Summertown

By Tracy Amos

This is Kyler: a rough, gruff, homeless girl who never needed anyone. This is Josh, the boy she met on the street, the one who put a skateboard in her hand and offered her more freedom than shed ever knew existed. And this is Ryan: the small-time drug dealer/surfer kid who builds his life around these other two.

Together, the three of them learn to trust and hold each other in a strong family bond that acts as a barrier against the harsh realities of homelessness, drug addiction, and the knife-edged cruelties they face on a daily basis.

They endure love and loss and crushing, depthless heartache over a span of eight years, but they each learn to find inner strength they never knew they had that carries them through.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781479769162

Tracy Amos

Empty places hold an essence that reflects the people who once resided in them...from a different time, maybe a different era. These places have untold stories that may never be known. However, rather than just have them fall into desolation and forgetfulness, I opt to capture these unique structures in pictures and let what's left of them tell their own stories and depict their own pieces of history. I absolutely love abandoned places and try to explore them when I can. Anywhere from small two-room dwellings to huge, vacant factories or decrepit hotels...I love finding these places, noting the unique facades and imagery of certain eras that have long-since passed, and I often speculate on who lived there, who visited, who worked in these structures. It's always a mystery.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Twelve years old . . .

Kyler stood at the corner of the building watching the heated exchange between the group of boys across the street. The smallest of the three was backed against a rusted chain-link fence, and even from this distance she could see he already sported a split lip.

She gritted her teeth as indecision gripped her.

Barely twelve but already too old in the ways of the street, she hated the way compassion made her unable to walk away. She’d been orphaned since infancy and that had allowed her an independence unlike most children her age. But she also harbored an indistinct need to reach out to others; possibly instilled from her own isolated lifestyle.

Kyler hated this—absolutely hated this—but she knew she couldn’t walk away, leaving that kid to face the two bigger boys by himself, even if it meant her getting hurt. Which was a good possibility.

Jesus, she growled. Pitching her cigarette into the gutter, she pushed herself away from the building and walked across the street.

As she got closer, one of the bigger ones kicked the smaller one in the groin and he collapsed on the ground, his fingers gripping the concrete. She winced but didn’t stop or even slow down.

Hey, Kyler snapped. You guys afraid to fight fair?

Back off, one of them whipped his head around and glared at her. Unless you want some of this yourself.

The kid on the ground rolled his eyes towards her—eyes as blue as the ocean, as piercing as anything she’d ever seen—and somehow found his hands and knees, and then his feet as he gripped the chain-link fence for stability.

Ignoring the two boys behind her, she put a gentle hand on his chest, staring into those eyes and feeling her stomach shift in a sweetly sick way. You’re gonna have to help me, she muttered softly, and then without waiting for an answer swung her elbow back in a vicious, sudden move, catching the bigger boy across the jaw. He staggered and she used his disorientation to bring his face down into her kneecap. The crunch of his nose made her wince but Kyler didn’t hesitate as she slammed an elbow down into the back of his neck.

Behind her the smaller kid was holding his own against the other boy, but even with the advantage of surprise and her instinctual survival skills, she knew they needed to get away as soon as possible.

Suddenly she heard a yelp and it sent her heart racing up her throat. It came from the smaller boy and for some unknown reason it scared her… a fear beyond comprehension and going against everything life on the streets had ever taught her. Kyler swung around and saw the boy on the ground, blood running from a deep cut on his arm; the other boy was on top of him with a glint of metal in his hand, slashing through the air for another strike.

Her distraction was enough for the bigger boy to grab her and throw her to the ground; his fists slamming mercilessly into her face, back, and sides. Then from off to the side she saw him snatch something from the street and in a flash there was glass shattering against her rib cage, cutting deep into her skin. Blood flowed and they were both splattered with it; his fists covered with it as he continued to beat her into the concrete.

A blessing in disguise, the normally hated sound of police sirens filled the air and she was given a half-second of relief as the kid on top of her hesitated. Then he gave her one last punch before he was off and gone, snagging the other kid by the collar as he ran by him.

Kyler lay on the ground, breathing raggedly, feeling the blood flowing from a hundred different cuts. Then hands under her arms pulled her up and she staggered against the smaller kid; his weight barely matching hers but yet he somehow held her up.

We gotta get outta here, he mumbled. Quick.

Without waiting for her to answer, he half-dragged her towards the nearest building and around to the side. It was a vacant, decrepit hole; long-since abandoned by its last business occupants. The kid found a partially-opened window and forced it open even more, then helped her inside and down on the wet concrete floor of the basement.

Kyler leaned a hand against the wall and hung her head, feeling half-sick. The kid stood next to her and slipped an arm around her waist, leading her farther into the deep recesses of the vacant building.

Here, he whispered. We might be ok here.

She raised her head and stared blearily back the way they’d just come; the weak sun coming in through the dirty, broken windows seeming to lend more shadow than light. Outside the sirens were louder and then voices cut sharply through the air.

The crack of old wood splintered across the long-forgotten dust of the basement and the light became brighter. The boy crouched close beside her; his arm still around her waist. Despite the fact that the police were apparently getting closer, he was painfully aware of her weight against his, the wetness on his arm that could only be her blood… his palm against the flatness of her stomach and feeling her heart beat against his own skin.

She shifted and he felt the tightness in her muscles as the voices drew nearer. For a few seconds it seemed completely plausible to him to stand up and move forward, letting the police take him and allowing her to get away. He shook his head and clenched his jaw, wondering what the fuck was wrong with him and why he’d even think that. There were only two people he’d sacrifice his freedom, his life, or his sanity for and she wasn’t one of them.

Still though, he felt something start to move in him, twist like a snake in his gut, and her skin against his was like touching a live wire standing in a puddle.

Jerry! The voice seemed right beside them and he felt her jump. Coupla kids seen runnin’ down Eleventh past the Krystal. Description’s the same.

On all of them? Another voice, this one even closer, answered.

Just two. Nothin’ on the other two.

Caller said one was a girl.

This one’s just two boys. The other two’re probably long gone by now.

With all this blood? One of ’em’s hurt pretty bad.

We gonna roll, or what? Now the first voice sounded angry and impatient. Two’s better’n none.

There was silence for a few seconds and then when the second voice answered it was farther away. All right, let’s go.

They waited for a few long minutes in the dark quiet of the basement, and then waited a few long more. Finally Kyler let out a breath and pulled away.

Jesus Christ, she said in a shaky voice.

You ok?

Yeah.

He couldn’t see her in the dim light but he still felt her blood fresh on his arm. He didn’t think she was as ok as she claimed to be.

C’mon, let’s go, her hand lightly gripped his and he felt that snake in his gut again. Kyler led the way back into the brighter light shining through the smashed door and then up the steps and outside. As the sun hit her she heard the sharp intake of breath and looked at the boy. He was staring at the side of her shirt and with without asking he gently lifted it up, revealing a protruding rib cage that had a deep cut along the width of it.

We gotta get you to a hospital.

No, she stepped back, pulling her shirt from his hands, her eyes dark on his. He saw borderline anger in them and held up his hands.

Please, he said softly. That’s pretty deep.

I’ll live, she turned away and started down the street, her eyes everywhere at once. He jogged up next to her and put a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to stop and look at him.

I can’t just let you go, he said. I mean, uh… you jumped in when you didn’t have to and—

I’ll be fine, she said shortly. Just go, ok?

Go? He stared at her.

Yeah, go, Kyler flapped a hand. Away. She started down the street again, hurt but trying not to limp.

The kid hung back, uncertain. The feeling of his palm against her stomach flashed across his mind again… her weight against his…

Wait, he ran up to her again, suddenly not wanting this girl to disappear out of his life. What can I do?

Kyler sighed and ran her hands through her hair. Nothing, ok? Just forget it.

I can’t, his sea-blue eyes stared hard into hers and for a minute she was acutely aware of the beating of her own heart as it pounded like the ocean against her sternum.

You have to, now her voice was gentle. I’ll be fine.

He gazed at her for a long moment, childhood wants conflicting with older, unfamiliar needs. Finally he gave a short nod and took a step back; as if putting distance between them would make things start to make sense.

Take this, though. She watched as he pulled his shirt over his head and folded it into a rough square. Just use it to stop the bleeding or something.

I can’t take your shirt.

Yeah, you can. It’s… ok, just… just take it.

Kyler took the shirt from him and slipped it under her own, against her side. Thanks.

Sure, he muttered quietly. Um… can I at least know your name?

Kyler. She swallowed. Kyler Maddox.

Kyler, he repeated. In a gentle, hesitant manner he took her right hand as if to shake it, but instead merely held it between his own. My name’s Josh Tomlin. I’m usually somewhere around Venice Beach… if you ever need anything…

She stared at him for a moment and then gently took her hand back. Thanks, she looked at him, unconsciously drilling those blue eyes into her brain. Then she slid by him and made her way down the street. Josh watched her until she disappeared around a corner, still battling those conflicting emotions inside his head.

Chapter 2

Kyler staggered down the street and away from those prying blue eyes. When she had put a building between them, she felt his penetrating stare lift from the spot between her shoulder blades, and she didn’t stop until there wasn’t just the one building but blocks of them.

Slipping along the side of a rundown gas station, she was relieved to find the bathroom door unlocked. She stepped inside and used to her shoulder to jam the door shut in its uneven frame. Kyler then just stood with her palms flat against the graffiti-covered metal and hung her head, trying to think.

The pain along her rib cage had escalated on the way to the gas station and she’d felt the blood running down her side. Now that blood had dried to a tacky coating that glued her shirt to the deep cut. Grimacing, she faced the fly-specked mirror and slowly pulled her t-shirt over her head, surveying the damage.

It was hard to tell, given the amount of blood that had smeared and then dried and now the fresh stuff seeping from the wound, but it was probably even worse than how it looked. For a moment she almost wished she’d let that kid help her, but then he couldn’t have done anything more than she could. Any hospital would only hold her until the police got there to ask questions and possibly book her, and being underage her next stop would be juvenile detention.

Not doin’ that again, Kyler muttered and reached for the few paper towels still left in the holder.

The water came out surprisingly hot and she gingerly began to wash around the gash, hoping the blood only made it seem more gruesome than it actually was. The water burned but felt good as it washed away the dirt and grit and finally she was able to get a better look.

And it was worse than she’d hoped. It was a raw, deep cut along her side that would definitely require stitches if she went to a hospital.

Fuck, she whispered, and again those deep blue eyes found their way unbidden into her brain, and she felt his arm around her waist. She grabbed her shirt and threw it back on.

I don’t need this, her voice was hoarse and forceful and, shaking her head, she yanked the door open and stepped back outside. In a limping jog she started north along the side of the street, using the pain in her side to keep that kid out of her mind.

Don’t need this shit, don’t need it, her brain repeated in time with the sound of her steps on the concrete. What I need is some bandages, and then maybe something to eat if I can find it, and then a place to crash for the night. All this’ll look better in the morning.

Kyler slowed to a shuffling walk as she came up the backside of a corner pharmacy she knew. The manager was usually good about letting her clean the store up for a few bucks here and there… maybe a bag of chips off the rack and a Coke from the cooler.

What she was after tonight though was something to clean the gash out with, and some bandages to cover it. But her heart sank when she walked in the front door and found not the manager but the owner.

He was a big, burly man with a gruff attitude and stank of sweat and unwashed skin. Favoring her with a glower, he sneered and said,

Gave Bradley the night off. You can start in the bathroom.

She stayed where she was, back against the front wall. I cleaned it yesterday.

Yeah, well… he smirked. Ain’t too clean now. Musta been somethin’ I ate.

Kyler hesitated and then slipped around the corner of the counter where he could see her better. I need something for this, she gestured to her side. Bandages or something. Then I’ll get the bathroom.

He pursed his lips, surveying the blood on her shirt. Aisle four. Take the cheap shit. And that’s all you’re gettin’ tonight.

She nodded and started towards the aisle but his gruff voice stopped her. And don’t get that fuckin’ blood on nothin’.

Kyler didn’t answer. She gritted her teeth and endured his contemptuous stare as she made her way down along the boxes of antiseptics and bandages. He’d told her to take the cheapest product so she picked out the biggest bottle of rubbing alcohol she could find and the most expensive box of butterfly bandages on the shelf.

Fucker, she muttered softly and made her way back to the bathroom. Along the way she snagged a bag of beef jerky off an end cap and shoved it down the waistband at the back of her jeans. Glancing up in the round overhead mirror, she saw a line of customers waiting at the counter and hoped they’d keep him busy enough for her to clean and bandage her side and then get the hell out.

Again she took off her shirt and cleaned the wound, but quicker this time, aware of him out there. The bathroom door had a lock but she had no doubt he had the key. Rushing, hurting herself enough to bring tears to her eyes in her haste, Kyler was fumbling open the first over-sized band-aid when the doorknob twisted and then stopped against the lock.

Hey! What the hell’re you doin’?

You wanted me to clean the bathroom, right? She shot back.

There was no answer and then she cringed as the door burst open, the frame blocked by his body as he stood with key in hand.

Jesus, what happened to you? His voice was suddenly soft, almost gentle, and that scared her more than anything.

Nothing, Kyler muttered and struggled to pull her shirt over her head, suddenly aware for the first time in her life the effect her budding breasts had on the opposite sex. Fleetingly she thought of that kid again and wondered if he’d caught a glimpse as he’d lifted up her shirt to look at the cut.

Here, lemme help you, he started forward and took the bandage from her hand.

No, it… it’s ok, I got it.

Shh, his eyes met hers and she did not like what she saw in them. It’d be easier if I do it.

His fingers on her skin were as gentle as his voice but she flinched away just the same. Hold still, that gruffness was back in his voice but it was different somehow, full of a need she wasn’t quite ready to understand at her young age. Her street-bred instincts, however, recognized danger and demanded that she get out now.

She felt the walls closing in on her; the small bathroom made even smaller by his bulk and the stink of him.

It’s fine. I need to get the cleaning supplies out of the closet, Kyler tried to slip by him and his palm grazed the nub of one small nipple. The feeling that ensued filled her with fear even as it put a semi-sweet twist in her stomach. That fear turned to sheer terror at the look of raw hunger on his face and incredibly, she again saw Josh’s calm, ocean-blue eyes in her mind.

No need, he said softly. We’ll get to that in a minute.

Terrified now, charged with a current in the room that she didn’t understand, Kyler’s mind raced. Her eyes fell on the opened bottle of alcohol on the edge of the sink and she reached for it.

Here, she turned towards him. Put some of this on, first.

He reached for it with a greedy smile on his face, thinking she was cooperating, going to let him do what he wanted. But then his smile turned to a grimace of horror as she threw the alcohol in his eyes. He gave a howl of pain, his voice raw and breaking, but she didn’t hesitate as she slammed him against the sink and bolted out the door.

Running down an aisle her hand snaked out and closed around a bottle of aspirin and another box of band aids and then she was out the door, not looking back.

Hours later Kyler was back in the abandoned building where Josh had taken her. She was in the basement, back in the corner where he’d crouched with his arm around her and why she was there she had no idea. She’d only felt ravaged after what had happened at the pharmacy, and somewhat exposed both inside and out.

In her mind she felt Josh’s skin against hers and remembered that she had felt a safety with him she’d never felt with anybody else in her short life. She was still seeking that safety, she knew, and real or not, she’d gone back to the last place she’d felt it.

Besides, it was blocks from the pharmacy and far from anybody looking to hurt her, find her, or… or…

The feeling of his hand grazing her nipple again made her cringe and she closed her eyes against the terror and shame she felt.

Kyler shifted and felt the bandages across her ribs pull on her skin, sending a streak of pain down her side. She gritted her teeth and curled up with her knees against her chest and her back against the wall. It was cold and damp in the basement and dimly she heard the shuffling sounds of rats in the farthest, darkest corners.

But it was better, she knew, than some places. Like back at the pharmacy, for instance.

She didn’t understand what had happened and that scared her. This was one aspect that she was completely unfamiliar with; it was unrecognizable and had happened so fast that it had caught her normally sharp instincts off guard.

Shutting her eyes, Kyler tucked her head into her chest, trying to hide from the whole world. She was scared, lonely, and cold, but there was something this time that made it different from all the other nights she felt this way: the terror and claustrophobia of the bathroom and the incomprehensible hunger in that man’s eyes, and… Josh, with the light weight of his body against hers, offering a security that counteracted that coarse fear of sexual energy and violence.

Shaking, exhausted, she finally managed to fall into a light doze that deepened into sleep just as dawn was approaching the horizon.

Chapter 3

Josh walked down the boulevard in Venice Beach absently looking for his best and only friend, Ryan. His eyes searched the ocean as well, as he was more than likely out surfing the gorgeous waves. Two days had passed since that girl

—Kyler—

walked into his life—probably saving him from getting killed—and he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind. He thought if he could find Ryan then maybe he’d be able to tell him to forget about her… just a kid who happened to come along at the right time.

He paused, spotting Ryan’s neon green board out among the waves, and plopped down in the sand to watch him. The cut on his arm was beginning to heal and his swollen balls had gone down some but somehow, thinking of Kyler alone on the streets of L.A. had been the one thing that had hurt the most.

How do I even know she’s alone? He thought. Hell, for all I know she’s got a family . . . mom, dad . . . people who take care of her. Maybe she was just walking along and figured she’d help but now she’s probably back in her stable life and doing ok.

Ryan caught a nice wave out on the water, riding the pipe to the end. Josh knew the freedom he felt when he was out there, and longed to be back on his own board.

I doubt she’s got a home.

The thought came unbidden but he knew it was true. Her clothing and thin body

(when I had my arm around her)

spoke of homelessness; living on the streets. Even her attitude and the way she refused his help seemed to add to it, and having refused his help with no one else to help her…

But he stopped himself right there, realizing he was speculating too much. Being homeless did not mean she didn’t have family. Again he looked out at Ryan, thinking of him as a brother, and then thought of Kyler with an adopted family and it was easy. Homeless kids formed gangs all the time and more out of protection than from any turf or property factor.

Josh stared out at the waves thinking about her, trying to know her through his own memory. At twelve he was still a child but his own life on the streets and circumstances before that had matured him to the point of adult thinking and planning.

While sexual attraction had not yet become an issue with him, he realized he had felt something with her… something that sent his stomach into lazy somersaults while bringing out a fiercely protective side he never even knew he had.

Where are you? He murmured softly.

Right here, bro, Ryan Kaelin plunked himself down in the sand beside him and shook his head, spraying Josh with water. Awesome waves today.

Josh jumped and glanced at him. Yeah, I saw you out there. You goin’ for the contest this year?

Ryan shrugged. Still thinkin’ about it. He smirked at his best friend. "Who’re you thinking about?