Alex finds friends on the streets, and one of them takes care of him in a way, although at more than one occasion Alex is the carer. The next few months of his life is adventurous and filled with love and committment, but it's also complicated and sad. Alex learns new skills that helps him in his life on the streets, but they do not help him much when shit hits the fan.
Alex was squatting with the young boys in an abandoned building by the docks. It was nice to finally have a home even if it wasn't equipped with power and running water. That his housemates were dabbling in drugs and prostitution, didn't matter. He kept mostly to himself in the beginning anyway, but even if he didn't share their vices, he found friendship there.
Peter – the oldest one – had lived on the streets for five years already, and he took Alex under his wings. The guy was a hard core drug addict, and made his living from petty theft and prostitution. He warned Alex about getting into it, and he protected him as if he was a big brother.
Alex fell in love. He followed Peter around like a puppy, and after learning a few skills, he helped him unload some extra cash from the clients.
When Peter sucked off a guy in the alley, or got fucked in their sleeping quarters, Alex 'accidentally' walked in on them. Threatening to tell the world about these clandestine encounters, the men dug up more money to silence him.
Peter got beat up more often than the rest of the boys. Not only was he sometimes too wasted to actually perform, but he had a foul mouth and pissed off pretty much everybody he came in contact with.
Alex was never swayed by it, and was always there to take care of him and tend to his wounds. He wanted Peter to stop this path of self-destruction and be with him, and only him. There was just one small problem – not counting the addiction – Peter was straight. There were more money in soliciting guys, so he did it to support himself, but he never got aroused by a man, or a boy for that matter.
When Peter got sick, Alex did his best to get enough money for the two of them, but begging didn't really bring the income that they needed to support Peter's habit. Food was never a problem. Over time, he'd learned to steal anything he wanted from the grocery stores, but he never had enough to score any heroin for his friend.
Delirious from withdrawal symptoms, Peter went out one night to take care of the matter himself, but ran into unforeseen problems when he approached one of his regulars outside a crowded bar. The man was not to happy to be solicited in public, and attacked Peter.
The beatings left the boy lifeless on the street, and before Alex managed to get him out of there, the police came. With all the witnesses gone, they had no proof that Peter was a hustler, so they would probably not arrest him.
Worried about his own skin, Alex ran away, but not before he'd overheard one of the police officers stating that they'd bring Peter to the emergency room.
Alex didn't know what ER he'd be brought to, but he was pretty sure that Peter would end up at the general hospital eventually.
It was a long walk. The sun was crawling it's way over the rooftops in the east when Alex finally found himself outside the front door.
Straightening his clothes, he looked up at the building before he entered.
He got absolutely no information from the woman behind the counter. With only a first name and a vague description it wasn't much they could do. That he didn't know Peter's last name was a major problem, although he didn't know if the guy had even used his real name when he got signed in.
Tired of walking all night, he lied down on a bench in the little park next to the hospital. He knew for sure that someone would chase him away eventually, but at the moment he had no other option.
"I was there when they brought him in." The soft female voice startled him, and he sat up abruptly. A young woman – or girl – was standing next to him. "He is very sick and he has a fractured clavicle, um, eh, collarbone."
Alex rubbed his eyes and stared at the girl. "Who are you?" She shook her head. "Not important, er, I'm Sally, I, I work there, um, or, well, I'm in school, in college. I just... I have work practice."
She looked down for a second. "I have seen this before. These boys coming in with injuries they got on the streets. We patch them up and send them on their way, and nobody asks for them." She cocked her head and sighed heavily. "You are my first. If you're here tonight at ten, I'll try to get you in there."
Alex was there at ten.
Trusting Sally to stick to her promise, he'd gone back to their nest to get some sleep. After sneaking into the botanical garden to steal a couple of roses, he decided to spend a few bucks on a bus-ticket because he was too tired to walk through the whole town.
Sally delivered.
Alex walked into the room with the flowers as a shield. He worried about what he'd see. Peter was strapped to the bed, and Sally warned Alex not to unlatch him. "He is dangerous. Not to you... not to me, but to himself."
Somewhat alert, Peter started crying when he met Alex' eyes. "Pneumonia. Silly really. A bit of antibiotics, and I'll be fine." He sniffled a little before he turned away. Alex looked at Sally who was still standing by the door. "Is it true? Will he be fine?"
Sally shook her head slowly. "Sure." She was about to exit, but Alex ran over and grabbed her wrist. "You're not convinced?" He stared at her for several seconds before she twisted herself loose. "If you're his lover, you have to get tested."
She was gone before Alex understood what she was talking about. Peter looked like he was sleeping, so Alex darted out of the room to catch up with her.
"Pneumocystis pneumonia. He has AIDS. We can't save him."
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Four months after Alex' disappearance, while she was getting ready to go to cater a brunch at a law-firm nearby, Sonya was overwhelmed with nausea. She puked three times before she was done. She knew exactly what was going on, and after a long day's work, she cried herself to sleep.
She could take money out of her savings and get an abortion, but it was a serious step. Keeping the pregnancy a secret from both Alex and her husband wasn't easy, but she needed time to decide.
Christmas came around and again, she begged Alex to come home. She couldn't make herself get rid of the baby, and she didn't want the struggles of being a single mom again, so she decided to stay with her husband.
It was hard to have to tell Alex, but she hoped that he'd believe her when she explained that his stepfather had changed. He wasn't so angry and rigid anymore, and he'd promised not to lay a hand on Alex when he returned.
Her son wasn't fooled by it. He'd cried and begged her to reconsider, and he'd told her that if she didn't, she would never hear from him again. Sonya wanted to tell him about the baby, but she decided to wait until she could look him in the eyes.
She talked to him a couple of times after that. He claimed he was doing fine, and that he had a place to stay.
When it was impossible to cover up the pregnancy anymore, she made one last attempt to get him to come home. She didn't know it would be the last, but the next time she called him, he didn't pick up. She kept calling several times every day until someone finally answered. She'd paid his cell phone bill up to this point, and got scared when she heard a slurred but distinctly unfamiliar voice on the other end.
The man told her that Alex had sold him the phone, and that he had no clue where the boy was now. Sonya canceled the payments and contemplated again on reporting him missing. The pain inside her was very real, but for hours she thought it was a reaction to the knowledge that she'd no way of contacting Alex anymore. When she started bleeding, her husband rushed her to the hospital.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Christmas came around, and Sally left to visit her parents. When the hospital were unable to do anything to prolong Peter's life, he got transferred. He was moved to a hospice, and Alex was welcome there for Christmas eve. As he sat there watching Peter sleep, he got a call from his mom. Again she begged him to come home, and at that moment he wanted nothing else than to be held by her.
There was no way he was going to leave Peter, but he almost caved in. It was before she told him that she wasn't going to leave her husband anyway. She claimed that she had a good reason, but she was not willing to share it until they met. Alex hung up on her and dug his face into Peter's pillow. For the last time in his life, he got comforted by the guy as he cried silently.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Peter died alone in hospice care.
As the New year came around, his condition had rapidly worsened. There had been attempts to contact his parents, but the letters hadn't been answered.
Alex had visited as often as he could; Sally had found new calling and had volunteered at the hospice during this time, and they were both there only days before Peter drew his last breath.
They knew he was dying. Peter was very aware of it also, but those last few days, he'd been mostly unconscious.
During the short glimpses of alertness, Alex had made sure that Peter knew he was there. He'd clenched his hand and done his best to comfort him. He didn't know if Peter could even hear him, but he professed his love, and could have sworn that he saw a smile on the guy's face.
Sally promised to take him back there the next week, but it was too late.
Alex didn't have any funds to give him a proper funeral, and even if the hospice had tried to track down his family, they never succeeded. Two weeks after his death, he got cremated and his ashes would be stored at the coroner's until somebody claimed it.
Alex wasn't a relative, so he couldn't do anything.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
A long time after Peter's death, Alex felt like he lived in a bubble. He had shied away from the other boys and tried to make it on his own. That life was leading them towards the same fate as Peter, and Alex didn't want to be a part of it.
He slept at the building ever so often, but if he'd been reclusive before, he now made it into an art-form. The couple of calls he got from his mom; that he didn't answer, made it all worse, so eventually he got rid of the phone.
Sally had done her best to help him, and she was really the only person he talked to during this time. She became a safe haven.
It was her last semester in nursing school, and she still volunteered at the hospice. For a moment, Alex thought about following in her footsteps. She even offered to tutor him through high-school, and she suggested that he could stay with her in the dorm that the hospital provided for the temps.
Alex was tempted, but he didn't want to be a burden. Signing up for school was never really an option regardless. His name on any papers would probably get him shipped home to his parents in an instant.
When the going got too tough, he still crawled his way to Sally's place. She pampered him and fed him, but when she got a boyfriend, it became a little too awkward for both of them.
He still saw her ever so often, but when she got her nursing degree, she moved back to Minneapolis where she was originally from. Her parting gift was a pre-paid cell phone. It was a nice one. It had bluetooth and wi-fi, but he himself had to find the money to keep it.