The Price of Freedom

The Quest for Revenge

(Cleo)

Gale and I hid in the gutter, glancing nervously at the nearby tent. Quietly I started to edge away bit Gale grabbed my shirt. "Don't you dare."

I looked up sheepishly. "But Gale I-"

"Come on Cleo, don't give me that. I know you're as hungry as I am."

I swallowed nervously, glancing back at the tent. It was much bigger then ours, with walls of metal and a plastic roof. It even had two windows, a rare luxury on Wheeler street. Anyone who had this good a house was someone to be wary of. I took a deep shaky breath, intended to calm my racing pulse. "Gale, please don't do this." I begged, even though I knew he wouldn't listen.

"Since when were you so scared about stealing from the Twilight gang?" Gale scoffed.

"Uh, since forever, maybe?" I retorted, "You remember that house on the corner that burned down? A trash can fire?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

Sure enough Gale gulped quickly. "But anyway maybe they weren't as good a thieves as me."

"Well aren't you modest." I muttered, sarcastically.

"Come on Cleo, you're hungry, I'm hungry, Jade's hungry. We have to steal." Gale pushed his blonde hair back and I saw him gingerly touch his black eye. I glared at him. "What?" He asked incredulously.

"This isn't about us needing food. This is about you wanting revenge." I gestured to his cuts and bruises. "Look, just because you got beat up-"

"I didn't get beat up!" Gale cried, his blush giving him away, "Anyway why do you even care?"

"Uh because you're my brother and I don't want to see you get slaughtered?"

"I'll be fine it's just the-"

"Seven roughest boys in the whole neighbourhood. They're all at least sixteen and at the top of the pecking order around here. They can do whatever they want, whenever they want. You should know that."

Gale scowled. "It was one time!"

"They could have killed you! Look, I'm not saying you can't steal. There's tons of good places around here."

"None as good as theirs."

"Can't you just go somewhere else?"

Gale went red with rage. "Do you even appreciate what I do for you?" He cried angrily, "Last night I went to bed starving for you and-" He gasped and clapped his hand over his mouth. There was an long, angry silence. Broken only by the distant cry of a baby and a crow's call. I glared at Gale, feeling the anger well up inside of me. Finally Gale spoke. "I'm sorry Cleo. It's just, you don't understand. I'm just trying to protect you but you get so angry and..."

"Does Jade know?"

Gale nodded wretchedly, "I'm sorry, I just want to give you a better life." It's weird because you'd think I'd be so grateful to have such a selfless brother but right at that moment I had never hated Gale more.

"Go back to the house Gale." I said, as calmly as my rage would allow.

"But Cleo-"

"Go back to the house!" Gale gave me a strange look but begrudgingly rose and started making his way down the street to our tent, glancing back every now and then to see if I was watching him. Finally he disappeared around the corner. I sighed and slumped onto the ground.

Nearby Nearby me two boys wrestled in the gutter but whether it was a game or an actual fight, I couldn't tell. They both seemed to be laughing and shouting at the same time. I shook my head, moving out of the way as on of the boys tumbled down beside me, the other on top of him. Yes I was mad. My brother shouldn't have to lie to me just to get me to take his food. So far as I knew, Gale and Jade were my only living relatives. After our parents were murdered we were all sent to a nearby orphanage. Unfortunately they were full and didn't want us and we were turned out, expected to find somewhere or someone to go to. That's when we started living with the Wheeler street kids. Cardboard huts, stealing as a way of survival, that was, and still is, our future. Gale hates it. He's convinced that Jade and I deserve better. Much better. He wants us to have what other kids have, family, home, food. What pains him more then anything is that we don't have that. None of the Wheeler street kids do.

I sighed to myself, still watching the boys. One of them, a small boy with dark brown hair, seemed to have own and managed to pin the other boy, who was blonde, to the ground. Gale has told us the story. The man in black, the gun shot, but even his recount is only a collection of memories, which still haunt him every night. If only. Every time Gale tells the story those words come back to me. If only the orphanage wasn't full. If only emergency services had arrived earlier. If only that man hadn't pulled the trigger.

One thing I have learnt though is this; there's no room for 'if only'. You can't change the past. But you can improve the future.

I forced myself to take a deep breath, standing and starting to walk back towards our hut. Suddenly a cry rang out across the alley. I groaned. It was Gale. Sure enough a few minutes later he emerged, dragged by none other then the Twilight gang.