Neon is the Colour of Vengeance (Flappers and False Gods)

THE PAST

Hugo was hungry. His stomach twisted and knotted, letting out groans that were almost painful. He hadn’t eaten since the night before and even that had been nothing more than scraps he had scrounged from a dumpster. Hunger was a constant companion now.

It had been thirteen months since the medical centre where his mother died had thrown him out. They had fed and housed him for a short while after, but only until the money had run out, which hadn’t taken long. After that, they had sent him on his way. Tenebrium didn’t have orphanages, and the foster system was so laden with children just like him that he had been told to fend for himself.

He had been scraping by, eating discarded food and sleeping in whatever corner he could while remaining unnoticed. The week previously he had spent three whole nights hidden in a corner of an all-night cinema, but the staff were onto him now. Hugo wouldn’t worry about where he was going to sleep that night until he had found something to fill his stomach.

He knew stealing from a store was dangerous; if he was caught, he would be sent to The Pit, the underwater prison. Several other street kids he had known had been sent there; not one had come back. It didn’t matter though; he simply couldn’t go another day without a full meal. The first thing he had learned on the streets was that he had to keep himself fit and healthy, so as not to fall victim to the other dangers of street life. Not all predators were animals.

Gekko Express was a large convenience store on the corner of Delaunay Street, right on the edge of the Eltham District. It was directly opposite the Subway, which would make for an easy escape, if he managed to pilfer something.

He pulled the hood of his over-large jacket up to cover his face and darted into the warmth of the store’s interior. After the dark of the bystreet he had been hiding in, the clinical white lights stung his eyes. He would have loved something fresh, fruit perhaps or some soft bread, but those items were too close to the tills. Instead, just like he’d been shown by the older kids, he went to the back of the store, to the dried foods. As quickly and as quietly as he could, he stuffed his pockets with dried ramen and jerky. If he could, he would grab something sweet on the way out.

When he had taken all that he could carry, he walked slowly towards the exit. He tasted free air before a hand landed heavily on his shoulder.

“What you got there, little guy?”

Hugo tried to twist away from his captor, but the fingers clung to the fabric of his jacket. He turned to look at who had caught him. He was a White man, with tanned skin. He wore a bright vest and a lot of jewellery.

“Get off!”

“Empty your pockets and I’ll let you go without a beating.”

“Freddie,” a softer voice said. “Look at him, he can’t be more than seven years old. Let him go.” A Japanese woman with a kind face and long blonde hair came out from behind the counter to stand next to the man named Freddie.

“No way, that shit comes out of my pay.”

Before the woman could say anything else, Hugo bit the hand that was still gripping his jacket.

“Little fucker!” the man snarled as he instinctively drew his hand back. Hugo turned tail and ran. He sprinted out of the shop, across the street and down into the subway, never turning back to see if the man called Freddie was chasing him.

The relief that came with escape was quickly doused by cold fear. As soon as he stepped onto the platform, he knew he was done for. It was dark and deserted except for Theo, a Black fifteen-year-old with short dark hair and a sneer that chilled Hugo to the bone. He was standing with three other teens right at the bottom of the long set of stairs.

Theo was the kind of kid who preyed on the weaker ones. He was known to beat, steal from and humiliate those he targeted. Hugo had fallen victim to him several times and had the scars to prove it.

“Hey, Hugo!” Theo called with malicious glee. “You look puffed. You score? Bobby saw you got into Gekko.”

“No,” Hugo said a little too quickly. “I got caught.”

“I thought we were friends.” Theo advanced on Hugo. Being much older, he was far taller and faster as Hugo knew all too well. “Are you holding out on me?”

Hugo couldn’t outrun Theo, but starved as he was, he had to try. He turned to run back up the stairs.

Theo’s hand shot out and grabbed Hugo by the ankle. He was dragged painfully all the way to the bottom of the stairs, clattering off every one of the hard concrete steps as he fell. He groaned as he landed on his back, winded. Tears stung his eyes, but he wiped them away quickly. At Theo’s urging, two of his cronies rifled through Hugo’s pockets. Hugo tried to fight them and was rewarded with several punches and kicks to the face and body. He could taste blood in his mouth and his head felt full and fuzzy by the time they stepped back.

“Lie to me again and you’re dead. But it’s okay. I’ll forgive you.” He looked Hugo up and down thoughtfully. “That jacket looks a little big and I’m cold. Gimme it.”

Hugo only had a T-shirt underneath; he wouldn’t last many nights without the jacket he had pulled out of the trash. “No.”

“That’s not how this works.”

Once again Hugo was set upon by the youths that went everywhere with Theo. No matter how hard he fought, he wasn’t able to stop them wrestling the dirty jacket from him. He shivered as they pushed him back down on to the cold tile of the platform.

Anger filled every fibre of Hugo’s being but there was nothing he could do. He was helpless. This time he was unable to quell the tears that streaked silently down his face.

Hugo struggled to his feet, and the circle tightened around him, Theo wasn’t done with him yet.

“Hungry? Yeah, I bet you are. Well, here you go.” Theo took one of the packets of dried ramen noodles he had stollen from Hugo and crushed it between his palms, then opened it and springled the contents onto the filthy platform floor. “Eat it.”

“No.”

Theo grabbed Hugo by the hair when?—

“What are you kids doing? Leave him alone.”

A tall White man in his late thirties, though he could have been any age to Hugo, with dark hair had stepped down onto the deserted platform. Theo kept a tight grip on Hugo as he turned to face the man. His friends circled the newcomer like a pack of hyenas, unafraid even though he was an adult.

“Keep moving, buddy, this doesn’t concern you.”

The man smiled knowingly. “Oh, I see. You’re that kid.”

“You don’t know me,” Theo snarled somewhat lamely.

“Sure, I do. You’re clean, so you’re not actually a street kid, like your friends, but your parents don’t give enough of a shit about you to notice what you get up to. So—you take it out on other kids.”

“Fuck you!”

Theo rushed for the man who caught him by the neck and held him fast.

“I think you’re a little shit with issues, but that doesn’t give you the right to be a bully. Because one day, like today, you’re gonna bite off more than you can chew. You don’t wanna fuck with me kid.”

Without even realising he was moving, Hugo lunged for the older boy, taking him down to the ground and began to punch every inch of him. He was yelling and latterly begging as his friends scattered but Hugo didn’t stop.

For the second time that night, a hand found his shoulder. The man pulled him off Theo and held him in place as he tried to lunge at him again.

“Are you alright, tough guy?” the man asked Theo with supreme indifference.

Theo nodded, trying to stem the tears streaking his face as he wiped his bloody nose.

“Then get out of here.”

Only when Theo had run after his friends was Hugo unhanded. The man watched Theo disappear from view before turning to face Hugo.

“I’m Samuel. What’s your name, kid?”

Hugo didn’t say anything.

“That’s okay, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” He looked Hugo up and down. “You look hungry and cold. Maybe you’d like to have something to eat with me? Anywhere you like.”

Hugo had been warned about strangers seemingly offering kindness, but he was starved and sore and cold and more than anything he was tired. Eventually, against the nagging doubt in his mind, he nodded.

“Great. Let’s go. Lead on, kid. Those punks were a lot bigger than you, but they’ll think twice before messing with you now. I’m impressed.”

Hugo shrugged and kept walking. It was several minutes before Samuel spoke again.

“Listen, I gotta call you something if we’re gonna be friends.”

Again, Hugo said nothing.

“Still don’t wanna tell me your name? No? Okay. Let me think. You’re a real fighter…fierce and scrappy. How about I call you…Little Wolf?”

Little wolf. Hugo kind of liked that.

The night he met Samuel Conti was the last night he went hungry and the last night he would spend on the cold and unforgiving streets of Tenebrium City.