So, I decided taking my chances out here on the streets is a much better option.
Footsteps crunch along the gravel, and I pull the only blanket I own around me even tighter to keep the person from trying to snatch it from me. I really don’t feel like fighting over this thing again tonight.
The steps grow closer, and a flashlight shines right in my face, blinding me. I hold my hand up to shield my eyes as I squint.
“What do you want?” I ask in the roughest voice possible to try to scare whoever it is.
“Holy shit! Xavier? Is that you?” A voice that sounds vaguely familiar sounds excited to discover he actually knows who I am.
Still doesn’t mean I trust them.
“Yeah. What of it?”
“Damn, man, I thought you were dead. It’s me—Cole,” the voice says.
But I still can’t see the person because of the light.
“Cole?”
“Yeah. Oh, shit. Sorry.”
He cuts the flashlight off, and soon, my eyes adjust back to the darkness.
Standing there is Cole Parker, a scrawny black kid with braids who used to sit with me at lunch from time to time. Beside him is Malakai Johnson, mostly known as Kai around the neighborhood. Kai and Cole are both in my grade, but Kai is a well-known troublemaker who runs with a local gang, and Cole is more laid-back. I never even knew the two of them were friends.
“What the hell are you guys doing here?” I ask, my voice groggy. “Don’t you two have someplace to be?”
I don’t want them here. I don’t want them asking any questions about how I ended up here. That’s something I don’t want to discuss with anybody.
Kai shrugs. “Home? What home? If you call that shithole foster house where I live a home, then you can fucking keep it. If there wasn’t already a rap sheet a mile long attached to my name—shit, man—I’d be right out here, next to you.”
I nod but then direct my attention back to Cole.
“I have a pretty good home, but I’m a rebel, and I like to break the rules.”
Kai shoves Cole’s shoulder. “You’re trippin’. You’re spoiled.”
Cole doesn’t argue. He only laughs in response. He shoves his hands deep into his front pockets. “You really don’t have any other place to go?”
I frown and shake my head. “No.”
“Is your family searching for you?”
“Definitely not.” I sigh. “The only person I’ve got is me.”
Cole whips his head in Kai’s direction and says, “You should take him to Bishop.”
Kai raises his dark eyebrows but turns his attention to me. “Slingin’ ain’t for everybody, but I know a guy who is looking to expand his crew. Once you’re in, you won’t be sleeping under bridges anymore.”
I glance up at the concrete pillars holding up the freeway where cars have been zooming over me all night long. While selling dope has never been on the top of my priority list, a warm place to stay is something I would be willing to sell my soul for right now.
“I’m in. How soon can I meet this Bishop guy?”
“Shit. I can take you to him right now,” Kai says with a smile. “Bishop is my older cousin.”
I shove myself up from the ground, and my cold, stiff legs take a minute to stretch out. Once the blood is flowing through them and I feel like I can walk without falling over, I stuff my blanket into my backpack. “Let’s go.”
I might be jumping into fire, but at this point, I really don’t give a fuck.
My eyes snap open, and I gasp. It takes a moment for me to figure out that it was just a dream because it’d felt so real. While reliving one of the lowest points in my life wasn’t exactly a nightmare, it’s not something I like to dream about.
I haven’t dreamed about that night in so long, and I have no idea what brought it on tonight, but I’ll take those dreams over the nightmares any day.
Anna’s head is resting on my shoulder as she lies on top of me on the floor of the living room. There wasn’t anywhere I could bear to sleep in this place but in the spot in the corner where I always slept when I was a kid.
She stirs and lifts her head. “You all right?”
My hand strokes her hair. “Yeah, I’m good. Go back to sleep.”
Anna’s breathing evens out, and I fight the urge to hop up and begin doing push-ups to stop myself from thinking about the times that