RED PARALLEL

Playground Games (Intro)

Song: You're Gonna Go Far, Kid, by The Offspring.

Part 1

13 Y/O:

But things lose their shine so quickly. Soon, escaping and breaking school rules became lame and boring. Traviz was feeling like a dead worm, wandering around nowhere, with nothing exciting to do.

Until he found a crew, in the streets, doing the same thing as him, but with one big difference: they were, actually, doing something.

The group had more than a dozen boys, all of them dressed in the same style: sportive and irreverent, with lots of baggy pants and caps. Just like Traviz. He felt a mist of marvel and threat. Though they seemed cool and stuff, Traviz didn't like realizing he was not that special as he thought he was. There were people just like him, apparently.

No one had ever noticed how special he was, and it was so ridiculous. They just hated him, and they kept saying he should go away and stop bothering people. Why, if all he wanted was...

He was fine being alone. He had learned how to live by himself. He didn't need his stupid dad, nor the stupid butlers. They were just a convenience. If he could, he would have kicked himself out of that house already, and go live his free life. But it was frightening, obviously, and he wasn't stupid. He was pretty used to abundant material support, and living alone would waste all that privilege. If only he could run away with all his dad's money, to some far place. And then, traveling around the world as if in an adventure, he would... He had no idea what he'd like to do. He just wanted to go. To escape. But not just escape cowardly like her stupid mom, no. He wanted to escape to reach something, to find something. He needed things, things beyond toys, beyond normal shits. Find things to erase the painful crap shaking whithin his body, his mind screaming in silence, angry at everything, afraid of everything...

Deciding to walk away from the threatening group of boys, Traviz turned around, planning to go home and give his butler some lame excuse, as always. His elder tutor was so tired of Traviz's constant irreverence that apparently the man gave up and decided to just pretend he was blind to the boy's rebelliance, as long as Traviz didn't involve himself in any dangerous or compromising activity.

Part 2

His move was interrupted by a loud sound. The boys were laughing and saying some random things. They were cheering about something. Attracted by the agitation, Traviz turned around, curious. The group of boys were competing against each other over who could throw something farther. The thing had to pass a steel security fence and a yellow parking mark on the floor. Inside the perimeter there was a brown building, several meters away, with the country's sumptuous flag waving at the strong wind. It was a military basement. The mischievous boys were throwing little rocks found near a river. The laughing was because one of the boys had managed to hit the edge of the fence, in a complete failure. The loser boy was kicked out of the competition. A smile in Traviz's face was drawn, and he felt a warm rush growing in his chest. That would be fun. They seemed so lousy at the throwing shit. It was so easy. It was his chance.

To his amusement, one of the boys had dropped a scissors. Scissors? C'mon... He picked the thing near him, and watched the other boys struggling to throw through the not-that-far fence. Just one of them managed to overpass the fence and the yellow mark, and apparently the boy gained a reward. Some food. They were about to walk away.

"Hey, dude!!!" Travize yelled at the throwing-rocks's winner. The boy frowned his face. "That's the best you can do?? The yellow mark?? Jeez, that's lame..."

"What?" the winner inquired, from the distance, scrutinizing Traviz. "Mind your own business, freak. Let's go, guys."  

"What u got in your hands, dude? I want that," Traviz said, pointing at the winner's reward. It was some kind of candy.