Fate Is A Hooker

[laZardo†]

((Note Historique: The following takes place between V1 and V2.

Might retouch this with critique.))

"I don't wanna be weak..." the long-haired boy sniffled as he clung to the older student on the floor of the bathroom.
"Damien...it's okay...it's gonna be all right...we're not weak..." the older student replied.

At the time though, neither of them knew when things would be all right. They certainly weren't any closer when one of the science teachers suddenly entered the bathroom with a disgusted look on his face and told them to get to lunch before someone else found them down there.

It was the last time he ever saw Damien.

The relative silence inside this fairly average house was briefly broken by a sequence of clicks and creaks which emanated from its youngest occupant arriving at home from his first week at Southridge High School, with a bruise on his arm and otherwise rumpled clothing. For this rather scrawny Panamanian-American, it was all just another day in what was left of his life. He slid off his sneakers with his feet and placed them by the door before chucking his relatively light school bag beside the coat hanger. He sighed as he surveyed his darkening surroundings. Nothing new, nothing significantly changed...

...save for the absence of his mother, but that was expected.

The boy trudged slowly across the carpet in his socks, easily making his way around a layout he'd long since memorized. The mail was on a small lamp table by the hallway; there was a video game magazine he'd subscribed to poking out from the bills but he decided to save that for later as he headed toward the kitchen. He switched on the light to reveal a layout that hadn't been touched since his mom finished washing the dishes. Speaking of which, there was a note on the fridge as he turned to get some snacks.

'Went out for groceries. Will be back soon. - Mama'

With another sigh, he went over to the cupboard and withdrew a pack of tortilla chips before making his way back to the living room. The chips landed on the coffee table - and the boy on the sofa in front of the sizable TV - in as much the same manner as the boy's bag itself.

The TV blinked on with a light whoosh, and as usual, the sound was there to greet him before the visuals. Right now that sound was the opening theme for the local hourly news. Eduardo sighed and stretched himself out on the sofa, leaning back for the usual array of current events. Normally, even the TV news would have barely even raised Eduardo's eyebrow, and save for something like that Survival of the Fittest contest, the only articles that had a chance were usually those "lighter side" articles about people and things who just couldn't make the Ripley's cut.

"...all that and more on KHLB News at 6!"
"Good Evening and welcome to the News at 6, I'm Kirk Baxter..."

Of course at this time of day, there wasn't much else to watch either, and he'd already played through the few games he had for the XBox 360 that sat gathering dust underneath the TV that they weren't interesting anymore. There was also the house computer, but that was password-locked by his parents when they were out. Not that Eduardo didn't already know the password of course, he simply didn't up to doing his homework yet.

"...State Senator Michael Lyons announced his intention to run for his party's nomination for Governor this November, at a function in San Adrian earlier today."

The name seemed familiar to the boy...causing him to raise an eyebrow.

"Accompanying him at the event was his nephew Christian Lyons, on behalf of San Adrian World Academy."

The mention of the latter's full name, as well as footage of that person appearing on screen (albeit to the side of the featured personage) suddenly had Eduardo suddenly sitting upright and aware, like a Catholic school teacher-nun smacking her ruler on the broad side of a sleeping student's table. Not since the first Survival of the Fittest preempted The Sopranos had he paid this much attention to something on TV, and for once, he had a very good reason.

Because the last time Eduardo Trinidad-Villa saw this kid's face was the day he got expelled from his previous school.

"What the hell are you doing, punk?!" Christian shouted.
"Ay man, just bumped into you. Sorry," Eduardo replied in stern frustration. It was a reply that he'd had to say to people who took him the wrong way.
"Sorry?!"

In return for the bump, Eduardo found himself quickly shunted to the floor via the edge of the table, causing him to spin around until he was face down on the floor. He had also managed to clip a food tray that was hanging over the edge, sending some silverware to the floor as well.
"Get the fuck up."

Eduardo did...and grabbed a spork in the process.

"...Christian recently received a major scholarship from Hendrick Industries, which has a major division in San Adrian. He hopes to start college in UCSA next summer."

Eduardo didn't look shocked as he watched the older Lyons raising the younger's arms in jubilation. And he didn't look shocked as he raised the control, and pointed it into the face of the boy who pushed him off his inner cliff, as he smiled a beaming and undeservingly fake smile toward the camera. He stared into that smiling face as long as it was on camera, and even imagined it on screen as they switched to a different scene...and eventually a completely different article.

His aim trembled as he aimed the device in the center of that face...and pushed the button.

Eduardo thought he'd swung it right. 5 years of "planning" should have helped his aim. It wasn't until Christian landed the first punch smack-dab into his gut and slammed him back onto the tile floor that he realized he got it completely wrong.

"You fucking spic! I'll fucking kill you!"
"Ch...tu madre..." Eduardo was too focused on the man beating the snot out of him to notice that a whole crowd of classmates had started to gether
"You asshole! Shut up!" Christian bellowed as he moved to work on Eduardo's face. Eduardo struggled, but to no avail. Just as well...he didn't expect anyone to help him out.

The entire room went near-dark, and the house silent again. Despite not being able to see even his own reflection in the TV screen, Eduardo did not let down his aim until his arm trembled until it grew tired. Once he felt the need to put his arm down, he threw the controller against the wall as hard as he could, making a dent in the plaster. He could hear himself seething in unreleasable rage in the darkness, but only for a few seconds.

And then he curled up on the sofa...and started to sniffle and sob.

All it took was a rubbing of shoulders that was just more rough than normal to spark an explosion that sent his entire life reeling...although the gunpowder stores had built up over the years he had spent locked away in the dungeons of the ivory tower. Ever since he got out of juvenile hall he figured that Lyons' reputation had at least been gravely soiled. Now here was the person who had pushed Eduardo's plunger, reveling in the prospects for his future, while he lingered on in the mediocrity that was this public school away from paradise. And he wouldn't be the only one who would be rewarded off the misery of others.

Things probably would not get as bad as it did back then, not by a long shot. On the other hand, even if things would get better, they would most certainly never get as good as Christian Lyons was living right now.

"Eduardo? They're here," the secretary called.
He got up from the sofa slowly and shook his head. This had been a rather worse-than-normal day for him now that he had been suspended, and he didn't seem to think it would get any worse as he made his way to the front door, where he expected his parents to be waiting.

He didn't expect two police officers to be waiting in their place.
"Mr. Trinidad? We'd like you to come with us," one officer began in a standard-issue voice.
"Oh God..." Eduardo whimpered. Things had started getting worse. "Where's Mama?"
"Sir, please calm down," the second officer gestured for Eduardo to stop.
"No...You've come to take me away..."
"You're not going to jail Eduardo, but it's for your own good," the first officer replied as he moved around to restrain the boy.
"No...NO! MOOOOM! HELP!"

It wasn't too hard for the officers to bring Eduardo to the floor, though it wasn't much solace that the hallways were otherwise empty due to people already in their classes at the time. Still, the dried spots of blood on his face and shirt were all the evidence they needed to prove Christian's self-defense, and his tears were icing on the cake. The motives were already supplied by his guidance counselors.

The next time he would hear his parents' voices was through a telephone at the police station.

Fate had been a hooker to him...and he had been fresh out of cash. He still had his medication though, and he reminded himself to take a pill as soon as he stopped crying.