Act 1 - Chapter 1 - The neighborhood that had no God
September 1995.
Stilwater, Michigan, USA.
Sunnyvale Gardens Private High School.
Hey, if you had one shot, one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted, in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?
Sitting in his chair, Nathan swung his legs back and forth while looking out the window. At just 15 years of age, this tall, dark-haired young man with emerald green eyes was dreaming of what his life would be like away from the walls of his private high school in Stilwater. He knew how lucky he was. A kid from Saints Row did not make up the majority of the school's students, but he had earned his place through perseverance and intelligence alone. Nathan was not exactly a kid like the others. He was already more than two years ahead of the other students in his class. He was undoubtedly brilliant, with a rare intelligence and relevance. A synesthete, with a remarkably high IQ, and an outstanding sportsman, he had a bright future that only the elite could hope for. Only one shadow tarnished his portrait: He had a behavior that raised questions. Taciturn, shy but with an explosive temperament, expelled from other establishments for violence, impressionable, sometimes surprisingly cold, already a heavy smoker at his young age, he was not a hopeless case, but he was in great need of being put back on the right path and of being severely supervised. He seemed to rebel against everything and believed in neither God nor human justice.
Since he was a child, Nathan had lived in various boarding schools under the responsibility of educators whom he saw as jailers. He saw little of his parents and family.
His father was an alcoholic and absent, who had left one day and never returned, probably incarcerated. His mother was obsessed with her career and did not have the time to deal with her eldest child, who was too difficult for her and not emotionally involved enough with him. Nathan had always learned not to rely on anyone and to keep his emotions and feelings to himself.
Nathan had the terrible feeling that his life and future were being dictated to him without giving him any choice and he dreamed of the day when he could become independent and discover reality like all young people of his age. This longing burned deep inside him, and he only waited for the opportunity to present itself to him one day, vowing not to let it pass.
Apart from these details, Nathan had ambition, said he wanted to change the world and gave himself the means to do so. He could never imagine himself living an ordinary, boring life. In fact, that was exactly what he was thinking about in his chair. His musings were interrupted by the clatter of the copy that his teacher crushed on his table right in front of him, which did not fail to make him jump.
- Collins. Said the professor. Excellent work, very relevant analysis, very good style, good choice of author. A+ well deserved.
The teacher winked at him and continued to hand out papers.
- Bastard! A voice behind Nathan whispered. It's not possible, you paid the teacher, you jerk.
- Talent, man, just talent, Nathan answered in an exaggeratedly mocking voice. What about you?
- Only B, his friend Ty sighed. But I had worked hard.
The two young men fell silent as the teacher came up to them.
- Hey, Nathan said as soon as the teacher had turned away, do you want to go to the beach after class?
- I don't know, I'd have to work a little. And I haven't finished the math test for Monday, I'd like to do it quickly so I don't have to deal with it all weekend.
- Come on, Ty, Nathan insisted. I'll do it for you if you want, but come on.
- Yeah, and then I'll get some B's. I'll never graduate if you're always doing my homework!
- I'm not going alone like a badger, come on.
- Go with your girl, man!
- But I want to go with you, Ty!
- Mills! Collins! The teacher cut them off. A problem, perhaps?
- No, sir, Nathan answered without trying to apologize.
Ty just waved at the professor with an embarrassed smile and continued his lesson.
- Later, Nate, I promise.
- You're shitting me, Nathan sighed in disappointment.
The young man put his head in the palm of his hand as a sign of displeasure and went back to his daydreams, gazing at the sun through the window, which was slowly disappearing behind the gray clouds.
The end-of-day bell rang, and all the students gathered their belongings before noisily leaving the school. But at the school gates, it was now a downpour that was falling on Stilwater. The students were running out screaming and trying to avoid the rain.
The students went outside shouting and trying to avoid the drops by hiding under their jackets. Nathan sighed as he saw a flash of lightning in the sky and put a cigarette to his lips. He loosened the knot in his tie before taking his lighter and immediately felt the effects of the nicotine in his body.
- You see, Nate! It's karma, it's not a beach day today, Ty said, his voice echoing behind him.
- Shut up, Nathan joked, with a hint of resentment.
- So, are you going to stay somewhere anyway?
- I don't know. I don't feel like going home right now.
- Are you staying at the boarding school this weekend?
- No, I'm going back to my mom's for a couple of days, but I don't really want to. You don't want us to stay here this weekend?
- Oh no, sorry man, I really want to go home!
- You're so lucky...
He never said anything about going home no matter what.
- Come on, your father-in-law isn't that bad, is he?
- That's not even the problem. But I'm bored out of my mind there. As soon as I breathe, I can see that it bothers everyone. I don't feel like I belong and I'm bored. At least at boarding school, I don't bother anyone.
- I'm sorry, man, I promise I'll make it up to you! But I really don't want to miss my streetcar.
- Don't worry," Nathan lied, but he was really disappointed.
Ty greeted him with a quick wave of his hand and ran to catch the next bus that would take him to dry land. Nathan walked through the campus looking for Lindsay, a young girl who was taking some classes with him and with whom he was beginning a romance. He spotted her under a courtyard, not far from where she used to hang out after class with her friends. Lindsay saw him in the distance and gave him a little wave to get his attention. She was with two of her friends, two undistinguished girls that Nathan did not like. He hated smug girls who were only allowed to enter this private school because of their fathers' money and influence. Lindsay was different, although she came from a wealthy family, she had a certain sense of values and ambition that Nathan liked. She dreamed of being a surgeon and had the means to achieve her goal. What's more, with her long, wavy brown hair, her slender figure and her sparkling blue eyes, she would make any young man on campus fall in love. Nathan came up to her and gave her a small smile. He was not sure how much he liked this girl, not really knowing if he was in love with her or not, but he was sure he enjoyed her company.
- Hey Lindsay!
He didn't bother to greet the girl's friends who regarded him with little kindness.
- Nate! Exclaimed the girl as she hugged him. What's up?
- Are you doing anything? Nathan asked without answering her question.
- Right now, no.
- Then I'll take you with me, Nathan said and took her hand.
- Oh great, are you finally taking me home? The girl asked.
Nathan was surprised by her question and did not expect her to be so direct.
- To my home? Really? Well, then it's your place, isn't it?
Lindsay and her friends laughed more or less quietly.
- I was just kidding! Lindsay corrected herself.
Nathan felt stupid and a little offended that they were laughing at him. He knew that this was not really her style, especially since there had been nothing physical between them until now, except for a few caresses one evening during a party at a friend's house. But his question had taken her by surprise.
- Super funny, he grumbled, offended.
- He believed it too much," laughed Liz, a friend of Lindsay's.
- I'm sorry I believed it, yeah. Clearly, if I had your looks, I would have known it was a joke.
- Don't be rude, Nate," Lindsay tried to calm him down when she saw her friend's discomfited look.
- So? Nathan insisted, taking it in his stride.
- I don't know, Lindsay hesitated. It's a bad day and I'd like to get on with my revisions.
- Seriously? What do you want to study for? It's September!
- Don't be mad at me, I promise we'll do something soon.
Of course he was mad at her.
- I'm not here this weekend. Don't you want to spend some time together before I get on the bus?
- I promised my dad I'd be home early," Lindsay said.
- Okay, well... I see. Never mind. I get it.
He lit a cigarette and headed out the door.
- Nate! Nate, wait! Shouted Lindsay.
He didn't turn around. Lindsay did not insist, she knew he was impulsive. She convinced herself that he would calm down the next day. Her friends did not have her indulgence.
- He's such an idiot..." said Liz, still offended by the remark he had made to her. I don't know what you see in him.
- He fascinates me," Lindsay admitted. He's got something quite exceptional.
- The color of his eyes, that's all.
- No, no, no. It's not only that, I think he has a crazy charisma, I know that one day, he'll be somebody.
- Well... He's mostly a kid, you can tell he's only 15 years old," retorted Liz, very sure of her maturity at the age of 17.
Disappointed by his friends' behavior, Nate decided to take the bus home. The rain was still pouring down on the city and he sat in the back of the bus, soaking wet. He had more than two hours to drive to Saints Row and as usual, he took out a book from the bottom of his bag. He hardly saw the time pass thanks to Jane Austen and her novel "Pride and Prejudice" which he liked a lot without knowing why. He looked up and saw a stark contrast to the clean campus in the wealthy part of the city and Saints Row, a poor part of Stilwater that had been plagued for years by gang wars between several clans. Nathan knew them well, and it was not easy to ignore them because they were everywhere. No one could fail to be aware of the Carnales, the leader in the drug that was ravaging much of America and that young people were raving about: The Loa Dust. The Westside Rollerz were constantly involved in fights and street races. And of course there was the Vice Kings, ruled with an iron fist by Benjamin King, who ruled over all the arts and entertainment in the city as well as prostitution. Nathan knew that all the girls they met on their way home worked for Benjamin King, but this did not bother him.
There were many other gangs in Stilwater, more or less known. Often they were no match for the leaders, who had been in the neighborhood for a long time and were determined not to share their booty. As a result, they appeared as quickly as they disappeared, and nobody bothered to remember their names.
The streets of the city were regularly plagued by settling of scores. In the neighborhood alone, there were already 63 unsolved murders that year, and it was far from over...
The police didn't care about gang trouble. Only the financial interests they had with the biggest ones in various trades made them patrol the ghettos. They did not care about anything else.
Nathan got out of the bus and walked through the streets of Stilwater, still wet from the rain. For once, the city streets smelled of damp earth, which contrasted drastically with the usual putrid smell, a mixture of misery and drugs in every neighborhood.
Nathan lived in Mission Beach, one of the largest neighborhoods in the Saints Row district, and therefore one of the most popular and most infamous.
It was not a good place to live, and the eclectic population that made up the neighborhood was neither close-knit nor supportive.
But recently, there was a little change in the neighborhood, fleur-de-lis tags now covered the walls with a fresh purple paint that put a little color. The word "Saints" accompanied it most of the time. A strange paradox in a ghetto where God had probably never set foot.
Nathan had to walk a good twenty blocks before returning home. He liked this time, when he could think in the fresh air, but clearly, if he could afford a car to get to school every day, he would be fine... One day he would have to think about getting a job in addition to his student life. But as a minor and an intern, he knew that this was a freedom that was still forbidden to him for a while.
In any case, he went home so little that it wasn't so much a necessity...
- Hey, hello there, a female voice said behind him.
Nathan did not recognize the voice and turned around. He came face to face with a woman, rather cute but dressed far too short to have any doubt about her.
- Hi," Nathan answered randomly.
- You're in a hurry, the prostitute said. Don't you want to have a good time with me, honey? It's 150 dollars for the night of your life.
She had a beautiful smile on her face, but despite her young age, Nathan was not fooled. He held up his book to let her know that he was a busy student.
- Oh, you still go to school?
- I'm not twelve...
- How old are you?
- 21, he lied.
- Ah, she reassured herself. And we read Jane Austen at the university ?
- Do you know it? He asked surprised.
- I love "Reason and sensitivity", said the prostitute, I always felt close to the heroine, Marianne.
- Marianne and its contempt of the conventions which takes side only of its passions?
- Absolutely, I'm surprised you know!
- Not as much as I did, I couldn't imagine talking literature with a prostitute today.
- You think we're just poor idiots who walk the streets because we're too stupid to do anything else?
- I've never really been interested so to speak...
- You are well dressed, you go to university, you have the money for that, I am not so lucky.
Nathan took offense. Since he was a child he had lived in Saints Row, a neighborhood of miserable people, and he did everything he could not to rot there for the rest of his life. He didn't come from a wealthy family, he hardly knew his father, he could hardly remember his first name, his face had long been forgotten. The only strength he had was his own, and his will to get through it.
- But who are you to judge? He got angry. You think you're a heroine in a romantic book and you sell your ass. You don't have to lecture me!
- And who says it's incompatible?
- What?
- Do you really think that what I do necessarily defines who I am?
- It says a lot about the person, yeah.
The woman smiled but kept her composure.
- I can see that you are still a child. One day you'll understand that the end justifies the means and that doing something unconventional is not a fatality as long as it doesn't harm our goal.
The young man did not understand what she was getting at and felt more annoyed than anything else.
- My name is Sherry, and you?
Although ravaged by years of prostitution and probably drugs, Sherry was still a beautiful woman, with a smile that could have made many men's hearts fall in love. Nathan was about to answer her when a young African-American man, not much older than him, dressed in yellow and looking very gruff, stood next to them.
- You've been talking to him for ten minutes," he said, addressing Sherry. What are you waiting for?
- Relax Teryll, we're just chatting.
- Are you talking? You think you've got nothing else to do but talk! Annoyed the young man.
- Calm down, I was about to leave anyway, Nathan said in an attempt to calm the game down.
- Who the hell are you, you bastard? Do you want to fuck her or not?
- No, I don't do whores.
- Then you owe me two hundred dollars! shouted Teryll.
- You've snapped man, I didn't even touch him.
- YOU OWE ME TWO HUNDRED BUCKS! shouted Teryll, pulling out a gun. Do you understand me, you son of a bitch? You block one of my girls, you pay.
Nathan was speechless. He had seen guns in real life, but no one had ever pointed one at him like that. He took a step back and naively raised his arms, not knowing what to do.
- Teryll! That's enough! It is a kid! Sherry tried to reason with him.
- Shut up, bitch," he replied.
- I don't have the money, Nathan stammered.
- Oh, you don't have the money! You come here and talk to my girls and you don't pay. That's not how it works here, pal.
Teryll put the gun to his head and Nathan remained silent in terror.
Sherry tried to get him to put the gun down, but Teryll only slapped her in the face, his bloodshot eyes left no doubt that he was a dangerous man.
- Please don't do this, Nathan whispered.
- What did you say, you son of a bitch!
He forced Nathan to his knees.
- Say your prayers, you piece of shit, Teryll said and loaded his gun.
Nathan saw himself as if in a surreal nightmare. He regularly read in the newspaper about street killings, but he had never imagined that he could be the victim of such a crime for free. The cold metal of the weapon made his heart beat even louder in his temple. He couldn't imagine for a moment that he was going to be murdered at the age of fifteen, it was impossible and yet, this dirty guy in front of him, was holding him at gunpoint and looked very determined. Not knowing what to do or how to react, Nathan closed his eyes and prayed in his head to any God who would come to his aid.
It was not God's voice that he heard, but the screeching of a tire coming at him at full speed. Completely terrorized, he did not hear the exchange of gunfire, the screams of Sherry, then Teryll. He just felt a hand lifting him up and forcing him into a purple car.
- Let's not stay here! Johnny! Go! shouted a middle-aged man's voice.
- Why are we taking him?
- Go Johnny! The Vice Kings are coming!
As the car turned around in a cloud of smoke, Nathan saw the bodies of Teryll and Sherry lying in a pool of blood in the distance.