set during the great depression in the bronx, new york, this was an assignment my teacher had me write with only 20 minutes. at the end of those 20 minutes, i was not allowed to go back, edit and proofread– some people didn't even finish!
sorry to the Unanswered fans, i haven't had much spirit for writing as of late (besides fic writing class :P) anyway thanks guyss<3
An ache. A horribly painful ache was apparent in William’s side, and no matter how he shifted on the stone step, he couldn’t get the pain to dissipate. He idly tapped his shoeshine box, practically untouched since he first settled into his usual street corner this morning. He spied a man across the street with scuffed up boots and immediately snapped to attention.
“’Scuse me, sir!” he yelled across the street that was relatively busy compared to the rest of the network of streets in the Bronx.
The man’s head snapped up, his hand immediately feeling the sack for any possible stolen items. His eyes found William’s across the street, narrowing when he took in the boy’s disheveled appearance. “What you want, boy?”
William put his hands up in surrender, conveying that he meant no harm. “Nothing, mister, I just was wondering if you want your shoes shine, sir. A small cost, not much. Only 5 cents for a real nice shinin’ job–”
The man started to walk away, muttering apologies of how he had a family at home to feed, and that he needn’t waste a nickel on nice shoes when he could buy an apple for the same price.
William’s shoulders sagged as the man disappeared around the block, the stitch in his side becoming more apparent. His stomach growled loudly, demanding to be fed. He slumped against the cold building behind him, wrapping the rags of his jacket tighter around his almost nonexistent figure. He started to whistle, hoping to attract people to his corner of the sidewalk. The shrill melody echoed halfway down the sidewalk and past the nearly empty restaurants and storefronts, almost all of them vacant due to foreclosure. A few stopped to listen, but once William gestured desperately to the shoeshine box beside him, they shook their heads sadly and continued onto their destination without turning back.
A thought grazed the edge of his mind, whispering of the dumpsters in the back of the market. It technically wouldn’t be stealing if they already threw it out… As he reached the rusting bins, he began to paw through the trash, hoping that someone had been careless enough to discard of a stale bread crust or even an apple core. When he came up empty after searching for a minute or two, he decided to visit a café to see if they had any extras, doubtful as it was. William left with a sharp blow to his cheek and several insults.
As he slumped back against his corner of the sidewalk once more, a little voice in the back of his whispered that stealing would solve everything, but he snarled at the internal thought. He refused to resort to stealing: he’d rather be poor, starving and dying– which he was– than be a criminal. He refused to sink to the depths of desperateness, to turn into a beast incapable of knowing right and wrong.
As his vision started to blur and the ache in his stomach amplified, he barely felt the impact of the cold cement on his skull as he collapsed on the sidewalk. The burning spread up his chest and across his torso, the hunger pains intensifying to such a degree that he felt as if his body had been set ablaze. Once he started to feel numb to the agony consuming his limbs, he found that the heat was actually rather comfortable on a cold day like today, and he finally relaxed into the pavement that didn’t seem so cold anymore.
William welcomed the darkness as the warm blanket that he never could have, faintly hearing footsteps and a woman’s cry for help.
YOU ARE READING
Short Stories
Cerita Pendek*not to be read in any particular order* Varying from action to realistic fiction, these are my stories. Some are from my fiction writing class in school, some are for a contest, and some of them are just because I feel like it. You can read them in...
