Category: The Street Rat

Maria sat on the edge of the bathtub, silent as Eddie detailed what was in the pictures that he had left behind. His hands shook as he remembered how bruised the girl in the photos had been. The boys were asleep in the bedroom when Eddie returned to the room and motioned her to set… Continue reading The Street Rat 112

“Keep an open mind?” Maria seethed. Eddie was sitting on a crate under the fire escape while she paced in front of him. They had moved away from the blankets so the boys wouldn’t overhear their conversation. “Eddie, this man is killing people, and there are people who think it’s you behind it. What about… Continue reading The Street Rat 111

“Eddie, sit down,” Maria pleaded. He had been pacing for two hours since returning with the blood-spattered scrap of paper, mumbling to himself the whole time. “You’re not going to get any further by yourself right now. Let’s talk through it.” “I don’t even know what to talk through. I don’t have any new information.… Continue reading The Street Rat 110

“I’m doing it,” Eddie declared the next morning while Tomas and Alex were still sleeping. Arms crossed, he stood in front of the graffitied brownstone wall of their alley. “I know.” Maria was sitting on a blanket, reading a book, with her back against the wall. “There’s nothing you can say to change my mind.”… Continue reading The Street Rat 109

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” Eddie whispered to Maria, kicking the alleyway wall while the boys slept. He had woken her up as soon as he got back. Usually, he stayed out until sunrise, but thought it would be better to call it a night early after the conversation he had with… Continue reading The Street Rat 108

“Unghhh.” Eddie groaned, rubbing his back as he sat up. Their shelter had been torn apart by the sweeps. The cardboard on wooden pallets felt like sleeping on a cloud compared to sleeping on the tarp laid over the unevenly filled potholes covering the asphalt. The sun set as he pulled the blanket off his… Continue reading The Street Rat 107

“Eddie!” Eddie blinked open his eyes as Maria shook him. “Eddie, wake up!” “It’s too early for this,” Eddie groaned, rubbing his eyes as sirens blared in the distance, welcoming him back to consciousness. “What’s this all about?” “They’re doing a sweep.” Eddie’s heart dropped as he bolted up. “But that’s the third one this… Continue reading The Street Rat 106

“Ba-dada-da,” Eddie hummed to himself, over the sound of sirens in the distance and the hum of A/C units in the windows of the alley. It was the only part of his theme song he’d figured out yet. He was sitting on the cold fire escape in the alley he called home across the street… Continue reading The Street Rat 105

Crack. The gunshot echoed nearby, and screams rang out. Stray animals ran past them farther into the alley, fleeing from the sound. Eddie and Maria leaped to their feet as Tomas and Alex instinctively raced for their makeshift shelter. “You two lay low,” Maria told them in a hushed tone. “We’re going to go check… Continue reading The Street Rat 104

“Dinnertime!” Eddie called, returning to the alley they were living in with a plastic bag. “Tomas, Alex, come eat.” He laid down a rotisserie chicken on top of their crate, as far away from the graffitied dumpster, its smell, and the flies circling it as he could get. “Where did the food come from, Eddie?”… Continue reading The Street Rat 103