"Clean this up immediately!" Eve shouted at Ezra, pushing him to the ground. "I don't want mother to find out." As she glared at him, he tried his best to avert eye contact and picked up the broken glass with his bare hands. She had been dancing around her room when she knocked over her lamp, shattering it. She had yelled for him to come and was now making him clean up her mess.
He was just about finished when Eve gave a hard kick to his back, laughing. Ezra, silently, cried out in pain, opening his hands and letting them catch him before he hit his head on the floor. Many pieces of glass cut his hand and the pain increased from his hand, the glass had pierced his palm. A fair amount of blood had risen from the wound before Ezra rushed to the bathroom, trying not to drip blood anywhere. He learned that lesson about three years ago when he was eleven. He sat on the toilet, tending to the slash on his palm.
He had gained scars all over his body, given by his 'father' over the 7 years. After taking out all of the glass, washing and bandaging his hand with toilet paper, he shuffled to his room. He stood in the door frame, analyzing. Analyzing what, he didn't know. In the right corner, there was a bed that was about as comfortable as the ground and on the other side was a desk with nothing on it except dust. Giving a soft sigh he walked over to the bed and collapsed. Silent tears slid down his face.
It has been two years and it hasn't gotten better. His father would give him a beating almost every night, severely bruising him. His mother would lock him in his room and would go without food for days. His sister would treat him like an object, only caring for her needs. The door to his room was thrown open, pulling Ezra out of his trance. He looked up to see his father standing above him. Ezra tenses up, and backs up to the very far edge of his bed, knowing he was about to get another beating. His father reached out and grabbed the front of Ezra's shirt. The second Ezra took a breath in and smelled the man, he knew he was drunk. He knew things wouldn't go well. As Ezra tried to get out of his grasp, he was practically dragging Ezra out of the house.
"I want you out," He threw Ezra out the door onto the doorstep. "And I don't want to see you ever again!" The door slammed shut. Ezra sat there, stunned. He didn't even feel the pain that his hand had because he was so shocked. He was just thrown out of the only home he had ever known, although it wasn't a good one since his parents abandoned him.
He had nowhere to go.
Standing up slowly, he made his way to the door. He lightly knocked on it, mouthing the word please, hoping it was all a cruel joke. He would much rather get a beating then spend a night on the cold dark streets. Minutes passed before he tried again, only louder. Every knock grew louder until Ezra finally broke down into silent tears. He repeated the word please over and over again in his head. About fifteen minutes passed when he finally gave up. He walked away from the door, casting glances back at it, thinking his father, sorry, ex-father, would yell at him for being so stupid. Ezra walked away and down the street. He never looked back.
The sun had started to set, disappearing behind the houses on a street he was on. A cold breeze made Ezra wrap his arms around himself, wishing he had warmer clothes. As he kept walking, he was constantly looking over his shoulder, not knowing why, though.
After hours of walking, and not being able to see other than every other lamppost, his feet began to ache. Stopping, he looked around searching for a place to rest for the night. He spotted a small alley next to a closed restaurant. He made his way across the semi-abandoned street to the alley. The ground was murky and the trash bins had been knocked over. By what, Ezra didn't want to know. As he navigated around the piles of trash, he made his way to the very back of the alley. Laying his back against the wall he closed his eyes letting the coldness wash over him.
Ezra jerked awake as he heard a loud noise. He looked over to the entry of the small alley as a garbage truck drove past, indicating it was morning. With the sun being able to peak through cracks above him, the alleyway having an overhead shelter from two buildings being so close, he took in his surroundings. Finding boxes and pieces of cloth, he created a small shelter in the back corner of the alley. Once he was finished, a small, low rumble erupted from his stomach, suggesting he was hungry. He looked over to the garbage bins near the entry. Knowing that he had little chance it had anything in it, it being emptied when the garbage truck drove off, he quietly strolled to the bins peering inside. Nothing. Not one piece of trash. Nothing but a foul smell.
Disappointed, he walked back to his little shelter and stayed there for the rest of the day. A loud bang woke Ezra from his, mid-day nap? Late nap? He didn't know. He peered out of his box to see a black-haired girl dumping food into a nearby bin. He looked up at the sky to find it was the beginning of dusk.
Noticing the girl had left, he jumped up and hurried to the bin. Peeking inside, he found some beginning-to-rot leftover Chinese food from the restaurant nearby. He happily dug into it, not having eaten for the past two days, the woman he once, sort of, called mother, had not fed him. After enjoying the food he had, he walked back to his shelter. He laid his head on the cloth he wadded up to make a make-shift pillow, closing his eyes. He manages to fall asleep with the sound cars rushing by.
As the days went by, it was the same routine for Ezra. Wake up, check the bin, lie down, drift in and out, be interrupted by a loud bang, check the bin, eat, fall asleep. It was a the on the odd chance of finding some food in the morning. It was later of the seventh day that he realized the girl never came to dump out some food. He looked out of the box to discover the sun was no longer out, make everything nearly pitch black, with only a few streetlights here and there. He crawled out of his little home and made his way to the alley opening. For the first time in days, he stepped foot out of the alley and walked down the street. Ezra looked around as he made his journey to the small restaurant he was sleeping near, hoping no one would see him. He arrived at the building to find a closed sign. Stepping closer, he found a smaller sign announcing they were closed on Sundays. A ping of pain came from his stomach, interrupting his thinking. He clutched his stomach as he looked down the street towards the main part of the city. His blank face became one of fear, knowing he would have to get some food from there. He reluctantly began to walk towards the city, trying his best to not turn tail and go back to the alleyway.
The street was now bustling with cars and people filled the sidewalks, making it almost impossible for Ezra to get to his location. Wherever that was. Ezra tried his best to not to touch anybody, but with it being so crowded, he had a near panic attack. He quickly ducked into the nearest alley, hoping no one took a second glance at him, as he tried to even out his breathing. The alley had two openings that were lined with trash.
Taking deep breaths, he tried calming himself down. Every sound that came from inside the alley made him jump. A loud thump that came from the other end of the alley almost made him run, but as he watched the figure move out from behind the bin into the dim light he saw bright red hair and running up and down the figure arms and legs was a striped pattern of different skin colors.
"Hi." The girl smiled. "I'm Kat." Ezra eyed her suspiciously backing farther away. He noticed that one of her eyes was neon green while the other was deep blue. A dried scar ran along underneath her right eye, Kat stepped forward, her hand out in front of her. Ezra took one more step back only to find he was up against the wall. Kat noticed his distress as she moved her hand back to her side, backing up a little. "Are you alright?" She watched as he relaxed when she moved backward. Ezra did nothing but shrug. A silence fell between them before Kat spoke up again. "What's your name?" She asked, curious. Ezra stared at the ground in front of him. "No name?" He stood still, nodding his head. It was easier than trying to tell her. And it wasn't like he was taught anything by his 'family'.
"Well, that's okay. Are you hungry? I have some soft bread." She stretched out her hand to Ezra, holding out a large piece of bread. He looked up at her. "Go on, you can have it." He slowly reached out for it. Once the bread was in his grasp, he quickly retraced his arm to his chest. He took a small bite, eyeing the girl in front of him. Soon, the bread had disappeared, his stomach no longer hurting. He averted his eyes back to the muddy ground, stilling feeling the presence of the girl's eyes on him. Silence fell again. Minutes passed nothing.
"You don't say much, do you?" Kat asked abruptly, Erza slight shook his head, glancing up at her face. Kat nodded a small understanding. "What brought you here?" She watched curiously. "All the stares on the street bugging you?" He nodded, giving a small side smile. "Did I just see a smile?" Kat laughed her hands on her hips. "Bet I could make you laugh!" Ezra snuffled a silent snicker. A smile appeared on his face. A sudden yell came from the other end of the alley, Kat looked over, her smile turned into a frown, fear evident on her face.
"Hey, there she is!" A buff voice traveled down the small walk space. Kat froze in terror. She turned towards him and mouthed run.
Ezra tried to, but he was grabbed by the back of his collar before he could get very far. The hand lifted him off the ground.
"Where do you think you're going?" A laugh came behind him. "What do you think boys? Should we let him be?" He snickered.
"Not a chance, Ty." A deeper voice answered.
"Brads right." A third voice came. "Give him a few kicks here and there. Teach him a lesson about living on the streets."
"He looks hungry," The deeper voice said. "Let's give 'em a knuckle-sandwich." He cracked his knuckles.
Ezra was suddenly dropped, his face colliding with the muddy ground. Pushing himself off the ground, he felt a foot connect with his torso. The force of the kick knocked him down once more. Another kick was sent to his back. Not that much later, maybe a few minutes, they stopped. He saw them looking towards an end of the alley.
"Come on, we got to go. Someone's coming." The deep voice quietly said. Ezra heard footsteps running to the opposite end of the alley. He stiffened as he heard another pair of steps coming toward him. Moving his head up, he looked into the eyes of a teenage girl with colorful hair. The girl bent down to make sure he was okay, examining his face. She moved her hands to the sides of his torso pulling him up into a sitting position. Ezra made a painful face as the girl leaned him against the wall.
"Stay right here, I'll get my mom." She stood up before running back to where she came from. Ezra bit his lip as the girl disappeared around the corner. Once he was sure that it was clear, he pushed himself up. He looked behind him making sure the girl had not yet returned. With no one in sight, he used the wall to help hold himself up as he walked out the alleyway. Hours later, he found himself resting against a brick wall behind a small dumpster. The sun had set and the moon was beginning to rise. His eyelids dropped as he felt a sudden wave of tiredness. He listened to the cars whisking by as he slowly drifted off to sleep