When we got back, everyone went to a door that opened up to some stairs. I followed them all up and there were a line of rooms, like an apartment building. Everyone claimed a different room, quick glances revealed that they were small bedrooms with, uh, really small beds. Scrat said to me, "Uh, you can share a room with me. I got a bunk bed anyway. You want the top bunk?" I nodded. "Sure. Whatever is good with you." I said.
Eddie knocked on one door and waited for an answer. "You guys back already?" Carrie called through the door. "Yeah," Eddie said, "Just checking in on you. Goodnight, baby." "Goodnight, Bubby." she said through the door.
Eddie looked at me as I couldn't help but stare, halfway in the door to a room. "What?" he said all the way from other end of the hallway, "You got a problem with Bubby, as a name?" I ducked into the room to see Scrat already passed out on the lower bunk of the bed. I asked, "Is this how it usually works?" He raised his arm up and made a thumbs up sign. I guess so.
I climbed the tiny ladder and lied down on the bed. I looked down and saw that my shins dangled off the end. "Are you kidding me?" I whispered to myself. I layed there, no pillow, no blanket, no... anything. Just waiting for time to pass. I looked around at the trashy little place. It may not be much, I thought, but it's something.
Something occurred to me. "Scrat." I say. He grunted in response. "Why does everybody stay here, instead of actual....well, houses?" He was silent for a while. Then, he said, "We all messed up, man. Our parents kicked us out, 'cause we all got involved in one thing, or another. Riff-raff kept getting in fights when he went to school. Once, a teacher was actually picking on someone in the class, Richie- I mean, Riff-raff- stood up for the kid, and got slammed with charges of assault. When he got out, he met us." He sighed.
I said, "What about you, and the others?" He responded, "Otis is my best friend, my wing-man, ya know? I got the bullies off of him, and he helped me out with passing the fourth grade." Then I heard Eddie yell through the rooms. "Man, what are you talking about? You still in the fourth grade, man!" I could imagine Scrat was rolling his eyes. "Anyway," he said, "Otis and I got mixed up with the wrong people. We got the blame for transporting freaking marijuana!" He cleared his throat and calmed down. He said, "We call ourselves the Chain Gang because we all made mistakes that landed us in the wrong place at the wrong time, we are trying to keep others out of things we got ourselves into."
We sat there for a long while. I sat up on the bed, my legs dangling off the sides now. I noticed the old digital alarm clock, sitting on a nearby table, click to midnight. I asked, "What about Eddie?" The door swung open and Eddie stepped in. Eddie said in a quiet voice, "I actually killed a kid." The information hung in the air, I felt like if someone lit a match right now, the entire building would light up. Eddie then continued, "I was part of a gang. Small little group. Not much harm. We would vandalize a bowling alley, or start talking smack to someone, but that all changed. One day, we were given an offer by a hard core criminal. They were going to actually rob a bank. The police were on to us though. Before I knew it, we were in a shoot out." He paused, and I could swear I saw the shiver run up his spine. I also saw Carrie walking behind him, in a robe, and she put a hand on his shoulder for comfort.
He continued, "Things get pretty rough in a shoot out. I walked out with my hands up, hoping if I just gave up now, consequences wouldn't be as bad." He bit his lip. "I can't remember what happened next, it was like a blur. I think a friend got mad at me and started walking right towards me. He looked like he was ready to kill, man, I didn't know what...." He stopped, and shut his eyes tight. "I got off lucky. I only got five years in juvey for manslaughter, I owe a good friend for that. I even got out early for good behaviour. I met these guys," he gestured to everyone who was now standing silently at the door, "and Carrie, and we try to help whoever we can, however we can." Carrie was now hugging Eddie from behind. Otis and Riff-raff were leaning against opposite door frames outside the room. Eddie then said, "Well, now you know. Get some sleep guys, we're going on a little patrol at six tommorrow night."
Everyone cleared out and went back to bed. I laid my head back down and tried to get to sleep; which I considered was hopeless when I saw it was almost two in the morning on the alarm clock. I listened to see if Scrat, or any of the others, were still awake. Light breathing revealed that nobody in their right or left mind was awake at this time. Well, nobody but me.
I quietly let myself down and walked right out of the building. On the way out I was stopped at the door by a voice. "Try not to stay out all night." I spun around to see Carrieat the base of the stairs in her robe. She then turned around and walked back upstairs.
After a moment of thinking this over I walked out into the night.
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