Little Red

  "Reki my mom's here!" a boy shouted from below Reki. Rekis gaze darted underneath him where his friend was looking up at him with his skateboard clutched in his hand. Reki jumped off the ramp landing steadily on his feet and flashed him a grin "I'll see you tomorrow!" Reki outstretched his hand and his friend slapped it back.

 "Yeah, see ya." 

Reki sighed and threw his head back, the sun was already starting to set. "I'm not going to go home just yet.." 

He picked up his skateboard off his ground and held it under his arms as he wandered out of the skatepark. He walked on the edge of the sidewalk, the cars blared past him noisily as he walked. His stomach growled loudly as if it were trying to announce his hunger to the whole world. He clutched at his stomach in an attempt to numb the dull pain of hunger. His eyes lit up when he turned the corner. "There it is."

His pace quickened as he drew close to a familiar restaurant, the Sia La Luce. He could already smell the food making his mouth water dangerously. He shuffled into the ally and peeked into the trashcan. Every day at 8 the owner throws away food that didn't sell or leftovers and Reki would collect his fair share. He frowned deeply as he peered deeper, the trashcan was empty. "Was he early?"  He stuck his head in deeper desperate to find one thing that could take an edge off of his hunger. 

"Hey kid!" a booming voice startled him almost causing him to fall into the trashcan. He tumbled back and fell on his back his eyes flashed up in fear. 

"What do you think you're doing?" the man said lowly. He wore a chef's hat and an apron. Rekis eyes widened in realization and scrambled to get up. "It's the owner!" Rekis breath quickened. He glanced up at the man who was staring at him he held a platter of uneaten dishes in his hand. "I need that food."  the biting pain of hunger cut off his train of thought. 

"Are you-" Joe was cut off, Reki sprawled up and snatched a plate of food from Joe, pieces of food fell off as he ran away. 

"I'm so stupid!" Reki sprinted away and held the plate of food close to his chest. He didn't dare look back if the owner was chasing him he might die before starvation could get to him. After a good while of running, he stopped at a park bench set down the food, and collapsed onto the bench. Reki tried to catch his breath and wiped the sweat off of his brow. His sides burned and his body felt heavy. "Running on an empty stomach isn't ideal." he grimaced. He picked up the dish of food, it was a half-eaten dish of chicken alfredo. Reki didn't have the luxury of a fork so he grabbed a handful of noodles. He couldn't care less how he looked right now, the feeling of food slipping into his stomach was heavenly. The plate was emptied in seconds, and Reki scraped the plate clean. Although the food helped with the pain his stomach still felt empty. He couldn't do anything but accept it, the sky was now dark. "Moms going to bed mad."  

He thought about just sleeping on the bench but a group of men smoking a couple feet behind him changed his mind quickly. He rode his skateboard down the street, it wasn't a long ride till he pulled up to a motel. The paint used to be a bright purple and yellow but now it faded into a murky brown and dirty purple. He walked up the steps to the second floor, his feet were sluggish. 

A door flew open right in front of his face causing him to stumble backwards. "Go fuck yourself!" she screamed shrilly and threw something inside the room. 

"You psycho!" A man's voice screamed back, but before the woman could throw anything else the door slammed shut 

"Don't even think about coming back! The man snarled from inside. The woman let out a huff and shoved past Reki harshly.