Chapter 1

In the small community of North Lawndale, Chicago sat rows and rows of brick and concrete buildings. The streets were clouded in darkness thanks to most of the street lights being broken, shattered glass covering the ground underneath them. There were large groups of teenagers spread all across the community. All of the teens had speakers playing music while they were smoking weed and cigarettes or drinking alcohol they stole from their homes. One group was playing hip hop music loudly and danced around with loud laughter and cheers. Another group was playing old school jazz, the kids smoking weed and sitting on the ground in peaceful and quiet relaxation. Another group had gospel music playing, the people singing along and showing off their impressive singing chops. Another group had funk music playing, the people dancing with each other in a slower but still energetic dance.

Inside one of the brick buildings, the curtains were shut tight as a teenage boy slowly opened his eyes. He could hear the music very faintly, but it was enough to wake him up. He sat up slowly, his shirtless body quite lean and muscular. He moved his blanket to the side to show his legs were quite muscular, yet lean like his torso. He slid off and stood on his cheap wooden floor, a splinter digging into the bottom of his bare foot.

“Ow.” He whispered as he sat back down and pulled it out. He touched his foot in the darkness, able to feel he was bleeding lightly. He got back up and hopped on his healthy foot over to the bedroom door. He opened it, and carefully and silently moved across the floor to the bathroom. He shut the door before turning the light on.

His skin was quite dark with dark brown eyes looking like the night sky. His teeth were blindingly white and his hair short and thick, most of it slicked back but with a few small spots sticking out. He opened the top drawer where there was a large amount of different type of medicines and pills.

He shut it before opening the second drawer. Even more bottles filled it when he quickly shut it. He opened the third drawer and found a small box of bandages. He grabbed the box and stretched his leg up and placed his foot on the counter with ease, his body very flexible and fluid.

He looked in the mirror, but the cut on his foot was gone. He looked confused and pulled his foot around to stare straight at it.

“Huh…weird.”

He put the bandage back and shut the drawer before turning the light off, then shut the bathroom door quietly. He slowly made his way to his bedroom, but heard a noise.

He turned to look at another bedroom door. There was a single large living room with a couch, chair, television, and multiple bookcases full of all sorts of objects. The boy made his way over to the other bedroom door, slowly pushing the door that was already cracked open. He pushed it open further, the old hinges and wood cracking as it moved. He heard soft movement in the bed sitting in the center of the room.

“Taylor?” A soft female voice asked.

He sighed and flicked on the light switch, which only turned on a small lamp sitting next to the bed.

“Hey Mom. Can’t sleep?” Taylor asked as he moved closer to the bed.

“I was going to ask you the same thing.” She joked.

Taylor went and helped her slowly sit up.

Her skin was a pale brown shade with her black hair as thin as paper. Her body was covered by a large white sleeping gown, but it was obvious she was incredibly thin and frail underneath. Her arms more resemble toothpicks than human limbs. Her eyes were very bright but faded blue, the pupil discernible from the rest of the eye.

“I came when I heard you move around.” Taylor said, sitting next to his Mother on the bed.

“I’m okay sweetie. I just move around in my sleep.” She said, putting her weak and soft hand on his cheek.

“But you’re okay?” Taylor asked, raising his own hand up to hold hers.

“Don’t worry. I’ll go back to sleep soon.” She replied.

Taylor smiled and leaned in to kiss her forehead. He helped her lay back down before tucking her in with the blanket.

“Sleep tight.” Taylor said with his smile as he stood up.

She smiled back and rested her head back on the pillow.

Taylor pulled the door almost closed, keeping it cracked open. He made his way over to the couch, laying on his side with his eyes open, just in case any more noise came from the bedroom.

Taylor could hear his alarm going off and jumped awake from the couch. He made his way to his bedroom where his phone was plugged in, quickly turning it off and looking at the time.

5 AM.

He rubbed his eyes and went into the kitchen. He reached up into the cabinet and opened the door, a small jar of spice leaning forward and falling off the counter.

Taylor didn’t have time to react or process what was happening, but his hand was down to catch the jar. He looked at his hand confused.

“Huh…reflexes are better than I remembered.” He whispered to himself before putting it down carefully.

Taylor began to cook multiple meals at a time. He made fresh omelets filled with vegetables. The insides looked like a large garden as he folded the eggs. Red tomatoes, green asparagus, brown mushrooms, and orange carrots wrapped in a warm and vibrant yellow blanket. Next he made a fresh and small caesar salad with chicken and sliced up eggs sitting on top, sprinkling some parmesan cheese on top to add to the color and flavor. Then a few pieces of honey glazed salmon sitting on more green vegetables.

He placed the salmon and salad in different bowls before wrapping plastic around them, then putting them into the refrigerator.

He went to the bathroom with the plate of omelet, putting one pill from nearly every bottle onto the plate. He then grabbed a large glass to fill with tap water as he looked in the mirror. His eyes had heavy bags underneath, but he tried his best to give a warm and loving smile.

He carried the plate and glass to his Mother’s bedroom, softly pushing the door open.

“Mom, it's breakfast time.”  He said softly as he used his shoulder to turn on the light switch. His Mother very slowly sat up in the bed, rubbing her eyes.

“Thank you sweetie, but you didn’t have to wake up this early.” She whispered, still trying to wake herself up.

“I had to make you food for the day. I Need a large amount of time.” Taylor replied.

She smiled and looked at all of the pills.

“You didn’t mix them in with the omelet this time.” She said as she collected all of them into her hand. She put them all in her mouth at once before drinking half the glass of water at once.

“I had to make sure you took them all. Couldn’t let you leave a few bites and miss out on some of the medicine.” Taylor replied.

His Mother was sitting uncomfortably as she struggled to find somewhere to put her plate.

“Don’t worry Mom, I got it.”

Taylor took her plate in one hand before helping her lean forward so he could fix her pillow with his other hand, then gave her the food back.

“Thank you sweetie.” She replied and smiled.

Taylor kissed her cheek before standing up.

“I gotta get ready for school.”

“You do that, I’ll be alright in here.” She replied.

Taylor shut her door about half way before heading to the restroom. He stripped his clothes off and jumped into the shower, humming some music as the hot water hit his skin and steam began to fill the room. Taylor continued to hum as he showered, his mind clear as he tried to only focus on cleaning his body. His hands grabbed the soap and used it to cover his body in white bubbles as he let out a sigh. His eyes were shut as he began to softly sway side to side. His body became more relaxed as his arms dropped to his sides, swaying subtly back and forth.

His body was so exhausted he began to drift asleep, his breathing very relaxed and slow.

His feet slipped from the water covered floor as his eyes went wide open. His arms thrashed around, but he was suddenly back up to his feet. Soap and water covered every inch of the walls, curtain, and ceiling as Taylor looked around. He rubbed his eyes, his hands shaking very quickly before they slowed down into a stillness.

Taylor turned the shower off before stepping out and grabbing a white towel, drying off his face. He kept rubbing it against his torso and arms as he stared into the mirror covered in fog.

“I gotta focus. Alright…:”

Taylor wiped just enough fog off the mirror to see his face in the reflection.

“Today is qualifiers. You can do this. You’ve always been the fastest on the team. You got this.” Taylor hyped himself up before smiling and heading to his bedroom with the towel wrapped around him, quickly getting dressed in a black MF Doom t-shirt. He put on dark blue jeans and grabbed his red backpack, then a large athletic bag filled with athletic clothes and a roll of tape. He went to his Mom’s room again, kissing her forehead.

“Do you want me to put on music for you today?” Taylor asked.

“Oh yes. I’ll let you pick today.”

Taylor smiled and went to one of the many bookcases sitting in the living room. He opened up a large, old school vinyl record player. Underneath it was a shelf full of vinyls, all of which were by black musicians of all different kinds of genres.

“Let’s see…Ma Rainey. Jimi Hendrix. Scott Joplin. Robert Johnson. Ooh, Odetta.”

Taylor grabbed Odetta’s “It’s A Mighty World” and placed it on the record player. The music started and Taylor could hear his Mom move in the bed. He kept smiling and stared at the doorway as his Mom slowly emerged. Her legs were shaking as she very slowly moved across the floor. Despite her eyes looking blind, she was able to move around the furniture with ease. Taylor walked over and helped her over to the couch, slowly lowering her down onto the cushion.

“Alright Mom, I’ll see you after track today.”

He left the apartment and shut the door firmly. There were five other doors in the hallway before Taylor walked to the front door. He walked past a stairway and opened the door, stepping out onto the cold and silent sidewalk and street. He put some earbuds in his ears before taking out his phone, pressing play on some lofi hip hop beats.

Taylor continued to walk down the empty and silent streets as the sun was only just coming up, turning the sky a gorgeous purple and orange water painting that shifted around. Taylor softly smiled as he kept walking, the music loud in his ears and blocking out the entire outside world.

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