Adopted by Phan

Chapter 1

I stepped out of the alleyway I had been using as shelter the night before and onto the bustling streets of the city. There were people everywhere, walking to work, to drop their kids at school or just out for an early morning walk. I scoffed, all the children I saw were dressed in their uptight uniform, running in front or dragging behind their parents. I never knew my parents but as far as I knew they were still alive but just didn't want their child. Their second child.

I bolted out from the alley and sprinted past everyone, ignoring the yelling and cries to stop. They all knew me if they walked this street regularly, I was there pretty much full time except when I went on a run for food or something else I needed. It might sound bad but until you get to the point where you can't rely on anyone but yourself you'll know how hard it is, especially when you're 14.

I did have friends but we didn't work together much, it was sort of a mutual friendship helping each other out when we needed it. It was especially tough in winter when no one was out on the streets and the free food vendors for homeless people were shut down. We did our best to stock pile food during the warmer months but all the food seemed to go missing over the autumn months and I thought I knew who to blame.

A half an hour passed, I was in an area that I knew like the back of my hand, it was the neighbourhood where my friends and I stole from the most because the homeowners were basically idiots, they never noticed anything missing, even clothes which we had stolen on multiple occasions. It was a pretty rich neighbourhood, a lot of them had pools and barbecues but one thing they all had was trust. A lot of them left their doors unlocked overnight, bad move.

It was our only way to survive, stealing and although it had landed some of my friends with a trip to the station and a couple of hefty fines in the past we still went back to our old ways. I hadn't got caught yet, one of the only among the street kids with that to their name but there were a good few close calls and I didn't want that again.

I ducked into a small alley between two of the houses and climbed up onto the wooden box that was beside one of the open windows. I pulled myself up onto the windowsill and ducked into the room, rolling forwards into the carpet. The room was full of people ranging from young teens to people in their 40's or 50's, who were mainly men but I wasn't judging.

"Good to see you Jay, did you have a rough time getting here?" I shook my head, I had woken up a little late because I had been sleeping out of the view of the sun and it hadn't woken me up like it normally did.

"Who's coming on a run with me later tonight, I've got some stuff to do so we need to round up at the tree by 8 tonight." There were a few hands up, mostly the older teen boys, but I rounded on a few of the quieter kids, mostly girls. On the runs I preferred to keep the quieter ones with me, less of a chance to get caught.

I chose three others, a short and skinny 14 year old girl with dark skin and bright green eyes, a taller, 16ish year old boy with curly black hair and missing his right arm and a 12 year old girl, Mia, who I had developed a close friendship with over the year she had been on the streets with me. The boy, Jax, had lost his arm when he was younger and had run away from his family, who had caused the injury and found us. The other girl, who was relatively new to the group and whose name I didn't actually know was known for her speed and almost silent footsteps, which was why I chose her.

"Meet by the tree at 8, you're not there you don't get nothing. Later everyone!" I jumped back out the window landing on my feet like a cat and rolling forwards onto the concrete, moving when someone jumped down behind me. Jax landed on his feet too, he had had a lot of practise considering he was practically born on the streets, he was only 7 when he ran away. He nodded to me and silently motioned for me to follow him and I did, I had a lot of trust in him.

He bolted down the street and I sprinted after him, veering around several corners before we got to a park with its ground covered in tall sweeping trees. We found the one we were looking for and he gave me a boost up the tree, following after I climbed up a few branches. We used the tree as a meeting spot for pretty much everything, after a run, if we needed to find someone and just in general.

I sat on one of the higher branches, I could see most of the city from where I was sitting but before I could do anything Jax grabbed me by my shoulders and pushed me forwards along the branch. I screamed and he laughed at me but I groaned and pushed him back, really annoyed because he used to do it all the time before I almost fell out of the tree. We used to sit in the tree all the time when I first came out onto the street because Jax was my support and we just wanted some time to be alone.

Eight o'clock rolled around fast, too fast if I was to be honest but I wasn't complaining. Neither Jax nor myself had had anything to eat during the day except for a few slices of bread we were given by a kid feeding the ducks in the park. The others had come to the tree about half an hour earlier and we simply sat on some of the higher branches for a while, discussing what we were going to do.

Jax took the lead after a while, he climbed down the tree first and waited for us before setting off in a steady jog down the street with us following. We were aiming for a house we had targeted before, the owners were on holiday and had left one of the upper floor windows open the week before so we had taken the opportunity to grab some food. They had a young daughter about my size in clothing so I made a mental note to grab a new jacket if she had one because mine was full of holes.

We approached the house from the back and climbed the fence, ducking into the bushes for a few minutes to catch our breaths. Jax motioned us forwards and I took a deep breath. Let's get this going.