Treat You Better

Chapter Fifty-three: Scary Kid.

Chapter Fifty-three: Scary Kid.

Eight Years Ago

Young Angelo Sullivan was actually excited to play with the neighborhood kids for once. He'd been cooped up in Tio Damien's big hotel for two long days because of the rain, and Pedro wasn't much fun when he was sick.

Now the rain was slowed to a drizzle and the sun was peeking through grey skies, so the options had finally doubled. He definitely wasn't staying here for one more second.

"Angelito?" He heard Tia Monica call for him from his spot under the vacant reception table where he liked to hide from big, scary hotel guests, but that was not his name so he wasn't going to answer.

Soon, she was peeking under the table upside down so that her long braid dangled before his eyes.
"Angelo, there you are, wh- are you packing all this with you? You're only going down the street."

Angelo shrugged, tugging on his other rain boot and carrying his backpack which was full of all the things he needed to survive in the woods.

His Tia sighed and straightened up, "Let me see."

"No." Angelo said firmly and managed to crawl out of under the table before she got him. In the blink of an eye, he was at the revolving door.

Tia Monica sighed and waved him away, too tired and busy running things to chase after him. "If I look for anything, you'll be in trouble." She promised him.

He just pulled the hood of the raincoat over his head and pushed his way out, passing by two loud smokers and the huge power bikes they parked in the lot. The neon "Hotel Lotus" sign glowed brightly through the faint drizzle.

Angelo didn't exactly know where the neighborhood kids were, but he knew the park would be a great place to start, and if they weren't there, he'd find the woods all by himself. He didn't mind playing alone.

As it turned out, the other kids were at the park too and they were all screaming and goofing around in their raincoats without a care.

Angelo wondered if the purple girl would show up today. He didn't want her to show up, all she ever did was cry and it made him feel really weird. Bad weird.

Hale and Jason and the other boys were searching for sticks around the park while all the girls were huddled together, whispering and probably making a plan to attack them.

Jason was the first to spot Angelo and ran up to him in excitement. "Look guys, Hale's cool cousin is here!" He called before grinning at Angelo, "We're going to play freeze tag but with sticks, you want to join?"

"Actually, I'm going into the woods." Angelo said, brushing his bangs out of his eyes.

Jason gasped in awe before turning back to call at everyone. "Hey, Angelo's going into the woods you guys!"

"Really? But it's so scary there." A girl said.

"Wimp!" Lloyd laughed, pointing at her before screaming and running as she chased him with a log.

"Hey, my brother is a wilderness explorer so can I come?" Jason asked Angelo eagerly.

"Jason, I thought we were playing freeze tag!" Hale called.

"Hey let's all go to the woods!" The red haired girl with the glasses who had chased down Lloyd said.

"And do what?" Another girl asked.
Everyone looked at Angelo who nearly took a step back. He hadn't thought that far ahead yet.

"To catch... a live creature." He improvised quickly and everyone cheered and started walking toward the other end of the park.

Then they heard a small voice calling from behind them. "Wait for me! Wait up you guys!"