Eternal

13.

It had been a few days since Jahseh's house was raided. And a few days since they last saw Rakim. He was starting to get a tiny bit worried, he didn't doubt that Rakim could take care of himself but Jahseh just kept imagining the worst. Frank placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him out of thoughts. "He's gonna be okay you know." Frank reassure him and Jahseh nodded. "How's Stokeley holding up?" Jahseh asked and Frank looked back to where both Kyle and Stokeley were sitting. Stokeley's wound had been bandaged properly but Jahseh feared that the gash would become infected. Jahseh stood and walked over to the two sitting and squatted in front of Stokeley. "Does it hurt?" He asked and Stokeley shook his head. "I froze the wound." He said as he removed the bandaged and showed the hardened ice over his skin. Jahseh smiled and ran a hand through his dreads. "I don't know why I was so worried." He said and Stokeley snickered as he wrapped the bandaged back around it. 

"Neither do I, you know I can handle my own." He said with a wave of his hand and Jahseh nodded. He stood and glanced at Kyle who was just in his own world. He tended to do that when he didn't want to deal with things going on around him. "Angel?" He called out to the boy who innocently looked up at him. "How are you holding up?" He asked him and Kyle just shrugged. "It's nothing I'm not used to." He said calmly and Jahseh let out a sigh. Well at least he knew the kids with him were okay, he couldn't help thinking about how Rakim's doing. "Kimmy is fine. I just know it. He knows how to take care of himself." Kyle said with a smile and Jahseh smiled back. "Yeah I hope so." He said and walked back over to where Frank was standing. "So what's the plan from here?" Frank asked as he looked out on to the street. "Well all my money is gone, I know that. so we can't even attempt to get an apartment. What we need to do is get the fuck out of this damn state. Go down south or something." Jahseh suggested and Frank gave him a confused look. "Down south like Florida south?" He asked and Jahseh nodded.

"What makes you think the south is any better than up north dude." Frank stated and Jahseh stuffed his hands in the pockets of his shorts. "Well for one Florida just don't fucking care anymore. Their Governor said fuck it and made the state a mutant welcomed state." He said and Frank raised an eyebrow. "That's news to me. I bet their governor is a mutant." He responded and Jahseh considered the thought. It would make sense, although there are a lot of people who advocate for mutants. Getting to Florida would be a long trip, especially with no money or a damn car. So that plan is something that needs to happen in the distant future. For right now they probably should focus on finding somewhere to stay. While Jahseh was lost in thought, Omar appeared out of nowhere; panting and holding a bag of donuts in his hand. "Well I got us some food, and I may have a place we can crash tonight." Omar said as he took a breathe and tossed the bag in the direction of Kyle and Stokeley. Jahseh leaned on the wall of the building next to him and crossed his arms. "Where did you find a spot?" He asked and Omar scratched behind his ears.

"Um I got a friend."

-

"What the fuck do you mean no?!" Omar huffed as he talked to his best friend. Gazzy rubbed his temples as he sat in the backyard facing Omar and the four mutants with him. "Omar do you not understand that my house was raided and my mom almost went to jail?" He asked and Omar stomped his foot like a child. "But we're best friends! I thought we were supposed to help each other out!" He whined and Gazzy gave him a blank stare. "Yeah with simple shit like homework or girl problems, not giving you and your friends a place to live. That's not my responsibility I-I'm too young to even have to be dealing with this!" He said as he threw his hands up in the air. The other boys watched silently in the back as the two argued back and forth. Frank glanced at Jahseh who had the same look as him. "So much for a place to crash." He muttered and Frank snorted. Omar was frustrated, he understood why Gazzy wouldn't want to help him anymore but he needs to give Jahseh and the others a place to stay. Especially after all they've done for them. 

"Gazzy please." Omar begged and mustered up his best puppy dog look. Which wasn't hard because he was a literal dog. Gazzy crossed his arms and tried to hold his composure before he finally gave in. "Fine! But they can't come in the house. There's no way I can hide all of ya'll when my mom comes home. The shed back there has enough room for ya'll to sleep in. I'll bring blankets and pillows and stuff so you won't be cold or whatever." Gazzy said and Jahseh accepted it. It's better than nothing; he's slept in much worse places. Omar grinned and looked back at the others who gave him looks of approval. Gazzy clears his throat and motions for Omar to follow him inside. Omar follows him and leaves the others in the back yard. "Of course the dog gets special treatment." Stokeley said with a roll of his eyes and earned a smack from Frank. "They're friends, we're strangers of course he's not going to treat us like family. Just be happy he's a nice kid." Frank said as he sat on the steps of Gazzy's porch. Kyle took a seat next to him and let out a yawn. 

"I hope he brings those pillows and blankets out soon, I'm tired." He said and leaned onto Frank who let him. Omar followed Gazzy into the kitchen who hadn't said a word yet as he leaned on the counter and looked at him. Omar was a bit confused as he waited patiently for him to say something. Gazzy's bottom lip quivered as he bursted out into a fit of tears and Omar nearly choked on air. He rushed to his dear friend and grabbed his face to look at it. "What's wrong? What happened? Are you okay?" He bombarded the sobbing boy with questions as he tried to wipe the tears out of his eyes. Gazzy sniffled and moved Omar's hands away from him. "I thought you died!" He wailed and wrapped his arms around the poor mutant. Omar was at a loss for words as Gazzy clung onto him desperately. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you like that." Omar said and he hugged back and rubbed patterns on Gazzy's back. 

"Besides I told you I'll always come back." Omar said with a smirk and Gazzy let out a small chuckle before he hiccuped. "We should probably get them their blankets and stuff, I want you to stay in my room tonight." Gazzy said as he let go and Omar nodded. The two walked over to the linen closet and grabbed as many blankets and pillows they could and walked back outside. The others took some of the pillows from them and helped carried it to the Shed. Gazzy unlocked it and placed the largest blanket down before attempting to make a makeshift bed for them to sleep on. "If I had a blow up mattress I'd give it to ya'll I'm sorry." Gazzy said as he placed the pillows in place and Jahseh dimissed it with a wave of his hand. "No worries, you giving us a place to sleep is just enough for me." Jahseh replied and the others agreed. Once everyone was situated Jahseh thanked Gazzy once again and wished him a good night. 

Gazzy left the shed and Omar stood awkwardly at the door. "He um wants me to stay with him." He said quietly and Jahseh nodded. "It's cool dude, he's your friend I get it. Go on now I'm tired." Jahseh said with a yawn and Omar quickly closed the shed door and ran back inside the house. Jahseh laid back onto the pillow he was given and stared at the ceiling of the shed. He could hear Frank fast asleep next to him and Stokeley was starting to snore. Kyle shuffled a bit and poked his head up to look at Jahseh. "Jah?" He asked quietly and Jahseh hummed to let him know he was still awake. "Is it okay if we can cuddle? It's a bit cold and this shed kind of creeps me out." He said and Jahseh shifted and patted the spot next to him. Kyle crawled over a sleeping Frank and cuddled himself up against Jahseh. Jahseh wrapped an arm around the boy and let himself get comfortable. "Thank you." He said sleepily and soon dozed off.

Omar and Gazzy were upstairs currently playing video games. "Bro I swear you cheat everytime we play this shit." Omar groaned as he lost yet another round of mortal kombat. Gazzy only shrugged as he popped a gold fish into his mouth. "Or you're just really bad." Gazzy said and Omar only rolled his eyes. "Anyways we should probably get ready for bed now, you guys gotta leave early so my mom doesn't see." Gazzy said and Omar nodded. Gazzy had gotten into his pjs as Omar morphed into his dog form and rested on the foot of the bed. Gazzy turned his console off and the lights off. He gave Omar a pat on the head before crawling into bed and soon falling asleep.