Runaway by Pete Bertino - HTML preview

RUNAWAY

BY

PETE BERTINO

THIS STORY IS COPYRIGHT PROTECTED

10/21/2025 PETER JAMES BERTINO AUTHOR;

AND MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT

PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR

1 RUNAWAY

Lucky jimmied the blade of his pocket knife between the door and the door jam looking first south then north of South 18th street. It was a residential street filled with row homes on the opposite side of the street. It was late and their living room windows were dark, Lucky swallowed as he glanced at his friend Joel who looked too small for his thrift store hoody and black high tops.

 

"You're sure the alarm is fried too?" Lucky asked his friend Joel.

 

Lucky was tall with a Mohawk like streak running across his dark hair that had been bleached and colored green. He had eyes like Johnny Depp according to their mutual friend Natalie. At 16 Lucky had been arrested once and didn't want to repeat the experience.

 

"Yeah, man. Marco said so, they couldn't even open today because the water in the store's basement reached the circuit breaker."

 

Joel was a short and scrawny 15 year old with light brown hair and what Natalie called puppy dog eyes. Marco was Joel's stepfather, despite him being a psycho asshole, he had connections and wasn't known for talking shit. As a matter of fact Marco hated liars, Joel had lied to Marco once about something having to do with his report card back during their elementary school days so Marco put a cigarette out on the back of Joel's neck, he still had the little circular scar on the nape of his neck. Joel eventually dropped out of school by the time he was a high school freshman, not long after his mom died from a heroin overdose.

 

Lucky jimmied the blade and jiggled the steel knob which was frosty white in the January night air. The blade was short, it went to the hilt before he heard a snick and the knob lost resistance and the door opened. They sighed at the warm air rushing at them, then hurried in and shut the door.

 

"Okay," said Joel excitedly. "what do we go for?"

 

"Fill the duffel bag with Camels, Benson & Hedges, Newports, none of the cheap brands or....oh shit!" Lucky shouted.

 

"Dude take a chill pill did ya forget about the mirror." said Joel, who was waving to show it was just his reflection standing behind the counter.

 

"Shit, I forgot about that fuckin thing" said Lucky with a loud sigh as he doubled over exaggerating the need for breath. "I thought it was the cops or maybe the owner."

 

"What's the deal with the mirror anyway?"

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"It's a two mirror like you see on cop shows during an interrogation scene, the owner can scratch his balls while he watches for shoplifters but everyone on the other side sees their reflection."

 

It wasn't a very big store, it was a newsstand with an excessive variety of cigarettes and sports magazines. On the wall behind them was a four foot tall display rack filled with magazines and newspapers not just from here in Philly but from cities in Delaware, New Jersey, they even got in copies of the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Lucky went over to the magazine rack to see all the eyes gazing at him. The Spice Girls covered Vogue magazine while below that TV Guide did a memorial on their cover for the recently departed Sonny Bono. 'Deadly Secrets Go To Grave' declared The Daily News in bold font beside a Time magazine cover of Jerry Seinfeld smirking.

 

"Probably smiling from all that high school pussy." Lucky said.

 

"Huh?"

 

"Nothing."

 

He and Joel had come in here on occasion because they had snacks and a cooler filled with cans of Frank's soda, every flavor, for only fifty cents each. In the corners of the store were surveillance cameras that had little red bulbs at the top of their eggshell colored rectangular housing that were normally lit up bright enough to be seen from outside but were currently unlit. The cameras were not working.

 

In less than ten minutes they had both duffel bags filled. Joel's bag was so heavy he had to remove a half dozen cartons before he was able to lift it. Lucky closed the door behind them and they walked north on 18th street quickly.

 

"Should we run, man? I feel like we should run." asked Joel.

 

"Fuck no, just walk quick like you gotta take a shit."

 

"Yeah okay man no problem," Joel said with a bead of sweat dripping down his right temple. "I feel like I gotta take a dump anyway."

 

"Your adrenaline is pumping through your body, that's why you feel like shitting. Plus you're scared."

 

"I ain't scared, I ain't no bitch." Joel said harshly between pants.

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"Shit I am." said Lucky without shame.

 

"Really? I guess I am a little."

 

"Dude, I wasn't trying to fuck with ya, ya know. It's okay to be scared."

 

"I said I am a little," Joel said with an eye roll. "quit making me sound like I was bitchin or somethin."

 

"Why are you pissed?"

 

"I'm not pissed, I'm just outta breath from carrying this heavy ass jawn."

 

There were cars occasionally passing them by but the drivers never saw the boys carrying duffels filled with thousands of dollars of cigarettes. The only place to take the stash was at Marco's house on Tree street, where Joel was sometimes allowed to sleep. Lucky knew since Joel's mom had overdosed Marco had kicked Joel out like a dozen times and always for some dumb thing like forgetting to take out the trash or taking too long in the bathroom.

 

Lucky asked if Joel was aware that the kind of shit being done to him was criminal and told him to call the cops or something. Joel, who had been through the foster system a couple of times when his mom had visited rehab before she got with Marco, told Lucky in a somber voice: 'I don't have any family man I'd have to go back into the system, there's things worse than Marco out there.' Lucky never asked him to elaborate.

 

18th street went on north for miles and miles, as did Tree street from east to west. The dark brick house sitting on the corner of 1800 Tree street looked lonely, dark and quiet, Marco's black IROC-Z was nowhere to be seen.

 

"Fuckin a man he's not home." Joel said.

 

"Please tell me you have your key."

 

"Of course I got my key."

 

They were both hot and exhausted, the short walk with the heavy bags left them drenched in sweat which made them feel clammy when a stiff January wind rolled down the street. They lugged the bags to the house and nearly collapsed on the front stoop. They took the bags inside and upstairs to Joel's back bedroom. It was small but had a dresser and bed and walls covered in movie posters, lots

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of them. Return Of The Living Dead 3, Red Sonja, The Goonies, The Outsiders, during his mom's longest stint with sobriety she had worked at a video rental store called Hollywood Knights on 15th street and was always bringing him home posters.

 

Between a poster of the movie Tremors and Back To The Future 2 was his dresser with his Sony Boombox on top tuned to WMMR, Stone Temple Pilots was playing as they sat with the many stacks of cigarette cartons surrounding them.

 

"Man, we're gonna make a lot of green." Joel said excitedly.

 

"You know we gotta wait a few weeks before we can start selling them."

 

"Not if we sell them in a different neighborhood. Marco told me about that kind of shit." Joel said emphatically

 

"You really wanna take advice from that asshole?"

 

"Not usually but he's never been to jail and I've seen some of the shit he's into man. You don't wanna know."

 

"Yeah, right." Lucky said.

 

"I'm serious dude." Joel said with a tired shrug.

 

Lucky was just breaking balls as per South Philly tradition for best friends because he knew Marco carried a gun and had eyed Marco and his friends cutting powder on the living room coffee table. Sometimes he had guys with him that carried a gun and dressed sharply like henchmen in a Steven Seagal movie. Lucky was sure one of the guys Marco hung with was in the Letuzzi crime family.

 

"Alright man unless you wanna rent a U-Haul to move this shit we gotta hide it before Marco sees it." said Lucky.

 

"He's never here on Saturday night's." said Joel.

 

"Yeah no, I know dude but what if he stops in to like pick something up or plow a chick or whatever ya know."

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Joel gave him a brief glance then looked at the walls built by cigarette cartons that surrounded him.

 

"Yeah, okay."

 

They were able to put most of them in the closet, hiding them under laundry that was mostly unwashed black Tshirts, socks, boxer shorts, numerous pairs of jeans and black cargo pants. While doing that they decided to fill a backpack with packs of cigarettes and go to South street next Saturday and sell loosies to the dorky kids from Northeast Philly that were always coming up and asking him and Joel where they could score some weed. Before long only six cartons remained, they sat on the bed next to Joel who was sitting beside them with Lucky sitting on the floor across from him. The radio played 'Thunder Kiss' 65' when Joel's bedroom door opened suddenly, Marco stood there looking fierce.

 

He was taller than Lucky by a good six inches, from the floor he looked twenty feet tall but he was too afraid to stand up. Joel, who was already frail looking and tiny, amazingly appeared to shrink. Marco had eyes like Tony Montana as Nat said and always following it up with 'and not in a good way' he was lean looking in his black dress shirt with a thin gold herringbone chain on his neck, a slight belly protruded over his silver belt buckle that held up a pair of designer slacks.

 

His face was narrow and he always appeared to be scowling, his shadowy beard was as black as midnight and was impeccably trimmed. His pants swished as strode towards Joel and snatched one of the cigarette cartons. It was a Marlboro king sized, Marco eyed it then looked at Joel for a good five seconds before he spoke.

 

"Where did you get these?"

 

"We got'em...." said Lucky before Marco snapped his fingers, silencing him.

 

Joel was quiet until Marco gave him a swift slap on his cheek which made Joel cry out the word fuck and Lucky flinch back.

 

"Don't fuckin lie to me. I got enough people selling me bullshit. Tell me how you got the fuckin smokes."

 

"We lifted them from behind the Pathmark in Whitman Plaza." Joel said in a swallow.

 

"Behind the Pathmark?" Marco said, perhaps dubiously.

 

Joel was lying because Marco would take all the cigarettes and then beat his ass. Lucky knew Joel found out about the newsstand having electrical issues because he had eavesdropped on Marco

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talking to one of his homies in the house about it when he was supposed to be out of the house. Lucky felt that intuition of his start to gnaw at him suddenly as Joel struggled to explain.

 

"Yeah, Marco for real, we were smacking around that Raggitelli kid that lives down the block cause he owed me money..."

 

"How much?" asked Marco looking at Lucky with a steady glare.

 

"Like a hundred bucks, he broke my Game Boy and his mom works there. She sells cigarettes in that little area where you get the money orders and scratch tickets."

 

"I told him to grab us some cigarettes or we'd beat him up." Joel said.

 

Marco watched Joel who then shrugged but said nothing else. He took three of the cartons for himself then looked over at Lucky.

 

"What the fuck are you supposed to be, the Joker?"

 

"Oh I, I uh-uh-um....."

 

Marco left the room before Lucky could finish stuttering out his response.

 

"Sorry." Joel said sheepishly while he rubbed his sore cheek.

 

"Hey man I'm sorry you have to live with that dildo."

 

Lucky had only taken on this hairstyle recently and almost every response to it so far had been jarringly negative. Some people had words more vulgar than Marco could have uttered, like Aunt Karen who said he looked like a faggot. One person said they liked the choice in color. Brea. It was a short name, but it was often bouncing around his mind, whenever it did that dumb song 'Kiss Me' would start playing in his head and he hated that song, well not really.

 

Still though Lucky wanted to associate Brea with a much cooler song. Not shit like Savage Garden or Mariah Carey that Carson Daly is always showing on TRL. Something like Cyndi Lauper or maybe The Cure. The lyrics 'I promise that I'll run away with you, I'll run away with you' went through his head.

 

"Why are you smiling like a dumb ass?" asked Joel.

7 RUNAWAY

"Huh? Oh I was just remembering what a pussy you are."

 

"We are what we eat. You wanna go to the 7-11 on Broad and Wolf and get a Slurpee?"

 

"Dude it's like twenty fuckin degrees out and we gotta meet Nat at Penrose Diner."

 

Joel sat on his bed unmoved, with his chin resting on his knees, his cheeks were white and pallid. He looked like the typical goth kid except he was more into hard rock and techno music. He looked like he had a skinny malnourished body but he was only skinny because he hardly ate, which was not by choice and he could dance for hours to European Techno at a rave, definitely his choice. He smoked pot and would on occasion Ecstasy but because of his mom he didn't get too crazy with either.

 

"Come on man, she's got a bus to catch."

 

Joel looked up at his friend and gave an exacerbated shrug and just led the way out of the house. It was busy in the diner, they had a fight with the hostess when they went to a table because she saw two teenage boys with a street walker, which was Nat who had met them there and called the hostess a cunt and tried to throw a glass pitcher filled with ice water at the woman.

 

"If you get locked up you're done," said Lucky. "you're 18 now. An adult."

 

They left the diner and went to the subway, taking the orange line train on Broad street north bound to Market street. They got off the train and went up the steps where a Gyro food cart sat on Market street. They ate their Greek Hoagies next to The Wanamaker building looking out at City Hall. Its clock faces were gold and bright, above that atop the building stood William Penn gazing over the city.

 

About a quarter way down the block was the entrance to the Wanamaker building where a doorman in a dark blue uniform with a peaked cap would come outside every so often to watch them for a few minutes before going back inside, it was annoying but they ignored him. They were sharing a liter bottle of Mountain Dew since the Gyro guy didn't have any more twenty ounce bottles.

 

"Why did you take all that shit to Marco's?" asked Nat.

 

Nat was a tall petite blond and wore her make up like Debbie Harry tonight which was probably what set off the hostess in the diner, but she wasn't afraid to fight and had once or twice gotten into fist fights with boys in the neighborhood that had called her names. She was what some of the other kids they hung with would have called a babe. Lucky heard his Aunt Karen say in her insufferably

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cunty tone (Nat's phrasing) 'it must be nice when you have tits like that' and told Lucky on numerous occasions she was a skank for hanging out with boys like him and Joel.

 

Not anymore she didn't Lucky had to remind himself, Joel looked pallid but unmoved by Nat's permanent departure from South Philly. She carried a backpack and was dressed in her usual tomboyish way, cargo pants, faded black hoody and wool beanie on her head but Lucky knew she hated wearing that hat because it fucks up her hair.

 

"Because there was no room at the fuckin beach house." said Joel with his arms up in the air in defeat.

 

"It was the closest place Nat. What do you want from us?" asked Lucky, who was just as annoyed by Nat's dumb question.

 

She was a tough girl but Lucky knew even his mom who always thought the best of everyone would have said Nat was an airhead. Lucky heard his Aunt Karen say in her usual tone that Nat was gonna make some asshole go mad or broke over those brains. Aunt Karen didn't like Joel either, shit Aunt Karen didn't like him. She was his mom's half sister who was the only living relative in his family after his mom died and Aunt Karen resented Lucky deeply for the burden of being stuck with him. She was as anxious to kick him out of her house as Marco was about Joel.

 

"Well if he finds those cigarettes he's gonna know you lied." said Nat.

 

"Yes I know Nat." Joel said harshly.

 

"I'll be back in the Summer."

 

"Whatever." said Joel.

 

Natalie rolled her eyes and got off the cold concrete while taking a swig of Mountain Dew.

 

"God my ass hurts from sitting on the cold ground." she said, rubbing her backside.

 

"You know that can cause hemorrhoids, sitting on a cold floor." said Joel rolling the foil wrap of his sandwich into a lopsided ball.

 

"I thought only old people got hemorrhoids." said Nat.

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"No." said Joel.

 

The three of them were silent, the only sound was a Septa bus, its engine loudly thrumming as it turned along East Penn Square in front of them. The exhaust left in its departure made Lucky feel a little queasy so he stood up and took a deep breath of cold air. Joel was still sitting with his back against a column of the Wanamaker building, the doorman was out again watching them closely.

 

"So are you really gonna keep dying your hair green?" asked Nat.

 

"Why do you keep asking?"

 

"Because it doesn't look good. If you just bleached all of it and put in orange Manic Panic, spike it, now that would look hot."

 

"I like the green Lucky."

 

"Thanks man."

 

Another bus rolled by emitting more noxious fumes. Lucky was grateful to be standing.

 

"Are you guys gonna walk me to the bus station?" asked Nat.

 

"Why?" asked Joel but he was smiling when he said it.

 

"Because I bought dinner that's why." she said walking over to him to give him a hand getting off the ground.

 

"I guess." said Joel, when he was up he tossed the foil ball at a nearby trash can but missed.

 

Before the foil ball hit the ground the doorman was yelling at them.

 

"Hey pick that up!" he said in a booming voice marching over, glaring at them like Patton might have glared at North Africa.

 

"Relax Captain Crunch," said Joel. "I was gonna."

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"Just get the hell out of here before I call the cops!"

 

They walked to the Greyhound station on Filbert street a few blocks away where Natalie was catching the bus to Atlantic city. It was cold and the inside of the station was packed with not just riders and people saying goodbye but also a high number of homeless people trying to escape the cold and taking up most of the seats inside and a good portion of the floor.

 

"Fuck that place is packed. When's your bus leaving?" asked Joel.

 

"9:30 but I have to be in the terminal a half hour before departure."

 

Lucky looked at his wristwatch and saw it was almost nine. Lucky cleared this throat as Joel sighed tiredly, Nat smiled but it was sad and her eyes were a little glassy. She hugged Lucky first, giving him a kiss on the lips that was somewhere between friendly and romantic but it was always hard to tell with Natalie. She hugged Joel longer and gave him a sisterly kiss on the cheek that actually put a smile on his face.

 

Nat walked up the steps to the glass double doors and stopped to turn back and wave. Her eyes were dry and her smile was bigger, she was excited to leave. That 9:30 bus wasn't just taking her to New Jersey, it was taking her to a new, better life. She waved, Lucky and Joel waved back, she turned and got lost in a crowd of people heading into the terminal.

 

By the time Nat's bus pulled out, Lucky and Joel were sitting on a bench in Washington Square park facing a fountain sitting in the center of a circular courtyard, the fountain was empty of water during the Winter. Lucky liked coming to this park during the Spring when the fountain is full with a spout shooting water in the air and the smell of Cherry Blossoms was everywhere. Joel thought this park was bad ass because underneath was a mass grave of unknown soldiers from the American Revolution. Joel believed in ghosts and thought this park was the kind of place you might see one.

 

Joel believed in all kinds of shit. He told Lucky he believed in magic too but he wasn't sure how serious he was being. They had been watching some crazy ass movie with Tom Cruise where there were monsters and fairies, there was a princess and he got into a sword fight with the devil and he was helping these weird ass munchkin looking people save a unicorn. The movie was really wild and their conversation about magic had felt surreal but only because they had been smoking a big blunt at the time. They sat quietly on the bench with a full moon lighting up what the park lights missed.

 

"You think she'll be happy in A. C.?" asked Lucky.

 

"I dunno. I don't care."

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"You really don't care?"

 

Joel was silent for a moment before answering.

 

"She doesn't care. I mean about sticking around here with us."

 

Lucky was about to speak but Joel stopped him.

 

"I know and I get it, she's 18 now. Nat's an adult so she can't chill on the corner with us or look out for the cops when we're stealing hood ornaments and rims. She's got an aunt working at Trump Plaza that got her in to be a Black Jack dealer, your Aunt tried to stab you when she caught you with your hand up Nat's shirt and shit you've seen what Marco's done to me. I'm not jealous of Nat having a family that cares, I just hate that it means I have to lose a friend because of it.

 

"I hope she'll be happy, I mean that. I just wish she understood it's not always like that for everybody. She asked why we went to Marco's because she doesn't want me to get beat up but she doesn't understand Marco is all I have. She has a grandmother on Moyamensing avenue her Aunt and cousin Alicia in A.C. an Aunt and Uncle with 4 or 5 cousins on 2nd street that would bust a guys head open if they messed with Nat. She had a graduation party last Summer, she got a CD Walkman for Christmas and tickets to see Metallica for her birthday, she doesn't know what it's like to wake up to nothing for Christmas or mom forgetting your birthday because she's strung out on heroin.

 

"Shit nobody in her family would have let her drop outta school. Fuck Marco said he didn't care when I asked to drop out. It's not like my grades were bad."

 

Lucky knew that was true. They went to the same high school, Bok Technical and he saw one of Joel's last report cards and he had B's, an A in American Lit, and a C in Geometry. Lucky recalled his own report card from a week ago which was mostly Cs, a B in Construction Trades and a D in Geometry.

 

"Marco doesn't give a shit about me, your Aunt Karen doesn't give a shit about you. We do crazy shit to survive, she did it because it was fun and she wanted to upset her Grammy." Joel said the word Grammy with an eye roll."

 

"Yeah I know."

 

"I really wish she could have stayed but I know she wasn't happy living here. I'm not either and I don't mean living with Marco I mean living here, in this neighborhood. It feels like everyone in this city is pissed off about something, maybe it's cause the Eagles never won a Super Bowl or that there's more cars than parking spaces in the neighborhood. I dunno, I'm just gonna worry about

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having a place to sleep at night." Joel said quietly as he wiped a tear from his eye with the sleeve of his hoody.

 

"I wish my mom were still alive. She would have had you come live with us."

 

"I know man."

 

They'd been friends since kindergarten and there had been many nights Lucky's mom had Joel stay for dinner, given him left overs afterwards or had him sleep over when his own mom was on a bender even if it was a school night. They sat quietly as a wind shook the park's skeletal trees and whistled as it went over the lips of the spout of the dry fountain.

 

"What's up my honkies?" said a voice that was familiar to them.

 

It was their friend Dax who lived in a hick town not too far from the city called Porter. He was a high schooler with long chestnut hair and a scraggly goatee and wore a black pullover hoody with the Flyers logo on the chest. The hoody was so sun washed the black hoody was now burnt orange. He sold pot and magic mushrooms, they knew him through Nat and her cousin Alicia.

 

"Yo what's up?" said Joel.

 

"Hey Dax."

 

"Youse guys wanna go to a party tonight?" asked Dax.

 

"What up your way?" asked Joel.

 

"Yeah man."

 

"How we getting there? We don't have a car." said Lucky calmly, though he was filled with excitement.

 

"Shit man I got a car that's how I got into Philly tonight. I needed to pick up some herbage."

 

"Will your Aunt Karen care if you're home late?" asked Joel.

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"Nah, it's not a school night and she's not gonna interrupt her weekend bar hopping to worry about where I'm at."

 

"So you guys down?"

 

"Yeah just don't get pulled over if you're carrying." said Lucky.

 

"Shit man no worries."

 

Joel sat in the back since Lucky called shotgun but Dax and Joel talked most of the trip while the car's stereo cassette played The Replacements. He was thinking about Brea, hoping he'd see her tonight. He had a feeling he would see her at this party. Dax would throw parties once or twice a month in the woods up around his way where there was an abandoned trailer.

 

If it was cold he would just build a fire in the front yard to keep warm and to city guys like him and Joel that sounded crazy. They were used to standing on the corner in shadows drinking either a forty of Olde E or Colt 45 keeping an eye out for the seemingly unlimited cop cars patrolling the neighborhood but the kids living up there in that mountain town had an entire forest to hide in and according to Dax Porter had only a couple of patrol cars with only a few officers and that the townies had to sometimes call the state police when there was an emergency.

 

Dax noticed during the last year or two the police in Porter would more often than not ignore the house parties and bonfires being thrown as long as they didn't get too crazy, so he started throwing his own parties inviting close friends and people he sold his product to, sure it was outside but you could lay out thick blankets to sit on and star watch or fire watch or just talk while you got a buzz going. There were never too many people there and it was mostly a changing cast of people that knew each other in a 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon kind of way but with Dax instead of Mr Bacon.

 

One person that had been there every time Lucky had been there was Brea. It was last Spring when he first saw her sitting on a lawn chair, the sun was setting and the sky was pink. He saw her hair and thought of honey and red apples in Autumn, she was short with a curvy body that made his heart race. Nat said she had eyes like Julia Roberts, Lucky couldn't remember what the actress looked like but he remembered Brea's eyes sparkled when they met his. She had been wearing a simple gray hoody and jeans but Lucky thought she looked beautiful.

 

It was only twenty minutes after he, Joel and Nat had arrived that he went over to talk to her. He didn't gush over her or act like some neighborhood douche on the corner, he simply smiled and said hi and they talked for two hours while they nursed bottles of Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers. They were unlike conversations he ever had with anyone ever before.

 

They didn't talk about anything special, some of it stuff he talked to Joel and Nat about. She was from the country and when he told her he was from Philly she said she thought she had a friend

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from Philly but she'd have to ask. They shared a love for classic rock and books. Her laugh was sweet and sounded musical.

 

Every time they talked it was an interesting and deep conversation. The last thing they talked about was something Joel had asked him about when they watched that Tom Cruise movie. It started when she asked him how he got his name and he told her his birth name was Aidan and Lucky was actually a nickname his mom gave him.

 

"She worked in this dentist office downtown doing the appointments and stuff like that before she got sick, anyway every week during Eagles season her office had football pools. It's just a piece a paper with a list of games being played that week, you paid a dollar and picked who you thought would win. One time she gave me hers and just for fun she said I could pick a game, so I did."

 

"Did your team win?" Brea asked him with a smile that made his heart race.

 

"Yeah. I won two bucks, a few weeks later she got her income tax return and we went out to this ice cream shop in my neighborhood called Millie's for burgers and ice cream. We took the check to the counter and they had a display area with scratch lotto tickets and while she was paying she looked over at the tickets and said 'which one's the big winner kid, we'll retire and move to Hawaii' and I didn't even think I just looked and said that one, I think it was a Monopoly scratch ticket, it was only a buck or two so she got us each one to scratch."

 

"Did you win?"

 

"A dollar." he said with a twinkle in his eye.

 

"Still a winner." she said, patting him on the shoulder which felt electric to him.

 

"So was mom's, hers was a thousand dollar winner."

 

"That's wonderful."

 

"I'll say. She was able to get a car and she bought me an NES for my 8th birthday. She signed my birthday card Lucky."

 

"Life can be magical sometimes don't you think?" she asked.

 

"Maybe. But what if it's all just coincidence?"

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"Do you believe in magic?" she asked.

 

"I dunno. I'm not sure what I believe in."

 

"You should always keep an open mind." she said.

 

Their conversations were joyful to him no matter the subject, Lucky always felt a click whenever he was with her. Without a doubt Brea was an awesome, knowledgeable and attractive (very attractive) woman that had what Dax would call positive energy or chill vibes. Joel had talked to her a few times and had said she was really cool.

 

Did he believe in magic? He didn't believe in God, or heaven and hell or whatever. Didn't stuff like miracles just translate from the word magic in some languages? He was pretty sure he'd heard that in a language class in school or something. His mom said he was lucky and he just kind of accepted it like a boy does when his mom says he's the most handsome boy in school, you don't really believe it and are embarrassed by it but you kind of accept what she's saying because you love your mom and don't want to hurt her feelings by disagreeing.

 

Lucky opened his mind while sitting in the front seat of Dax's Corolla. He couldn't say he believed in magic but maybe luck. He thought back earlier tonight when he and Joel had hundreds of cartons of cigarettes laying around and he felt an itch in the back of his head telling him to get this shit hidden ASAP.

 

Joel said Marco wouldn't be there on a Saturday night but he had a feeling, it was the right feeling and they only had to explain away a few cartons. He remembered something else having to do with that Ice Cream shop Millie's. Every Memorial Day the owner put a really big jar filled with tiny plastic Phillies helmets next to the counter besides the register and invited customers to write down the number of helmets they believed was in the jar on a piece of paper that would be put in a box that they would draw from on the 4th of July.

 

Whoever came closest to the number without going over won a free meal plus dessert and a twenty dollar gift certificate to any (1) store in the King of Prussia Mall. Lucky won three Summers in a row, never going over and getting the number exactly right the last time. Shortly after that the owner of Millie's (an old asshole with big, thick glasses and a voice like he smoked two packs a day or sucked off too many exhaust pipes) called him a cheater and said he wasn't allowed to participate anymore.

 

Lucky wanted to press the issue because of what Grandpa Stroehmann was suggesting but mom's illness was getting worse and he was still digging on their vanilla milkshakes so he just ate his free meal and went home. He never used the gift certificate, he didn't even enjoy the meal because he didn't understand why the old bastard thought he cheated. The size of the jar had been different each time so there was no point in trying to remember the amount from the year before so he was very

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lucky. Weren't people just lucky sometimes? Lucky figured he was an old fart that hated kids and moved on with his life.

 

He wasn't lucky when it came to grades even when he studied. Unless he had a test with multiple choice questions, with tests like that he could usually guess his way into C or even a B. Lucky figured though anyone with half a brain could luck their way through a test where they show you the answer.

 

The day last July when he had an itching to call up Joel and go up to South street with him had been a day that was lucky. He woke up that morning thinking of South street and hearing Joel's name bounce around his head like that God damn annoying 'By Mennen' jingle. Before he had finished rubbing the sleep out of his eyes he was on the phone with Joel.

 

"I was gonna sneak into the theater at the Riverview and check out that new Alien movie. I got a thing for women that can beat the shit out a monster, ya know." Joel said, holding his phone in one hand and a Pop-tart in the other.

 

"Come on pussy, we haven't hit South street in a while."

 

Joel resisted but Lucky was able to get him to give up the idea of lusting over Sigourney Weaver and go with him.

 

"I don't have bus fare and it's supposed to be like ninety fucking degrees today." said Joel.

 

"Yeah, me neither. I'll get my backpack. There's some Capri-Suns in it I stole from the cafeteria at school."

 

"Shit for real? Nice. One of the things I miss most about school is the lunches."

 

It was a long walk along Passyunk ave that was miles and miles but would bring them right into the heart of South street where the weird people could be found, people like punk rockers, geeks, freaks, metal heads, goths, ravers, pot heads, dead heads, nerds, and many more. Some bad weird people, people that Joel would call fucked in the head or crazy but it was mostly good weird people. It was a place where you'd find people with green hair or blue or a big multi colored Mohawk or a facial tattoo and the stores there were pretty cool too.

 

There were stores like Rock and Roll Plus and Zipperhead if you wanted to buy import albums, crazy hair dye colors, piercing accessories, sex toys, tickets to local concerts, underground VHS movies like Faces Of Death, Cannibal Holocaust, Akira, Fritz the Cat, shit you won't find at Blockbuster, every kind of band T-shirt and style of Dr Marten boots you could ever dream of. If you had a little bit more refined tastes in shopping, there were a few high end clothing stores like

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DKNY and Victoria's Secret, there were a couple of mom and pop bookstores that Lucky and Joel would frequent. If you were okay with the big box stores, there was a Tower Records on 6th and South and a Tower Books at 4th and South where they would emerge from Passyunk avenue.

 

"Damn look at the fuckin line heading into Tower Books." said Joel.

 

They were across the street and saw a line starting at the store's glass double doors, the line went all the way down the block and snaked around the corner. The line was filled with a variety of people that were all excitedly standing in the hot July sun holding some type of object.

 

"Let's check out what's going on." said Lucky.

 

They went over to a middle aged hippie couple that smelled like patchouli oil and weed. The man with the dreadlocks was holding a rolled up poster while the lady in the rainbow shirt and denim skirt held a pair of paperback books. As they reached the couple they moved a few feet forward.

 

"Hey man, what are youse guys in line for?" asked Joel.

 

"Clive Barker is inside doing a book signing today." said the man with dreadlocks.

 

"Clive Barker? Dude I know that name." said Lucky.

 

"Yeah, I've told you about him. That book Nat stole from the library for me was by Clive Barker. He's my favorite writer." said Joel wide eyed.

 

The hippie couple moved again, the boys kept pace while they spoke.

 

"Oh right the uh...what was it called the Buckets of Blood or something?"

 

"Books of Blood, it was an anthology. Shit I wish I had it on me, I don't have any green to buy a book for him to sign or nothing." said Joel dejectedly.

 

The hippie couple moved forward about ten feet though they walked slowly so they could speak to Joel and Lucky.

 

"Well let's just go in and browse, we can always wave to him or something." said Lucky.

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"Oh, I'm sorry boys," said the lady hippie. "the only people they're letting in the store today are people with an item for Mr Barker sign."

 

They were edging the first display window of the store.

 

"God damn it." said Joel seeing how fast the line was moving and not liking it.

 

"Do you think we have time to walk home and find your book and walk back?" said Lucky.

 

"Miss do you know how long he'll be here signing books?" asked Joel

 

"Four o'clock." she said gently as Joel looked at his watch.

 

"It's almost three." said Lucky wishing he hadn't made Joel come with him on this hot day.

 

"And it's a ninety minute walk."

 

"I'm sorry fellas." said the hippie lady.

 

"It's okay," Joel said with a disappointed shrug. "what are you guys gonna get signed."

 

"Well my wife is the reader in our house," the man with the dreadlocks said as the hippie lady held up her pair of novels proudly. "so she's got his novels and I brought my poster of Hellraiser."

 

"Hellraiser," said Lucky with a strange look on his face. "that's that movie you loaned me. Was he in it or some shit?"

 

"He wrote and directed that movie. Why do you look like you saw Bea Arthur naked?" Joel asked.

 

Lucky had a flashback to the last day of school a few weeks prior when Joel had picked him up, he was carrying a VHS copy of the movie to loan to Lucky who saw it on broadcast TV but they edited out all the gory stuff. Lucky had taken the video cassette and put it in his backpack forgetting to watch it, forgetting about it completely until the hippie guy showed them his poster. Without a word Lucky unshouldered his backpack, opened it and removed the VHS tape.

 

"Wow," said the hippie lady clapping her hands in joy. "now isn't that lucky."

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"That's his name miss and my homie."

 

Joel got Clive Barker's autograph after a half an hour wait in a fast moving line. The manager of the store found a sandwich baggie for Joel to put his copy of Hellraiser in so the ink wouldn't smear.

 

"Shit man, I hope the heat don't fuck up the signature. Can you carefully give me one of them Capri-suns?"

 

"Aw shit man I smeared the ink...." Lucky asked with a furrowed brow.

 

"Fuck you dude."

 

"Is the tape on the inside supposed to be all crinkly looking and falling out?" he asked, squinting into the backpack.

 

"Dude I said fuck you, that shit ain't funny. Gimme a drink, dickhead."

 

"Here ya fuckin cry baby."

 

He recalled that he and Joel had bumped into Dax a few blocks down on Front and South streets at Penn's Landing where those big sculptures stood in mid stride facing South street hand in hand. Dax had been watching the Delaware river and smoking a bulbous looking blunt, he smoked them up and had given them a ride home.

 

"I guess I am lucky." Lucky said to himself.

 

The city skyline receded behind them as they exited the Schuylkill Expressway on the left which was always dangerous no matter the time of day or night. Lucky felt his excitement grow as they went over the Schuylkill river through a covered wooden bridge on a road called Dark Hollow. They went up to a winding road surrounded by skeletal trees and pulled off at an empty campsite where there was a walking trail.

 

"Sweet fucking Christ I forgot how cold it gets up here." said Joel as they got out of the car.

 

"Yeah we're in God's country again." said Lucky who put his hood up.

 

Lucky and Joel had come this way before and followed Dax along the trail that went into the deep woods. After fifty yards the woods opened up and they found a road running across the trail that

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Dax said was called Apollonia. Going south would lead you to a 7-11 and Porter High School across the street from that. They walked north, further up into the hills.

 

They passed a pair of mobile homes that looked abandoned. The siding on both trailers were gone, fluffs of yellowing, soggy insulation could be seen sticking out in areas. All of the windows were broken, the doors of the trailers had long ago been removed. The grass of the lawn, as well as the weeds, though Winter time dead and brown, were knee high and looked thick enough to get lost in.

 

"How long have those trailers been abandoned?" asked Lucky.

 

"Not that long," said Dax. "Alicia lived in that trailer before she moved to A.C. and my girl Emily was living in the one further back with her dad about a year ago. She moved out when her pops split town. Come on, she's meeting us up there."

 

They passed an old campsite with a fire pit and a gnarly looking tree that looked like it was covered in tumors. The woods grew thicker but ahead they could see fire light and hear voices. Lucky felt his heart stirring and his insides vibrate. Emily was an attractive, dark haired girl who looked tiny in her over sized LA Kings Starter jacket.

 

Her face was demure and her hands were deep in her sleeves to keep them warm as she stood by a brightly lit burning barrel talking to two other girls about the same age. When she saw Dax her eyes went wide and her face broke into a smile, she went up to him and kissed him. There were a few other people, Lucky looked at the half dozen other faces but didn't see Brea.

 

Dax went into the trailer which looked more like a derelict space capsule from some 50s B movie about going to Mars. Lucky imagined this camper probably shined like a nickel fresh out of the mint back in the day but now looked like a gigantic rusty soda can. Dax came out holding a case of Yuengling.

 

"Woo hoo beer!" said someone happily.

 

"There's plenty for everyone," said Dax as he put the case on the ground. "just don't be chucking empty bottles and shit in the woods."

 

"Why who cares?" asked one of the girls standing at the fire.

 

"The Game Warden nigga," Dax said. "they're like the police of the woods."

 

"How are the cops gonna know we're here in the middle of the woods?" asked a skinny white guy with long greasy black hair who was rolling a joint.

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"Hey man this trailer has an address, that's technically not a trail we're chilling on that's Morrison road."

 

"Fuckin a, Lizard King road." cried Joel triumphantly, getting laughs from everyone.

 

Lucky took a bottle while Joel just sat on an old lawn chair by the burning barrel where the joint was being passed. Everybody stood around talking with someone else except Lucky who was crestfallen that Brea hadn't arrived. He decided to join Joel in the smoke sessions when he felt a tug at his elbow. Lucky turned and that Sixpence None The Richer song played briefly in his head.

 

"Hi." Brea said, smiling so brightly Lucky felt his heart stir.

 

She was wearing a dark blue hooded sweatshirt and jeans, her silky hair was in a princess braid.

 

"Hey. How's it going?"

 

"Good. I finally read The Outsiders. I cried so hard when Dallas was killed."

 

"Yeah that part sucked. I wanted to warn you it was a sad book but I didn't want to like ruin it for ya. Ya know? The whole series is kind of depressing, I don't know why I enjoy reading them." Lucky said with a chuckle.

 

"You like to read them because you understand the characters better than most people. You remind me a little of Ponyboy."

 

"Why cause I bleached my hair? I only did it to make my hair green." he said, making Brea laugh.

 

"No. It's because you're sweet like him." she said with a shining smile.

 

Lucky felt his heart slam into his chest repeatedly. He felt a nervous sweat breakout over him that made him wipe his brow. He scolded himself for not being bold and asking for her number but he'd never done something like that before. The only experience he had with girls was with Nat who had taken his virginity about a year earlier in the basement of a house in University City during a rave.

 

They were both on ecstasy and sharing a bottle of peppermint schnapps and popped each other's cherry on a basket of dirty laundry. They hadn't even been dating and afterwards when Lucky asked if she was his girlfriend now, Nat laughed and called him a dork. That was the closest thing he'd

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ever had to an actual girlfriend. He remembered Nat had gone away for good which suddenly gave him the courage to ask Brea for her phone number.

 

"Hey can I...."

 

Before he could finish asking a loud whoop rang out followed by a bright white spotlight illuminating the whole area. There was another loud whoop followed by flashing blue and red lights.

 

"Run! Run, the fuckin five oh is here!" said someone close by.

 

Lucky felt his heart drop and his shoulders sag. Of course his luck would run out at this moment. Perhaps she could sense his disappointment, it wasn't like he tried to hide it.

 

"I'll see you again," she said quickly. "just get out of here before you get arrested and your aunt throws you out."

 

Then with hardly a pause she gave him a kiss on the cheek and ran into the woods. Lucky touched his cheek and stood still with a soft smile on his face.

 

"Bitch come on you wanna get locked the fuck up!" shouted Joel after giving Lucky a swift kick in the ass.

 

Lucky and Joel rushed to Dax's car where he and his girlfriend sat waiting.

 

"Are the cops following?" asked Dax.

 

"I dunno you want me to stay and ask?" replied Joel sarcastically.

 

The car was down the road before the doors were closed but they were not being followed and they all relaxed.

 

"God I can't believe the cops showed up," said Dax. "you could have the world's loudest gang bang up there and the cops never show up normally. Ya know it babe?"

 

"Yeah," Emily said, smacking her lips in annoyance as she tied her back hair into a ponytail. "ya know ever since they busted that guy making meth in a cabin near here they think everybody hanging out here at night is a meth dealer."

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"Yeah the cops fuckin blow donkey dick." said Lucky which made the others laugh uproariously.

 

"Yeah it looked like you were having a blast man," Dax said to Lucky. "what was her name?"

 

"Brea. She never told me her last name."

 

"Do you know it, babe?" Dax asked Emily.

 

"No. Why would I know?"

 

"I thought she was your friend?" asked Dax.

 

"No, I only talked to her once or twice. I thought you knew her from selling weed."

 

"Maybe I do I just suck with faces."

 

"And names." said Emily.

 

"How the shit do you run a business when you can't remember names and faces? You smoke too much fuckin weed dude." said Joel.

 

"And you eat a lot a shrooms too." said Emily with a laugh.

 

"Yeah man those aren't technically vegetables." said Lucky making a tsk tsk.

 

"Hey, quit teaming up on me or you can all get a cab."

 

Dax dropped Emily off first before taking Lucky and Joel back to the city.

 

"Yo man can you still get shrooms, like tonight?" asked Joel hopefully.

 

"Tonight no, tomorrow for sure. My guy won't be back from Williamsport until then."

 

"Where the fuck is Williamsport?" asked Lucky.

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"It's a couple a hundred miles from here, near the New York border. It's a mountain town like Porter but with Steelers fans. Anyway, I'm gonna be in the neighborhood tomorrow, I'll call you when I finish my pick up."

 

Dax dropped them off near 19th and Porter where a large, gray and gothic looking church stood. The church had a pair of large steel doors that were bright red and appeared to be made of steel. They hung out here on occasion with some other guys but Lucky and Joel were always hanging out on a corner somewhere in South Philly.

 

"You wanna try and get a forty of Olde E at the bar down the block? I got money." said Joel.

 

"Nah, I don't wanna be home late tonight."

 

"I thought you said Karen wouldn't care as long as it didn't interrupt her hunt for Mr Whiskey Dick."

 

"I did but I just wanna get home before she does."

 

"Dude fuck your aunt." Joel said but without much feeling.

 

Joel went home to Tree street while Lucky went to his own home, Aunt Karen's apartment, two blocks away on Wolf street. Aunt Karen didn't have a vehicle and the apartment was on the second floor so there was no way to know if she was home without having to go inside. He was at the top step and didn't hear her voice and sighed with relief but when he touched the knob the door swung open revealing his aunt.

 

"Where the fuck have you been?"

 

She wore tight jeans and a leopard print blouse that was even tighter. She was 48 years old but she frequented tanning salons which gave her skin an overly brown tone that clashed badly with her bleach blonde hair. She was a heavy smoker but on bar night she instead chewed Wrigley's Spearmint with the intensity of crackhead in need of a fix. Her blue eyes were bloodshot from either alcohol or anger but most likely both.

 

"What time is it?"

 

Instead of answering she removed one of her white Adidas shell top sneakers and whapped him on the shoulder with a grunt. He caught a whiff of her breath, a mixed scent of tobacco, chewing gum and beer hit his nostrils and he wanted to gag.

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"It's seven hours past the time you were supposed to be here waiting for the guy from Comcast to change out the cable box. Now I'm gonna miss all my fuckin shows!" she screamed then followed it up with another whap on his shoulder.

 

"You are so fuckin lazy, I swear the only good thing about having you here are the extra food stamps" she snarled. "I only asked one God damn thing and of course you fuck it up!"

 

He'd forgotten about the cable guy coming.

 

"I'm sorry."

 

Her eyes narrowed, then she hit him on the shoulder again but instead of turning his back he pushed her away. She shrieked like a banshee and started hitting him on the head and face before he pushed her away again but harder. She crouched like a cat about to attack but she only scowled at him.

 

"You keep putting your hands on me I'll call the cops on your faggot ass." she said then smacked him in the face with her shoe but she was panting and out of breath, the hit wasn't very hard.

 

Lucky glared at her, his hands rolled slowly into fists that needed to pulverize a face.

 

"You try me you green haired freak. All I have to do is call 911 and tell them you threatened me and you'll be in juvie."

 

"You can't do that."

 

"You wanna try me and see? Remember I'm a woman and you have a record. Who do you think the police will believe, hmm?"

 

She was right, this wasn't the first time he came to that conclusion but it was the first time Aunt Karen had ever laid that out front for him. One thing Lucky did give Aunt Karen credit for was that she meant what she said and was not afraid to back up her words with action.

 

"You don't leave this apartment for anything until school Monday. If you do, I call the cops then I change the locks."

 

She didn't tell him to go to his room but Lucky would have anyway. It was the only sanctuary he had when Aunt Karen wasn't getting her cat petted at the bar, another one of Nat's phrases. He'd

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thought about running away sometimes, him and Joel hitchhiking across America until they reached the Pacific Ocean like in the movies.

 

Joel loved movies as much as he loved reading. Lucky liked movies and reading too though he'd hadn't read anywhere near the number of books Joel had despite having similar tastes. He and Joel loved horror like Stephen King and Clive Barker of course, Joel was really into The Lord Of The Rings books he even had a VHS copy of that weird ass cartoon from the early 80s, it had been a part of the same discussion they had talked about magic while they watched that Tom Cruise movie.

 

"I wish I could remember the name of that flick. It was pretty wild."

 

I'll have to ask Joel, he thought while laying down in his dark room as the midnight hour struck. His cheek where Aunt Karen struck him was warm but he didn't think he was bruised. He was more upset about the cops ruining his night with Brea.

 

"God if I just asked like thirty seconds sooner."

 

What if she said no? Maybe you spared yourself some embarrassment.

 

"No way." he said, remembering the kiss on the cheek.

 

Had she been waiting for him to ask? Perhaps that's why she kissed him on the cheek.

 

"That has to mean she likes me. Right?" he asked the dark and empty bedroom.

 

He looked at the bare gray walls of his room. Joel gave him a poster of the movie Jaws when he first moved in but Aunt Karen flipped and tore it down saying it would ruin the wallpaper. He couldn't ask Joel about girls, he had a girlfriend once about a year ago but she was really shy and quiet, and he'd seen them hold hands once in a while but he had never seen them kiss and Joel told him he had to ask for permission to kiss her.

 

"Okay so she was a little more outgoing than Joel's ex but what if Brea likes me the way Nat likes Joel?"

 

That seemed accurate to him. After all, Nat kissed Joel on the cheek much the same way Brea kissed him tonight whereas Nat kissed him squarely and a little deeply on the lips.

 

"Yeah, shit she might see me like a big brother or a cool cousin or something." Lucky thought worriedly as he turned to his side.

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He went to sleep feeling troubled but only slightly in regards to Brea. He dreamed of her very briefly carrying a wicker basket under her arm filled with daisies that had rainbow petals but then his dream became a void filled only with voices, many voices. He thought he heard his mom's voice but it was whispering, it might have been Nat's voice who had a high pitched voice like his mom. He definitely heard Joel talking but he couldn't make out what he was saying.

 

Before long he could see again. He was on the top floor of his high school walking down the hall, it's after the final bell but he was too scared to leave. Lucky walked until he reached the end of the hall where there was a window that looked out on Mifflin street where another school for younger children stood. Across the street in front of Southwark middle school was his Aunt Karen wearing a strange silvery blue gown that changed from green to orange to silvery blue again, on her hands were black gloves that looked like velvet, stranger though was what appeared to be a red dragon the size of a minivan sitting beside her.

 

Its mouth was long with a red bird like beak, its eyes were ocher and glowed like lamps despite it being daytime in his dream. Folded on its muscular back appeared to be leathery blood red wings. Aunt Karen lifted her gloved hand and pointed at him, the eyes of the dragon looked up marking him, its wings began to unfold. Lucky turned and ran and found himself going up 18th street carrying a duffel bag filled with cigarettes trying to catch up to Joel.

 

"Dude don't run," Lucky cried out. "I'm scared too!"

 

"Fuck you bitch, I said I ain't scared!"

 

Joel said it in a normal voice but he was two blocks ahead, a speck in the distance. Lucky tried to make himself run but his legs are ill defined blurs as he slowly drifts towards Tree street calling out to Joel. It should have taken hours but he was suddenly at the house on Tree street.

 

From the top of the stoop he can see inside the house but the perspective is wildly off, he could see inside the back room and is suddenly in the upstairs hallway. From where he stood he could see Joel standing in there dressed in his usual black attire. Lucky went into the bedroom but Joel was gone, Lucky let out a cry a fear as he stood face to face with himself.

 

"Dude chill out, it's the mirror ." Lucky's reflection said to the empty bedroom as his reflection waved.

 

The door to the closet is open and Lucky's heart drops when he sees that all the cigarettes are gone.

 

"The cops!"

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Lucky left the back bedroom and went to the front bedroom and looked out the window which looked down on the front door. There was a police car sitting in front of the house with a uniformed officer standing beside the rear end of the patrol car. The officer was tall, dark and handsome with a clean cut face, his eyes looked black and determined. Lucky could see through the back window two people sitting with their backs to him.

 

Standing close to the squad car was a guy that could have been an extra in a Conan the Barbarian movie. He wore what looked like a black jumpsuit made of leather. He had a heavy metal helmet on his head, he looked grizzled with a black beard and fierce sea water eyes. On the right shoulder of his strange outfit was a black flag with an infinity symbol, one loop was green and the other orange.

 

"Who the fuck are youse guys?"

 

Lucky saw the heads in the back of the patrol car had turned and were now looking up at him. It was Brea and Joel, from the way they turned and looked up Lucky could tell they had been cuffed.

 

"Hey." he said.

 

The cop and the jumpsuit guy were both glaring at him while Brea and Joel were mouthing a word to him. The word was run. He woke up and looked at his alarm clock on the dresser, it was late, almost eleven. The wind was howling outside and Lucky shivered though he was warm under the covers.

 

He had an itch a bad one. He had to take a piss, that was the itch so he went to the bathroom and everything was quiet in the apartment. The sound of the toilet flushing was too loud and it scared him a little. Plus the itch was still there.

 

He sat on the bed, ready to lay back down but the idea felt terrible. Maybe a trip to South street to sell off some packs of cigarettes. Maybe he and Joel would luck in to meet Stephen King this time. Lucky was joking but the joke didn't sound funny.

 

Since it was late Lucky just jumped into the shower and would walk over to Tree street and hope Joel hadn't gone on his 'trip' yet. As he washed and dried himself he felt fine, then as he finished dressing and tying his shoes the itch doubled in force so he quickly double knotted and grabbed his backpack so he had someplace to carry the merchandise. As he shouldered his backpack he heard the sound of multiple car doors clunking open then close briskly.

 

The sound was normal in South Philly but its suddenness made his heart hit the roof of his mouth and a shiver run up his spine. With stiff legs he went to the living room apartment window and looked down on Wolf street peaking between a pair of thick curtains.

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"You lock his no good ass up!" said his Aunt Karen standing on the sidewalk still in her outfit from last night pointing at the front door with a few uniformed police standing with her.

 

Lucky quickly went to the kitchen window with the fire escape facing 19th street and a church with a cemetery in its backyard. He didn't see anyone below and went down the ladder two rungs at a time. Before he got to the ground though someone was yelling, 'he's over there' so he was running before he landed. He ran down 19th street turning at the first side street he saw knowing full well you never look back when getting chased but he couldn't help himself.

 

"I guess I got away." he said, slowing to a jog.

 

He was near the corner but he heard and saw no one coming. Then an officer in black pants and a blue shirt came running. The cop was clean cut but not very dark or handsome but he looked determined.

 

"Oh shit!" Lucky yelled as he started running again.

 

He ran and turned north on 20th street and heard another set of feet coming from behind. What the hell did Aunt Karen tell those pigs that they were chasing him like this? Then he felt his heart freeze when he recalled robbing the newsstand last night. Lucky was leaping over the steps of a corner store, almost hitting the head of a toddler sitting on the bottom step eating a soft pretzel unaware while the mother of the toddler standing a foot away called him a stupid green haired cock sucking faggot son of a bitch.

 

Did the cops know about the robbery? Not unless Joel ratted on him but Lucky knew in his heart that wasn't the case. Maybe there was a camera working, like a backup one running on battery. As he heard the cops shout at him to stop running with a few young kids on the block cheering him on while one said 'Run Forrest, run' Lucky felt his heart slam against his chest as he recalled his dream last night and seeing himself in the mirror.

 

"The two way mirror."

 

He ran across a slanted avenue called Passyunk that was four lanes wide and heavy with cars as he remembered what he said to Joel about the mirror in the newsstand. The owner could do whatever he wanted behind that mirror, like say set up a camcorder and have it left on record during the hours when the store was closed and the world was usually dead asleep. The guy who owned the newsstand could have easily recognized him or Joel, they visited that place often and the guy had rung them up a few times.

 

"Watch it you fuckin crumb bum!" shouted an old man in a brown Dodge Dart that had to slam on the brakes to avoid running him over.

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Then right across from him on 21st street a woman or a young child screamed when a large blue Chevy passenger van with handicap stickers and New Jersey plates came to a stop on a green light to watch the chase and was rear ended by a Septa bus. Lucky glimpsed a look over his shoulder and saw the cop from before had stopped following and went over to the van but another clean cut cop was still coming, he was tall, dark and handsome. Seeing a cop that looked so similar to the one in his dream filled him with a fear that he hadn't remembered since the morning his mom passed away.

 

"Mother fucker!" Lucky said feeling terror tug at his heart while running south.

 

He turned left on Oregon avenue which was a four lane street that was noisy with traffic going both East and West, Lucky ran East towards Broad street and the subway. He looked back and felt relief as he saw that tall, dark and handsome had fallen far behind. The sight brought him comfort but then he saw a patrol car come flying down Oregon avenue at a high rate of speed.

 

"God please tell me the Dunkin Donuts down the block got robbed."

 

It passed him.

 

"Thank fuck!"

 

The squad car halted suddenly when it reached tall, dark and handsome, who jumped in the car that promptly began to reverse with its lights flashing.

 

"Aw fuck me!"

 

He ran inside the CVS just ahead and ran all the way to the back of the store and went through a red door with a template that said 'Warehouse/Employees Only' beyond that was a high ceiling room filled with dozens of cardboard boxes and plastic crates. A man with a CVS vest sat at a rickety card table reading The Daily News unaware of Lucky's presence. Lucky felt a cold breeze and followed it and found a set of pivoting doors leading to an empty trailer, between the door and the trailer was more than enough room for him to wedge himself outside.

 

He was out in a flash, when his feet hit the ground he heard commotion in the warehouse so he ran down the alley, going north one block then turned east traveling along Shunk street and slowing his pace to a fast walk when Shunk crossed 17th street and he didn't see any cops following. He got one or two weird looks from people he walked by but he marked that up to his hair being green. He didn't care if people gave him weird looks as long as they didn't give him second looks, which his hair might definitely cause people to do so he put his hood up. He had to get out of the neighborhood and get in touch with Joel, though he would have much rather have found Joel first before anything else.

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"Fuck dude I hope it's just Aunt Karen is being a twat."

 

He didn't think it was though. Those cops weren't hot on his ass because they think he got fresh with his aunt. He and Joel stole what, a hundred cartons or so of high end smokes. What was that in terms of money? Not hundreds, but thousands of dollars.

 

"Grand Larceny. That's a friggin felony." he said with a shiver.

 

He crossed 15th street, only one more block before the subway and began rummaging in a small pocket of his backpack for bus fare. He reached Broad street and didn't see any police and made it to the platform below as a northbound train pulled up. Lucky planned on getting out at the Market street terminal but he was so keyed up he got off three stops early at the Lombard - South station to find a payphone and call Joel.

 

In the subway it was warmer, when Lucky came above ground a cold wind smacked his face making him gasp. He went across the street going down to a phone booth standing in front of a store called 'Harry's Occult Shop' and found another dollar in quarters in his backpack. He dialed the house on Tree street but after a dozen rings and no answer he pushed the lever down with his free hand and retrieved the quarter from the return slot and quickly dumped it in again then dialed Dax. After a couple of rings someone picked up but Lucky was talking before they could.

 

"Dax! Dax is that you? Are you there?"

 

"Uh wh-who is it?" Dax asked timidly.

 

"Dude it's me, it's Lucky....."

 

"Oh, uh hey man."

 

"Did you see Joel today? Did you talk to him?"

 

"Oh I uh I uh, yeah," Dax said worriedly. "he got arrested man."

 

"What!"

 

"Uh yeah, man, look don't kill the messenger. I was coming up that way cause he wanted shrooms and I went to meet him at that church on 19th and Porter but I saw him getting put in the back of a cop car so I just went down a side street and drove home."

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Lucky felt his heart drop as well as the phone from his hand. He could hear Dax still talking but he couldn't hear him until he picked the phone back up. He had the receiver to his ear while Dax was in mid sentence.

 

"....hope you're not pissed with me dude."

 

"No. No man, it's not your fault."

 

"I still feel bad dude. Is there anything I can do?"

 

Lucky wanted to ask for a ride but if he got caught with a guy that sold pot and shrooms he'd spend a few extra years in prison after his stint in juvie. Plus where the hell was he going? He had maybe another fifty cents in his backpack, you can't hitchhike to California on that. You couldn't hitchhike to New Jersey with that.

 

"No man. I'll talk to you later."

 

He hung up the phone and slowly walked down South street, his mind racing. Joel was in the clinker and he was on the run.

 

"No school tomorrow I guess."

 

The realization left him shaken, he'd been arrested once for tagging a building downtown and that was more embarrassing than scary for him. He was scared now, everything felt so surreal to him. The cop that chased him, tall, dark and handsome. That guy looked just like the cop in his dream. What the fuck was that about?

 

"Aw shit the cops all look the same."

 

Lucky knew he was only psyching himself out which wouldn't help. He had no money and no place to hide. He thought of Joel in his dream, getting arrested and Brea too. The cold wind picked up making Lucky shiver.

 

"Fuck what do I do?"

 

It was a question that he couldn't answer, when he tried he saw her face and felt her lips touch his cheek.

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"I can try and say goodbye."

 

Yeah right. He could probably get up to Porter but he'd be up in God's country trying to keep warm in hopes of bumping into Brea at that trailer when there's not even a party. And the cops had just chased them out of there last night. Going up there is a waste of energy and time.

 

"Yeah maybe but I have no place to go either way."

 

True, meaning he was more than likely going to get caught and very soon. The low last night was fifteen in the city and would only be colder up in Hicksvillie. All that risk just to say goodbye to a girl. You deserve to get caught.

 

"Then I'll get caught."

 

He found more change in his backpack, more than enough for a bus ride. All he had to do was walk north on 13th street until he reached Arch street then to Ben Franklin pkwy for a mile where Maja Park and Septa route 29-A Logan Square to Porter would be located. He and Joel had taken it once, it was a long ride up there, an hour maybe.

 

"Better than no ride at all."

 

Lucky kept his hood up as a precaution and dark would be coming soon, once he was on the bus he could make an inventory of what was in his book bag. He knew he wasn't carrying textbooks, he'd ditched them long before the last day of school, he had his Walkman and a few cassettes in there but couldn't remember what else.

 

"God I hope I left a lunch in there I'm fuckin starving."

 

He was thirsty as well but he forgot about that for the time being and walked. It was an uneventful walk, there was a pole with a white sign featuring the red white and blue Septa logp. The bus arrived and for the first time since he got out of bed he sat down on a nearly empty bus whose interior lights were dim and its seats toasty warm.

 

He gasped at the relief as his feet barked like rabid dogs and his legs vibrated like tuning forks. He kept his hood up and his head down, wondering if going to say goodbye to Brea was a bad idea, that dream wouldn't stop replaying in his head.

 

"It was a dream," he whispered to himself as the bus drove down Pennsylvania avenue. "besides, she didn't have nothing to do with the robbery."

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From where he sat he could see Boathouse Row and Kelly Drive, the boathouses sitting on the banks of the Schuylkill river were coming to light with the arrival of twilight. Still, she might not want to get in trouble with her folks once she finds out you're on the lam. Not that she really talked much about her folks or her home life but he knew a lot of people like that. Like if they had a crazy stepdad like Joel did or maybe a parent that was a cop.

 

"Christ, Brea having a dad that's a cop. That'd be my luck for sure."

 

He sighed and closed his eyes feeling scared and now deeply depressed. He leaned his head against the window as the bus picked up speed and the noise of the diesel engine became soporific, Lucky felt his heartbeat slow as he thought about Brea. His mind hurt from Joel, his legs and feet were crying and on fire from running but he still managed to doze off. He dreamed that he was on the bus still, heading West into God's country.

 

The bus comes to a screeching halt in the middle of I-76 where many white police cruisers were lined up bumper to bumper across all four lanes. Standing erect beside each cruiser was a tall dark and handsome uniformed officer with black eyes brandishing a large shotgun. One of them held a bullhorn and began speaking.

 

"Get off the bus!"

 

He was trying to surrender but his body was too heavy, he wanted to put his hands up but he couldn't. He tried to say I give up but his voice was a mumble.

 

"Get off the bus!"

 

The officer hadn't gotten closer but the voice had grown louder, angrier. He was frozen in place.

 

"GET OFF THE BUS!"

 

There was shouting, his shoulder was being shoved. He cried out and nearly fell over as he woke up to a large Black man wearing a thick blue sweater that had the Septa logo on the right shoulder putting him briefly in mind of the black jumpsuit guy from his dream.

 

"Get off the bus, end of the line! You holding me the fuck up!"

 

The man's eyes were narrow and fiery and were looking for a fight. Lucky knew these drivers put up with a lot of shit, especially the ones that had to drive through places like K and A and Indiana avenue, and this big dude looked big enough to break him in half. There was also the fact that they

35 RUNAWAY

had a radio on the bus that could call the police instantly, so Lucky apologized repeatedly and quickly got off the bus.

 

Night was nearly full on but he recognized the road he was on and walked it for a half mile until he reached the covered bridge and continued down Dark Hollow road. From there by car to the campsite with the winding road it takes five minutes but on foot it took him an hour because it was mostly uphill walking. The night became darker and colder as the woods became thicker, in the distance a branch snapped.

 

"Just some fuckin deer." Lucky said with a gulp.

 

There was no wind but the air was bitter, Lucky kept his hands in his hoody pouch. His breath was coming out in thick white vapors. He trudged forward hoping he was on the right trail when finally he saw moonlight overhead as the woods began to thin out, ahead was Apollonia road. He felt joy as he walked further into the hills and the temperature continued to drop.

 

His cheeks were numb so he kept his head down as he walked uphill. After fifteen minutes he passed those two trailers Emily and Nat's cousin used to live in, Lucky gave it hardly a glance as he was eager to get to the trailer further ahead. He passed the campsite with the diseased tree and for a moment he thought he saw a face on the tree, it looked so real that Lucky stopped in his tracks to stare. Then he recalled Emily saying that she and Alicia would use their makeup to paint a face on that tree, it was pretty good work.

 

"I thought the tree was smiling at me."

 

Lucky felt a renewed sense of hope as he reached the bend where a pair of elderly white wall tires sat then Lucky froze in his tracks.

 

"What if the State Police are watching the area?"

 

No Dax said they only came during an emergency and that was if there where no town cops available. In the end though whether it's a state trooper or town cop or the Game Warden hiding behind that bend it didn't really matter, he'd be going to jail no matter who was waiting there.

 

"At least I'll be someplace warm."

 

He felt weak in the knees but marched forward and as he came around he expected to see a police car of some variety parked by the space capsule looking trailer but there was no police car, state, local or otherwise. Lucky sighed with relief and wanted to collapse but a wind suddenly picked up so he went to the rusty capsule. Its windows were gone but the roof and walls were solid and he was fairly sure Dax had blankets or possibly a sleeping bag hidden in that little trailer.

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The trailer was rusted pretty bad all over, he could see the brass address number, 58, had turned greenish blue making the number stand out against the orange brown rust. The trailer might have been two rooms when it was new back in the day with some chairs and a table and maybe a TV, no bathroom though, now it was just a hollow room that was mostly dry but still smelled musty. Importantly though, it was warmer than out there. He went to the corner farthest from the doorway, dropped his backpack and sat on the floor and gave a yelp when his rear touched the icy cold floor.

 

"Fuckin hemorrhoids." he said getting off the floor.

 

If he was gonna go to juvie, he didn't want to deal with hemorrhoids. Not that he was sure what they were, he'd heard from a kid in school that they were bumps on your ass or in your asshole or some nasty thing like that. He wasn't really paying attention at the time so he didn't know and didn't care he just wanted to see if he could find a blanket. Right beside him was a cabinet that was made of pressboard, he opened the flimsy doors and found a throw blanket the color of guacamole that smelled like dog hair and moth balls but was dry though it was really thin.

 

"I can't build a fire, someone might see it. What do I do tomorrow night?"

 

Who knew how long before he might see her or before he gave up from lack of food, water and risk of hypothermia. He wanted to check his back pack to see what food he might have but he was suddenly too cold and tired to care. His homie was in jail and he got himself stuck in the mountains just to say goodbye to a girl who might be a little freaked out by his desperate escape. He wrapped himself up in the blanket and sat on the floor with his head down, the floor was like ice but Lucky hardly noticed.

 

His eyes adjusted to the dark as the chill deepened its hold on him. Lucky saw icicles hanging off one of the windows, he began to lick his lips but held off as that was the only water he would have for the night. After the icicles were gone, then what?

 

"Surrender I guess."

 

He'd have to, nothing's changed at the end of the day. And who's to say Brea doesn't just turn him in herself, she's not obligated to protect him. You're not her boyfriend.

 

"Yeah you don't kiss boyfriend's on the cheek unless they had a bad cold."

 

She felt sorry for him, that was why she kissed him on the cheek. To save him from embarrassment of stuttering like a fool to ask for her number. Or maybe it was all....there was noise outside the trailer, the sound of frosty grass crunching under feet. Lucky sat up holding his breath listening, if it was the cops it would be a local, coming in quiet and stealthy because they rode solo and the Smokies won't come unless there's an emergency.

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Lucky held his breath, waiting to see the bright beam of a flashlight and hear a brisk authoritative voice tell him to come out. He waited, heard a wind then more crunchy footsteps possibly. It was hard to tell because the wind was rising, he could feel it moving the capsule like trailer.

 

"Fuckin wind shut up." he whispered.

 

The wind was scaring him more than the possible footsteps it might be covering. Maybe it was the cops, they were pushing the trailer from the outside, seeing if anybody was hiding before coming inside. The idea of making a run for it, in the woods in the middle of the night filled him with a terror that he didn't want to imagine.

 

All of a sudden he wished more than anything he could break Joel out of whatever kiddie prison he's holed up in, steal a car from a long term parking lot downtown or by the airport and get the fuck out of South Philly for good. They could drive to Mexico and start a fishing business like those two guys in that Shawshank movie Joel and him saw a few Summers ago when they first learned the exit door behind the Riverview theater on Front street didn't close all the way.

 

They had heard it was a prison movie and were expecting a violent bloodbath between hardened murderers and killers and it had some violence but there was mostly drama but the story was really good with an ending Joel said was literally perfect. They had even started joking about running away to Mexico if they were ever on the run from the cops. Lucky shook the flashback away as the wind was finally calming down, the crunchy footsteps were coming closer.

 

"I give up."

 

Lucky knew if he came out the cop or cops would start screaming and throw him down before he had a chance to say boo. So he stepped out with hands up high and ready to calmly surrender when he saw Brea standing there wearing a thick parka with a fur lined hood up, framing her face which looked beautiful. The cold made her cheeks slightly red, giving her face a look of porcelain, her lips parted in a smile that made Lucky forget it was almost zero degrees.

 

He thought for sure he was dreaming, how could he be this lucky? How did she know to come here tonight? But was it really luck, after all he'd more than likely be in a detention center by this time tomorrow. He felt what little hope he had inside of him die.

 

"I came to say goodbye." said Lucky.

 

Brea didn't speak, she simply walked forward and took his hands in hers.

 

"Your aunt?"

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He quickly explained what happened the evening before the party and what had happened to him this afternoon.

 

"I know I'm going away for a while and I just wanted to say goodbye, I know that I'm causing you trouble but I don't have anyone else, no family ya know. Except Joel who'll probably be in the cell next to mine knowing how my luck works."

 

"I can hide you." she said easily.

 

Lucky was silent for a moment. He felt his heart leap with hope but it was dimmed as he thought longer on what she said.

 

"You don't trust me?" she asked worriedly.

 

"No, it's just....I don't know if me being on the run from the five oh....I mean where are you hiding me?"

 

"My home, silly."

 

"Oh, well okay that makes sense but I mean don't you have....uh I mean aren't you worried your parents may have an issue hiding a felon in their home."

 

Brea smiled a small smile.

 

"My parents passed away years ago, my home and the land it sits on is my own and has been for some time."

 

"You own your own home," said Lucky, who was shocked. "can I ask how old you are?"

 

"I'll be twenty next Fall," she said with a chuckle and faux anger, putting her hands on her hips. "how old did you think I was?"

 

"I dunno, closer to my age I guess" Lucky said as his heart was beating like a drum against his chest. "I'm only asking because you got a lot to lose, you're an adult. If the cops find out you're hiding me you're gonna be toast."

 

Brea looked at Lucky closely before speaking.

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"If you don't want to come with me because you don't trust me, I understand. I know what it's like to have no one. I learned in life that trust is a hard thing to come by and that sometimes your friends are the only ones you can trust. I can guarantee you that the police will never be able to find my home."

 

"You're being serious?"

 

"Of course I am."

 

"But why? I mean you don't know me very well Brea but I..." he sighed and figured he better be up front. "I have feelings for you and I think or I hope you have feelings for me too but you have to understand I'm guilty. I stole those cigarettes, me and Joel, and we were gonna sell them. You shouldn't help me, I'm a thief. I can't let you help me, that wouldn't be right."

 

Lucky couldn't believe he was trying to talk her out of hiding him. But he wanted her to know this wasn't some case of injustice being thrown at him. At the end of the day he was a criminal.

 

"I know Lucky you told me what happened. Not every thief is a bad person and not every priest is a good person." she said simply.

 

Brea looked at him softly, he started to tremble so she unzipped her coat.

 

"No."

 

"Yes," she said, making him put on her coat.

 

He could smell lilac and felt dizzy as his heart raced.

 

"But..."

 

"You don't trust me?" she asked again, looking just as worried.

 

"I do," he said, feeling sure that he could. "but how do you know you can trust me? I told you what I did, how do you know I won't steal from you?"

 

"I just do," she said, taking his hand. "come with me."

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Lucky was too cold and tired to argue, he grabbed his backpack and she shouldered it for him and they walked further up into the hills. The woods began to close in on them and Lucky felt worried.

 

"You live up in these hills?"

 

The tone of his question was neutral but he was fairly certain Dax said no cabins were up ahead on this trail. Brea stopped walking and faced him with another look that was filled with worry.

 

"I don't live up here Lucky." she said.

 

Lucky felt his stomach drop and his fear return. He started looking around quickly, certain she lured him into a trap, someone was about to come out of the dark woods and stomp him or worse, he slowly began to back away.

 

"Please Lucky, don't be afraid. You're not in danger, we're the only ones here." she said, holding her hands up.

 

"Why did you bring me here?" he said, taking a step back looking for a loose rock or a thick branch.

 

"Because this is the way to my home."

 

"You said you didn't live here!" he shouted.

 

"I don't but my home, my farm, this is the way to it."

 

"You live on a farm? A farm on the mountain here?! You're so full of fuckin shit!" he said through his teeth.

 

He stomped a foot on the ground then kicked a nearby scrawny Oak tree.

 

"Lucky...."

 

He kicked the tree again.

 

"I can't believe...."

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He turned on Brea to yell but her face was plaintive. Seeing her eyes and how soft the moonlight looked in them made his anger dwindle but his desperation and doubt remained.

 

"What's going on, Brea? Why did you bring me up here?"

 

"I asked you if you believed in magic. Do you remember?"

 

"Yeah." he said quietly as a chill raced down his spine.

 

"Magic is real, I think you had your suspicions about it recently."

 

"How did you know?"

 

"Do you remember when we first met and I told you about auras?"

 

"Yeah, they're like mood rings. They change color depending on your mood and stuff right?"

 

"Yes, I can see auras. I can see yours right now."

 

Lucky felt a little embarrassed.

 

"Oh, sorry." Brea said quickly.

 

"It's okay...wow my aura changes that fast huh," he said with a chuckle. "so what does magic have to do with getting to your farm?"

 

"There is a rock formation of black boulders off the trail a half mile from here..."

 

"Wait, you mean those meatball looking rocks beside that ginormous boulder?"

 

"You've been up there?"

 

"Yeah Dax showed that place to me and Joel last Summer, we smoked a big ass blunt sitting under a pine tree. He said the locals called the woods around there The Triangle."

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"Why do they call it that?"

 

"I guess cause it's like The Bermuda Triangle, Dax said a lot of people have gone missing hiking in these woods but it's not just people disappearing he told us locals think the woods around here are haunted. He told us all kinds of stories he heard as a kid."

 

"What kind of stories did you hear?"

 

"Stories about ghosts and Bigfoot and monsters. Stuff that locals have been seeing walking around since before the American Revolution. I thought it was interesting, Joel was asking Dax all kinds of stuff, he loved chillin up here."

 

It hurt to think about Joel so he continued talking.

 

"I remember Dax told us there were kids in his high school practicing magic and witchcraft up by those boulders. They would use that gigantic rock as part of their altar."

 

"Really? That's interesting."

 

They walked on in silence though Lucky had a thousand questions, he didn't know where to begin.

 

"I can see by your aura you're confused."

 

"Are you reading my mind?" he asked suddenly.

 

"No. I give you my word I never have."

 

"Can you read minds?"

 

"It's very difficult, it usually requires physical contact. Reading an aura is different, they surround people like a halo or semitransparent cloud of color. They're easy for me to see, it's how I know you're not a bad person."

 

Lucky wondered if the dreams he'd been having were more than just strange conjurings of his subconscious mental garbage, some of which recently has been very vivid but his dreams had always felt that way. With everything going on he had a million questions still just about Brea's home.

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"So you're from another world?" Lucky asked.

 

Did that mean she was an alien? Were they going to be beamed up? Lucky wasn't sure what the hell was going on and he wanted to ask for more clarification but Brea spoke first.

 

"I need to tell you that although the police won't be a danger to you in my world, there are dangers there."

 

"Well, that's okay even when the cops aren't after me, Philly can be crazy. I think I saw on the news yesterday that Philly had like 400 murders total for all of last year."

 

"Goodness, that's horrible."

 

"Yeah, I know right. So as long as the cops can't find me there I'm not worried."

 

They walked further along the trail and saw the three boulders that looked as black as midnight in the darkness. Lucky remembered when he first came up here and tried to push one of the boulders that were the size of a small car and succeeded in almost giving himself a hernia. The ground was a barren heath of silvery grass, the trail continued on through more forest and higher ground.

 

There was a small clearing where the boulders sat, the trail went around it, shaded by large Oaks and Maple trees that grew denser if you dared to hike off trail. To their immediate left was the large flat hunk of a limestone boulder, its sides looked wavy rather than jagged. Brea walked over to the large flat rock, Lucky followed nervous and confused.

 

"It's dark so I'll need a moment."

 

She got touching close to the boulder and placed her hand on its strange wavy grooves walking slowly as she felt her way. The moonlight was blocked off by the boulder from their position. Brea stopped and traced her hand along the grooves of what looked like a tiny alcove. She reached out her hand to Lucky who came closer.

 

"Not everyone can go across worlds, you need psychic magic."

 

"I don't know any magic. I'm lucky sometimes, that's it." Lucky said helplessly.

 

"You've always been lucky, that's psychic magic. I'll still need to help you though because you've never been to my world. You just have to trust me. Okay?"

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"I trust you Brea."

 

"Okay. Stand close to me."

 

Lucky stood in the tiny alcove which was a tight squeeze. Lucky was nose to nose with Brea and hoped he had remembered to brush his teeth this morning.

 

"Now give me your hands and close your eyes and think of a place you've always felt safe. Somewhere you felt the happiest, think of that and nothing else."

 

Lucky knew of only one place and that was the apartment he and mom lived at on Ritner street. Mom had gotten it not long after his first birthday, she had been in the middle of divorcing dad for his excessive drinking when a fatal drunk driving accident settled that matter at once. That apartment had big windows that let in lots of sunshine but you could barely hear the people or traffic outside. The carpets were peach colored and mom would vacuum it twice a week with a big brown behemoth that made an awful racket.

 

The wallpaper was pastel pink with blooming flowers. There was a long pink couch with cushions so bulbous they reminded him of marshmallows. On the wall when you first entered the apartment his mom had put up his school pictures from kindergarten going up. The living room was where he and Joel spent years playing Nintendo or watching Nick at Nite with mom.

 

"Think of that and nothing else."

 

Lucky saw himself at eleven years old, sitting on the short haired carpet with Joel right beside him, it was a sleepover, they were watching The Headbangers Ball on MTV, mom had let them stay up late to watch it and was in the kitchen making them pizza bagels. Not mini ones mind you, we're talking regular sized bagels with a slice of white American and yellow American and pepperoni with it's edges crispy and just a tad burnt. That had been his happiest memory there and for a moment he could smell the pizza bagels in the air.

 

It was there and gone, as was the sudden freezing cold temperature. The air was chilly still but was crisp like October. Lucky took a deep breath before opening his eyes and felt shock at the spicy Autumnal draught of air filling his lungs. Lucky saw he was in a meadow and it was still night, Brea was looking up at him while he looked around.

 

Although they were in a meadow, they stood on a flat piece of circular stone that appeared to have symbols carved on it but they had been faded by time. It was dark but the moon here was half full and shined a bluish light, he could see there were mountains but they looked far away. It was as quiet here as it was back in Porter.

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"Wow. Ya know I did believe you but....I can't.....I can't believe this is real. You didn't put a spell on me did ya?" he said jokingly.

 

"Not without your permission."

 

"What?" he said looking at her.

 

"I'm a sorceress Lucky."

 

Lucky was quiet for a moment, trying to understand the word.

 

"Is that like a wizard?"

 

"Yes and no. It depends on the wizard."

 

"What is this place?"

 

"It's a way station, a portal from my world to yours."

 

Before she could continue there was a rumble of motors in the distance.

 

"What's that?" said Lucky as Brea turned to look behind them.

 

Lucky followed her gaze and saw lights in the distance, by his guess they were headlights that were shockingly bright and white. In what looked like him to be nothing but fields of wheat Lucky found the sight a little jarring.

 

"We have to go." Brea said quickly as she grabbed Lucky by the arm.

 

"Brea, who is that?"

 

"The Marshals, they're like the police in my world. If they find us here we'll be in deep trouble."

 

"Why, what is this place?"

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"I'll explain later but we have to run now!"

 

Lucky was going to press her but there was the sudden roar of many engines coming to life and Lucky could tell by the sounds they made they were motorcycles. As they went further ahead, the headlights were drawing closer.

 

"We have to get under the trees there." said Brea.

 

"Why? That's close to the road, they'll see us."

 

"Because that's why." Brea said pointing to the sky.

 

Lucky looked up anticipating a helicopter with a spotlight and a tall, dark and handsome cop holding a bullhorn to be flying over them. What he saw was the dragon from his dream, he felt his legs wobble beneath him. He almost fell but Brea was there and he regained his footing though he was looking up in terror at the red beast with an enormous wingspan going up in the air in a corkscrew ascent that made Lucky dizzy.

 

"It's dark and The Marshals will be riding by too quickly to see us behind the trees and under them the dragon will never see us."

 

There were less than a dozen trees and to Lucky they all looked too thin and narrow to conceal them but he wasn't going to argue, the dragon flying above left him too terrified to do more than nod and follow. A large leaf heavy tree stood less than one hundred feet from the road the motorcycles were traveling down. They reached the tree which was sitting at the top of a dip offering better concealment.

 

"Look." said Lucky ominously as they crouched down.

 

The red dragon was circling the road overhead in ever shrinking circles, its speed increasing steadily with each pass over the road. The flap of its wings was like a whip crack, its body though large, muscular and heavy looking, went through the air like a hawk. It looked majestic, even graceful flying like it did, Lucky however gagged over the creature's scent which was hot and putrid like a furnace burning garbage for fuel.

 

"Fuck it smells like somebody is barbecuing a skunk."

 

"Some fire breathers give off a bad smell."

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"Fire breather." Lucky replied helplessly.

 

When the motorcycles approached, Lucky was not surprised to see their riders were dressed as Conan the Barbarian extras. Brea was right, he was more than lucky, he was magical. He forgot about being lucky or magical as the Marshals rode by, there looked to be three dozen and they were pulling a wagon made of strong looking wood with bars on a small window, a jail obviously, Lucky wondered if someone was in there. The dragon took a final lap as the last rider passed them.

 

"Jesus H Christ," Lucky said, standing up and shaking his head in disbelief. "you know if the cops in Philly had a dragon my ass would never leave the house...."

 

There was a sudden shriek like a high frequency noise coming through a bad speaker, Lucky looked up at the tree and saw a four foot tall hairy brown winged creature with red eyes come out of the tree flapping its large leathery black wings. It hovered over Lucky shrieking at him, it had pointy ears and a snout for a nose with a mouth filled with needle like teeth.

 

"Holy shit is that a fuckin bat!?" cried Lucky.

 

"It's a Batsquatch, it's a dragon's only natural predator," Brea said, putting on what looked like to Lucky a pair of brass knuckles but they were black and looked like they were made of crushed velvet. "it was probably sleeping in the tree and the dragon and Marshals woke it up with their drive by and we agitated it even more standing under its tree."

 

"Well shit can we tell it we're sorry?!"

 

A beam of fuchsia colored light shot out from velvet knuckles, the bat did a loop dodge of the light and suddenly grabbed Lucky by the arm with its clawed foot and quickly flew a dozen feet up in a semicircular pattern. Lucky screamed in a sheer panic with eyes closed and swung a closed fist at its claw as they flew higher. He caught a glimpse of Brea with her hand up, aiming, looking down made his stomach turn.

 

"Get the fuck off a me!" Lucky shouted.

 

He punched the claw over and over terrified they would fly too high and finally the large bat let him go, it came swooping down after him as he fell. Lucky got a glimpse of its red eyes hurtling towards him. A beam of fuchsia colored light struck the monster in its grimy, slightly hairy, torso where oily black blood poured from a charred hole. The giant bat let out a shriek that was hellacious as Lucky fell on the creature.

 

They tumbled from the air in a ball and fell forty feet from the sky and down to the ground. Lucky was spared from serious harm landing on top of the large but bulbous stomach of the giant bat

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which had recently eaten a baby dragon only an hour prior. However Lucky bounced off the dead and broken body of the bat and rolled down hill onto a steep incline. It was grassy but long and after a few minutes he came to the bottom of a very deep valley with a road currently occupied by the Marshals that had driven past them.

 

Lucky had come to a stop just beside a middle age man with a stew pot looking helmet on his head and a face covered in a black beard, he looked down at Lucky and laughed. Another black jump suited man with a gladiator type helmet who was wearing an eye patch began to laugh. Then another Marshal appeared minus a helmet but with a mini crossbow on his wrist and a smile on his lips which became laughter when he looked down at Lucky. Not knowing what to do, Lucky began to laugh as well, he put out a hand hoping he'd get a hand up and he did.

 

"Hey man, thanks!" Lucky said as the one with the gladiator helmet helped him up.

 

The one with the stew pot came over still laughing while eye patch came to his other side and patted him on the shoulder laughing.

 

"Yeah we did have a good time right." Lucky said, trying to pull himself away.

 

A few more Marshals with a variety of helmets came over laughing. Lucky shrugged his shoulders, in a shucks what are you gonna do way and once more tried to pull himself away but was held firmly in place by the Marshals who stopped laughing though Lucky tried to keep it up for a few more seconds.

 

"So....uh....you guys smoke cigarettes cause I can uh get you....uh....a pack of Camels for like two bucks."

 

A Marshal with long dark hair that was layered with gray stepped forward and put a companionable hand on Lucky's shoulder though the man's eyes looked to be filled with fire.

 

"How old are ya?" the Marshal asked after giving Lucky a steady look.

 

Now in Philly, depending on the circumstances and who is asking such a question, the answer could be the difference between six months in juvie or five years in state so long as the judge isn't too much of an asshole. Plus Brea had said these Marshals were like the police in her world, best to start off on the right foot with these guys.

 

"I'm sixteen...uh sir." Lucky said which made him feel a little bit like a pussy to say.

 

The Marshals laughed again at the sir part but it was short and the long haired Marshal spoke again.

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"Sixteen, ya say? You always go rolling down the hillside like a child?"

 

"No," Lucky said, trying to keep out the sir part. "I was walking down the road and a Batsquatch chased me."

 

"It shit on his head and turned his hair green!" shouted the stew pot Marshal making the others laugh.

 

Lucky wanted to roll his eyes but laughed dutifully while the long haired Marshal continued.

 

"You traveling alone?"

 

Again like in Philly a question like depending on the circumstances and who's asking could mean the difference between getting beaten then robbed or murdered then robbed. Brea said they were the police here but Lucky didn't trust the police. Lucky felt that itch in the back of his head telling him to say yes.

 

"Yes."

 

The Marshal gave a nod as he watched Lucky closely.

 

"Anyone expecting ya?" he asked Lucky with a smile that had too many teeth.

 

Lucky didn't think he'd be able to get away from these guys.

 

"Uh no."

 

It was then that the trio of motorcycles hauling the medieval paddy wagon pulled up, the long haired Marshal opened the windowless door leading inside. It was empty and dark and Lucky shivered.

 

"I don't need a ride."

 

"I was askin young fella." the Marshal said easily.

 

"What if I say no?"

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The long haired Marshal clicked his tongue in tsk tsk manner as a Marshal stepped forward and aimed a fire arm at Lucky's knee that looked like a gun but looked more like a miniature Civil War cannon attached to a pistol handle and trigger.

 

"What the fuck!" Lucky said, putting his hands over his knee.

 

The long haired Marshal spoke again.

 

"Look young fella, my men and I have been on the road a while."

 

There was a small chorus of grunts that followed.

 

"We're tired, we're hungry and you're what lies between us and coin, you get me? Now I need you to come with us alive but if you refuse well we won't argue, I mean you'll still come with us alive but not in one piece if you catch my meaning."

 

The chorus of grunts that followed was bigger, angrier. Lucky had a vision of Joel suddenly in a room with concrete walls painted lime green, no windows and a door made of steel with a tiny slot in the middle to slide a meal tray through. They didn't have bars in juvie, no windows either, but lots of doors that were made of steel with the occasional door made of wood with frosted glass that led to an office for a counselor or warden. Lucky got in the paddy wagon without further protest.

 

Although Lucky was terrified, the smell from the motorcycle's exhaust made him grateful it was a short trip. It was too dark and the window was too small to see but it felt like they had come to a stop on flat ground. It was only a few moments after they stopped that a Marshal with a bullet shaped helmet opened the door and ordered him out.

 

"Holy shit." Lucky said when he stepped out.

 

He stood in a stone courtyard looking at what he could only think of as a castle. There was a mammoth square building made of dark gray stone that looked twice as high and three times as wide as any row house back home, on each corner was a tower with a cone roof made of shingles that went even higher with a Marshal standing at the top of everyone. On top of the square were more Marshals walking back and forth doing sentry duty. At the center of the square was the largest door Lucky had ever seen, it was wide enough to run a parade through it and was almost as high as the wall.

 

The Marshals surrounded Lucky as they went towards the large door. Lucky saw that surrounding the whole of the castle was a wall that looked tall and beyond measurement in his eyes. He was feeling too overwhelmed by everything to ask the Marshals anything.

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As they walked closer to the large door, Lucky kept waiting to hear some mighty roar and for the door to either lay down like a drawbridge or go up but they were instead heading to a normal sized door near the mammoth one. Lucky found himself a little disappointed he wouldn't get to see the large door open.

 

"What the fuck is wrong with me?" he said to himself quietly.

 

One of the Marshals wearing a dumb looking helmet with bat wings on its sides looked over at him with an eyebrow raised.

 

"Sorry, just kind of terrified."

 

Lucky was expecting the Marshal with the dumb helmet to laugh but he didn't and said something that made him wish he had laughed at him.

 

"You'll be fine, you're young and strong."

 

The small door opened to a set of cast iron corkscrew steps heading down. Though it was underground and there was no natural light, there were circular white discs that glowed with white light. Lucky passed by one expecting to feel heat but did not. After three minutes or so of descent they came out to a vestibule that led to a jail that was big and smelled a little bad.

 

The vestibule was separated from the communal cell by floor to ceiling bars made of a material that looked like sparkly gold. Though the vestibule had a fireplace with a roaring fire (the flames were yellowish green though and the fire smelled similar to the exhaust of those motorcycles) it was drafty in the musty and dusty cell that was fortunately empty. A Marshal opened the door and gestured for him to go in, when the door was shut again Lucky finally had the courage to speak.

 

"Hey wait, come on you guys. I mean what the hell did I do?"

 

"Nothing," said the one with the dumb batwing helmet. "you were at the wrong place at the wrong time is all."

 

Once Lucky was alone he found what looked like a sack filled with hay and sat down on it with a tired and hungry sigh. It was at least warm in the cell so he removed the parka. Despite his deep terror and winding up in jail after all it didn't stop his stomach from groaning with hunger. He thought of Joel and ignored his hunger pangs.

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He sat against a wall that was warm but hard, he drew his knees up and rested his head face down, his eyes closed. His heart was beating fast, his mind wandering. He'd swear he'd fallen asleep as he started to hear Joel's voice saying 'I'm sorry' in a watery pain filled tone that was hurting him to hear. His eyes burned as he looked up at the rock lined ceiling above his head.

 

"Wrong place at the wrong time. That's why my name's Lucky."

 

"Well it's nice to meet you Lucky." said a female voice from the other side of the bars.

 

Lucky sat up in deep fright and discomfort, that voice made him shiver internally. It was a woman, she was wearing the silvery blue gown and velvet gloves from his dream but she didn't look like his Aunt Karen. She had an hourglass figure with large breasts but looked about ten or even twenty years older then his aunt but it was hard to tell because her skin was glowing in a way that looked unnatural and he assumed was due to magic. Her frizzy hair was brown as were her eyes, the woman smiled at him and Lucky felt another internal shiver.

 

"Hi." Lucky said timidly.

 

"Oh don't be scared honey," the woman said sweetly. "I'm Lady Lodack."

 

She looked him directly in the eyes with a smile so big Lucky thought for a moment she was going to swallow him. Then the paranoid thought was gone and he smiled a little at its ridiculousness. Her brow furrowed at his hair.

 

"You look like you have some moss in your hair you silly boy."

 

Lucky gave her an awkward smile.

 

"What are you smiling about?" she asked mischievously with a twinkle in her eye.

 

Lucky felt disarmed for a moment and was just tired and hungry and would have given up his freedom for a McDonald's ten piece and a Coke. He felt that breakdown coming, it was like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, he was lost and he had no one and he wanted to cry about it he thought of his mom and felt his eyes burn threatening to spill over tears but he thought of Joel again which pushed that meltdown away. He was just a little hungry was all and this woman didn't appear to want to hurt him.

 

"I'm just smiling because it's been a long day and..."

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The sound of rumbling from Lucky's stomach was so loud Lodack giggled as his face went red at the loud clamor.

 

"I..."

 

"Marshal, bring him something to eat." Lodack said with a finger snap to a Marshal standing at the foot of the staircase.

 

A moment later the Marshal returned carrying a tray with food. He slid it through a space in the door and the smell made Lucky's mouth water.

 

"Beef and broth." said Lodack.

 

She sounded condescending, belittling. It reminded him of the way Aunt Karen would treat him when she was in a good mood, she would be nice but he could still feel that disdain and resentment for him just below the surface. But he was too hungry and though she probably considered this meager, the palm sized piece of beef and cup of brown broth looked like Thanksgiving to him and he ate it all in three bites and two big gulps.

 

"My my you are a hungry boy aren't you?" Lodack said opening the door to the cell, as she moved her gown changed colors like in his dream, green, to orange to silvery blue.

 

"Uh, yeah I guess, I skipped breakfast."

 

Lucky felt an itch in the back of his head, a deep burning, flaming itch. It was so deep when Lucky reached back to scratch it he fully expected to find an insect gnawing on him but he didn't. It was that other itch. Lucky put his hand down and began to wonder if this woman was causing the itch.

 

"Is this your place?"

 

Lucky was trying to ignore that itch, he couldn't let her see him try and scratch it, he was sure she'd know something was up. He felt hot, sweat began to roll down his back, a sensation that made him shudder in disgust.

 

"Yes this is my castle, I'm sorry it's so drafty. I hope you'll forgive me for locking you away, the Chief Marshal said he found you not far from Mannerjay Meadow, only the dangerous sort come from there. I told him you looked much too innocent to be dangerous but the chief insisted as a precaution." she said with her arms crossed just below her breasts.

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Her smile was small, she raised her arms a tad and leaned slightly forward. Lucky was able to see her cleavage and looked away, making her titter. The situation left Lucky feeling confused. Did she realize her tits were almost popping out of her gown?

 

"Oh uh, no er um yeah I didn't know I was there I uh was just going for a walk and I got lost. I didn't know I was trespassing or anything."

 

Her eyes looked hard but her smile was soft.

 

"You always go for solitary walks through Nyx?" she asked him sweetly.

 

What the fuck is Nyx, he asked himself as the itching burned into the back of his skull. He didn't know what she was referring to, before he could respond Lodack continued.

 

"Even for a man Nyx can be deadly. Do you know what I think?"

 

She eyed him closely, licking her lips. Lucky felt his heart race and adrenaline course through his body making him shake. He was frightened and confused by Lodack's behavior, which Nat would have called skanky. Lodack wasn't outright hideous, close to elderly (too close) but Lucky felt a strange repulsion to her like you would to someone with horrible body odor or bad breath.

 

"I think you're a bad boy looking for adventure," she said as her eyes grew wide and she stepped closer to him. "weren't you?"

 

Lucky took a small step back and laughed nervously at her much like he did when he was seven years old and his mom caught him writing swear words on the sidewalk with chalk in front of the apartment on Ritner street.

 

"I uh..."

 

"It's okay," Lodack said, licking her lips again. "you went to Mannerjay Meadow to find a fairy to fornicate with, all boys your age are curious about fucking. You know what fucking is don't you?"

 

She took another step forward, her eyes sparkled as her skin took on a brighter hue making her look even more pink. Her lips were red like wine as her eyes looked glassy and deep, Lucky's hand found itself scratching at the back of his head. She lifted her hand to reach out and touch him, Lucky was filled with alarm as his back was to the wall and he had a flashback to Brea telling him about needing physical contact to read minds. When her finger tips touched his cheek a clear and loud thought formed in his head which was: Please God I don't wanna fuck this dirty old lady!

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Lodack stopped and pulled her hand away as if burned. Her smile turned into a sneer and her eyes went from glassy to stony, her hands fell to her sides as her pinkish hue left but Lucky swore he could see a light red halo hug her body for a brief moment. Lucky felt his shakes redouble as her eyes began to study him, tracing his entire body the way a doctor might a belligerent patient.

 

"Your clothes are very strange," she said after looking at his sneakers for a few moments. "where did you get them?"

 

What would this crazy old bitch say if he said at Forman Mills during a back to school sale. Lucky had no idea what she would say, he knew she would simply read his mind if she didn't understand what he was talking about. Before anything more could happen a middle age dark haired man wearing a long red robe covered in tiny black thunderbolts and tongues of orange flames with a narrow red hat that had a curly cue at the top came down the steps in a hurry.

 

"My lady." the robed man said nervously.

 

"What is it Nello?" Lodack snapped, making Lucky and the robed man jump.

 

"A dragon is attacking the Marshals." he said submissively.

 

"Then Zemy probably needs fed." she said, turning to glare at Nello.

 

"Uh, uh...yes my lady but you see it's not your dragon. It's a wild one we believe and a few of the Marshals are passed out drunk and the ones still awake say you aren't paying them enough to kill a dragon."

 

"Lazy bastards!" she said leaving the cell and slamming the door so hard yellow sparks shot out of the door when it shut.

 

"It's as I suggested my lady, you should just stick to using Goblins. Give them table scraps and you'll have a slave for life."

 

"Shut up, Nello." she said as she went up the stairs with Nello dutifully following behind.

 

Lucky held a hand to his chest when he was alone again. He wasn't sure but he had a feeling letting this Lodack bitch know he was from another world would be bad. Lucky was shivering but it was from the cold, the draft in the cell was instantly worse and smelled like a sewer.

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Lucky sat back down, wrinkling his nose when he heard a noise in a far corner outside his cell. It was coming from beside the fireplace in darkness. It sounded like claws scurrying around on stone. Lucky immediately thought of rats and stood back up looking around himself for furry vermin as the scurrying sound got louder. He walked over to the bars getting as close as he could to the fireplace but the glare of the fire made it hard to see in the corner beyond.

 

Lucky put a hand up to cut the brightness out to see better. He watched as his eyes readjusted while he stared into the far corner where he noticed a puddle or perhaps a small pool of water on the floor. He stared closely and saw that there was a barred off manhole sized hole in that far corner, it was a sewer.

 

"I guess it's rats."

 

The sound was getting closer, he couldn't tell if it was one rat or a pack of them. He remembered an old ass horror movie he and Joel saw from Hollywood Knights called Willard about this dude that used rats to murder people. It was an oldie and a goodie but at the current moment Lucky wished he'd never watched it. Who the hell knows what the rats of this world were like?

 

Lucky was frozen in place watching that hole with his hand blocking the glare. He could make out the eight bars and the way the puddle rippled as water quietly dripped over mossy bricks. The scurrying was closer still, then he saw a large pair of purple iris' gazing at him from the hole. Lucky let out a gasp that was a wheeze.

 

"Uhhhhhhhhh....."

 

Was all he could muster as his heart was trip hammering, he took a step back. Whatever it was it was big judging by the space between the eyes. Lucky thought for sure he was about to be eaten until he heard Brea's voice.

 

"Lucky?" she said from the hole in the wall.

 

"Brea! Is that you?!"

 

"Yes, sit tight! We'll have you out in a moment."

 

Lucky was about to ask who's we but there was suddenly a bright light and the smell of burning garbage. The flames on the bars were white and were apparently very hot considering only a minute or two passed before the bars were turned to tiny pools of molten metal. The dragon was as big as a German Shepard with a purplish pink body covered in scales, it waddled in on short legs and mammoth paws.

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The creature had a dog like face with a snout, floppy ears and a scaled tail lightly covered in fur that was wagging happily. On its back was a pair of wings the color of bubblegum and looked as thick as canvas. Brea ran up to the bars, they took each other's hands.

 

"Are you okay?" she asked.

 

"Yeah I'm fine. Is that your dragon?! Is he cool?" Lucky said in a near panic.

 

"Yes, she's mine. Her name is Edda."

 

"Uh, hi girl."

 

Because of its dog like appearance Lucky expected it to bark but it merely looked up at him with its large lavender eyes.

 

"Let's get you out of here. Stand back."

 

Brea used her velvet knuckles to unlock the cell, then back into the sewer tunnel.

 

"Christ I'm glad you found me," Lucky said from the rear as they were crouching their way through. "this old skank..."

 

"Lady Lodack," said Brea who was behind Edda. " and you're right she's a skank, she pays those Marshals to kidnap boys and young men so she can bed them. I saw them take you away and knew where you were going."

 

"She can't find a dive bar to pick up some dudes her age?" asked Lucky in disgust.

 

"Well she uses a very primitive anti-aging spell that requires a man's come for it to work..."

 

"Ew, what the fuck."

 

"...and the younger the man the more effective the spell."

 

"This skank literally needs the come of some young guy." Lucky said with a weak laugh wishing Joel could have been there to hear his joke.

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"Huh?"

 

"Nothing. Hey, what's Nyx?"

 

"Where we are, The Land Of Eternal Night. It's a land that has been cursed for thousands of years in a forever night. "

 

Lucky thought of that Tom Cruise flick again and hated himself even more because Joel would have known the title, he loved that movie. He probably would have loved hearing about Nyx too.

 

"Is your farm in Nyx?"

 

"No, my farm is in the old kingdoms where the sun still rises every morning."

 

"Is it far?"

 

"It's a little far but there's an autocart track that will get us home in under an hour."

 

"What's an autocart?"

 

"An uncomfortable ride in an open box in cold weather at least it'll be a quick ride."

 

Lucky shivered at what might lay ahead, not looking forward to more cold.

 

"Shit I left your coat back there."

 

"It's okay." she said easily.

 

"I'm sorry." he said, feeling like the worlds biggest asshole considering she was still carrying his backpack. She looked back and gave him a sweet smile.

 

"It really is okay, I have other coats. Come on, we're almost out."

 

They continued their way in the smelly tunnel, there was the occasional wall mounted torch with a yellow green flame giving pale light. The only sound was Edda's claws scraping the floor whenever she lifted her paws. Lucky was holding his nose in the tunnel but the thought of getting caught and

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having to kiss Lodack made him want to gag worse than the smell of this place and the turds currently floating by him.

 

"We're not lost are we?" asked Lucky.

 

"Of course not. Edda has a bloodhound's nose."

 

As if by magic, which Lucky would have believed if told so, they came out into open air and a sky filled with stars. Lucky looked up and was reminded of the first time he saw the sky at night outside of Philly. The sky here looked like it did in Porter at night, an inky black sky speckled with flecks of ice that sparkled and twinkled. The fresh air was cool on his tongue and made him feel relieved for a moment.

 

"Come on, this way. We need to hurry before Lodack finds out you're gone." Brea said heading towards a forest with Edda leading the way.

 

"Yeah right, I'm just waiting for the Marshals to pull up."

 

"I knocked most of them out with a potion."

 

"A magic potion?" Lucky asked in awe.

 

"Uh-huh," she said with a nod. "it's base ingredient is the pollen from a green Rose. It floats in the air like pollen does but breathing it in will put you to sleep. Edda did a quick fly over and dropped a few jars wherever the Marshals were bunched up then put the ones still awake on a wild goose chase."

 

"Thank friggin Christ for that."

 

"We just have to be careful of Goblins."

 

"Goblins?! Shit you weren't kidding about dangers."

 

"Are you upset with me?" she asked worriedly, trying to see his face, it was dark but he was smiling.

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"No, I just thought we'd have to worry about bears and shit around here like up in Porter. I'll take a Goblin in a dark forest over a crackhead on a street corner at night anytime. Speaking of dark, I hope you have a light."

 

"Edda, glow." said Brea.

 

There were suddenly two narrow beams of rose colored light coming from Edda's eyes that cut the darkness away. Lucky felt alarmed at the lights of eyes reflecting back but they were there and gone before he could react. He remembered they had a fire breathing dragon leading the way and wasn't as scared. The forest was dense but was more level and not as hilly and rocky as the one in Porter. They came to a clearing and the sky was wide open with a half moon giving off light far, far away.

 

The clearing opened up into a shallow valley, on one side of the valley was a dark castle cast in pallid moonlight. Another forest laid ahead but Brea walked over to a set of what looked like to Lucky a set of railroad tracks. The tracks came from the valley, edging the border of the forest before going off someplace else.

 

"The cart is still there, come on."

 

At first glance the autocart reminded Lucky of the minecarts from Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. It looked big enough to fit him and Brea but not enough room for Edda.

 

"Go ahead girl. We'll meet you back home."

 

Edda whined and appeared to wag her head in negation.

 

"Edda," Brea said, getting down on her knees to pet her head. "go ahead, you silly beast. We'll be right behind you."

 

Brea gave her a playful sway on her rear as she turned and went off. Lucky watched in disbelief as Edda waddled, ran, then flapped her wings and was in the air with the ease of a pigeon on a street corner avoiding a pedestrian. Lucky helped Brea climb into the autocart, when he got in he saw there was a medium sized square piece of black glass sitting at a forty five degree angle attached to the front of the autocart. Brea touched the glass which reacted to her.

 

"It's a screen." said Lucky.

 

"It's used to navigate the autocart."

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On the screen Lucky was speechless for a moment.

 

"Check out these graphics, it looks like an NES game. Is that our autocart?"

 

"Yes it is."

 

There was an overhead view of the autocart which looked like an 8bit minecart, sitting on a pair of tracks with grass on either side of the tracks. To the right was the forest dotted with trees, everything was rendered in 8bit graphics.

 

"Jeez, it's like the overworld map in The Legend Of Zelda. Do you need to steer this thing because I don't have my driver's license."

 

"No, it drives itself. I just have to tell it where to go, hold on."

 

The sound of iron on iron clanked noisily as the autocart slowly but smoothly rolled forward into the night. It was cold, when the autocart picked up speed the chill was awful. Lucky offered his hoody to Brea who refused it and instead sat beside him, she put his arms around her shoulders and her arms around his waist.

 

"We'll keep our arms around each other to stay warm."

 

Lucky wanted to apologize again about the coat but felt it would be stupid so he didn't. She didn't seem to mind and it did keep them warm. Lucky had been looking forward to seeing what strange fairy tale lands the autocart was rolling through but he was just as happy holding Brea. Lucky was also intrigued by the screen which showed their auto cart and the ever changing surroundings being rendered on screen. Before long Brea was pointing ahead.

 

"Daylight." she said.

 

They were in a rock strewn land that looked to be in twilight, beyond that was a skeletal looking forest littered with gray and diseased trees that was bordered by a band of misty golden light. It was like the daylight was trying to pry itself in like a low lying fog. As the autocart drew closer the gold band of misty light grew in brightness, Lucky had to shield his eyes for a moment, then it was daylight and they were rolling next to a large wheatfield, he looked back and was speechless at the bizarre looking black wall of night. The lyrics 'You know the day destroys the night, night divides the day' rang out in his head and Lucky felt a chill touch his heart.

 

"Shit maybe Jim saw this place." Lucky said to himself.

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After a few minutes the autocart appeared to be slowing. They left the wheatfield and entered a hilly grassland that had sporadic clusters of trees growing here and there.

 

"We're almost home." Brea said, giving Lucky a hug.

 

"Awesome, I'm friggin exhausted. Not that I'm complaining, I guess I should have realized being on the run is tiring. At least I'm safe from that shit now. Thank you for letting me hide out, if there's anything I can do to make it up to you just say so."

 

"There is something I would like to ask you," she said as the autocart slowed to a crawl. "I don't know if you can help but I believe you can."

 

"What is it," he said, climbing out of the autocart then helping Brea out. "you won't know unless you ask."

 

They stood under a tall tree in ankle deep grass. The weather was crisp like mid September as an afternoon sun shone down from a clear blue sky.

 

"Do you remember me mentioning that I had a friend I thought was from Philly but I had to ask her? She's magical, she's a witch, her name is Galadriel."

 

"Like the elf in the Lord Of The Rings?"

 

"I've heard her mention those books but she believes it's her name but she's not sure if she's from Philly. She's more certain of her name though than where she came from."

 

"What do ya mean she's not certain?"

 

"She has amnesia. She awoke in a forest in Nyx with no memory and two silver bullets lodged in her forehead, someone likely wanted to kill her but failed."

 

"Silver bullets?"

 

"Yes. I think whoever shot her had tried before and failed, as I said she's magical and I'm sure her enemies knew that so they used silver bullets to kill her and in a way they did kill her, they killed her memories."

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"Amnesia, I didn't think that kind of stuff was real but yesterday I felt the same way about magic. But if she can't remember what makes you think she's from my neck of the woods?"

 

"Well your accents are similar and you say normal words in a very peculiar manner, like water."

 

"What's up with the way I say wooder," he said with a chuckle. "my 8th grade English teacher called it Philly English. He would actually get pissed at students in class for saying shit like youse or jawn."

 

"It's a regional dialect?"

 

"Yeah I guess you could say that."

 

"Well then I'm sure I'm right. She lost her memory long ago, maybe you can help her remember."

 

"Whatever I can do to help. Is she at your place?"

 

"No but she will be any day now. She is traveling out of Nyx from the north with Kickswitch The Electric."

 

"Is Kickswitch a witch too?"

 

"No, she's a wizard."

 

Witches, wizards, dragons, an evil sorceress, this was a strange place to runaway too. Lucky had another flashback to the times him and Joel talked about running away to Mexico. He felt his heart drop every time he remembered where Joel was.

 

"Are you okay?" asked Brea, worriedly seeing the look in his eyes.

 

Before he could speak there was a roar from nearby. It was loud and ferocious.

 

"That was Edda, there's a Goblin raid at the farm! Come on!" said Brea.

 

Lucky felt too alarmed to think clearly. The word Goblin kept bouncing around his head. What the hell would they look like, are they dangerous and if so how dangerous? Lucky had been in a few fist fights in Philly but he considered himself a lover not a fighter as Nat might have said it, Joel on the

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other hand wasn't afraid to fight regardless of his size, he even carried a switchblade sometimes, he wished he still had his own knife. Lucky followed behind Brea through a downhill slope into a short grassy field, behind a band of trees Lucky saw a cottage with a roof carpeted in moss.

 

Another roar cried out and he saw a glimpse of Edda swooping down from high in the sky. As Lucky and Brea got closer they could hear a sound like pigs squealing followed by a ghostly wail, the sound made Lucky's blood run cold. He was afraid but he ran with his fists clenched and broke through the band of trees moments after Brea and saw a patch of fire burning near a recently tilled field that looked to have a pile of something with limbs blackened in the middle of the flames.

 

Lucky felt his insides turn and looked away and saw one of the Goblins on his immediate right. It had dark blue skin that was covered by raggedy clothes, it had a pig like face and snout with a pair of slimy tusks growing out of its lower jaw. Its head was pumpkin shaped with stringy black hair, it had muscular arms, clawed hands and thick legs that stood on black hooves. It had its hands around the neck of a white haired goat that was pink from the blood coming out of its ripped neck.

 

The Goblin had its back to him so Lucky ran up behind it and attempted to kick it between the legs, however he was so keyed up from running and seeing his first Goblin he hit it between the butt cheeks. The Goblin turned around and shrieked, raising its claws hands at him like a monster in a movie.

 

"Fuck!" he screamed in terror but was finally able to give the beast an accurate kick to the groin.

 

It collapsed with a whiny groan that sounded cartoonish.

 

"Look out!"

 

Lucky stepped back as a fuchsia colored beam of light hit the goblin. It screamed and scurried away, it was then that another Goblin came running at Brea from behind. Before Lucky could say a word Brea turned around and fired another beam striking its head which erupted in fire, the thing fell with a scream and began flailing and rolling around for a moment before dying, another two were charging from far behind but getting closer.

 

Lucky looked around for a rock or a thick branch as he ran to be by Brea's side and help her fight but he saw nothing of use. On the far side of the cottage was a one story wooden barn the color of wine, coming around it and out of it were at least a half dozen more. Lucky screamed in frustration that he had only his fists to fight with. Edda was roaring as she flew around, making nips at any Goblin that she could get close to.

 

"I think Edda's run out of fire breath," said Brea waiting for them to get closer. "stay behind me."

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"I'm not staying behind anybody, it's not like they have swords or crossbows an shit." Lucky said, putting up his fists.

 

"Lucky you're very brave but even unarmed...."

 

"Brea I'm not going anywhere."

 

Brea took another shot and hit the closest one. She shot at the second one and missed but Brea didn't frown or get upset. Lucky saw her eyes widen and a smile break out as she gazed to the south where a forest laid. Lucky turned and saw a woman wearing a black hoody and black pants come running out of the forest so fast Lucky couldn't keep his eyes on her at first. Lucky had a feeling that was the witch Galadriel.

 

Her skin was fair, her hair though wasn't blond like the Elf from the Tolkien books but black and shoulder length, he couldn't be sure but it looked like she had a pair of rope like bangs that were down to her waist. Her face was lovely, fierce and determined. She was more than seventy yards from the nearest Goblin but she crossed the distance in seconds and hit the beast with her shoulder, sending the screaming creature onto the ground. It got up and charged her, she swung her fist, hitting it so hard a tusk broke off.

 

Then Lucky saw something even wilder. He saw a young woman with a black bowler on her head in a forest green hoody wearing cargo pants. What was wild was how she was gliding on the air at a high rate of speed. In her hands appeared to be a stick or a staff that was glowing a pale green, as the gliding woman passed them Lucky blurted out to the young woman.

 

"Holy shit is that a hoverboard?"

 

The gliding woman banked towards a trio of Goblins, Lucky saw her wiggle her ankles and she began to pick up speed. The three brutes followed after her, even as she went in a circle the three creatures did likewise, she slowed and the the three trip over each other in a pile. The gliding woman's staff began to move like the body of a snake, she changed her grip and began whipping the Goblins, each crack sounded like a pistol crack and sent sparks flying at the tip. The Goblins screamed and wailed as they tripped over each other again trying to escape the electric lashing.

 

Lucky watched the woman in black stand in what looked like a boxer's pose as she fought a Goblin, she looked to be relishing every hit. Lucky at first thought she looked like some of those goth teenage chicks from the suburbs or New Jersey who practiced Wicca, listened to Type O Negative and wandered South street on weekends with their hair painted black with Manic Panic but he was wrong. This was a woman, a woman that was strong and unafraid, a warrior that would fight until her dying breath, a woman Lucky would have bet that some of those teenage girls imagined themselves to be when they dressed like that, strong, beautiful, a little scary and not afraid to fight.

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The woman in black clothes lined the Goblin, it fell to its knees gagging, putting a clawed hand to its throat but it took a swing with the other hand, hitting her in the face with a claw leaving a long bloody groove. She let out a savage cry that sounded rage filled, she grabbed the beast by its neck with one hand, raising it back to its hooves and gave it three solid punches directly in the face, strange, oily blood sprayed out of its mouth after the first punch, its snout after the second, then its eyes after the third punch. She dropped its body, growled and charged after the remaining Goblins.

 

Brea ran over towards the retreating Goblins, Lucky could see the woman on the hoverboard was lashing her strange whip over their heads, each pistol like pop sound from the whipping made his heart jump. The woman in black quickly caught up but the Goblins had abandoned whatever mischief they'd been planning. Lucky was far behind as Brea and the two newcomers met, he was unsure if he should approach until Brea waved him over.

 

"Lucky, this is Kickswitch The Electric."

 

"Nice to meet you, awesome name." Lucky said, shaking her hand.

 

"Thanks," she said, smiling brightly. "it took me a while to think of it."

 

"And this is Galadriel."

 

Lucky saw her eyes were glowing slightly as she looked at him. Her skin was fair and flawless and he realized suddenly her cut was gone.

 

"Your face." said Lucky.

 

Galadriel furrowed her brow. Lucky realized how his statement came off and clarified.

 

"Uh...what I mean is, you got cut. Didn't you? I thought I saw that Goblin cut your cheek."

 

"You did," said the witch. "my body heals quickly."

 

"Wow. Magic?"

 

Galadriel only shrugged.

 

"So where do you come from?" said Kickswitch, eyeing his clothes.

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"South Philly."

 

There was a moment of silence, Kickswitch looked back at Galadriel who was looking at Lucky who looked down for a moment.

 

"We've heard of that place before, G." the wizard said to the witch, who then both looked at Brea.

 

"I found a way station last year," said Brea timidly. "I've been going through it on occasion and I met Lucky. He's in danger in his world and I'm allowing his to live on my farm.

 

There was silence and Lucky felt uncomfortable. Edda landed finally and waddled over to Brea who absently petted her.

 

"Where did you ask it to take you?" asked the wizard.

 

"I....asked it to take me to Philadelphia...."

 

Lucky caught a brief halo of a dark yellow light and for some reason believed Brea was suddenly feeling embarrassed but Lucky was too caught up in the moment.

 

"...I've found your home Galadriel. Lucky came from there, you have the same dialects and he's mentioned things similar to what you can recall. You two can mind share to see for yourself, he was born and raised in Philadelphia. Correct?"

 

"Yeah," Lucky said earnestly. "South Philly born and raised."

 

"Yes and the other things that you've seen that point back to...."

 

But Galadriel cut her off.

 

"It might be a coincidence, there's all kinds of mythical stories about bullshit lands. What if something had happened to you over there?"

 

"I was never in danger."

 

"And you shouldn't have brought someone here...."