Growing Up Street Ways by Elkah Quince (the little red hen ebook .TXT) 📖

Chapter 1
My name is Janey I am 16. I’ve been in rehab for 2 months now reassessing my entire life. I’ve come to the conclusion that all the fragments of my life are tears in the curtains of reality.
This is how my life has gone.
“Mum” I screamed as my brother dragged me away from the scene of my mother and father fighting. He grabbed a syringe of strange liquid and pushed the needle into my vein as I kicked and screamed. The room started spinning as it always did when they drugged me.
It was dark when I woke up. I’d been shoved behind some garbage bins in an alley. I sat up slowly my head was pounding. I could smell rotting food scraps and feel the slimy garbage bags against my back.
I walked out of the alley still dizzy from the drugs. I looked up at a sign above the busy road “Sydney” I gasped nearly falling knowing that I was from Alice Springs. Tears started to blur my vision as I leant against the wall. My belly growled hungrily as I smelt food. I looked down the street and saw a take away shop with people walking in and out at a rapid pace. A woman with a packet of chips walked past me briskly the smell of the chips made my stomach gurgle and my mouth water. I walked slowly towards the shop rubbing my dirty hands on my jeans. The smell of hot oil deep fried chips and squid rings cooked to a perfect mouth watering crisp with that lush chewy centre filled my nose. I stepped in carefully and almost fainted. All the food smelt so good and I hadn’t eaten in about two days. Mum and dad often forgot to feed us and we had no money for our own food. But that was then; I was on my own now.
The shop was packed I couldn’t see the counter and nobody could see me. I snaked my hand slowly towards a packet of Smith’s chips and grabbed them. I slowly pulled them gently off the rack then turned and ran. I headed for the door when ‘CRACK’ I ran straight into a bikie, I looked up. His long brown hair was pulled back into a pony tail that reached half way down his back I looked at his face and was surprised to see that he was clean shaven and only 20 at the oldest he grabbed my shoulder roughly and squatted down in front of me. “Are you lost?” he asked in a voice that was smooth and even but was tainted with a deep understanding. I nodded shaking visibly beneath his grip he held my hand and placed a twenty dollar note in it “not all people are cruel” he said kindly “where are you from?”
“A...A...Alice Springs” I replied shakily
“Well that is a long way away. Where are your parents?”
“H.... home my brother used to drug me when they were fighting so I wouldn’t have to see. My dad probably left me here so he didn’t have to put up with me anymore.” I hung my head and looked at my feet. He stood up “oi Jim put a packet of Smiths on my tab for this little lady” he yelled and left the shop. I stared after his leather clad back as he headed down the street occasionally the head lights of a passing care would outlining him then he’d be gone again.
I ran in the opposite direction still shaking from my encounter with the biker man. The last encounter id had with a biker had resulted in me being drugged and rapped, when I was 7 years old. I’d only just stopped having the nightmares.
I kept running until my legs ached and my lungs were on fire. I was at a small park in the middle of Sydney. Sitting on one of the benches I tore open my packet. I started eating handful after handful of those salty chips they were so good I finished the packet quickly and put it in the bin. I stood up slowly stretching a crick in my back before getting starting to walk again.
A smell caught my attention it was the smell of alcohol I was only eleven but I’d had my fair share of drinking to numb the pain of my parents fighting and my constant nightmares and the flashback of the beatings I used to get. I could see the source of the smell a group of 13 to 15 year old boys were drinking around a fire pot I walked slowly, carefully getting closer to them. One of them turned and saw me “hey look what we got here boys a little run away” he slurred beckoning me closer to the fire. I stumbled forward slowly “hi” I said shyly coming closer to the group.
“Wanna drink?” a boy with scraggy dark hair and nicely tanned skin asked handing me a bottle. I sniffed at it and took a mouthful it burnt the back of my throat painfully and I started coughing and gagging. “’ay Rats don’t ‘ive her da strong stuff ya’ll kick out ‘er pretty lil’ lights” said another of the gang he looked to be around 14 or 15 he had straight teeth and a nice smile that filled his eyes “ya ‘k?” he asked me his voice full of concern. I nodded coughing again he handed me a bottle of water and a lemon “ suck on da lemon then fill ya mouth with water it’ll ‘elp” I did as he told me and felt better instantly
“What was that?” I asked
“Straight ‘n’ pure vodka” laughed the one they called Rats
“Normally the ‘oung girls like you can’t stand dat stuff they tummies puke it up instantly” laughed the boy who’d given me the water I shrugged “I’ve been drinking since I was about 7 I think it was” I stepped shyly closer to the boy who had just spoken to me. “Who are you?” I asked the boy with the water.
“we” he said loudly gesturing to his band of boys “we is da adults worsetest nightmare we are da defiance of juveniles” he finished proudly as the boys hooted and whistled loudly “I is Tiger leader of dese cut throat ‘un aways, and you is?”
“I’m Janey” I replied quietly
“Well Janey” he chuckled “ya is now one of us” he grinned evilly and I shrank away from him slightly “and ta celebrate a joint of our finest pot” I watched as Rats started digging in a bag he pulled out something that looked slightly like a cigarette “what's that” I whispered watching him put it in his mouth and light it as if it were just a smoke. “Dat a joint” tiger whispered back
“What’s a joint?” everybody must have heard me ask because they turned to stare at me
“betcha she aint never heard of no morphine neither” said a tall boy with blonde hair and 3 lip rings on one half of his mouth “I have actually my brother used to force it into me” I said huffily crossing my arms and glaring at the boy roughly “lay off da pretty gal slime” said rats
“Well? What is it?” I asked again
“Marijuana” said the boy called slime just as it was passed my way. I put it carefully in my mouth and breathed in the strange smoke a few times then passed it on everyone started laughing and we all went a little light headed. Rats and Slime started dancing together and poor Tiger started kissing the boy next to him thinking it was a girl I had never laughed so much in my life the boys face was horrified as if somebody was trying to feed him a bucket full of mucus with a ladle.
A few hours later after we’d settled down I was introduced to the rest of the boys besides Rats and Tiger. There was Samson who was gay and had joined the gang because his parent where homophobic and had thrown him out of his home. He had gentle brown eyes that slopped slightly, hinting at a Japanese origin. His hair was short and spiked out around his head sharply, his lips where full and his teeth were white and straight he looked like he should have been a model. Then there was Lion whose large green eyes seemed to be alive with movement just like a jungle they were lush and deep like untouched paradise. His hair was golden in the firelight and it curled out around his head like a lion’s mane hinting where his name had come from. He spoke with a quiet and gentle voice that had a hidden viciousness behind it. There was a set of twins by the names of Ghost and Takehito both names had been chosen by them. Takehito I was told never spoke to anyone but Ghost. Ghost had pure white hair which seemed natural because his eyebrows were also white he had deep red lips and dark haunted eyes that he lined in eyeliner which made him appear mysterious he had a slow way of speaking but a fast jittery way of moving just like a sparrow in flight. Takehito had a very girl like body with a small waist and gently sloping hips. His face was different to Ghosts in many ways they had the same eyes but his cheek bones where higher and less sharp. His hair was dark and long tied back in a plait the reached to his lower back, when it got caught in the firelight his hair seemed to be a mix of black and blonde with a hint of red. And last of all there was Slime he was pale with freckles and his pink hair seemed out of place among the other boys. His three lips rings sat on the left side of his mouth and his septum piercing hung crooked in his nose when he grinned you could see his lost teeth his lip rings where black purple then pink and all a different type of ring. He had and evil snare which he seemed to use only on me when I approached him.
After the fire had died I went back to the gang’s place which was an old warehouse near downtown Sydney. It was warm but gloomy inside and we all just crashed in any bed we could find. That was my first night in Sydney. I was 9 years old. Staying in a warehouse, with boys in downtown Sydney.
Chapter 2
I could hear crashing noises like people walking around in the dark. I opened my eyes slowly they felt strange and sluggish. It was dark, like midnight. I rolled over slowly and fell off of my bed. Sitting up slowly my head started swimming and my sight blurred slightly. There was movement from the bed I’d fallen off of. “Tiger?” I called my voice thick with sleep there came a slightly muffled reply. As if I’d woken up whoever had been in the bed with me.
“oi lass keep it downs a lil wouldn’t ya I is trying to sleeps up ‘ere,” came lions voice as he peeked his curly head over the edge of the bed. he was still in the same top he had worn yesterday that smelt slightly like smoke.
“Sorry Lion,” I said yawning “say did we ya know do anything we shouldn’t of.”
“Lassie I wouldn’t stand for none of these here boys even looking at an ‘oungen like you