I am Loved

I am loved episode 1

    It's been three months since my cousins went back to China and left me here. Luckily my parents had long paid off our house so I was able to go back to get some of my stuff. But I can't afford to pay for basic utilities like electricity or water, so it's unsuitable for living especially since there is no signal there and I need WIFI to complete my homework. Right now, skateboarding is my only method of transportation because I'm still 12 and can't drive yet. I've just been using my house as a glorified storage locker because it's far away from any public WIFI spots that I need to go to daily to do my homework. I mostly wander from youth hostels or 24-hour joints. I do my homework in McDonald's and public libraries.
    Y'know what sucks most about being homeless? That I'm a kid. If I fall asleep in a McDonalds at 11:58 at night, no one has any qualms with kicking me out. But all the crazy looking men pass out in the booth right next to me and no one wants to risk waking him up. I guess I should be grateful that it doesn't snow in Hawaii because even if I went back to my house, I can't afford a heater.
    Though it is getting colder recently. We're in the middle of autumn right now and we're having record temperatures. Recently every day I feel a stinging pain in my chest and fingers. I'm not sure if it's because of the increasing cold. Or because of the upcoming anniversary of the day, my parents threw me out and I lost contact with my brother. My birthday. I'll be turning 13 in a couple of weeks.
    I sat down on a bench outside of a supermarket and pulled my necklace out of my shirt. I pinched the coin that I shared with my brother between my thumb and pointer finger and squeezed my eyes shut as I held it close to my mouth.
"Happy birthday Aydin," I whispered. I felt a stinging sensation on my bottom lip as I said this. I touched my lip with my finger. It was still healing. Even when my cousins were still around I got a lot of crap from my classmates after Aydin left and I got into a lot of stupid street fights. Constantly bruised and beaten, I learned how to fight. I'm actually pretty good now. Good in the sense that I usually win even though I'm usually outnumbered. I usually get off without any broken bones but I usually have a few cuts and bruises, maybe a black eye.
    I ran my thumb over the engraved chinese character on the circle of jade hanging from my necklace. Eternal unconditional love.
    Fisting the coin and the jade together I brought my fist up and pressed it against my forehead.
"Hey! It's that a$$hole that broke my chin!" a male voice yelled from my right. I lifted my head up and glanced over. A boy no older that 15 with dark skin and curly black hair and two others with similar dark skin followed close behind the first were making their way up the sidewalk to my bench. I narrowed my eyes trying to remember them. One of them had a tribal tattoo running up his forearm. Ah.
    I had a run-in with them a couple weeks ago. They were kind of like me. Had a home but preferred not to go there. They all had really shitty parents like me. It was a stupid argument but things escalated and I ended up breaking one of their chins with my heel. He was a real smart alec so I didn't feel bad about it. The silent one with the tribal tattoo was the one that split my lip.
    When they got closer I noticed that the one with the big mouth had a type of sling attached from his ears  holding his jaw in place. Probably to help it heal properly.
    Sighing. I tucked my necklace back under my shirt, put my hands in my pockets, and started walking in the opposite direction up the sidewalk. I heard the sound of a 'tat tat tat" and then a hand was on my shoulder. I glanced down at the dark hand as it twisted me to face them. They were all glaring at me except for the silent one who just looked bored. Now that I could scan their facial features, I think I can assume that they are from somewhere in Polynesia or Micronesia. Hawaiian maybe? Or maybe Samoan? I don't know but they look angry. And I've learned from experience that angry Samoans are never a good thing.
    Smiling, I rotated my foot on the ground to position my leg to kick him in the crotch and make a run for it but across the street, I saw two little kids. A boy and a girl. They were the same height and looked very similar. Twins. Standing over them was an elderly woman who I assumed was their grandmother. Grinding my teeth in frustration, I allowed them to lead me to an alleyway inbetween the old school live theatre and an old movie rental shop. As soon as we were in the alleyway I felt one of them push me hard in between my shoulder blades. I stumbled forward. My fingers tapped the cold concrete alleyway ground and I stood up to face them all. One moved to punch me, I ducked under his arm and elbowed him in the back of the head then with the momentum I shot my arm forward and punched the one with the big mouth. In the nose. I heard a POP and blood started trickling down his face. He grasped his nose and screamed. The silent one's eyes flashed and he swung his arm at me, I blocked with my own forearms. I heard the other one get up and the one with the big mouth was still holding his nose collapsed in the corner of the alleyway. He sure didn't put up much of a fight- I thought before a sharp pain hit me in the back of my head. I grunted in pain and fell onto my knee. I swung my head around to face the back of me and the other one was standing there huffing like he was out of breath. In his hand was a relatively small iron pipe with dark red blood dripping of the tip. My blood.  I cringed as I pulled myself up and kicked him in the gut, digging my heel into his stomach. In too much pain to go on, he collapsed in a heap on the floor groaning.
    I heard movement behind me so I spun around to face the only one that seems to be a threat. His bored and neutral face replaced with an enraged look. Maybe he was protective of his friends. He swung a fast punch in my direction. He was way bigger than me, and he seemed fast. I dropped into a squat then used all the force I could muster in my legs to launch myself at him. My shoulder hit him square in the gut and I used my arms to help push him down. Kicks took to long, and I doubt my punches seemed painful to someone as large as he. I'm small and not exactly a hard hitter. I needed to hit him with all of my weight every time if I wanted him to feel it.
    I felt his knee shoot up into my chest as my body, numb from the impact rolled off him. I pushed myself off the ground with my elbows as I coughed up blood onto the concrete. My throat stung as dark red blood dripped off my lip and ran down my chin.
"Damn. Hope I didn't rupture an organ or something" I said with a chuckle that only caused the pain in my throat and chest to intensify. Tall Tattoo guy didn't look amused. He stood up slowly and just stared at me. I felt the one with the big mouth halfheartedly kick my achilees tendon from where he was lying and grunted. I pushed his legs back with my foot and I felt all too late as Tall Tattoo guy swept his leg under my feet and grabbed me by the ankles.
    The way this guy fought. It was familiar. It wasn't like most street fighting. It wasn't TaeKwonDo, Boxing, Kickboxing, Kung Fu, Karate, Savate, Judo, Jiu jitsu. I didn't know what it was. He raised me up until my head was almost a foot off the ground. Then it hit me Loa! It was Loa! The ancient Hawaiian martial art, The art of bone breaking! I recognized this move. In ancient times you would grab your opponent by the ankles, swing them upside down, then smash their skull against a rock.
    I tucked my head as far into my chest as possible to avoid getting my cranium bust open as he dropped me down and my shoulders took the impact. Pain flared through my body. My left shoulder was permenantly damaged from when my parents threw me out of their car that day.
    From the ground, I saw him pick up that iron pipe the other one had used earlier.

------ 2 hours later------

    Covered in cuts and bruises, a bleeding head, a banged up shoulder, limping with my hand over my side I hobbled my way down a street, barely managing to see 5 feet ahead of me with blurry vision. I was aiming for a bench seated outside the post office. I made it short by only 3 yards.
    Collapsing in a pile of broken things and blood. I coughed and spat out blood as I attempted to regain my breath. Then suddenly two large figures loomed over me. Oh please don't let it be them again. I might actually die. But before I could identify them. I blacked out. Once again.