Marcus stands up in the alleyway and dusts himself off as he looks at the person who just helped him, Hunter Huntingson, the person he once considered his best friend. And the person who bullied him throughout most of middle school.

An awkward silence between the two former friends forms as they stare at each other. Eventually, Hunter breaks the silence by remarking, “You hungry?”

_______________________________

At a local soup kitchen, Marcus is sitting down at a table with Marcus eating the soup that’s just been served to them by volunteers. Marcus blows on his spoon a bit before eating yet it still burns his tongue a little. Hunter just eats it without a care.

“What type of soup is this?” Marcus questions.

“Uh, I don’t know. Tomato-something,” Hunter remarks.

“Well whatever it is, it’s good!” Marcus remarks.

“Yeah well you can thank the volunteer chefs,” Hunter says as he points towards the kitchen.

Marcus looks over and to his shock, Cedro Garcia & Mesto-Presto are both there preparing food for the homeless to enjoy.

“Woah, I didn’t think they would be here,” Marcus murmurs.

“Cedro’s been doing this for ages, and from what I heard Mesto stayed at this shelter for a while,” Hunter remarks, “So…why were you out on the streets?”

Marcus is silent for a bit before responding, “Parents kicked me out, had no place to go.”

Hunter doesn’t respond as he finishes his soup, slurps up anything left in the bowl, and stands up. Not wanting to be left behind, Marcus decides to follow him while finishing his soup. As the two walk towards one of the volunteers who’s sitting by a fold-up table. Hunter sets his empty bowl down and Marcus, after quickly shoveling the rest into his mouth, does the same. Marcus glances at the volunteer and recognizes him as the boxer Francisco Champion, who also trains Alex.

“We hope you enjoyed the meal!” Francisco remarks.

“It was delicious,” Marcus insists.

“You can tell that cook Mesto that he should focus more on his cooking than his skincare routine,” Hunter states matter-of-factly.

To that, Francisco chuckles, “I’ll let him know you think that. You planning on staying at the shelter for the night?”

“I heard you guys were all booked for the night, have any tents?” Hunter asks.

“Let me check,” Francisco says as he leaves.

While waiting, Hunter turns toward Marcus and explains, “Many people donate used tents to shelters so if they ever have to turn people down, they can at least give them that.”

Marcus nods as Francisco returns with a tent.

“You stay safe out there,” Francisco requests.

“You got it,” Hunter says as he and Marcus exit the soup kitchen and enter the streets.

As the two walk down the streets, Marcus looks at Hunter and wonders just what’s been going on with him. How does he know about all of this stuff? Is he in a similar situation? If so, for how long? Despite wanting to ask those questions, Marcus decides not to. He’s already been through enough trouble in one day, getting on Hunter’s bad side is more than what he’s bargaining for at the moment.

As they do so, Marcus notices that all around him are other homeless people too. They’re out on the street, begging for money, some have signs made from cardboard, and others are walking toward anyone they come across. Marcus feels his pockets.

He forgot to bring any money with him before he left.

“Don’t even think about it,” Hunter sighs.

“About what?” Marcus asks.

“Haggling. We don’t fit the part.”

“What?”

“You see that guy?” Hunter asks as he points towards a homeless man in a wheelchair, “I’ve heard him say how he can’t even move his legs, yet every night he always gets into his white Mercedes.”

“There’s several other people like him here,” Hunter adds, “Yet there’s also many other people who actually are suffering. But most people can’t tell the difference. They just give the money to the ones who look like they need it or not at all.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Hunter continues walking down the street as he finishes saying, “So why would anyone give out money to two kids that don’t even look the part? Miracles don’t happen here.”

As Marcus follows Hunter, he feels those last words sting him for some reason. A miracle. Ever since Ronnie saved him, he’s always believed in them. He even helped start a club all about creating miracles for others. Though if miracles were truly real, how come Ronnie is in the hospital? How come so many have to suffer out on the streets each day?

As Hunter and Marcus reach an alleyway and start to set up the tent, Marcus continues to question it. What was it that really helped him? Was it really a miracle? Or was it just some luck that’s all run out?

___________________________

A few days would pass after that moment. Ever since then, the two of them would stay in that tent. There were days when they couldn’t get into the shelter to eat and had to walk to churches to receive some food and money. There were rainy days when the two had to scramble to make sure they stopped the leaking from a hole in the tent’s rainfly. And there were days the two of them would just be silent, despite being the only two people there, they were further apart than ever.

Then one day, as the sun began to set, the two returned to where they kept their tent only to find it missing.

“God damn it, I knew we should’ve taken it with us,” Hunter groans.

“Hey it’s okay, we can just find a new-” Marcus begins to say but Hunter cuts him off.

“Fuck! Fuck!” Hunter yells as he kicks a trash can over.

Marcus goes to reach over to Hunter, to see if he needs to be comforted, but Hunter swats his hand away. Whether it was due to his home being taken away or if it was due to some old habits of his sticking around, Hunter once again decided to use Marcus the same way he did in the past.

As a punching bag.

“Why the hell are you even here?” Hunter asks, “You got all of your ‘amazing’ friends yet when you need them most, they’re nowhere to be seen! Guess Ronnie and the others decided to treat you like your parents did. A dog meant to be abandoned.”

Hearing those words, Marcus at first doesn’t know how to respond.

Back in middle school, he always just took Hunter’s insults and harassment. Because to him, that was better than having to ask for help. He didn’t want to be a burden to anyone.

And yet, now he’s on the streets for that same reason; not to be a burden.

But he’s changed since then. If he was just like how he was back then, he would have ignored his insult.

Whether it was out of anger for insulting his friends or just being exhausted from the past few days, Marcus finally had enough of Hunter’s antics.

“I didn’t want their help, I’m the one who decided to run away,” Marcus remarks before he glares at Hunter, “You sure you weren’t talking about yourself just now?”

Hearing those words, Hunter in a fit of rage slams his fist into Marcus’s face.

Marcus stumbles back as the two both come to terms with what just happened.

However, unlike before, the one thing Hunter didn’t expect to occur happened. Marcus rushed toward him and punched him in the face.

Hunter goes to swing at Marcus but Marcus moves back down the alley to avoid the attack.

As the two catch their breath, Hunter questions, “You sure you want this?”

“Bring it on you fucker.” Marcus utters.

“You asked for it!” Hunter states before rushing towards Marcus.

Hunter slams his fist into Marcus’ face again and again. Each one hurts more than the last.

However, as Hunter goes for one more punch, he feels Marcus kick him in the stomach.

Hunter looks shocked as Marcus follows it up with a calf kick.

“I’ve seen for myself that you can hit more places than just the face!” Marcus yells as he goes for another swing.

However, Hunter dodges it with ease and then kicks Marcus’ legs, sending him to the ground. For you see, due to his rage Marcus forgot about one thing. He doesn’t know how to fight.

He hasn’t trained his body, he’s just trying to do what his friends have done before except he doesn’t get it. He doesn’t know why he’s doing the attacks he just did, he doesn’t know what places to attack in order to really do damage, he’s just swinging with no real thought.

And yet, Marcus gets back up, he tries to get into a boxer’s stance just like Alex but it's entirely wrong. When he goes to throw a punch, he trips himself and allows Hunter to slam his knee into Marcus’ face.

As Marcus falls to the ground once more, Hunter, having come to his senses remarks, “Stay down if you know what’s good for you.”

But Marcus gets back up and tries to fight Hunter once more.

And Hunter quickly sends him to the ground once more.

But Marcus stands up once more.

As the two continue to fight, Hunter realizes just how much of a gap between the two there are. Hunter has fought several people before, and even without using his main weapon, he still is mopping the floor with Marcus. Marcus can’t fight, he isn’t good at it, he has no special talent when it comes to fighting, and yet each time he falls…

Each time he gets beaten up…

Marcus gets back up.

“What are you doing? Waiting for some sort of stupid miracle, those never happen!” Hunter yells.

As Marcus hears those words, he utters, “I know.”

Hunter looks there shocked as Marcus continues, “I know there won’t be a miracle or someone to help me win this fight.”

Blood drips from his nose as Marcus continues, “I know I’m all alone right now.”

Marcus slowly limps his bruised and bloodied body forward as he continues, “I know I cannot win against you. But I don’t care!”

“I’m not just going to sit aside and just let you walk all over me until someone gets in the way!” Marcus yells, “I’m not your punching bag! I’m me!”

With every ounce of strength he has left, with every feeling he’s ever felt towards Hunter, Marcus puts his all into one last attack at Hunter. An overhead punch that’s filled with the newfound resolve of Marcus Veridan. A resolve to never be the one to just wait for saving, to just wait for a miracle. Instead, if he wants things to be better, he’ll claw his way to making that a reality. This isn’t just a punch for Marcus, it’s a declaration.

And it misses.

Hunter dodges it with ease.

Marcus’ eyes widen as he sees Hunter kick Marcus in the chin.

Marcus falls to the ground unconscious.

_______________________________________

Marcus awakens to find himself in the same alleyway as before, it’s now night time and a small fire to keep the two warm has been made by Hunter.

To make sure it doesn’t spread Hunter has the flames surrounded by rocks, almost as if it is a city-made campfire.

Marcus sits up straight and looks towards Hunter.

“Hey, Hunter-” Marcus begins to say but he gets cut off by Hunter.

“Why? Why didn’t you just ask for help from them? You’ve got all of those friends who wouldn’t think twice about helping you,” Hunter questions.

Marcus sits there stunned as Hunter remarks, tears streaming down his face, “You at least have somebody who can help you. But me? I’ve got nobody!”

“I’ve got nobody,” Hunter croaks.

As he cries, Marcus thinks to himself what to do. For a second, he thinks of just letting Hunter wallow in his own misery, to just leave him be.

But he decides not to. He doesn’t want to do to Hunter what Hunter did to him in middle school. He doesn’t want to abandon him.

Marcus puts his hand on Hunter’s shoulder. Hunter looks shocked at Marcus as he asks through the tears, “What are you doing?”

“You aren’t alone. Even in this filthy alleyway, you aren’t alone. You have me, and I have you,” Marcus begins to say, “You are not alone.”

Hunter’s tears continue to pour out from his eyes as Marcus pulls Hunter into an embrace. As Hunter weeps, Marcus knows that he will never truly be able to forgive Hunter completely for all that he did. However, that doesn’t mean he can’t give Hunter a chance.

A chance to be better.

Just like how Ronnie gave Marcus a miracle back then, Marcus is willing to do the same for Hunter.

Because despite all that the two have been through, at the end of the day…

He still once was his best friend.

See You Next Chapter!~