Don't Threaten Me with a Good Time

Chapter 2

The first week in Happy Harbour had gone well for Danny, as far as well can go when the police are searching for him, and a loon is trying to make him his son. So far, Danny had spent his nights at a shelter after trying to find a job to earn money during the daytime. He was currently stood in the line to the shelter, it was half an hour until it opened and started letting people in, and he couldn't be more excited to get inside, the night was starting to get a stinging chill as autumn closed in.

He was rubbing his hands together, trying to get the feeling back in his thumbs without any luck, when an older man bumped into him and practically shoved him out of the line. He grunted and glared at the man; he turned to get back into the line when an arm stopped him. He traced the arm back to the source, the security guard.

"What're you doing, son? You know what happens to cutters." The security guard was giving Danny a hard stare as he held him back from the line.

"I wasn't cutting, I swear, this guy just shoved me out of the line." He looked back at the guy behind him, hoping he would stick up for him. Instead, the guy simply glanced at Danny then moved forward slightly.

"Sorry kid, but if you're gonna cut I've got to ban you."

"What? No, that's not fair! I wasn't even cutting." He retorted. Surely, they wouldn't turn away a kid.

"Don't make me escort you away kid, don't put up a fuss." The security guard pressed; he didn't want to create a scene with a kid.

Danny sighed and stepped out of the line properly; he wasn't going to give any of them the satisfaction of him looking back. He needed to find another place to sleep for the night, that was the only shelter in Happy Harbour. He wandered the city, the filled streets that went from being day shoppers to the night drinkers, the beach had emptied of those wanting a suntan, to the teens that wanted to party after their first week of school. None of these places was safe for him to sleep, however.

After about an hour of looking he had made his way into the more rundown side of Happy Harbour, there were a few abandoned buildings that looked like they had squatters in. As cliche as it was, there was an old metal trash can with a fire blazing inside and at least four old homeless men around it. He headed further down the street and found the entrance to a subway station, going down the steps it became evident that nobody had been there for a long time, if the cobwebs were anything to go by. So, the subway station was abandoned as well.

'This should be safe, at least for the night.' As he reached the bottom, he realised the station might not be as abandoned as he hoped. He looked further down the rails and saw the light of a fire flickering on the wall. He decided to try his luck; maybe they were friendly. Getting closer to the light he noticed the ones occupying the area were kids, younger than Danny kind of kids.

"Hey, mind if I join you?" The eldest of the lot, he must have been only twelve, looked Danny up and down before nodding his head and gesturing to a place near the fire. "Thanks." He took the seat.

"The name's Felix, by the way," the twelve-year-old spoke as Danny made himself comfortable. He had a choppy black hair cut, sharp green eyes and his clothes looked like they were practically hanging off him his, his skin was a pasty white. He looked too skinny for his own good. He was also wearing multiple layers, ready for the chilly night.

"Danny," Felix nodded his head. He leant back, and some of the other kids came out from the shadows to sit around the fire.

"You new in town, Danny?" A girl piped up; she looked to be the same age as Felix. She had long tangled ginger hair; freckles dusted over her nose, making her doe-like blue eyes stand out. The jeans she was wearing were tatted and ripped, her grey top was dirty but not too noticeable, and her fur lined leather jacket was wearing through.

"Yeah, you can tell?"

"Yeah, you have that kind of domesticated look about you, like you've never slept on anything besides a bed." She stated.

"Jenny, Jenny," the girl turned towards some of the smaller children, "we found the mouse!"

"Good job, guys! Now take care of that thing." She spoke kindly to them. They couldn't have been older than seven.

"You mean to look after or kill?"

"Up to you guys," She turned back to Danny as they gushed about gaining a new pet. "Where have you been staying?"

Danny had shed his backpack and was now using it as a pillow. "The shelter down London Street."

"Dang, that place is supposed to be shady as heck," Felix added. He was surprised Danny had the guts to stay in that shelter, especially with the kind of reputation it had. "Heard that place was a front for drug runners."

"It wasn't that bad while I was there, you had to sleep with one eye open, but it was ok." He remembered the first few nights when a couple of older men kept popping their heads through his doorway. He heard them openly discussing his backpack. So he had gained the habit of looping one of his arms through the straps and using it as a pillow, not allowing anyone near it.

"You get caught skipping the line?" Jenny asked as she threw another log on the fire. The log looked like it had once been a part of a chair, or maybe a table.

"Supposably, a guy shoved me out of the line, and the guard turned me away."

"That sounds about right, that place is a first come first served kind of place, it's a brutal process, they're nastier to kids than anyone else in that line." Felix nodded his head at his explanation.

"You can stay here if you want, as long as you like. It's really the only safe place for kids since, well, we don't really mind the rats and adults don't really like walking up and down the stairs." Jenny pitched in. Felix and Jenny shared a look; they'd rather Danny stay with them there where it was safe than out there, where the adults could do who knows what to him.

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

It was about another week later when Danny decided it would be best for him to go back to school. He had gained somewhat of a routine; he had become friends with one of the gym's receptionist who let him in once every three days so that he could use the showers. Otherwise, he would use the public restrooms in the station, which miraculously still had running water, to brush his teeth and wash his hair in the sink. No use looking homeless, the school might suspect something was up and put him in the system, then Vlad would find him. No, thank you.

The high school had requested for him to fill in a form with all his information, though he'd have to change quite a lot of his information so not to be detected and thrown to the dogs. One of the big things he'd have to change is his name. Sure, he could keep the Daniel part, he noted that he preferred to be called Danny, but his last name he most definitely had to change. He racked his brain for a while, thinking of what he could change it to, then it came to him. He could use his mother's maiden name, Soucie. Danny Soucie, he liked the sound of that.

Then he had to fill in the location of his last school, it was easy enough to say that he was home-schooled, including the reason he was suddenly going to public school due to his parent newest jobs taking up their time, and no longer had enough time to teach him.

The next question asked for his address, somewhere to send the letters. He asked Felix about this, and he told Danny about a house nearby that allowed kids to use their address for such occasions. That was quickly filled in. Lastly, they wanted his parent's names and signatures. This is where Danny decided to be clever about it; he got Jenny and Felix to fill in those parts just so the school would see that it was different handwriting and think that it really was his parents that signed it. He allowed them to get creative with the names as long as they kept the last name.

Jenny had singed his mother's name as Florence Soucie, keeping the whole name French. In comparison, Felix had signed his father's name as Rafael Soucie. The school would probably think they were rich, pretentious snob that didn't have enough time for their son. Great. The school was going to be awesome.