MD: N/A
Time: 0830 hours
Location: Summerhill Community, Atlanta, Georgia
Natalie was waiting outside the Boys and Girl's Club when the door
opened. She immediately entered the building. The young man that had
opened the door recognized the girl and stopped her.
"Natalie? What are you doing here?"
Natalie was a little surprised by the question, but answered anyway.
"I was wondering if I could check my email."
The young man looked at Natalie and then noticed that her jacket had
some holes in it and that she was shivering.
"Natalie, how long have you been waiting for the doors to
open?"
"About three hours," she said, lowering her head.
"And you've been out in the cold?"
"Yes," she said bluntly. "But there was no where else
for me to go!"
"Why didn't you go to school?"
Natalie didn't want to tell him that she was not a student
currently.
"Because I didn't do my homework and I had a test today and
I just
didn't feel well."
"So rather than stay home to get better, or do your homework, or
study
for your test, you chose to come here?"
Natalie knew she had been caught in her own lies. She bowed her head
and started to cry. "I'm sorry, Henry," she said between
tears. "I
don't have a place to live. I don't go to school. I just
survive on
my own."
The young man now felt sheepish about his questions. "I'm
sorry, Nat,
I didn't know.' He gave her a hug and then led her into his
office.
He sat down on the couch and motioned for her to do the same.
"Have you gone to any of the shelters? Or an orphanage?"
That word made her cringe. She hated the orphanage. That was why she
had escaped when she did; she could no longer live under the tyranny
that was within those walls. But she wasn't going to tell Henry
that.
"The shelters were full last night," she finally replied.
There was a long pause and Henry spoke up. "And the
orphanage?"
"I don't want to go back there. I wasn't happy. I'm
happy how I am now!"
"Living on the streets? You're happy doing that?"
"I'm not a bum, Henry!" she yelled. "I work for the
shelter sometimes and they pay me. I have a very small bank account
that the shelter helped me open. It has less than a hundred dollars,
but it's mine and I earned it!"
Natalie started to walk out of the office and Henry grabbed her by the
arm. "Wait! I'm not done talking to you."
Natalie pulled her arm from his grip and opened the door. "Well
I'm done talking to you!" She walked out of the office,
tears flowing
down her eyes, and left the building.
Natalie walked down the street, her hands in her pocket, hugging
herself trying to keep warm. She walked for a mile before stopping.
She had to get out of the cold. She stepped into a restaurant. She
could smell the breakfast cooking and wondered if she had any money in
her pockets. Looking through them, she realized that she had a hole
in her jacket pocket that must have allowed the money to escape
sometime on her walk. "Probably wouldn't have had enough
anyway," she
thought to herself as she exited the restaurant.
Braving the cold again, Natalie continued walking, sometimes stopping
on a corner to beg for some money. No one offered, however, and she
felt more despondent. She had already lost her connection to the Boys
and Girls club. She was sure that Henry had already contacted the
authorities to keep an eye out for a runaway. Natalie made sure to
avoid donut shops and the police stations.
Natalie figured she could go to the library in hopes of checking her
email. Making sure to avoid the high traffic areas, Natalie was going
to enter the library from a back door she had found in the alleyway.
However, as she entered the alleyway, she saw four men attacking
another young man. Natalie wasn't sure what to do. She
didn't want
to get into a fight, but she didn't think it fair for four men to
attack one. She stayed hidden for a moment trying to listen to what
they were saying.
"Don't bother coming around here again!" one of the men
said.
"Yeah, if you do, we're going to kill you!" another
yelled.
The man that seemed to be the leader stopped the men.
"That's enough He's learned his lesson." The man
knelt down to look
into the eyes of the wounded man. "Some mutant you are," he
said.
This made Natalie's eyes spark. "You didn't even fight
back."
Natalie could see that the man wanted to get up, but the others were
standing on his hands, forcing him to stay down. The leader stood up
and started to walk away. As the mutant started to get up, the leader
turned around and fired a bullet into his head. The mutant slumped
down onto the pavement. Natalie was scared by the gunshot and knocked
over a trashcan. The leader and his men heard the noise and one of
the thugs went to investigate. Natalie was sure they would find her,
so she did her best to hide.
One of the thugs ran behind the pile of trash holding a pistol,
wishing to find someone sitting there. Instead, he found only a rat.
"It's okay, boss," the thug yelled. "It's just
a rat. Must've been
spooked by the gunshot." The man started back to where his boss
was and left the alleyway.
Natalie lifted the small cover on the trashcan she had hidden in.
"This is disgusting," she whispered. She waited for almost
ten
minutes before pulling herself out of the garbage can. She wiped the
various slimes off her jacket and looked at herself. "Well, I
guess I won't be going to the library today." She walked
over to
where the mutant had been shot, but to her surprise, the body was no
longer there. There was a blood trail, but Natalie wasn't sure
if she
should follow it. "Maybe a shower first," she conceded.
Natalie left the alleyway and crossed the street. She wandered a few
blocks to the women's shelter that she frequented. The
coordinator
saw her clothes and smelled the stench. "I won't ask,"
the woman
said. "There's a shower available. I'll see if there
are any extra
clothes."
The woman walked away and Natalie made her way to the
back to the shelter to community shower area. She stepped into one of
the shower stalls and started it up. She only used hot water, she was
still cold. She removed her clothes and left them on the floor. She
placed her head under the water and couldn't help but think of the
mutant she saw get shot dead and then how she didn't find his
body. And then of the people that shot the mutant. Who were they and
why did they want to kill mutants? This was too much for Natalie to
take in. She closed her eyes and concentrated on staying warm and
getting the smell of trash out of her hair.
