Tanglewood Boys: Just a Kid

A oneshot about a young man who is sick and tired of the Tanglewood ways. Has a bit of a twist ending. R & R please!!!

I was running. Lately, it seemed that all I had ever done was run. Never did I have anywhere to go, to hide.

It was a never ending cycle. Why didn't I listen to my brother, why did I get involved with the Tanglewood Boys? I should have gone into college and gotten that degree in engineering like I wanted. I need to get out of this life. I'm just a kid.

Six years ago, I was stupid. I wanted to be like his family. Louie had been with the Boys, so had Danny. Even Gina had been in a girl gang until Louie and Danny knocked some sense into her.

Of course now. I was the one that needed help and had no one to run to. It always seemed to happen that way. Even when I was little. Danny and Louie had acted like best friends and me, well me, I was alone. It sucked being the youngest boy. Louie was four years older than me and D was two years. I was like the misfit of the family. I was the youngest, and I still am. I was just a kid when they left.

I had hoped that by joining the Boys I could become more close to them. It didn't work. Danny had stayed for a while but left when he turned nineteen. I tried getting closer to Louie but it never worked. We were more like acquaintances than brothers. We didn't have anything in common, except our blood type.

Now, I'm alone again. I had ran away from the group in hopes that I could meet someone to take me home to Staten Island. I hadn't found anyone. No one wanted to take a gang banger back to Staten Island.

I had scars and the tattoo to prove that I was a Tanglewood. No one wanted to mix with the Boys. So instead, I had been running for days, scaring myself with ideas that they were coming after me.

I was in Central Park, now. After four days of running and hiding I was finally in Central Park. I allowed myself to breath and sit on the wet grass. I put my face in my hands, and took deep breaths tying to stop my panting.

Then there was a footfall coming from behind me. Someone was coming. I just couldn't get a break. I looked frantically from side to side. I knew it. The Boys had found him. This was it. I began to run again. I barged past several early morning joggers, receiving glares and murmured curse words.

Someone stopped him. "Kid, move away from the crime scene," The man who had stopped me, had a shiny detective badge on his suit. "Please move away,"

"But, I have to go, they're after me," I hissed, I knew the man must have thought I was psychotic or seriously high. But I was neither. I was just getting very paranoid. Running from the Boys does that to a person.

"Whose after you?" An older man asked. He had just joined our little group after he had appeared from under the yellow crime scene tape.

"Them…" I whispered, frantically moving my head again in both directions. These men were stopping me from leaving.

"We're cops. Maybe we can help you if you tell us who you are and who's after you. I'm Mac Taylor. This is Don Flack." TI man showed him his own badge.

I took a deep breath. "I'm not stupid, I saw your badges." I snapped. It had been almost a week without food and I was exhausted and getting annoyed with these men. "I'm sorry. That came out wrong. The Tanglewood boys are after me. I'm trying to leave them. I don't want to do it anymore. I'm sick of their crimes, I just want to go back to Staten Island,"

"Okay. What's your name?" 'Mac' asked.

"Anthony Messer."