Page 57 of The Tattered Gloves
I COULDN’T SLEEP.
I couldn’t sleep most nights.
The grumbling of my stomach was so loud, it almost beat out the sound of the busy street noise below. I’d been lying here awake, thinking of nothing but food.
Food in my belly.
My empty, starving belly.
Deciding I might as well give in, I threw on a jacket and a pair of socks I’d worn for the last few days. Walking to the door, I slowly turned the handle, peeking my head out.
Coast was clear.
I made a run for it down the hallway. The sound of thumping bass echoing from underneath the door of my mother’s room was still going strong.
Pulling the jacket close to my body, I went into the small kitchen and roamed around the cupboards, hoping to find something to take the edge off.
Bread!
This hadn’t been here when I went to sleep.
Grabbing the loaf with eager hands, I pulled out two pieces from the bag, stuffing a third into my mouth. The edges were hard, and it tasted a little stale, but it could have been green, and I probably would have still eaten it.
Anything to make the hunger pains stop.
Work had been slow for Mom over the last month.
She’d said it had something to do with the time of the year.
“Happens every year,” she’d said on a quiet night as we sat in front of the TV, watching an old movie on stolen cable. “It will pick back up soon.”
I honestly didn’t mind. The house was quieter.
Safer.
I liked it this way.
And, when she didn’t work, sometimes, she’d talk to me.
Like other moms.
But, tonight, her door was closed, and I was starving.
And alone.
Again.
So, into the refrigerator I went, in search of something to eat with my bread.
Just as I was about to grab a half-eaten jar of jelly, something caught my eye. I turned just in time to see him.
A boy in the corner of the living room.
What the—
Clutching my bread and jelly, I closed the refrigerator door and took a few hesitant steps toward him. He had dark brown hair that brushed the tips of his eyebrows and bright, vivid green eyes that looked up at me with curiosity.
“Are you waiting for someone?” I asked, unsure of why else he would be here.
