keeping on keeping on

0. PROLOGUE

He felt it before he heard it.

It was a searing kind of pain -- nothing like the ache in his bones after a long day of playing basketball or the sting of an open gash from being too careless whilst chopping onions. Tom never thought he'd get hit by a bus.

Or at least, that's how it felt like.

There were things he heard before he felt it, but those were things he'd gotten used to by now. Seventeen years of hearing the same painful "fuckin' Negro" over and over again, rephrased in every imaginable way kind of made you immune. It took awhile to get used to the punches and the kicks and the hair pulling, but he got there eventually. That part of it took him around nine years.

This time, he didn't have time to get used to what he felt.

The sky was as dark as his flesh, the stars above glistening like the beads of sweat that clung to his forehead. He was in a hurry to get home, to give his brother a good night tussle, to hear his parents hum old tunes from when they were young and in love. He was in a hurry to feel safe.

People were usually nice to him; tolerant, at the very least. Sure, he'd get the odd look here and there but it wasn't really anything that was new to him. Most people just tended to stay away from him. A select few chose to stick by him. That didn't take away from how he always felt like he was being judged -- how he was afraid of the feeling of getting his hair pulled again, or his head smashing against the sidewalk. But he was older now, bigger. No one would dare do that to him now.

"Excuse me, I'm gonna have to ask you to put your hands up."

"I -"

"Hands up."

He put his hands in the air. The voice came close enough for him to feel the weight of it on his neck.

"Got illegal substances on ya?"

"What, no, I -" He turned his head slightly. Stopped short. Something cold was pressed to the back of his head.

"Don't fucking lie to me, shitface."

"Who said I was -"

He tasted blood as it came up his throat. His lungs seemed to have deflated upon impact with the pavement. The world spun. Tom didn't feel big anymore.

"I'll ask you one more time -"

"I already said - !"

He felt it before he heard it.

Everyone else saw the blood when the sun rose.