Stones Turn To Ice
Plot: Three years after Alex has been released from the infamous treatment, he becomes a straight narrow 'do-gooder' to try and blend in with the rest of society. One night, however, makes him question his true integrity when he bestows upon a lovely female hoodlum, who teaches him about life, love, and everything in between.
Chapter 1 – We Meet At Last
It was dead in the winter where Alex resided in. The streets were slippery and the roads were covered by a light sheet of snow; Christmas holidays begging to arrive just around the corner. Alex takes in a deep breath before hauling off with his grocery bags.
It has been exactly three years since he was put into treatment after being caught by the police for murder. He was just a young lad at the time, about 15 years of age… Now at 18, he feels as if time had already seeped deep inside him and made him old and weary. After much horrid experiences, one could say that Alex has finally wised up and decide to leave the life of crime behind. The people of his good town would still shiver in his presence, just ready for him to snap and give them hell… But, nothing of the sort would happen and it left his townsfolk baffled.
His parents took him back after he was 'cured' from the treatment he was subjected to. It took a lot… Many apologies, tears and promises, but Alex decided to come back home. It wasn't easy… in fact, the first year of him coming back home, he was out and about every night with some new droogs, causing a bit of mayhem, although not as severe as before with his older gang. Murder was replaced with taking pocket change from the unsuspecting people; Rape was replaced with Alex and his new gang illegally slipping into porn shops to purchase a couple of dirty moving pictures. And the beatings? Well, Alex promised himself not to hit them too hard. Overall, it seemed to hurt his parents a lot, but it wasn't until the second year he returned home was when something happened to him that made him decide to drop the delinquent acts; It all started on one Sunday morning when his parents forced him to come with them to church.
Alex sat, bored and almost wiggling in his seat like a spoiled rotten child, listening to the pastor in his vile raspy voice talking about the 'Ol' Mighty Lord', almost reminding Alex of the old Catholic classes he had to take as part of his prison sentence three years back, and how miserable he was in the midst of it all. It wasn't until Alex's mother came up to the stance to talk about something that Alex would never soon forget; A deep, dark memory his mother has held in for decades long. She opens her small mouth to speak,
"I was young. I was just beginning to grow into a grown young lady, hips and all, and that was when the male attention on me grew apparent. At first I ignored it; I thought I was just dreaming of it all… But then my friends harped on me that I was being ignorant of all the young lads' advances towards me in the 9th grade, and it all took me one horrible night to remind me of what is happening in this world against young women.
I was walking at night, traveling back home after being out with my friends, when a young man stood in front of me. I was carrying my mace spray with me, but I was too late; He took my bag, wacked me in the face with it, and the impact and shock of it all made me trample down to the floor. From there… it was all a blur; I can still taste my own salty tears as he pushes himself inside of me, and his malicious laughter at my pain can still be heard even during my sweetest dreams… I thank the Lord for keeping me sane. I thank the Lord for my husband, and I thank Him for my beautiful, intelligent son, Alex."
The room turned to look at the now shrunken back boy, trying to keep the shock out of his ghostly white face. His mother was raped? Why hasn't he been informed of this? Why now after all these years?
His mother went on, "I pray… I pray to the heavens above that my boy will stop what he is doing to women and men. I love my son, yet I hate his actions. I hate what he does to people, and damned as it seems, I hate myself sometimes for never interfering in his life when he was full of violent tendencies. Now I ask you all, to please, to never quiver in fear of my son… For that today, I hope, with my confessions, he can see what his actions can do to other people."
After that morning, something inside of Alex changed; A sick, sudden realization that in order to receive love was to give it, not force it out of people. To receive respect and admiration, he should treat others with the same consideration, not demand it with brute force. It took many inner personal conflict in him, one side telling him to stay the way he is, while the other telling him to come about and become a brand new person. Alex decided to listen to the latter choice, albeit reluctantly so.
Back in the present, Alex struggles to keep his balance as he skids across the slippery streets while hanging on to heavy grocery bags, when he heard a few men, howling with laughter and it's echoing effect filling the cold wintery air in the distant. He looks up with heavy eyes when he sees a few tall shadows, shadows of men talking and laughing. He frowned before taking a few more steps towards the situation, slowly and cautious, careful not to cause a ruckus. He stood near the building corner and slowly peers on the other side, where he sees a group of men, three of them in fact, circling around someone. He could not make out the person in the middle, but he can guess what's about to happen; A bunch of dirty men about to perform the ol' in-out, in-out on a young devotchka.
Suddenly, Alex sees one of the men grabbing the victim's arm, but what was about to happen could not prepare Alex for what he was about to witness; The victim suddenly lashes out at the man with a cane, and the two other men lunged at her. She quickly turned and gave them the beating they'll never forget. Alex still couldn't make out what the lady looks like due to the darkness of the night, but he can take a good guess that the woman was a wild young thing, strong and independent and ready to fight anyone who dares stands in her way. He clutches his bags as he stared at the marvelous scene, the shock of it all made him looked at it in a way that seems to slow down with every punch and kick that the young devotchka performed, her slim body almost dancing in a way as she swung her cane at one of the mens faces, blood flowing out like a curtain beautifully from his lips and splattering like a painting on her pale face.
"Ooh, we have ourselves a fighter, brothers!" One of the men says with a snicker. Alex's stomach churns; It was Dim who is trying to take over the young devotchka. He peers at the other two, and just as expected, he sees Georgie and some other male who he has never seen before, but could guess is a friend of the other two.
"Try something, you might just regret it." The female character hisses, lowering her cane yet her physical stance was full and erect, ready to attack again if the other men tried something again. Alex had just realized how clear and pretty sounding her voice sounded about now.
"Now, now, let's not get too uptight in a knot, missy," Georgie began, "We're only here for fun. We're just a few ol' millicents looking for a pretty young thing to give us a good time."
"Sod you!" The female character hisses again, "Just because I prowl the mesto doesn't make me a prostitute of any kind. You best be going now before the rest of my sisterly shaika swings by."
The men howls in laughter yet again, as if it were really a joke that a street gang could POSSIBLY be all female. Alex then finds himself lunging at them the second he spots Dim moving in forward towards the girl again, and Alex swings his fist at his face. Dim yelps before hitting the ground, his right side of mouth already oozing with blood. Dim places his finger near his own lips, looked at his bloody finger before looking up to see Alex standing over him, his entire body shaking with rage.
Everybody falls silent… until Alex finds himself in the middle of a vicious fight, him fighting off Dim while the girl strategically beats up the other two. It went on until Georgie huffs, "Let's get out of here, it's no use trying to beat down a couple of children!"
The men ran off, leaving Alex and the girl alone. He took a couple of minutes of catching his breath, his arms wrapped around his stomach, quivering in the cold and the adrenaline that's rushing violently in his core. In a way, though… It has been quite a while since he has felt this alive in so long… He hears footsteps coming near him before a sparkling clear voice spoke up, "You feelin' choodessny there, malchick?"
Alex looks up to find himself staring at a pair of stone-gray eyes staring deep into his icy-blues. Her hair, the same color as the deep dark midnight skies, were cut right around her jaw line, brilliantly shiny in its own black superiority. Her delicate female features, such as her pouty lips and long eyelashes, made Alex blush a little at her vivacious beauty, before looking down to cough up some blood.
"Oh bog… Are you okay? Here, let me help—", she wraps her arm over his back with her other arm under him before hauling both herself and him up.
"I, uh…" Alex coughs a little before continuing, "I'm fine. Thank you. Thank you, very much… Are you alright?"
She smiles gently, "Oh, quite well, real horrorshow. No need to worry about me, I can take care of meself."
The event that just occurred planted some doubt in Alex's mind, but he decided that she was just too lovely to have an argument with. What astounds him was the language she spoke of… The Nadsat language that he once spoke in heavy tongue, that was apparently still popular amongst the young ones. It was strange to hear it again… It almost made him sick to his stomach due to the nostalgia. That was when he noticed her outfit; He realized it looked exactly as his old gang clothes, except her clothes was all in black and she did not wore a bowler hat, but rather a bright red fedora hat. It was then he realized that she was one of them; A wild hoodlum, just like he was when he was younger.
The couple wobbled their way together back to Alex's house, his grocery bags slinging and hitting his thigh as they did, in utter silence for the next 15 minutes, and right outside the apartment complex, his new friend gently lets go of him before tipping her hat at him, "I'll viddy you around, droogie?"
Alex stares at her for a while before answering, "Perhaps... What is your name, if you don't mind me asking?"
She smiles, her gray eyes shining in delight, "Clementine. I'll viddy you soon, I hope!"
She swings around before running off, her shoes clapping against the concrete streets, and Alex smiles after her, an unknown feeling growing deep inside his chest as he stares at the young devotchka shrinking in size the farther she ran away.
It was the beginning of an adventure Alex would sure to never forget.