1.

The Little Boy 

The little boy sat in the corner, right in the one spot where he felt safe. Not that there were too many spots like that in the very small apartment he shared with his father, but the area right between the sink and the stove is where he placed himself as he watched in dreaded silence. He knew a punishment was coming soon because he had been a very bad boy. He didn’t mean for it to happen. It was just an accident. “Son of a bitch boy!” the father said as he continued to mop up the mess, “I work all day long on my fucking feet just so I can feed your sorry ass and then I have to come home to messes like this? Why do I bother?”

The boy grabbed his legs tighter into himself, hoping to create a buffer from his dad’s hateful words and gaze. “Answer me when I’m talking to you!” He said as he picked up the boy by his shirt collar in one swift motion.

“I’m sorry….it was an accident!” the boy’s voice betraying him, going from frightened to hysterical by the last syllable.

Disgusted, his father threw him back down to the ground, “Jesus Christ, don’t be such a wimp boy. I just asked you a question, no need to cry. No wonder your lousy mother left you. She probably got tired of living under the same roof with a faggot for a son.”

The little boy didn’t know what those words meant, but he knew enough to realize they weren’t good. Just like everything else that came out of his father’s mouth, those words were meant to cut through him like glass.

“I should make you do this…why am I doing this anyway!” The man growled under his breath. He threw the wet sponge at his son at that point. “I want this mess cleaned up now! And then you can get your ass into bed for the night.”

The little boy grabbed the tomato sauce stained sponge and went to work on his hands and knees cleaning the rest of the milk off of the floor. It was then that the tears started spilling from his eyes. As much as he willed himself to stay strong, he couldn’t do it. The father lost it at that point. Taking his son by the hair and dragging him into his bedroom. “Daddy stop!” The boy pleaded, placing his own small hands over his fathers, rough ones.

“I tell you to do one thing and you can’t even do that! You are useless boy! Just useless!”

He opened his son’s door and flung him inside. The little boy by instinct started to stand up but was instantly pushed back down to the ground by his father. “You stay on the floor like the rat you are!” He said, giving his son a swift kick to his side. The little boy rolled over in a fetal position in pain, trying not to cry.

“Let’s see, what can be your punishment today?” The man said as he surveyed the almost bare room. Walking past the stained mattress on the floor which masqueraded as the boy’s bed, he smiled slightly when he knew what to do. Going to the line of crates which were supposed to serve as his dresser, the dad flung the two moth eaten sweaters out of the way and took the small teddy bear that was hidden underneath.

This sent the boy right to his feet. “No dad!”

“I thought I told you to get rid of this. Only babies play with dolls!” The dad said, holding the bear in his hands.

“Please, it’s the only thing I have that Mom gave me!”

“You’re mom was a whore.” The dad said, “And to teach you a lesson, I’m taking this thing and fucking burning it, but not before I use it to mop up the rest of the God-damned milk off the floor!”

“No dad, please! That’s MINE! That bear is MINE!”

“Nothing is yours. Everything in this house belongs to me, even you. Go to bed!”

His father slammed the door shut, leaving him in the dark to cry about his loss. No supper for him that night or the next…

   2. 

The Teenager   

This was his third foster home. He had been kicked out of two prior ones for starting fights with the other kids.  “This is your new room. You’ll be sharing with Eddie, say hello Eddie.” The woman with kind eyes said to an African American kid of about ten, sitting on the bed opposite the one set aside for the teenager.

“Hello Eddie.” The kid said in return, not even looking up from the Gameboy he was playing.

The kind woman turned to the teenager and smiled, “He’s a good kid. Everyone here is. Maybe a little bit of a smart alec, but otherwise good.” She walked over and tousled Eddie’s hair as he playfully rolled his eyes at her.

The teenager nodded. He could care less about any of these people, all he wanted was his freedom and in a year, he would have it.

“Now, why don’t you get yourself settled and then come on down for dinner. It’s pizza night and maybe since you’re new here, we’ll let you choose the toppings.” She smiled once more and pat the teenager on the shoulder. He quickly took a step back. The woman’s smile disappeared.

Once the door was closed, Eddie looked up from his game, “She’s nice but she’s completely wasted right now. She never has enough money to pay for the pizza. It’s kind of embarrassing when they show up and she can’t pay them. She uses the money she gets from us to buy booze and cigarettes.”

“Whatever.” The teenager said in exchange.

“I’m just sayin’.” Eddie shrugged and went back to his game.

The teenager looked around the room. This one was only a little bit bigger then the one he had at the other home. Compared to his father’s place though, it was a mansion. He took his small duffel bag and placed it on the bed across from the video playing kid and then laid himself down. The mattress was hard, just the way he liked it.

“I heard your dad’s in jail.” The teenager closed his eyes trying to block out the kid’s words, “That’s cool. We had a guy here once whose dad was in jail for killing his mom. I’m here because my mom is a drug addict. She sobers herself up and then comes and gets me. Life is rosy for a year or so and then she gets back on the stuff again and here I am.”

The teenager opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. There was a small spider in the very corner of the wall. It seemed to be staring down at him, mocking him in some way.

“There are five of us here now. Joe is the oldest. He thinks he’s the boss of everyone. Then there’s Pete. He’s a pretty nice guy, keeps to himself mostly. Brandon is a jerk, but he’s leaving Sunday so I guess you won’t have to worry about him too much…”

The spider started to descend off of its resting place and headed down the wall. “The kid who used to live in here with me, now, he was a real winner. I’m glad he’s gone…”

The spider was halfway down the wall and suddenly stopped. The teenager sat up and took his sneaker off as Eddie continued to babble. “So, what did your dad do? How come he’s in jail?” he paused for a second, “You’re not much of a talker are you?” He asked the teenager who sat with his sneaker in hand staring at the spider as it stood stubbornly on the wall, refusing to come down any further.

“We get spiders in here all the time. They’re a pain in the ass if you ask me.”

“I didn’t ask you.” The teenager finally responded.

Eddie wasn’t sure what to say about that. He looked the teenager up and down and once again shrugged, now making his gaze go down to the small duffel bag at his new roommate’s feet. “Is that all you brought with you?”

Once again the teenager returned his gaze to the wall. “It’s cool; I barely have anything with me too. It’s best that way, some people like to steal shit. Did you bring anything good?” Eddie asked as he reached over to look inside the bag.

The teenager smiled as the spider finally started to slowly crawl down the wall again. He gripped his sneaker tightly in his hand ready to crush the thing once it got within reach.

“That poor spider doesn’t know what it’s in for huh?” Eddie said right before he felt the sneaker smack him across his face.

The teenager was on top of him then, repeatedly hitting him in the face with his sneaker as the boy screamed for help. Shielding his face with his hands, or trying to at least, he kept begging for the teenager to stop. His cries were going unanswered and soon he stopped struggling, laying limply on the floor with a small stream of blood coming out of his mouth and nose as he fell into unconsciousness.

The teenager stood up, and with one more final stroke, crushed the spider, leaving a streak of Eddie’s blood on the wall as he did so.

“No one touches my stuff. It’s mine!” The teenager said, kicking the boy and making his way out of the window and into the street.

   3. 

The Man   

The man stood there with his back against the wall, one leg up as he smoked. The hazy smog of Philadelphia was hanging in the air like foam on a glass of beer. He hated it here but here is where he ended up. Maybe he’d have a beer after he was all done with his day. He looked down at this watch. Only 9 am, he was hoping they would leave their rooms soon, before he lost his nerve. Sighing he thought back to the day before, and the stupid kid knocking into him and not even apologizing for it.

There was a crowd standing around when it happened. The man was holding a bag full of important things he needed for a job interview in this very hotel. The kid was coming around the corner with a lot of people and next thing you know his papers were flying everywhere. The blond kid didn’t even bother to look and see what happened but a few of the others did. They looked back apologetically, but no one lifted a finger to help.

“Kids today…” He grunted to himself as he put out his cigarette.

Ever since beating up Eddie all those years ago, it gave him an adrenaline rush to go after the younger ones, the ones more defenseless than himself. Now he understood why his father tortured him when he was a kid. He probably deserved it for being an ass.

Well, now it was his turn to dole out some punishment for behavior. After all, he didn’t have any kids of his own, right?

The man walked inside and waited in the hallway, just outside the rooms where he figured out they were staying. After his job interview, he couldn’t leave things alone. He had to go back and wait. So he did, he stood around the long hallway, waiting for the crowd to come back. When they finally did, there was no apology or even a hint of memory of what had happened earlier that day. The kid actually looked at him and said “Hey!” before going into the room. That’s when he knew he’d be back today to teach the kid a lesson.

When he heard the door open, he quickly turned his back to the wall as if he was going through the basket the maintenance people had left in the hallway. There were two of them, both holding towels and dressed as if they were going swimming.

“Are we sure we don’t want to invite the rest of the guys to come along?” one of them asked the other.

“Nah, we need our one on one time B!”

“We always have one on one time.” The kid referred to as ‘B’ said.

The other one, the one who rudely bumped into the man, then placed his arm over the other one’s shoulder. “Well, no one else can have you. You’re all mine!” he joked. The shorter one than ruffled up the taller one’s hair and off they walked down the long hallway and out of sight.

He wasn’t sure which room was which because yesterday they walked into one but today they walked out of the other. “Ah well,” said the man, “guess it doesn’t much matter.”

With that being said he walked over to the room the boys had just exited and jimmied the lock, allowing himself access and knowing exactly what to do.