Fights

This chapter goes into detail on Shades daily everyday life.

Chapter 2 fights

Shade left opened the schools doors for the last time and walked out. He walked down street after street until he was close to his neighborhood, the houses started to look older, the sidewalk became more jagged, and the trees became larger. The neighborhood had an eerie sense to it. It was quiet, but peaceful, and it had almost always been this way.

As Shade was walking he heard yelling down the road from where he stood. Shade’s first thought it was just some kid fooling around. He ignored it and kept walking. As he got closer, he made out what the yelling was, cries for help.

Shade sprinted to where it was coming from. He passed by an old wooden fence blocking off whatever was happening on the other side. As he turned the corner, his face fell and heart raced faster, Alexander stood over a ten year old boy who seemed paralyzed in fear on the ground.

Alexander looked up at Shade and smiled, with a dark fluid dripping down his lower lip. He held a half shattered glass bottle in his hand pointing it towards the young kid.

“Shade my old friend. I’m glad yous could join us.” Alexander laughed at him.

“Alex, your drunk, let the kid go.”

“I'm not drunk, but they are, ha ha ha” He laughed once more at him and the kid.

Shade instantly knew he was not alone with Alex and the young boy. He was grabbed from behind by two class mates of his a little taller than he was. They then tossed Shade on the ground next to the kid. The kid’s eyes were full of fear. Shade knew this was not going to end well.

“What should we do with em,” one of Alexander’s friends exclaimed.

I know exactly what we should do with this punk,” Alex coughed while he swayed and laughed, he dropped the shattered bottle and picked up the now half shattered glass bottle off the ground and threw it at him.

Shade rolled to the side just barley dodging the sharp glass bottle. His face was in the dirt and his hands were shaking thankful that Alexander had missed. But more objects were landing next to him as Alexander and his friends threw more garbage at him. Then Alexander picked up a large rock and threw it at his head.

 Shade was dazed, nothing went through his mind. The first thing that came to him was screams from the boy, he lifted a hand to make a last attempted to help, but darkness started to blur his vision and then Shade was out cold.     

When Shade awoke, it was in the late afternoon. The sun was already showing its brilliant orange colors in the western sky. Shade planted his fists into the ground and forced himself up. He felt the bloody spot on his head and was relieved that it was nothing to serious, maybe if he was lucky not even a concussion. The boy, Alexander, and his goons were gone. Shade then felt a deep pain in his stomach. He could have done nothing to help the boy ever, and he could have never taken all three of them.

He started walking home again and decided that he wouldn’t tell anyone. Everyone already knew Shade hated Alexander, and Alexander had a golden reputation literally. His family was filthy rich and they had a way of making their troubles disappear. 

Shade walked up to the front porch of the large gloomy house labeled Woodsburn Orphanage. He pushed opened the door to see Alexa Brown waiting for him there.

            “It’s almost seven o’ clock, make us dinner.” She begged in here best voice.

Shade frowned. He was in no mood to anything but rest. "Not now, I'll be down later to do it."

Alexa's sweet innocent voice changed violently, "Now! Mr. Davinson said you would while they are away visiting their son!"

Shade put his hand over his face and mumbled, "I will, I will just give me a break, I'll be back down later." 

Shade climbed up the stairs and trotted to his room. He was happy he didn't have to share a room like the other kids, since he was the oldest and he had been there almost his whole life. He closed his door behind him, jumped into his bed and then called Max with his phone.

“Hey how you doing?” asked Shade glumly.

“Oh, you know… just explaining to my parents how I probably flunked my final exams. I studied hard this time. The questions were tough.”

“You think the questions you had were tough? My questions were insane.” Shade laughed.

“Oh right, how did your test thing go?”

“Like I said, it was insane, like this one question that required me to write three pages of an explanation on how dark matter can be manipulated.”

“Did you do it?” ask Max.

“Yeah, but it took most of my time. Heck I don’t even think I was right.”

“Yeah… cause everybody knows how to manipulate dark matter. How do you think you did otherwise?”

“I don’t know, I think I did good”

“That’s great, I hope … Crap! I got to go, my dad’s home and he ain’t happy with my grades, see you later.” Max said as he hung up his phone and the line went dead.    

After Max left, Shade started playing on his phone, he would click the cookies, and he would collect them. It was an extremely repetitious game, he hated it. But in his subconscious mind, his feelings about this game were trying to tell him something about his life, it was repetitious, boring, and he hated it.

After a while he went down stairs to cook dinner. He walked down two flights of stairs to the kitchen. He sighed he looked in the fridge, then the food cabinets, then the freezer. He repeated the process several times until he realized he didn't want to spend an hour and a half making a meal for a bunch of kids. He sighed and went to the living room where the children of the orphanage gather to watch T.V. 

“Hey guys, look I’m tired” he explained to them “I really don’t feel well, you’re all seven and up. Can’t you just make P.B. & J. sandwiches for tonight, please?”

They all nodded their heads agreeing to give Shade the night, all except Alexa.

“No, I’m hungry. I’m not going to feed myself,"

“Alexa, just have a sandwich, or cereal, or something that doesn’t involve me cooking tonight,” Shade pushed, as he rubbed the bump on his head.

“Not gunna happen Shade, cook me dinner tonight or I'm gunna tell on you, and maybe it’ll convince the Davinsons to finally make you move out of this house of trash!”

All of the kids there looked at her oddly. Alexa had come to the orphanage weeks ago from a wealthy family so she tended to act spoiled. All her relatives were diseased and she was not included in her parents will when they died. She was sent to Woodsburn crying and whining, not because she missed her parents, but because she hated sharing a room. She truly believed that the world revolved around her.

Alexa hated Shade too, she thought Shade was the reason she didn't get to leave the place she hated so much. Twice in the few weeks she had been there, she had almost gone home to a new family. And twice Shade had introduced the families to other children who had been there much longer. Of course Shade had no intention of keeping Alexa from a new home, but that's not how she saw it.         

Melisa, the eldest of the girls at the orphanage, walked in front of her.

“You spoiled brat. Shade works hours on end cleaning, cooking, and studying. He doesn’t need some ten year old telling him what to do!” Melisa pushed Alexa back and stepped to the side to let Shade handle it.

Shade was glad Melisa was sticking up for him, but he had to be the “adult” he thought, he looked at Melisa. “Melisa enough, I'm seriously not up to making anything tonight, look if you really want I can put on a pot of like mac-and-cheese or something, that sound good?”

“NO! I want pasta or salmon or something worth eating!”

The pent-up stress was leaking and he couldn’t keep his cool much longer. “Look, I’m not making anything. You’ll just have to live with it.”

Alexa tightened her fists, “No you’ll have to live with it, cause when the Davinsons come home, I’m telling, not just about the food, but the time you had that girl over… Sydney.”

Shade snapped, all he wanted to do that night was find some peace after what happened that day, but now he found himself blowing up because of a ten year old child.  “OK, now you’ve done it, listen here... I'm not putting up with you any longer, starve for all I care,” Shade then went to the kitchen door and locked it with the house key. He turned to the rest of the kids and yelled “No one lets her in here tonight, got it?”

They all nodded their heads. Alexa had the worst expression a child could give. She wasn’t to be defeated so easily so she gave one more shot.

“You have to feed me or I’ll make sure you’ve been kicked out by next week or maybe even sooner!” She yelled at him.

Shade was done, He never stayed angry for too long any ways and he wasn’t up for more arguing, his head was throbbing, and he felt light headed. “Oh well, at least I’m away from you and then who will put up with you?” He stared at the fourteen other kids hoping they won’t say “I will”, but none of them did. Alexa realized she had been defeated when she looked up at the other children and they were all giving her a nasty glare. “You know what, I’m ordering pizza with the last of my money,” Shade said, “What do you guys want, except Alexa, on your pizza?”

The rest of the kids ran into the kitchen followed by Shade leaving Alexa there alone. She had that personality where she had to win and that meant at everything. She held her fist tight, pondered on how angry and embarrassed she was. Everyone else was mad at her, how was she supposed to be the best around if Shade got in her way? “Shade, you’ll be out of here soon, mark my words.” Alexa said in a quiet whisper.  

Author's Note

please feel free to criticize my work ;)