The barking felt like a dream but it grew louder and louder. The wet sandpaper of the lab's tongue against his cheek brought Keanu out of his sleep. Squinting like Popeye, he tries to orient himself to his surroundings. Through his blurry vision, he sees a figure in the corner, strumming quietly on a guitar. He can hear someone moving around upstairs as the smell of eggs and cigarettes permeates the air. Sitting up, he tries to remember how he ended up on the floor. He moves to his feet, stifling a yawn and running his fingers through his unkempt hair. His eyes come into focus and he shuffles his feet across the floor. The figure in the corner grows larger until he can make out Jude with the guitar, deep circles under his eyes.
"How long have you been up?" He asks.
Sheepish grin on his face, Jude replies, "Since yesterday morning, I guess."
Keanu snickers. Jude lays down his guitar. As they make their way to the stairs, they step over Jim, still stretched out on the floor with his beat-up hat pulled over his face. Following the scent of breakfast, they find themselves in the kitchen. Mindy is there, wearing the same clothes from the night before, scrambling eggs with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. She nods, acknowledging their presence. At the large kitchen island, Shane and Auggie are already seated and shoveling food into their mouths.
"So, we're going to go downtown and look around at some possible filming locations today, right? Shane, here, s'gonna show us some spots, introduce us around," Auggie starts.
Shane is staring at Jude and Keanu, still in a bit of a daze from the night before. Keanu continues to eat, eyes down toward his plate, head nodding in agreement with the conversation. Jude lights up a clove cigarette and crosses his legs at the knee.
"How old are you, can I ask? Is it okay for me to ask some things now?" The first few days on a new project are when Jude is the most eager, curious, excited to dive into what will become his new reality.
Shane, still a bit hazy, slowly bobs his head up and down. "I'm twenty-one."
"Cool. I am, too. And this is, and this is what you do?"
"I did, yeah, well, I do it still sometimes, yeah, but it's been like a year now."
"How old were you when you started? How did it start?" Jude inquires.
"Fourteen, fifteen. No, fourteen."
"How?"
"My mom, she had this boyfriend who didn't like... boys who like boys, you know, he called me shit and hit me sometimes. And my mom, she didn't really know what else to do, so I had to leave, you know? It just wasn't working with us both. And he was the one that paid for her pills, so, you know there wasn't a lot she could do, so, I left. I left."
Jude takes a long drag on his cigarette and blinks his eyes multiple times. The lack of emotion in Shane's voice as he recounts his stories of neglect and abuse is startling. It was almost like he was reading a story about someone else.
"And so, you started hustling right away?" Jude continues.
"Yeah, I mean, I had some friends downtown and they took me in and showed me the way, you know. They helped me work through it, introduced me to johns."
"What are they like? Do you like them?"
"No," Shane replies. "I mean, some of them are nice and they come back a lot, but no. You just have to kinda separate yourself from what you're doing. You name your price and your limits and you just do your job. You do your job so you can get the drugs. Then you need more drugs so you do another job," he laughs, nervously.
"Did you ever fall in love?"
"I don't know. I think once, maybe, but I haven't seen him in so long."
"With a john? Was he a regular?"
YOU ARE READING
The Beginning
Fanfiction"Come here," his voice is gentle again. She gives in, placing her small hand in his. Lifting the cloth, he sees her blood spill out from her palm. He inhales sharply through his teeth and presses the rag back down. They sit there like that for abo...
