The Defiant

We Will See

I woke up from the dream with a gasp. 

around me, all was silent. I got up from the ground and blinked the sleep from my eyes. 

It was bright outside, and car horns and sirens filled the air with the merry sound of the city. 

I smiled. 

What a weird dream.

Someone threw a quarter at me, and I caught it midair. 

"Thanks, brother," I cheered. 

A quarter could buy me... nothing. But whatever- people were kind of cheap here. 

I had gotten to the city a week ago, and so far, it sucked absolute ass. 

The people paid me no mind. I've had to dig through the trash twice for some grub, and someone tried to rob me a few nights ago! As if I had anything to steal. 

I laughed at the thought. 

Maybe I was a little insane for laughing at an attempted robbery, but the notion that someone would rob a bum like me was hilarious! 

"What are you laughing at, chuckles?" Asked a man who was sitting across the alley entrance from me. 

He had a wispy beard and a huge ass nose full of pockmarks. His eyes were closed, and he held a stick, signifying to me that he was probably blind.

I grinned at him and whispered as if it were a secret, "Someone tried to rob me the other night."

He burst out laughing, slapping his leg a couple of times. "Damn boy, you must have gotten into the wrong part of the city. Ahaha, so young and ignorant you are!"

"Hey! It's my first time here!"

"Ah, where'd you come from?" 

I looked down at my ripped shoes. "Houston," I said shortly.

He took a moment of silence. "I hear it's a warzone in that area. It was bombed pretty soon after Denver, Detroit, and Portland. No?"

"Yeah," I sighed. "I left a few days before the whole disaster occurred."

The man tapped his stick on the ground. "You new to this whole thing?"

I nodded, then remembered he couldn't see. 

"Yep."

"I'll give you some advice, kiddo. Don't let your spirits dwindle. Keep your head up and maybe you'll end up like me instead of dead ol' Joe."

"Who is dead ol' Joe?"

"A dead guy," he quipped before bursting into laughter. 

I snickered, "Okay, okay, I'm going to get going, old man. Later!"

I started to get up from the floor, and he held a hand up. 

"Wait, wait. What's your name boy?"

"It's-"

"We might find that bastard while we are here, Sparrow. And we can fuck up his lackeys too."

Sparrow.

That was the name of a person from my dream...

I looked onto the sidewalk and saw a group of people strolling by. My eyes zoned in on a guy who looked... well he kinda looked just like a twink. I wasn't sure what other way to describe him. 

"That's the twink from my dream," I muttered under my breath.

The old man scoffed. "Bah! Kids these days are too open."