• It was hot…
    Sweat dripped from the fore head of a lone figure lying in the darkness.
    It’s worse now…
    Discomfort continued to plague the figure, forcing it to flop around along its cushion.
    I’ll burn to death…
    With a load gasp, a youth sat erect upon a bed as the dark haze poured in from the cracks of a doorway. By now the bleak smog had covered the room in such a manner that every breath was filled with a black ash that caused the child to wheeze and cough with great ferocity. Finally the adolescent made a dash to some type of safety.
    I can’t see…
    With blatant disregard for anything but a chance to escape the child crashed into something causing the youth to fall face first onto the hard ground.
    There is no hope…
    Hysterically it rose up from the hot wooden floor feeling frantically through the blinding darkness. The juvenile’s skin still festering with perspiration practically boiling from the shear heat that engulfed the room; yet finally this pubertal felt the hot metal bar that could prop opens the window. The adolescent did so with a searing throbbing in his hands as every motion pulled up the crackling glass panels. The clear burst of air was the only relief in this situation.
    There is no choice…
    With no alternative the fire embellished the room as embers flew through to the entire room like deadly snowflakes forewarning demise. As if being jolted out by force; the young boy fell facing the sky reaching out towards the brightly shining stars begging them to guide him safely to the ground. As he reached the hard earth beneath him the crunching of the dried flower bed and brittle bushes salvaged him from complete fatality. Instinctively the black haired child raised again his essence numb to anything but progress.
    He ran with all his strength at the zenith of his physical capability ultimately crashing to the ground. The course cement frayed his soft pale skin yet this was insignificant to what he was fleeing from. What he had just seen was none to pretty and despite his forlorn leap towards safety carelessly allowed he to be exposed long enough to feel a sharp pain across the back of his. With a diminishing gasp the boy was flaccid his young frame spread over the concrete walk way.
    There before this child stood two men puzzled as to what to do next; finally one spoke “ the boss said to take the boy alive in case the old b*****d lives,” a direct quote from their bosses stated a brown haired man with aged eyes and an unlit cigarette sitting loosely on his lips.
    Another with young vividly colored spiky hair scoffed staring back at the burning estate, “there isn’t a chance with my handy work they’ll be lucky to find enough remains to autopsy!” suddenly alarms began to ring ever creeping upon their ears. Then a car pulled up to the side walk without another word the two men shoved the boy as well as themselves into the decrepit station wagon.
    “So this is our insurance policy?” composed gazing back through the rear view mirror firstly noticing all the soot and blood now staining the upholstery.
    “No s**t” said the rambunctious spiky haired felon. “Why else would we bother caring all this dead wait with us?” He said. Flopping one of the boy’s arms proving how unresponsive the child truly was. Subsequently, no one uttered another word as the rain tapped the windshield making the already dark twisting roads harder to navigate. Through out there drive each corner turned, each street fallowed, and each stop sign avoided, lead deeper into an austere abyss that was once called a thriving metropolis. There were no 20 story high rises down this street, no apartments with grand venues of the city lights, and no inch of space left unpaved. They closely passed the besmirched 4 story building. Upon the first floor red neon lights grimly gleamed Styx ending in an arrow witch pointed passers to a bar down the rusted staircase. Yet they drove on passed it. This stirred the oblivious young one into frenzy “Hey, what the hell are you doing!” There was no reply from the apathetic men in the front seat just impatient role of the eyes. This only agitated the man even more as he anxiously moved about repeating himself deafeningly.
    With a deep sigh the man at the front passenger side rolled down his window a tad allowing damp cold air to flow over him. Finally flicking his cigarette out the window as he calmly spoke to his pitiful companion, “Would you want to be seen caring a ‘dead’ body into Styx?” He paused running his fingers through his damp hair in frustration. Finishing off his response with one flat remark “We are going out back Kieran.”
    Kieran was still acting childish as he scoffed looking away in distaste; burning his angry gaze into the side walk instead. It didn’t take much more before they reached the back entrance. As the car pulled closer towards the dark back alley the unconscious boy retched out blood. Kieran jolted over and exclaimed “The little s**t is still unconscious,” repulsed as he leaned in cleaning the boy’s mouth with a rag sitting in a front seat back pocket. Yet, as they grew closer the boy’s dementia grew as well. He began to thrash back and forth, shaking and gasping as a small amount of blood trickled down his face. Both the men in the front didn’t even bat an eye to the awkward situation set before them. Yet the same could not be said for the distressed character that frenzied once again in the back seat hunched away close to the door. At last, parking behind the building, the driver got out of the car quickly, his bright green eyes intensified as pulled open the passenger door “Let’s get him in quickly.” He spoke in the same apathetic voice his eyes now overcastted and cloudy. All three men carried the kid in though the rusty swinging doubly doors.
    What is this…?
    The child’s eyes fluttered open for a brief moment he was alive and took in as much as his senses would allow him to. His body was overcome with pain as he felt the blood smeared over his face. Yet as he fell back into the obscurity of his mind one thing stuck with him. The shimmering of a lighter as it flickered open and shut it in these memorizing slender fingers, it was imbedded with an abstract design that resembled a star.