Book 1 – Locked up at Central Campus
Scat had been confined to the room for two days; hunger gnawed at his insides. The scraps of food tossed into the room by one of the goons was barely enough to feed a toddler. It did little to dull the ache in his stomach.
He wasn’t alone. Other boys shared the space, each of them quiet and trying to avoid attention. The only times the door creaked open were for three grim purposes: to march them to the bathroom, to force them into chores, or worst of all to drag one of them to the gym.
The Central gym had become a place of dread. No one wanted to be chosen. The Goons never explained, never asked. They simply pointed, and the unlucky boy was taken.
Those who returned, if they returned, came back limping, bleeding, broken in body and spirit. Eyes dull, ribs bruised, sometimes unable to stand on their own. The silence afterward was always the loudest part, boys staring at the floor, pretending not to see, knowing it could be their turn next.
Scat didn’t cry. Not yet. But fear was settling deep in his bones, and hunger was only one of the many things eating away at him.
