Street 237

Chapter 5: Chase

Once I left that park I headed downtown where a group of street rats like me gathered. They'd gather there and sometimes trade stuff such as clothes, or food and sometimes even drugs and alcohol.
    I would typically go and trade off any little piece of wood I would find in a dumpster in return for articles of clothing or some other sort of food. Over 99% of the time, most of the teens would trade unfairly to those who were starving and such.
Once, I seen a man trade his last piece of clothing for a bite size piece of bread. The man roamed the backstreets nude until one day he was found dead behind the courthouse. Some say he was killed while others were lead to believe it was a natural death.
Both are possibilities when living on the streets but everyone knew good and well why he died.

It was during the winter and the temperatures were dropping below 30° every night. With him out there naked, it was only a matter of time before he succumbed to the cold.  The ambulance went and retrieved his body and us street rats were left with not even a word of what exactly was the cause of his death. Therefore we just assumed.
     As I approached the group I noticed a familiar face.
Chase.
As I drew closer to the group he whipped his head around and his hazel eyes met my green eyes. He was also a street rat as they would call it. Although he'd been on the street longer than I had, he was making due pretty well. He had full articles of clothing, even a dodgers cap. He managed to find a pair of almost new Nikes in an apartment store dumpster along with some weight lifting gloves that he'd only wear because they looked cool.

"Well if it isn't O'l London," his surprisingly white teeth always astonished me when I saw them. How could someone live on the street and have that perfect of teeth.
"Hey Chase," there I was, standing next to Chase along with the group. Everyone was exchanging clothes and drugs and food. As I watched I noticed a rather nice flannel float from hand to hand. I wanted it.
I guess I stared a bit too long and someone took notice of it.
"You want it?" A grungy girl asked me as she passed it my way. I held the flannel in my hands for a little while. Observing it; it was my size, favorite color, and it would have kept me warm through the cold nights ahead. I looked up at the girl whose eyes were fixated on me and the flannel, "What would you want for it?"
"Some food and maybe," a devilish, perverted grin appeared on her face, "something more?"
My once smile quickly faded to a disgusted frown as I threw the flannel at her, "Heck no! You pervert!" Chase snapped his head around to see me utterly disgusted.
He perked an eyebrow, "What-What happened?" He questioned.
It wasn't uncommon for people—male and female—to ask for sexual things during the trades. That's how many of them got STD's and such.
I wasn't about to sell myself out for a flannel. That girl could AIDS, HIV, Mono, who knows.
"I'm just gonna leave now, there's nothing good anyways." I turned and started to leave when Chase grabbed my arm.
"Wait,"
"What?"
"Have you eaten yet?"
As I said before, he'd been on the street longer than I had. Which means he knew of all the ins and outs of getting half decent food that wasn't from a dumpster.
"A small protein bar." I murmured, letting my eyes drop to the ground.
He shook his head and put an arm around me, "We are going to get you some real food!" He chirped.

"Real food?"
"Yep!"
"How are you going to do that?"
"Never doubt me, London." He gave me a small smile and we continued on.

That moment I took a mental note: Never doubt Chase.

KaturaBayliss you told me to tag you when I updated so TADA!! Update ☺️😊