Outskirts of Moldova

Tyrone felt water dripping on his face a drip at a time and then he felt the itchy but soft sensation of grass under his body.

“Ugh!” Tyrone groaned, stirring awake “Where the hell am I?”

All around him, Tyrone could see trees without end and he could hear little critters running around in the bushes, out of sight but not out of earshot.

Occasionally, Tyrone could even hear the howling of wolves and the roaring of mountain lions. Still, the gloominess surrounding him did not lessen one bit.

It was as if his existence itself drowned out all emotions from his surroundings… all emotions except for FEAR.

Tyrone rubbed his head “The last thing I remember was… huh? I guess Tandy’s father made good on his promise huh? Only he dumped me in a forest where I’ll probably die anyway!”

Tyrone stumbled to his feet dizzily and glanced around a bit until he knew that he was absolutely and irrevocably lost.

‘Wish I had paid more attention in geography class.’ Tyrone thought.

“They say the people who are already lost in life can only be found when they go somewhere new!” Tyrone whispered, facing east towards the sun and spinning in place until he got dizzy.

Tyrone stopped spinning in the North-West direction and after recovering his bearings, that’s the direction he decided would begin his new journey in life.

He didn’t know where he was going… and he didn’t know if he would even make it out of the forest but he still ventured forward one step at a time…

Each step was a symbolic gesture to severing the life he had left behind in Boston.

Tyrone walked and walked until the memories of Boston… his brother, Billy… his mother, Adina… his father, Otis… and everything else just faded to the back of his mind.

∞∞∞

One Year Later

News Front

“This is your favorite reporter… a year after the hanging of Tyrone Johnson, the mutant and black community are still reeling with indignation at the unjust murder of a black, mutant child (Billy) and then the unlawful execution of his brother (Tyrone Johnson).

Not long after Tyrone was hanged for his supposed ‘crimes’… a video surfaced online of what truly happened that faithful day Billy Johnson was killed… the video that started as a practical joke by jealous neighborhood rivals, quickly spiraled into something terrifying…

Tyrone was accidentally assaulted by the store owner’s wife but Billy saved his brother in an act of straining his mutant ability… it was this act of saving his brother that would ultimately lead to Billy’s demise as he was shot by both cops on duty at the time – James Connors and his now-dead partner, Bradford…

Later in the video, we see the two corrupted cops attempting to cover up their involvement by attempting to murder Tyrone Johnson but the kid reacted in time to dodge, leading to a ricocheting bullet that killed Bradford… we see that, in the subsequent struggle, Tyrone Johnson’s life was only preserved due to a timely intervention by Tandy Bowen…

The notorious party girl who was dating the innocent church boy at the time… then came a series of propaganda based on loose facts that were fed to the media... leading to Tyrone Johnson’s being hanged just a month later…

I apologize for my own part in pushing false news and I, like many of you, are outraged by this mutant–black community murder endorsed by the government… as we speak, there is an outcry to hang those government officials responsible for this incident…

The secretary of Defence, himself, has also been found to take part in this madness by altering forensic reports alongside the D.E.A… nobody knows how far the corruption goes but one thing is clear… If answers aren’t uncovered soon, the black and mutant communities are ready to go to war for justice…

Your favorite reporter signing off… Christine Everhart…”

∞∞∞

Bacáu County

Essex Corporation Outreach Center

“Yo Ty! Wanna get in on the game?” A kid, no older than ten years, asked as he darted by Tyrone.

The kid was speaking Romanian, a language that Tyrone had only vaguely begun to learn after a year of hard-core practicing at the nearby college.

“No little man! You go ahead and show everyone how it’s done!” Tyrone cheered from the bleachers as he refilled the water inside the gallons.

Tyrone watched as many children ran around the football field… some playing tag… some playing catch… some playing soccer and some just relaxing.

A year ago, after walking himself nearly to death, Tyrone chanced upon Bacáu City, the 12thlargest City in Romania, and settled down for a while to figure out his next move.

The gloominess in Tyrone’s heart only increased as the days passed by… but one day, while passing by an Essex Outreach Center, Tyrone felt the first taste of hope he had experienced in a long time.

That taste of hope was all it took for Tyrone to approach the Essex Outreach Center as a volunteer, and after some hesitation, he was allowed to assist.

The gloomy aura around Tyrone was initially going to get him dismissed as a volunteer but soon, The Executives noticed that his gloominess was disappearing and he was being filled with more and more hope.

Tyrone likewise began to fill the kids with more hope and joy than ever before. They would play together, work together, and Tyrone would even help the kids with situations that required a more ‘violent’ touch.

Eventually, when the Executives learned that Tyrone was homeless and eating leftover fruits from the market, the volunteers all pitched in to make Tyrone’s volunteering into a permanent job.

“Hey, Ty!” A teenage girl, Jessica, said as she took up her usual seat next to Tyrone “Still playing waterboy for those brats?”

Tyrone laughed “I can’t resist it… they’re just so full of hope that it makes them impossible not to love!”

“You know Ty…” Jessica scooted closer to Tyrone’s side “There is this certain brightness about your soul that is just… so beautiful.”

Tyrone’s mood instantly gloomed “The last time I heard that… things didn’t end very well for me.”

Tyrone got off the bleacher and took the gallons as he started refilling the cups of the children who had grown tired of playing.

Jessica sighed in frustration; despite her best efforts over the past year, Tyrone kept his distance from her each and every time “What broke your heart so bad that you can’t ever open it again…?”

“Hey… youngblood… think fast!” Tyrone tossed a sealed cup of water to the nearby kid that quickly snatched the water from mid-air with lightning-fast reflexes.

“Damn! With reflexes like that… you gonna make it big in basketball someday!” Tyrone complimented.

“Hehe…” A young girl laughed “You say that compliment to everyone whenever we force you to distribute the water!”

“It’s either that or ‘you have that arc to hit that swish kid!’…” Another kid, this time a young boy, added mockingly.

Tyrone “Guess I gotta start learning more words, huh?”

“I can always teach you some more words.” Jessica volunteered, fully expecting Tyrone to reject but for some unknown reason, this time Tyrone felt more up to the task.

“That would be awesome… thank you!”

-------

Later in the day, everyone was gathered in the Essex Grand Hall where the banquets to welcome benefactors were usually held.

The Head Executive explained “Okay guys! We have gathered you here today because we have very special guests visiting us tomorrow… they are amongst our most generous benefactors that keep Essex Outreach Centers, in isolated areas like this, opened and funded for all our communities to benefit.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the people coming tomorrow are the ones responsible for changing your lives… and also changing my life… and the lives of everyone in this community who is affected by violence, depression, and other ailments that governments pay no attention to!

Hence, for tomorrow only… I want everyone on their best behavior… we will be opening the Christmas presents early this year and everyone will have access to their Christmas attire an entire month early… We hope that you wear the clothing to show the best of us here at The Outreach Center…”

“That means I’ll have to stay locked up in my room like usual!” Tyrone grumbled, ignoring the rest of the Head Executive’s speech and heading back to his room upstairs.

Jessica ran after Tyrone “You don’t have to hide from everyone… The Executives would love if you give a speech and explain what it was like growing up in a rough neighborhood.”

Tyrone waved his hands dismissively “No thanks! I have spent enough time with rich-white people to know how such parties will go!”

“Tyrone…” Jessica urged “If you do this… we can probably get more funding for the children…”

“So what?” Tyrone yelled back, tired of hearing that explanation from all the Executives “So you wanna put me on stage and party me around as the black boy who knows about gangs and a rough life just to impress these ‘investors’ who haven’t had to struggle for anything in their entire lives? You wanna see struggle… just look around the neighborhood here… the kids that don’t end up here are usually used as drug mules for whatever the fuck everyone is smoking these days…”

Bang

Jessica directed a right hook to Tyrone’s jaw, sending him flat onto the ground. Though she may not look it, Jessica only acted like a docile person in front of Tyrone.

“That’s why we want you to do it! Those same kids that are used as drug mules can be saved if you just bent your back a little to those rich folks who pay for places like this!... You think we don’t want to live with our backs straight?...

Sometimes bending your back is not for a show of submission Ty… it’s a show of maturity to know when fighting will destroy more than it emancipates!”

When Jessica left, Tyrone hopped back onto his feet, rubbed his jaw, and climbed the stairs to his room.

“Such violent girls though!” Tyrone complained.

---------

Later in the night, Jessica thought about her actions earlier in the day and decided that she had overreacted about the matter so she went across the hall and into Tyrone’s room to apologize.

However, when she got there, all Jessica saw was an open window and no Tyrone at all. Jessica looked around for a while and went to check the window, where she finally saw Tyrone outside on the roof, staring at the stars listlessly.

Jessica crawled out of the window and onto the roof “I didn’t take you for the type of guy to watch the stars.”

Tyrone shrugged and scooted to the side to make some space for Jessica “I always watch the stars so I could remind myself that there is light in every dark place as long as we look for it hard enough!”

“That is so profoundly deep that I don’t even know what to say!” Jessica joked but became serious the next moment “Listen, Ty! If you don’t wanna tell your story as yet… I – ”

Tyrone stopped Jessica’s words “It’s not that I don’t want to tell my story… it’s that I can never tell my story… and that hurts me… If wagging my tail in front of the ‘investors’ could get us more funding, then I would do that for all the kids out here that we can’t get to… but…

My face is not a well-liked face in a lot of places… and I am afraid that everyone will get a backlash for me being here… I am also afraid that I am not a good person because I am not doing whatever it takes to help these kids… I am afraid of a lot of things…”

Jessica shrugged “I can tell that you are… but hey, no pressure. You just sit this one out and next year you can figure things out… there is no rush to tell your story after all!”

Tyrone sighed in self-blame and Jessica, in an effort to cheer him up, started pointing out the names of certain constellations.

“That one is called Aquila which is the Latin for ‘Eagle’ and it represents the bird that carried Zeus’s…”

“The next one is called Gynus which is the Latin for ‘Swan’ and it represents….” Jessica spent almost the entire night teaching Tyrone about the stars and he made sure to commit each star to memory.

It was a beautiful moment that Tyrone would not forget any time soon.

When Jessica had fallen asleep, Tyrone was still energized… for some reason he found the nighttime more to his liking and preferred to sleep during the day instead.

Tyrone picked up Jessica and escorted her down the hall and into her room.

After completing the task, Tyrone went to his own room and stared at the ceiling until daybreak, when he finally fell asleep.

“Here is to a better day tomorrow!” Tyrone prayed just before drifting into a deep sleep.

-------

“What’s happening?” Tyrone groaned “Where am I?”

All around him, Tyrone could see nothing but misty darkness that whispered sweet words that terrified you as much as it seduced you.

“Who the fuck is that!” Tyrone shouted into the vast expanse of darkness.

Slowly, the darkness started to get closer and closer to him but Tyrone didn’t feel threatened, just a little sacred to accept something he didn’t fully understand.

Although the darkness seemed docile right now, Tyrone had been seeing the darkness in his dreams long enough to know that it was nothing near as docile as it pretended to be.

However, as fake as the darkness was… it also brought with it power that Tyrone knew he couldn’t resist even if he tried… so he just didn’t try at all, avoiding the darkness at every opportunity he got.

“Today is weird!” Tyrone whispered as he focused on the voices inside the darkness “The kids?”

Tyrone darted into the darkness without thinking and that’s when it started… he started to see everything all at once… the kids were inside the darkness… his mother was inside the darkness… his brother was inside the darkness… his dad… friends… classmates… and even …

“Tandy!”

Just as Tyrone was about to get lost in the darkness, a bright white light flashed inside his dream. The flash was quick, like the blink of an eye, but Tyrone saw it as clear as day, and the darkness was illuminated for a moment.

At the corner of Tyrone’s eyes, he noticed something hidden deep in the darkness staring at him intently… pulling him to gravitate closer and closer to it, like a lover’s call when they’re in trouble.

You can’t help but run towards it but Tyrone knew better… within that instant when the light flashed… Tyrone saw the true face of the darkness in his heart… it was –

“Me?”

--------

Tyron jumped out of his bed, sweating like he had been running for his life and frightened as if he had looked into the abyss and seen the face of the Devil, himself.

“Ugh! Fuck… hah… hah… hah… hah!” Tyrone’s rough breathing echoed throughout his room, blocking out the noise that came from downstairs.

Tyrone blinked a couple of times, adjusting his eyes to the sunlight outside his window.

He stared at the sunlight, trying to remember something important but he couldn’t… at least until the noise from downstairs drowned out his heavy breathing.

“Shit!” Tyrone cursed, quickly darting to the closet and taking the first thing he touched “I am supposed to be distributing food at the banquet!... I hope Jessica doesn’t notice!”

The next instant, Tyrone was out his room door wearing sky-blue pants and a SpongeBob shirt.

Tyrone knew he was about to be the most colorful person at the banquet but being late would already have everyone’s eyes on him anyway.

“Jessica notices!” Jessica revealed herself, standing outside the door the moment Tyrone ran out. Truly, Jessica knew that Tyrone would be late since he was a day-sleeper at heart.

Tyrone shrugged “Better late than never right?”

“You’re not late… The Executives are still talking about the impact of blah… blah… blah.” Jessica waved her hands around to show that she didn’t really care what the Executives were saying.

Jessica eyed Tyrone suspiciously and reminded “Best behavior today okay Ty?... when someone says jump… you say?”

“Go fuck yourself?” Tyrone answered unsurely, earning him two quick jabs from Jessica’s fists “I’m just kidding… I will answer ‘how high?’…then ‘go fuck yourself!’ after…”

Jessica nodded and shrugged “Good enough effort for me.”

With the rules established, the duo walked down the stairs and disappeared amongst the crowd of investors, children, and volunteers that had attended the banquet.

-------

Tyrone shook the hand of the amiable rich couple after offering them a meal “Thank you! And please enjoy your meal!”

“Thank you! And please enjoy your meal!”

“Thank you! And please enjoy your meal!”

“Thank you! And please enjoy your meal!”

Every time someone picked up their plate of food from the counter, they would shake Tyrone’s hand with great respect.

“I didn’t expect rich people to act so you know....”

“Human?” Jessica asked, jotting an elbow at Tyrone who was distributing the food next to her.

“Yeah.” Tyrone shrugged, admitting openly he had a major bias against rich people… who ironically, was usually white as well.

“That’s because you didn’t hear The Executives preaching about their most valued helper ‘Ty’ on the stage earlier…” Jessica rolled her eyes exaggeratingly.

“They must have meant someone different!” Tyrone replied humbly as he watched the people around with utter disdain.

Jessica looked at Tyrone questioningly “Someday I am gonna figure out where that major bias about rich people comes from.”

Tyrone was about to answer but found the perfect example instead. He just pointed in a direction that was growing increasingly loud “That’s because seven out of every ten rich people feel like they’re a different species than the rest of us…”

Jessica twisted her head to see where Tyrone was pointing and quickly realized the problem. By the time she swung her head back around to stop Tyrone, he was already gone.

Tyrone slouched his shoulders a bit and craned his neck down to reduce his height as he made his way through the crowd that was watching the spectacle.

∞∞∞

Timmy Lucas (Random Bully)

Timmy was pissed at his aunt for dragging him to this poor banquet, where the food tasted like dirt, just to teach him some humility.

Wanting to embarrass his aunt, Timmy tried to make a scene of everything but nobody paid him any mind since everyone in high society was aware of his incorrigible behavior.

At least, nobody paid attention to him until a small girl brought him a plate of snacks and he took a liking to her.

The girl was probably around fifteen years old and that’s exactly how Timmy liked them – young, naïve, and still very tight so he could feel like a big man in the bedroom.

“You’ll keep me company tonight!” Timmy whispered into the young girl’s ears stealthily.

The young girl shook her head “Sorry Sir! I am only delivering snacks for Ty and Jes.”

Timmy smirked, determining that the girl was one of those ‘playing hard to get’ kinds “Don’t you want more funding for your Outreach center… I can make that happen.”

The young girl still didn’t budge… she pulled her arm away from Timmy garnering some attention from a couple of onlookers.

Timmy wanted the attention but he didn’t want the sort of disdainful attention that came with trying to force a girl into something so he fabricated a story on the spot.

“I won’t sleep with a loose girl like you… how dare you ask me to do such a thing, you Harlot.”

pa/ta

To make his story seem even more realistic, Timmy didn’t forget to slap the young girl across the face and stare at her with absolute disgust when she fell.

Timmy raised his voice a notch “I can’t believe we are funding this place and it's raising children to become wh-”

Timmy was about to hype his speech some more when he felt a strong grip around his neck and then someone asked “You like picking on kids bro?”

------

Tyrone Johnson (At Banquet)

Tyrone tightened his grip around Timmy’s neck and asked again “You like picking on kids bro?”

Just as Tyrone was about to raise his next hand to knock Timmy out, Jessica dashed through the crowd and grabbed Tyrone’s hand “Ty… don’t do this here!”

Tyrone was reluctant to release Timmy until a mature woman departed the crowd and placed a hand on his shoulder “I am sorry for my nephew’s less than stellar attitude… I apologize in his place and hope that you will forgive him…”

Noticing that the woman in question was amongst the most fervent supporters of the Outreach Center, Tyrone released Timmy.

Jessica escorted Tyrone upstairs for the rest of the party but people who were truly paying attention just sighed… they knew the matter wasn’t as simple as it seemed on the surface.