Clyde

The World Of Hurt

Eight months.

Later today, Phil is sending out Winston, James and I to go scout the area around the rival camp. Phil seems real eager about this. He refuses to tell me why, and it seems like Winston knows.

I woke up and made some coffee, then made my way to my private spot. I made a little raft a bit ago that's easy to hide. Now I can actually bring stuff over.

The past couple days have been stressful for me. Winston has been gone the past couple days, so Phil hopes he comes back. I remember being stressed out leading up to the days of my parents death. This isn't gonna be great. I've tried telling Phil, but he won't listen.

I'm just gonna hope it's just anxiety leading up to a big job.

"HEY!".

I looked up from my coffee, James was waving from the shore.

I waved him over.

James took his boat and came over.

"You gotta keep it down. People don't know about this place" I smiled.

"Sorry, I didn't know. I thought Adam knew" He got out of his boat.

"Well nobody else in the camp knows, besides him. So keep it down".

James smiled, "Mornin".

"How're you feeling about today?" I asked.

James shrugged, "I mean, I feel fine. It's not gonna be anything too big for awhile. Just a little scout today".

"You sure Winston won't turn it into something else?" I looked at him.

"You've got a point there, Winston likes to do that".

I nodded.

"Why?" James asked, "Are you anxious about it?".

"No, not really. Who doesn't have anxiety?".

"Makes sense" James sat down in the dirt.

"You ever just feel like something bad is gonna happen? Like you just have a gut feeling?" I asked.

James thought for a moment, "Sure, why?".

"Well, I don't know. Before the ambush and my parents death, I had this weird feeling in my stomach that something was gonna happen. I've had that for the past couple days. I don't know if it's even related to this".

"Talked to Phil?"

"Haven't got a chance. Plus, I don't wanna worry him or anything. Gonna just be anxiety and then he misses out on his golden opportunity to get revenge for his mysterious event" I laughed a little.

"You wanna know what happened?".

I was surprised, "You know?".

"Well no," James smiled, "But it's fun to make stories up."

"Go for it".

James thought for a second, "So the guy, Daniel. The leader of the gang is the same age as Phil, right?".

"Right".

"When they were kids they lived in the same little part of town. The poor part. This scrawny little kid came up to Phil and stole his crackers, and ate them. Right in front of his fucking face. Like full on shoved them into his mouth, made aggressive eating noises, and had most of it falling onto the ground. He ran off and was never to be seen again. Until they started rival gangs and fought each other every step of the way" James smirked.

I laughed, "Good one".

"Your turn Clyde, what happened to good ole Phil".

"Kid, Daniel right?".