Yours to Hold

4 - Andrew

The rain was pouring like mad outside of the school. I stared out at the horizon as I just stood outside of the doors of Lennox High School, as if I was just in a daze. I didn't have a place to stay, I realized. Ever since my parents died, my old house had become abandoned, and I never went back since. I didn't want to relive that painful day. Shrugging the thoughts off, I began to run through the rain, already getting soaked to the bone. I had to find some shelter to get out of this weather; I did not want to catch a cold.

Sad thing is, I had no idea on where in the world I was going. I was new to Lennox; I had no clue on where everything was or what was in this town. I was pretty much screwed, I thought. I ended up finding myself near the football field near the high school, and decided to take refuge there for the time being.

Today was just not my day... First, there's that Lillith girl who already can't stand me. And now I'm stuck in the rain, with a high risk of getting sick. Dammit... Managing to find a shade underneath the bleachers, I stood there, pulling my leather jacket close as I started to shiver. My mind wandered back to my parents, sighing deeply as I sat on the dry, yet damp ground below me.

I closed my eyes as I listened to the pouring rain hit the metal bleachers above me, finding the sound soothing. It was raining that night, too... The day my parents were murdered in cold blood. Crap... It had been 10 full years, and I still couldn't get my mind away from it. How pathetic, I thought. I felt like a small child. An insignificant child that felt helpless and alone.

I think I fell asleep then... I awoke to find myself still under the bleachers of the football field, and the rain had ceased. The area was still damp and cold, causing me to shiver again. Letting out a slow sigh, I crawled out of the bleachers, looking around to see that the street lights were lit up. A sense of relief washed over me, knowing that they would help me see where I was going.

Starting to stride forward, I heard a few chuckles near by. This caused me to turn my head to see a group of guys my age smoking a few cigarettes and looking at my direction. Not wanting to cause trouble, I turned away to start walking out of there. But I wasn't fast enough; they were by me in an instant, surrounding me in a circle to make sure I didn't get away.

"What?" I asked, trying to keep my cool.

"What's a guy like you doing out at this hour?" One asked, a scar visible on his right cheek, stubble on his chin.

"I got lost. I'm just on my way out." I replied, trying to find my way around them. But it was to no avail. I was stuck, and I felt a tight coil form in my stomach.

"Listen, pal. This is our turf. No one walks out without dealing with us." Another spoke, and it seemed that he was the leader of the group, due to his intimidating appearance.

"Look, I don't want any trouble." I tried reasoning with them, but he grabbed me by the jacket collar, which caught me by surprise.

"Sure you don't. If you didn't, you wouldn't have wandered out here." He smirked, shoving me backwards only to be shoved again by the two men behind me. That was when I realized that they were picking a fight with me. And they weren't going to back off without beating me to a pulp.

I was in for it. Trying to defend myself, I swung my fist at the leader, only for him to dodge and nail me in the stomach with a tightly closed fist. My eyes widened and I found that I could hardly breathe. I kneeled over and held my stomach, coughing hard then felt a hard slam against my head. They had pushed me to the ground and began to kick and punch me repeatedly.

I had tried to fight them off, but there were too many of them. I was done for, I thought. I really believed that I was a goner. That was when I heard two gunshots. None of them fell over, but turned in an instant to see a police officer with his pistol high in the air. He had shot his gun to startle them, and to back off. It worked, and I watched them weakly as they ran off like scared puppies.

A smirk creased my lips, but I was still too weak to stand. The officer rushed towards me and helped me up, allowing me to lean on him for support.

"You all right?" he asked me, voice gentle and filled with concern.

I recognized that voice... Alexander Cain. He was the man that arrested the murderer of my parents. He saved my life that day.

"Officer Cain..." I coughed. "What are you doing here?"

"I saw you getting beat to a pulp. I came running as fast as I could." he said, helping me walk to his cruiser.  

He had checked on me every now and then to see if I was okay. He watched out for me. He helped me so many times. This was just one of out of several situations he helped me get out of.

"You don't look so good..." he said.

"Got that right..." I groaned, coughing slightly then found myself sitting in the inside of his cruiser.

He was in the driver's seat beside me, hands on the wheel as he began to drive.

"Thanks for that..." I whispered, half-asleep.

"No problem. By the way, don't you have a place to go?" he asked me, shaking my head in response.

He turned to me with a smile. "Then you can stay at my place for a while. Just until you find a place of your own." he offered.

A smile creased my lips, and nodded slowly before falling back asleep.