The walls of the alleyway loomed over Jase, and he couldn't help but stop and stare into them. It was as if he could still hear the echo of Dick threatening him; it left him sour as he stepped into the alleyway.
When he stepped back, he saw the dark stains of splattered blood where Dick had stood when he lost his ear. He had come a long way in only one short week.
It brought him to tears again—the image of Dick on the ground begging him for Jase to stop the beating.
Jase fell to his knees and took a seat on the damp alleyway floor. An orange tabby cat stepped out from behind the nearby dumpster and approached Jase while purring, as if to beg Jase for a bite to eat.
Jase had nothing; regardless, the cat still purred. He attempted to reach out to the cat and offer some comfort, if anything. The cat took him up on his offer and climbed onto Jase's lap before continuing to purr. The cat purred on and on. All Jase had to do was pet it, and the cat forgave him. Why couldn't he forgive himself?
He couldn't muster it within himself to do that, not yet; he had to earn it for himself.
He had to make it up to everyone affected; maybe he could take up the mantle of a hero. He could fight for what he thought was right as best he could.
As he pondered that, small footsteps crept down the back of the alleyway.
"Hey I was looking for my cat and was wondering if you'd seen i- OH! It's you!" exclaimed Lilly as she stepped out of the dark alley.
"Hey Ginger! Hey Jase right?" she said with a smile as she took a seat next to Jase.
"Hi" said Jase with a little more life in his tone than the first time the two had met that day.
"What're you doin' all alone in this alleyway?"
"Just uh… thinking."
"Whatcha thinking about?" she asked as she kicked her white-toed sneakers together happily.
"Nothing much, just needed a minute."
"Yeah I get that, y'know a lot is goin' on around here don't 'cha think? Yknow, with the kid in the accident and the guy swingin' from rooftops, this place is lookin' kinda eventful huh?"
"Oh yeah you wouldn't even know how crazy it is for some people right now," said Jase jokingly.
"Hehe yeah you're probably right about that," said Lilly as the conversation hit a standstill.
The two sat in content silence, and Lilly looked on at Jase with eyes full of empathy.
"Y'know you're pretty strange," said Lilly "and I don't mean no offense by that"
Jace was silent for a moment before responding.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well ya see, for someone so sad about that kid's death you didn't pay any respects at his locker like a lot of other kids did. I just thought it was kinda strange the way you were so worked up and then didn't stop and say hi to his parents or nuthin'"
"Well there's a lot more to it than that…"
"Ahh I see….. You killed him didn't ya?"
"Huh?" said Jase in utter disbelief, How did she know? He could've sworn no one was there on the highway that night; he was alone; he knew it, or at least he thought he did.
"I'm just clownin' ya!" said Lilly with a hearty laugh. "Had ya for a loop there didn't I?!?"
"Hehe yeah" said Jase. 'You've got no idea…' he wiped the sweat from his brow as he calmed down.
Lilly stood up. "Whelp! Gotta go! See ya!"
She scooped up the small cat and ran down the alleyway back to her home.
"We should hang out again some time!" She called again from the end of the alleyway as she left Jase's sight.
She and the cat left Jase utterly alone again; the walls were the only thing to give him company. Jase pondered the history of the graffiti that coated the walls, what travesties the dumpsters had seen, and what memories he could muster that were positive here.
Nothing came to mind; the stories remained a mystery, and all Jase could do was remember how he caused pain to others and how he was a nuisance to the way things had worked before. The reality continued to set in, and its crushing pressure began to consume him.
In each darkened corner of the alley, Jase could see Dick just standing there, enjoying life, whether he was talking to friends or spraying graffiti onto the walls of the alleyway. Dick wasn't necessarily a bad person, right? Just someone who put himself in a bad place.
He had simply fallen into the wrong crowd. While Dick was more privileged and had the comforts of happy living, his friends were not. They had to steal and hurt people to get by, or else they wouldn't have enough to feed the kids at home, who still had a chance to be on the right path and live a better life.
Dick was a good person, and he stole, which was a bad thing.
Jase could recognize this simple fact and again ponder what he could have done differently to prevent anything from ever happening in the first place.
He finally finished his thoughts before he stood up and left the alleyway.