Are We Lost? Chapter 1

The freezing rain pelted down on the tin roof of the bus shelter.  The street lights had just flickered on, illuminating the deserted sidewalks and casting an eerie shadow across the silent road. The winds screamed with a ferocious pitch. The two young occupants of the measly shelter leaned back into its protection as they wept. They wept over their lives. They wept over their troubles and their pain. The boys, only thirteen, wept away the sorrows equal to those of an old, dying man. The scene was painted in gloom and grey. Frozen in the middle of time itself, in the middle of space itself, it was as if the world itself was still. Yet the world was not still. It did not care for the two boys. It did not offer them peace, love or happiness. The world had shunned them their entire lives. These were forgotten children; fallen, trampled and lost.



The two poor souls in the bus shelter were the lost souls of society, the lost souls of humanity and of the corporate, capitalist civilization; which is what most blindly name it. Civilization. The evolution of democracy and of capitalism. These two boys knew nothing of the cause of their descent into their state of hopelessness. They knew not of the motives of the high-ranking politicians, the dream of success in the hearts of the greater population. These boys lived in the shadows of the greater plan.



The hooded boy, Luke, wept over the death of his mother. He wept over his short, yet horrific life. He thought of Ivory, his first real friend, and of the torture and suffering which it brought. Luke tried to think of something that he loved, his sister Susan. She was his crown. He thought of how her long black hair whipped in the wind when they ran to the mailbox, and how she would always beat him there. And as he remembered all this, his mind again slowly slipped into the darkness…



Aaron, the other boy, wore baggy tracksuit pants and a shirt. His body heaved with the cold. With nothing but the clothes on his back, he wept over everything he could remember. He wept over his family, his friends, and the life he thought he had.

They sat in the protection of that bus shelter, in the middle of that deserted city street, while the world passed by and left them, sitting in the void of their lives.

Luke spoke, and as he did everything stopped. The heavy rain and the gushing wind fell silent as if waiting for the answer to Luke’s question. This question was one both young boys dreaded, both would ignore whenever possible. The boys had slept in this bus shelter on many occasions, and knew that they would need to go before the next bus arrived. Luke wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at Aaron.

“Are we lost?”

…..



Luke Riley awoke to the sound of his alarm. As he opened his tired eyes and stared at the unwelcoming digital clock, he slowly remembered his plans for the day. He dragged himself off the bottom bunk and picked up his school clothes off the messy floor. His bedroom was tiny, the paint peeling of the wall. ‘I never liked that colour’ he remembered his mother saying. As he stepped over his brother, laying on the mattress on the floor, he quickly put on the grotty clothes and walked into his parent’s room. His mother, Helen, was in an alcohol-induced slumber which Luke was sure she wouldn’t awaken from until lunchtime. He could smell vomit mixed with stale perfume, and held his breath as he walked around his mother’s decrepit bed to the air mattress beside it. Glancing around the room, Luke noticed that his step-father Graham, was once again not home. Shaking the thought of the old man, Luke squatted next to the air mattress and shook the shoulders of his six year old sister Susan.

“Sue, Sue. Wake up Sue” Luke whispered until finally she moved.

“Wha’ you wan’ Luke”

“School time Sue. We gonna be late”

Sue yawned, revealing her crooked teeth. She pushed Luke away and rolled over. He quickly left the room to find her school clothes. The sun shone through the kitchen windows, revealing the mass of dirty dishes. The boy grabbed a clean-looking glass and filled it with tap water. Gasping, he drank the liquid as quickly as he could.

Susan soon walked out of the bedroom and headed straight into the little area of the house where the TV was.

“Where’s ma’ school clothes Luke” she mumbled, her words all slurring into each other. Luke brought them in and turned the old analogue television on. Leaving Sue to watch the morning cartoons, Luke left the room to ready them both for school. Greg was taller than the other two children. Although he was only a year older than Luke, Greg was always the boss. His olive skin, black hair and strong eyes set him apart from the rest of the family. He was always trying to improve the 2-bedroom house which was constantly falling apart around them. Last summer, he tried painting the ceiling in the lounge room, until he fell off the ladder and through the thin layer of plaster separating the room from his parents. Luke still remembered how they had laughed until their sides hurt.

Now, Greg had woken up and changed the channel.

“Hey!” Luke heard Sue cry. The only response from Greg was a grunt.

“Greg! Leave her alone” Luke’s voice started rising.

“Your gonna be late” Greg retorted. Luke ignored the sarcastic remark and took the hand of his sister. They left for school just as Greg changed the channel back to cartoons, with Mickey Mouse packing a picnic basket.

Luke was late, and as he rushed into his class, he found a new girl in his assigned seat. She was pretty, with stunning blue eyes and her auburn hair framing her delicate features.

“Hello” the girl said. “Hi” was Luke’s response, uttered quietly as he tried to regain his breath and composure. “I’m Ivory, and you’re blushing” She said sweetly, just loud enough so if he wasn’t, Luke sure was blushing now. Mr Herman, their 7th grade teacher made his way over to the two of them. “Luke, I see you’ve met Ivory. This is her first day. You can take the seat next to Josie.”

Luke bumped into every table as he made his way to his new table. Once seated, he glanced at this new girl Ivory, meeting her eyes. They held for just a moment, but that was all it took. Luke was in love.