Alone Together [boyxboy]

Alone Together {9}

                                                                                ***Alexis’s POV***

                I had nowhere to go, and it was cold out. My feet dragged along the road, almost hoping that a drunk driver would pass by and swerve over to hit me. Wouldn’t it be easier that way?

                I looked up and realized that I had walked to my church. The doors were shut, no doubt locked. But I let myself walk around to the back, where there was a line of trees.

                There, a statue of the Virgin Mary stood in front of a bench. I fell to my knees, staring up at the statue.

                “Why?” I whispered. How much longer could I keep going on like this? Stumbling around, picking food out of trash cans when I couldn’t find any to steal, begging for money on the streets, trying to find warm places to sleep as it got colder.

                But the Virgin Mary just looked down at me, arms spread wide. I’d always viewed it as an embracing gesture, but now she just looked wrathful.

                I nervously curled up on the bench below her, looking up. What had once looked warm and loving now looked cold and distant.

                “God doesn’t make mistakes!” my mother had yelled the night they’d disowned me.

                And if she was right, then what the hell was I doing here?

                “Alexis!”

                I looked up from my cup of hot chocolate. Ike was standing there, gripping Micah by the wrist. He released Micah’s wrist.

                “He was standing in the road,” Ike said, tossing the mail onto the table in front of me. “You’re lucky I came home when I did.”

                “Micah!” I said.

                “I was trying to get the mail! I wanted to be helpful!” Micah said, looking horribly upset. He was fighting back tears, looking down at the floor in shame.

                I pulled him onto my lap, placing a hand on his head. “Hey, don’t be upset. We’re not mad at you. Just stay out of the road, okay? You’re too short to reach the mailbox. You know it’s really tall. But thank you for trying,” I said, hugging him.

                He nuzzled his head against my shoulder. “I want to be helpful.”

                “You’re five. Five year olds aren’t helpful. They always get in the way,” Ike said, pouring himself a glass of water. “Deal with it, kid.”

                “I can be helpful!” Micah said. “I know I can!”

                “No, you can’t,” Ike said, leaning against the counter. “Five year olds are not helpful. You’re a burden. Kids are burdens. I was a burden when I was five, my little brother was a burden when he was five, and, hell, Alexis was a burden when he was five. It’s just how kids are.”

                It was rare that Ike ever mentioned his brother, who was four years younger than him. Unlike me, Ike still talked to his sibling, though rarely. His brother lived with their aunt and uncle in another state, and was still in high school.

                Honestly, it was rare that any of us mentioned our families. I may not come from the best background, but the others didn’t have it any easier. They hadn’t been kicked out like I had. In fact, Ace had run away young, and Jer, Ike, and Christian had chosen to leave their homes. But they all left for their own reasons, and those reasons had hardened them.