellas. Oh well, well, what do we have here?”

  The two spun over their shoulders instinctively at the all too familiar voice of the vice principal, Winston. The older man huffed down at the two, glasses on the bridge of his nose. He gave the usual ‘I don’t like you’ stare to which neither Xole nor Gus were surprised.

  “Alcohol and soda on school grounds? I’m sure the principal will absolutely love to hear about this!” he spoke, nose turned up with the upmost authority.

  Gus yawned again. “Let me guess you’ll get a swell raise for reporting us won’t you?”

  “Well I’m not saying I won’t. I’m merely just doing my job—”

  “Or…” Gus pulled out a wad of cash waving it to the man’s face. “I can give you double and you can shut up about seeing any of this.”

  The man’s eyes widened, licking his lips and ignoring the glances of nearby students, he snatched the money and stuffed it in his pocket. “You’re just going to assume I still won’t turn you in?” he asked.

  “Nope!” Gus leaned back, folding his arms behind his head. “I’m just trying to be nice here ‘ya know. I could just tell my father about why I was expelled from school or we could just put this behind us. Your call dude.”

  Now the teacher looked up and down the two. Xole could only shrug. Finally, he pivoted around and sped walked off into the opposite direction.

  “Anyways, we gotta bounce!” Gus slammed his hands to the table and placed the hamster back in the box. “Grab your stuff, I’ll drop you off at home and have your girlfriend bring you to my place in an hour. You just earned a V.I.P spot to my—no our quincea?era, my friend!” He said, beaming with excitement.

  “That’s something entirely different. Besides you’re turning eighteen, not fifteen—a-and did you just call my babysitter my GIRLFRIEND?” Xole said, grabbing his backpack and following Gus to the door to the outside eating area. The usual rowdiness of the other students quickly fell to a hush. Gus’s reputation, being the richest kid in school often earned him the respect or ire of their fellow classmen despite many of them being rich themselves.

  “Don’t you love being the center of attention?” Gus asked with a smirk, “’Wonder what I did this time?”

  “Gee, let me think,” Xole placed his thumb to his chin, “bribing the teacher today brining us to a total of six times this week, making fun of the pledge without being fined and sent home, counting money, not to mention you do this stuff in public—”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Ha! That’s what I call a resume!”

  “Focus, Gus, I’m actually being serious here,” Xole said to his friend, ushering him pass the scow faced students into the parking lot. “All this never creeps you out? C’mon it’s like they’re planning your demise.”

  “They’re looking at you too,” Gus yawned, whipping out his phone. “I take it in stride. You should too. I personally love the attention.”

  They reached the end of the parking where a sleek black Ferrari pulled up to the two. A blue suited man wearing a conductor style hat with white gloves stepped out and presented the keys to Gus with a bow.

  “Your vehicle, young master Amesworth Sir.” he presented as if he rehearsed it for years.

  “Thanks, Mr. Blue Collar dude, and remember its GUS. Sounds less weird, alright?”

  “I’ll bear it in mind, young master Gus Sir.” the man replied with a smile. He went across the street and got into a rusted classic style Volkswagen beetle. Black smoke trailed from the back as it drove away leaving Xole mildly confused as the two climbed inside the car.

  “Hey, Gus about that guy—”

  “YO my dad just texted me! Says he’s got something HUGE planned for the party! You think he’ll finally take some time off work to wish his boy the best?”

  “Well considering he’s the CEO and the owner, I don’t see why he’d neglect a day like this. Not like it happened the last time.” Xole said muttering the last part under his breath. As long as he could remember Gus’s father always missed his son’s birthdays, leaving his mother to set up all the arrangements. That changed the day she passed away, from then on it was up to Xole to be the best surrogate brother he could be.

  “Enough dude, alright? You know my dad’s a busy guy. Between juggling the company, responsibilities…look being rich isn’t as easy as it seems man.”

  Xole scoffed under his breath as they both got into the car. Gus suddenly turned to him.

  “You think dad will be mad if he sees me with the hamst—”

  “Gus, my guy, it’s your quincea?era, remember?” Xole replied, “Maybe you should worry less about what father dearest thinks, and more about how soon you think you can get me home.”

  Gus smirked and revved the engine. The car violently shook, jolting forward. A blaring roar rang throughout the area so loud several teachers began to come outside to see what all the noise was about.

  “How soon do you need to be home?” Gus’s cocky words sounded like more of a warning for some reason…

  __________________________________________________________________

  “Who the hell’s Gus?” Mr. Holdover asked crouching on a chair, closely watching the boy’s unconscious body lay on his desk. He ended up sweeping it clear to make room.

  “It’s a good thing the feds already raided this place,” Shakar said cheerfully, coming in from the back with a cup of instant ramen. The parlor was clearly run through. However, it wasn’t difficult to kick any of the excess debris from the search outside while using whatever glue or tape lying around to board back the windows. They ultimately decided to lay low there until the feds came back around.

  “Not that there was much of value to take anyways,” he added before eating. “This stuff is pretty awful, by the way.”

  “Cause it’s expired, dumbass,” Mr. Holdover said while keeping his gaze on the kid. Now that they were in the light he got a better look at him. His clothes were soiled with blood and grime from his hoodie and t-shirt, to his gray sweatpants and white sneakers. His face was definitely on the younger side without a lick of facial hair. He guessed the boy had to at least have been in high school. Still, something wasn’t right; the gun-shot to the chest alone should’ve killed him, not to mention the forty story fall.

  ‘Maybe he manifested Bodily Talent,’ He thought to himself, ‘No that can’t be right, the bullet went straight through his chest. Reinforcement? No, I’m not seeing anything so show for it.’ He paused, finger under his chin, ‘Now that I think about it, I suppose given his age, could mean—’

  “You really don’t have anything to eat don’t you?” Shakar said looking through the drawers in the back. “Seriously what are you going to feed our guest if he wakes up?”

  “When he wakes up—wait, wait, WHAT THE HELL? DON’T TOUCH THAT!!” Mr. Holdover snapped to a now frightened Shakar. His gaze was fixed on him, as if he was frozen.

  “Heh serves you right.” Mr. Holdover chuckled to himself, “For once you actually—”

  “Sir…behind you,” He said and pointed, his voice devoid of any cockiness.

  “Heh?” The older man turned to see the boy now sitting up staring him face to face. The whole room was still for what seemed to be an eternity. The kid’s eyes slowly went from messy haired man, to the younger one in the kufi mid slurp. His eyes then shot to the dingy stained walls, dimly lit single room ceiling light bulb, and finally to the boarded up windows and door.

  Mr. Holdover scratched his head. “Kid look, I don’t know how to explain this but—”

  “HHHEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLPPPP!!!!” He screamed, jumping to his feet “SOMEONE, ANYONE? HELP ME I’M BEING KIDNAPPED!!”

  “Hey! Calm down all right—”

  “GET AWAY!” The boy yelled kicking Mr. Holdover in the face casing him to fall out of his chair in a sequence Shakar had never seen occur so fact. The boy ran to the left towards door on the other side of the room and began to pull the boards.

  “You might want to try the back,” Shakar said blowing on his noodles.

  The kid turned, his terrified expression now turned to an excited smile.

  “Really, SERIOUSLY!?” He asked.

  “SHAKAR!” Mr. Holdover yelled getting up.

  The boy witnessed that and ran towards the back.

  “FREEDOM HAHA!! PEACE OUT SUCKAS!”

  The older man grabbed Shakar by the collar of his Dashiki slamming him against the wall.

  “THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” he boomed.

  “Relax. It’s fine because we don’t have a back door,” Shakar said as if he were stating the obvious.

  Mr. Holdover tilted his head down towards him casting a dark shadow over his face, so dark his eyes almost seemed to glow as he spoke in a pitch he’s never heard before.

  “We. Do.”

  Silence.

  “…..Oh,” Shakar paused for moment before sipping his expired noodles. “I’ll keep that in mind after I buy this place.”

  The full yellow moon illuminated the ground as Xole’s feet splashed through the alleyway. He could hear passing sirens screeching just ahead of him. His head ached and the rain continued to pour. He tried to shake his vision clear as he ran.

  ‘The hell is going on? The last thing I remember is talking to Gus at the lunch table—wait the lunchroom, the hamster! Oh no I’m missing the quincea?era!’

  He grimaced through the pain and ran faster towards the police sirens across the street from the alleyway as a goofy grin spread across his hit face.

  “Free at last, free at last!” he said to himself, “Thank God almighty I am free at—!”

  CRACK!!!

  Xole woke up to even more pain than before, as if a brick was thrown at his head.

  “Oww,” He moaned, gazing around the room. He was back in the same room but now on the floor. He was tied up in what appeared to be a telephone cord with his back against the wall. He gasped as he saw to his right the kufi wearing man, folded on the floor with a large red mark on the side of his head, which was face-down and surrounded by his beads and noodles in a dark puddle, creating a stench that made his eyes burn.

  “K-kufi…guy?” he stammered.

  “Kufi guy can’t help you anymore.” An emotionless voice answered.

  Xole turned to see the same messy haired man crouching about a foot away from him. Xole couldn’t believe it; he was actually going to die.

  “Now,” The man said reaching behind him, “Let’s try this again…”