The Way In Which Things Work

Chapter Seven: An Interview or Two

The rustic looking wooden door was only knocked upon by my knuckles a few times before the door is opened by Arlene. Down the hallway someone opens their door and scolds me for being so loud this early in the morning. I guess my anxiety from earlier flooded my tendons and made my knock much more forceful than I meant it to be. Graham bounds over to me, skipping over at least 6 different toys before reaching my feet. His thin blonde hair is combed and parted the exact same way my dad used to wear his hair before things went south.

Scooping him up into my arms, I ruffle his hair to make the vivid imagery of my father's face disappear from my mind. Graham swats at my hand and politely whines for the part I played in messing up his neatly done hair. "Would you like some coffee? Could I interest you in some muffins, made them this morning?" Her offer sounded tempting and the smell wafting from the kitchen made my mind up for me. We didn't have long before Graham's school would start so we ate quickly and I thanked her once again for all of her services.

"How was your night bud? Did you have a good time?" The thought of him sleeping in a bed absent of the threat of any bed bugs or a creaky bed frame made me smile.

Graham gnaws at the soft skin surrounding his fingernails as his habit and I pull his hands away from his mouth to get him to answer. "It was good. I got to watch the tv the whole time I was there and it didn't turn off or nothing!" His voice rose at the last second and I could tell he enjoyed that luxury quite a bit.

"I'm glad. Tonight you're gonna stay at Jaren's house, I already talked to his mom so you're gonna go home with him today after school alright?" He nods next to me when he grabs my hand in his covered by a mitten I made him put on to avoid the chewing at his fingers. He's always been a fidgety little boy, but then again, aren't all boys?

We were running behind schedule for his school, they were due to start in 20 minutes and our walk was going to take at least 30 going the long way, which was also safe. I risked us taking a shortcut underneath the bridges of the train to make it on time, it didn't matter if I was late, only him. I know we live in a bad part of town anyways but nothing compares to this area we were walking through. My pockets were lighter than usual as I usually had something to protect myself with, pepper spray or my pocket knife, but right now I had nothing and it made me nervous.

I had a right to be nervous because I knew the people gathered around a fire built in an old trash can were going to say something as we walked by. A loud whistle left one of the greasy men's lips and flooded my ears. I ignored them like usual until I heard the gravelly sound of one of them very close behind me. I tried to walk away faster.

"Hey, girl. What you doing walking down here all alone?" The smell of musty beer became even clearer as he got nearer, "You looking for some kind of fun? We can show him too," he points down at Graham with the beer bottle he had in his hand. I pulled his small body in front of me, he didn't understand that these people had bad intentions. I was going to do everything in my power to get him away from these people. Pulling him along faster as my breath was stolen from me by the falling snowflakes. His raunchy footsteps grew closer and I froze when a hand was placed firmly on my shoulder.

I stiffened in my spot as he moved his fingers to the strands of hair near my ears and moved them aside. I knew that I would never be able to physically take on a grown man, I didn't have the strength so I wasn't naive enough to think I would be able to take on my attacker. Not to mention all of his friends nearby, sure to jump in the minute things got dicey. "I can show you a real good time. We'll take the boy off your hands for you." My grip tightened on Grahams hand and I let it go when I felt a knife being pressed into my skin right above my hips.

My heartbeat increased its speed and the sick feeling that started in my stomach began to spread throughout the rest of my body, making my fingertips tingle with numbness. I pushed him forwards, I know they didn't want him, they wanted me and I would gladly give them what they wanted as long as they didn't touch a hair on his head. I would do anything to protect him.