Cole slumped into the comfy leather chair. He was exhausted, and rightfully so. His day had started at three o'clock in the morning when he helped the crew rob a bank. It was actually one of the pettier crimes the group had committed this week. He had only been in the group a couple months, and in that time he had seen them commit worse crimes.
"I wonder what they'll think to do next." Cole mused dryly to himself. He was alone at the group's base at the moment, all the others had gone off to get drunk at a nearby bar to celebrate the most recent success. Cole could've gone with them even though he was only eleven. They didn't really care how old he was. The reason he had stayed back was to get some alone time to collect his thoughts. Cole enjoyed being alone, but he didn't enjoy the loneliness that often accompanied it. But even when he was with the others in the group, he felt alone.
"Not alone." He thought to himself, "Just lonely."
Cole was used to being both. Even before he ran away a year ago he had felt lonely. He wondered what it felt like to have a family that truly cared for him.
"Hey squirt." Cole looked up to the doorway and saw a silhouette. It stepped into the light, showing itself to be Tobias, another member of the gang. He was four years older than Cole.
"Toby, what are you doing back so early?" Cole asked as he stood up. Not that he minded. Tobias was one of the few people he didn't loathe entirely. Looking closer Cole saw that Tobias looked quite disheveled.
Tobias shrugged and sat down in a chair.
"I got into a fight with the manager of the bar. Called him an ugly cow."
Cole sighed and shook his head. Tobias had a tendency to be thoughtless and impulsive.
"That's so you." Cole mumbled.
"Sassy child." Tobias gave a small crooked grin.
Cole scowled. It wasn't an unusual expression for him. Tobias saw the look on his face and chuckled.
"You should probably be careful, your face might freeze like that."
Cole rolled his eyes. He would never admit it but he enjoyed Tobias's company, annoying comments included.
Tobias stood up.
"I'm going to hit the sack, you should too, its pretty late." He said before stumbling down the hall to the the room they shared.
Cole waited until Tobias's foot steps faded before he followed him. They shared their room with another person as well, a man in his early twenties who went by Ronnie. Cole opened the door and peeked in. Tobias had already passed out on his bed, and Ronnie probably wouldn't be back for hours.
It was a small room with grey walls. There were two bunk beds, Cole and Tobias shared one and Ronnie had his own bunk. He slept on one bed and the other sported an array of questionable items. Cole had learned to not question the questionable items.
He climbed the ladder to his bunk and flopped down onto the hard mattress. The gang leaders didn't care so much for the members' comfort. Cole pulled the thin blanket up to his chin, closing his eyes and ignoring the pang of fear. Sleep was his only escape from the cruel, hard, uncaring world. But the world followed him to his refuge, visiting him in horrid nightmares.
He was running through darkness. It felt infinite, yet closing him in, pressing narrowly on all sides. He was running from something. He could never get away from it. It was in the darkness; it was the darkness. It was silent, and yet it screamed at him. Screaming in sync with his inner pain and hopelessness. He kept running, running from the noise, running from the pain. His foot caught in the blackness beneath him, stopping him in his tracks. The screaming intensified, enveloping his mind. He grasped his head, writhing under the pain, screaming along with the shadows. His head throbbed. He felt light. His aching mind was torn from his unfeeling body, and everything turned white.
Cole was awoken by someone hitting him with his own arm.
"Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself?" Cole heard someone saying, and he had a pretty good idea of who it was.
Cole yanked his arm out of Tobias's grip.
"Don't you have something better to do?" Cole grumbled as he sat up. Tobias smiled.
"Its time to get up anyway, Sassy child. Boss has some plans he wanted to tell everyone." Tobias said as he climbed down from Cole's bunk. He then walked out the door and down the hall.
Cole rolled his eyes, Tobias could be so annoying. Cole then climbed down the ladder of his bunk. He glanced over at Ronnie's bunk. Ronnie wasn't there so he must already be at the kitchen. The gang normally used the kitchen for meetings, it was the biggest room in the building. Cole walked down the hall without bothering to change, seeing as he had slept in his clothes.
As he entered the kitchen he saw that most of the gang had gathered there. Even some of the members that didn't live at base. Cole wandered though the groups of people chatting to the refrigerator to get food. The milk had spoiled weeks ago so he just got a bowl of dry cereal and went and sat at the table.
Within moments of him sitting down the Boss stood up from his seat at the head of the table.
"It's come to my attention" The leader of the group began "That many of you don't have the skills you need to be effective." He stroked the stubble on his chin and continued "So starting next week we will begin training, especially the younger and newer members." He gazed pointedly at Cole, and Cole looked away quickly to stare at his cereal.
"Why wait?" One of the older members of the group asked.
"I have some things to get together before we can begin." The leader said in a steely calm voice. He stood up to leave. As he walked by he shoved the member who had questioned him. "And don't question me." he said in a low voice before stalking out of the house.
Cole sighed. Sometimes he wished he had never gotten into this mess. Maybe it would have been easier not to run away. He inwardly shook his head. This was much better than the way things had been. But somehow he wished for something else. A family maybe. Cole smiled bitterly. He knew that would never happen.