She Will Persist

Origins pt. 4

Suddenly the door to the dorm flew open. The inside metal handle slammed against the wall with a loud bang and ricochet back to hit Harrison who was getting aggressively wrestled through the doorway.

Axel watched with wide eyes as the new boy, who looked about his age, was yanked inside the dorm by two large men wearing uniforms. He had blood dripping from his nose and dribbling down his chin, and was trying fruitlessly to fight back against the other men but they were twice the size of him and his voice was starting to get wrecked with cries. Not cries of frustration. More like cries of sadness.

The two guards threw him down and he landed on the floor in a heap. Then they slammed the door shut as they left.

Axel sat rigidly still on the top bunk, hoping the boy on the floor might not have noticed him. Sniffling, Harrison pushed himself up off the ground and wiped at the blood coming from his nose and the tears coming from his eyes. Slowly he walked over to the bottom bunk of the bed across from the one Axel was up on, and sat down onto the mattress.

"The fuck you looking at?" Harrison suddenly snapped up at him, swiping at the blood trickling from his nose.

Axel quickly jerked his head away from looking down at the new boy and back out the window.

He'd never been outside of Chicago, not even enough to see the city skyline. Looking at the Denver one now felt odd but also somehow sad.

After a little while Harrison below him spoke. "Did you just get here?"

Axel swiveled his head back and nodded.

"Me too."

"What happened to you?" Axel asked cautiously.

Harrison crinkled his nose and dabbed at the blood dripping from it with the back of his hand. "Apparently the leader of this place knew my Dad," he said.

"So he broke your nose?"

"I guess he didn't like him very much."

Axel looked down at his hands again. They were callused and raw and his nails were cracked nubs having been shaven by clips from buildings or runaways. They were also still covered in dirt and grease like the rest of him.

Aside from the blood streaking over his chin, Axel noted that the boy below him was clean. He had dark brown hair, washed and silky. He had clean dark denim jeans that actually fit him and weren't ripped or scuffed up, and a pristine white t-shirt that wasn't stained or ripped. His skin was clean and smooth. When he'd gritted his teeth earlier at the guards who'd thrown him into the room you could see his teeth were straight and white.

Axel looked down at his own clothes and skin. His black jeans were ripped around the knees and ankles and had thinned out around his thighs from sliding over concrete so often, and all the belt loops had broken off a long time ago. His baggy, black long-sleeved shirt had rips in the elbows and the stitching was coming apart around the neckline. His wrists were stained greenish yellow from being held by those gangsters a few days ago.

"How old are you?"

Axel looked back down and Harrison was staring at him with dark brown eyes. The blood had stopped coming from his nose and was instead crusted over his hands where he'd been wiping at it.

"12. You?"

"Same. Where you from?" 

"Chicago."

"Jersey."

"Where?"

Harrison stared at him. "New Jersey?"