Let Me Love You | A.G

Part One: Before the Storm

---

"I have to be honest with you champ, we don't have any food," He turns to me, "That means you gotta get some for us."

I looked down in thought. He only sends me to do this because he knows if he tried, people wouldn't pity him like they would me. Plus, we're both in gangs. They're gonna treat him as the bad guy before they do to me.

"I might get caught this time Phil," I say quietly, "What if they take me away from you?"

He sighs, giving me a sympathetic look, "Do this for me one more time and I promise I will try my hardest to get us out of this situation."

I take a moment to think about what I was really doing. Phil looks at me and chuckles, "For a seven year old, you're thinking real hard about this."

I break out of my thoughts and give him a smile, "You're like my dad Phil, I don't wanna be separated from you."

A lone tear leaves his right eye, he quickly wipes it away, "I love you kid."

"I love you too Phil," I get up from my spot on the run-down couch I sleep on, "I'll be back."

"Be careful buddy, I don't need anything happening to you," He stands up to hug me before I turn to leave our makeshift home.

I walk down the street, a song that I heard yesterday stuck in my head. Once I reached the end of the block, I turned the corner and looked both ways to cross the street, entering the corner store.

"Where's your parents kid?" The man behind the counter chuckles, "You're too small to be alone."

"You're too old to be in my business too, sir," I give him a smile back, walking down the aisle.

I grab whatever I can and start slowly filling my pockets, my hands shake from my nervousness.

Once my pockets were pretty full but not too full, I walk back up to the strange man at the counter, "Where's the bathroom, sir?"

He looks up from the monitor beside him, "Two aisles down and a left."

I turn to walk away but as soon as I do, something tries to slip out of my pocket. I try to push it back in and continue my small journey but the man stops me, "What's in your pocket kid?"

"What do you mean?" I turned back around to look at him as he's staring me down from the counter, "I only asked for the bathroom."

"Yeah, yeah I got that but what's in your pocket?" He points to one of the front pockets of my jeans, "Hand it over."

I lightly pat my pockets trying not to make any noise, "What are you talking about?"

"Empty your pockets or I'm calling the cops," He crosses his arms.

"You're gonna seriously call the cops on a little kid? I'm barely eight," I shake my head at this silly guy.

"Just empty your pockets and I'll let you go," He shrugs.

I try to find an escape plan, "There's a big spider behind you mister," I widened my eyes to play the part better. As soon as he turned around, I bolted for the door.

Before I could leave the store, I bump into someone. I look up to see an older looking woman staring back at me with the biggest smile.

"Hey, stop her, please!" The store clerk calls to the woman to which she doesn't move, following the man's instructions.

"What did you do, honey?" She speaks to me in a soft tone. My shoulders visibly sink as I realize I can't get out of this one.

"Ma'am, you have to let me out," I say seriously. She doesn't move. Instead, she gently pushes me back into the store with her, allowing the door to close.

"I'm calling the cops kid, you're not going anywhere," He harshly grabs me by the arm to drag me with him.

"Wait, let her go, you don't need to call anyone. I'll replace anything she took," The woman says in a hurry. As soon as she says that, the man lets me go with a mean look.

They make me empty my pockets and the woman pays for everything I took. After all of that, I can finally leave the store but before I could even cross the street to go back, the woman stops me again.

"Where are your parents, sweetheart?" The lady asks with furrowed eyebrows.

"I don't have any," I turn around to face her, deciding to tell her the truth since she was so nice.

"Do you need a place to stay?" She questions with worry in her eyes.

"No thanks, I have a home," I lie with a smile.

She looks at me suspiciously but realizes she can't really do anything, "Just be careful then."

"Will do," I salute, turning back in the direction where I came from and starting the short walk there.

---