The Uprisen

Chapter 20

For the fifth time this week, Devin eats in a crowded gym on an uncomfortably thin mattress.  All around him, hungry homeless people eat a bowl of chicken noodle soup with the most depressing expressions Devin’s ever seen.  He looks around the gymnasium, which is in the basement of a church, and pities everyone who has to chose between the streets and the homeless shelter, until he realizes that he’s one of them.

“Hey, you gonna eat that?” an older man with a greying beard and long brown hair asks from the bed across from Devin’s.

Devin hands the bowl of cheap soup to the man without looking at him.  “Here you go Fred.”

Fred takes the bowl and eats the soup quickly, as if he weren’t fast enough the food would dissipate.

Devin looks across the gym to the kitchen and watches a man pour soup into bowls.

Air elemental, he thinks.  Been a master for about fifteen years.

“If anyone asks, I’m gonna go for a walk,” Devin announces to Fred.

Fred watches the seventeen year-old stand and grab his jacket and gloves: his only possessions.

“Uh, kid, it’s past curfew.  You can’t leave,” the man says nervously.

Devin regards the man as if he were a lost puppy: weak and scared.  He realizes that he won’t miss this shelter.

“I’m not coming back, Fred.”  Devin tosses the man a gold watch.  “Here.  I stole that from some friends a while back; you look like you could use it more than I could.”

Fred’s eyes light up with excitement as he holds his new treasure.

“Don’t go spending it on the first liquor store you see,” Devin advises.  Without looking back, he walks to the bathroom, and climbs out of the loose window near the ceiling like he has nearly every night this week.  He shuts the window behind him, looks around to make sure no one saw him, and starts walking toward the parking lot behind the church.

Walking down the street late at night in the bad side of St. Louis, Missouri is dangerous.  Most people on the streets this late at night are usually out for three reasons: they’re getting ready to jump someone, selling their “product”, or they’re looking for a place to squat in for the night.  Either way, they all wear the same hooded sweatjacket, jeans, and boots, or some sleazy outfit that’s too revealing for the beginning of November.

A group of four guys across the street hang out by a street light, eyeballing some girl as she walks toward Devin.  She’s trying to hide herself in her sweatshirt, but the guys here are never picky when it comes to these things.  When she gets about a foot away from Devin, she looks up with pleading eyes.

“You should run,” Devin suggests.

The girl falters, and looks back at Devin.  She’s too focused on him, that she doesn’t notice the group of guys making their way across the street.

“Go,” Devin repeats.

The girl doesn’t think twice this time.  She jolts into a sprint around the corner, and out of Devin’s line of sight.

The group of guys, all about Devin’s age, start to walk faster, but toward Devin now.

“What the hell, man?  What’d you do to scare her off?” one asks.

Devin keeps walking forward, ignoring the question.

“Hey, I asked you a question,” the boy repeats.

One of his larger friends stands in Devin’s path, and the others surround him from the sides and back.

Devin stops walking, and waits for the larger guy to move.