Life on the Streets

Chapter 1: Early in the morning
17-year old Jiayi Chao was released from prison two days ago for assault after nearly been raped.

It was nearing 7am when Jiayi was awake, she got off lightly, with her getting no birthday, but Lei, her twin brother, denied food for 5 days aswell as no birthday.

She looked at the calender, November 25th 2001, Their 17th birthday.

” (Happy birthday to us.......)” She said before being interrupted by a loud rumble coming from the opposite side of the room.

She heard her twin brother hiss in pain aswell as grimace, He hadn’t eaten in two whole days, His hand moved towards his empty stomach as it groaned, He really wanted something to eat just to keep his mind off starvation.

She turned towards Lei, who was getting up, clutching his midsection.

”We’re getting out of here, You’ll die, I’ll die....” She said to him.

She got up, Penelope, Jennifer and Gareth weren’t awake yet, Jiayi got downstairs.

”I’m going to set Penelope’s coats on fire.” Lei said to her.

Jiayi smirked at her twin brother, he felt woozy from waking up and hunger, so she helped him up and downstairs.

”Okay, They’ll notice there’s food missing if I give you any, just hold on.” Jiayi said to her twin as he held a hand across his torso, he nodded.

“They have at least $2,500.” Lei replied back.

Jiayi picked up a handbag belonging to Jennifer that was in a closet.

”Hey, if we steal the money from her card aswell as physical, we can probably get a good meal out of it.” Jiayi said to Lei, who nodded,

Lei got up towards her.

“I think all of her coats are in the kitchen, I’ll sneak outside and set them alight with car gasoline, it’ll do the trick.” Lei said.

Lei walked a little slower due to hunger, but he got the faux furcoats out of the kitchen and brought them into the backyard, he sneaked to get the gasoline.

He heard footsteps, which caused him to pause, then he heard a door open and water dripping, then someone going back to bed.

“Hey, the PIN is 5349.” She whispered to Lei as he got the gasoline.

When carrying it, hunger made itself known by the loud rumble he came to know and hate, causing him to nearly drop it.

”Fuck..too damn hungry...” He whispered, It felt difficult to lift things because of his current situation.

Jiayi helped her twin as soon as she was finished with memorising the pin and taking anything where there was money, she got matches out of the closet.

”I also faked a note saying us are no longer in the family’s care.” She said.

”Hey, when we get out of this neighborhood, I’ll treat you to a Chinese buffet, buy some new clothes.” Jiayi said to him.

”A Chinese buffet sounds lovely.......” He said, his mouth watered thinking about it.

They stood outside, Jiayi got the money that was meant to be theirs for looking after them, they planned to leave through the backdoor and run to a bus station to a city, buy clothes, eat their fill and find a motel.

Jiayi lit the match and threw it on their hated foster sister’s clothes, the coats went up in flames.

”Let’s get out of here, I got the money!” Jiayi said.

The twins scurried out of the backgate and made their way to a street corner, Jiayi held onto Lei’s hand so he could catch up due to him being weak from starvation.

“We need to find a bus station and get out of here.” She said.

The twins walked for half-an-hour, but they soon found the bus station,

”Lei, sit here, I’ll talk to the receptionist.” Jiayi said,

Jiayi went to the receptionist, who was a female African-American woman.

”Hello, Can I book two tickets for the 8:00 bus?” She asked.

”You want to book two tickets, that will be $15 for both, who’s your passenger?” She asked Jiayi.

Jiayi pointed at Lei, who had a hand around his midsection.

”Okay then, That’ll be $15, give one of those tickets to your passenger.” She said.

Jiayi paid for the tickets, they also planned to empty the entire credit card and destroy the card to withdrawal evidence.

She nodded and helped Lei up, He kept his hands around his midsection the entire time.

”I need food......” He said to her.

”I know, Lei, We’ll get food shortly after we get into the city.” She said to Lei, who nodded.

The twins waited until the bus to central Miami City came, She helped her twin on the bus.

”He‘s having blood sugar problems.” She said to the bus driver, who nodded as he scanned their tickets.

”Well, I can’t stop until we get to Central Miami City, sorry there.” He said apologetically to Lei, who nodded.

”It’s fine.” He said,

Lei decided to himself he would wait until they got to the buffet Jiayi promised,

————————————

It was an hour until they reached the central point of Miami, they used to live an hour outside the city.

”We are here at Central Miami!” He called out

”Hey, Lei.” Jiayi said to Lei, who was dazed from hunger.

Lei awoke and looked at her.

”We’re in Miami, how about we get a shopping day to ourselves and some food?” She asked.

Lei nodded and Jiayi helped him up, He was starving and almost didn’t have the strength to run.

”Come on, let’s find some clothes.” She said,

The teens wore hand-me-downs from Gareth and Jennifer.

The twins got off the bus and walked around the city.

”We need to get out of these fucking rags, hell, at least they let us shower.” Lei said.

”Yeah, Got to hand it to them.“ She said before the familiar growling sound occurred.

Lei tightened his grip around his abdomen, he was starving and it was beginning to hurt, It felt like his intestines and stomach were contracting.

” (Okay, shopping then food, does that suit you?)” She asked in Cantonese, he nodded.

He nodded, the twins walked around the city until they found a shopping mall, hunger had made Lei already feeble and he spoke to his sister.

” (Just be quick when we’re shopping)” Lei told Jiayi.

Jiayi nodded, Lei wrapped a hand around his torso and held onto his sister’s hand.

The twins looked around the shops, Jiayi then looked at Lei as he painfully gripped his stomach in hunger as it growled.

”Must be really bad.” She said, Lei gasped as he tried to calm himself.

Chapter 2: Clothes shopping.
The twins entered a shopping mall, it had three floors, their plan was to buy new clothes, get food and find somewhere to sleep.

Jiayi saw a shop that sold dark clothing she saw on goth girls.

”This shop looks nice.” Jiayi said,

The twins entered a Gothic Lolita shop that sold occult things and clothing.

”I’m a guy.” Lei said to the saleswoman, who nodded.

”Okay, men’s clothes are over there.” She said

.Jiayi picked out a black dress with white accents.

”That’s $40, those clothes are very pricey.” The saleswoman said to Jiayi.

”We’ll take it, ma’am.” Jiayi said to her.

Lei went into a dressing room, he took off the disgusting clothes that consisted of a wife-beater and tattered trousers.

”Jiayi, ask the woman if they sell men’s underwear!” He asked her.

Jiayi went into her brother’s changing room, he covered his crotch when she realised, Lei wasn’t supplied with undergarments.

”No, we don’t, the only one’s we have are stockings and women’s underwear.” The saleswoman replied back.

“I’ll be back in a moment, do you know where I can find a shop that sells men’s underwear?” Jiayi asked her,

”There’s a male’s clothing store on the first floor.” She said.

Lei put the new clothes on, it was a perfect fit and it was just right, it felt a little odd because he wasn’t wearing underwear.

”They fit.” Lei said to the woman.

Lei walked out of the changing room, the saleswoman kept his sister’s new dress and he took the dress clothes and put them on the table.

”My foster father didn’t supply me with.........” He said before cutting out.

”It’s alright, your sister is away to buy you underwear.” She said

Lei stayed in the shop for an hour, he was even hungrier than ever, this didn’t go unnoticed by the cashier as she saw him putting a hand over his abdomen and shaking a bit.

“Are you okay?, Do you want me to get some food for you?” The saleswoman said to him.

Lei felt himself turn red and opened the curtain.

”No....I’ll be fine, me and my twin sister are going out to eat soon after this.” Lei said to her, ignoring starvation.

He saw his twin sister holding a pack of men’s boxer shorts as she walked in, she handed the pack to Lei.

”I didn’t know your underwear size, so this is a rough estimate.” She said to Lei.

Lei nodded and read the pack, it was almost the right size..

”We’ll try on our purchases.” Jiayi said.

Jiayi took the dress and everything else to put on and Lei went into another changing room with the pack.

Soon after the twin’s walked out, wearing their new clothes.

Jiayi looked at the fading blue dress, it was old and she wondered how it even fit her.

“We’ll put the two in a bag.” She said.

The saleswoman put the tattered clothes in a bag.

The twins left the shop and put the tattered clothes in a bin.

”Okay Lei, now we’re going to eat, the moment you’ve probably waiting for since I don’t know your damn underwear size.” She said.

”Yeah, If you took any longer, I would have fainted.” He said.

”Let’s go get some food.” Jiayi said as both walked out.

Lei agreed, he wanted so badly to have something to eat, The twins went onto the second floor.

Chapter 3: Chinese resturaunt.
The twins went into a Chinese buffet, most of the staff were immigrants from China and Hong Kong.

”Okay, the moment you’ve been waiting for since we woke up.” Jiayi said to Lei.

Lei felt his mouth water at the smell, he clutched his stomach, the smell was overehelming.

”Lei, you go sit down, I’ll get our plates.” Jiayi said.

Lei sat down near the exit and waited until his sister came back.

He saw people entering and leaving, Jiayi came back with a soup, dumplings, noodles and sauce.

As soon as Jiayi started eating hers, Lei ate very quickly, he shoved it into his mouth like a person who hadn’t eaten in years.

”Hungry, weren’t you?” She chuckled.

”Starving.....” He said, It was no doubt the best thing he had ever eaten.

When both were finished, they went to get another plate.

Jiayi ate hers slowly while Lei had the same result, when a staff member went to them.

”Is everything okay?” She asked.

”My twin brother hadn’t eaten in 2 days due to an operation and was unconscious, he’s okay now.” Jiayi lied.

When Lei was finished, he went up to get another meal.

”Lei, You’ll burst if you do that.” Jiayi said to him.

”Still hungry.” He defended himself.

After several plates, Lei was now completely full, He didn’t care, he had wanted food.

He covered his mouth as he burped loudly.

”That was nine plates in total.” The female staff member said, sounding impressed,

”Yeah.......Can we go now?” Lei asked to Jiayi, who nodded.

Jiayi went up to pay while Lei sat down.

”$200?“ She exclaimed.

”Yeah, your brother ate a ton, he might of taken more expensive foods.” The cashier said.

Jiayi used the credit card, typing in the pin correctly.

”Thanks.” She said.

Jiayi and Lei left the buffet, Jiayi looked at Lei, he looked better that he now had food, but he still clutched his aching stomach.

”Now, I don’t feel like I’m going to faint, but.....I feel like I’m going to burst....” Lei said.

“We are gonna take a break until you have settled, maybe see a film?” Jiayi asked.

”Sure, At least I’m stuffed.” Lei said to Jiayi.

Lei fell asleep in his sister’s arms due to his food coma, he undid the buttons to ease stress on his abdomen.

”Want to go to a bookstore as soon as you wake up?” Jiayi asked Lei.

Lei sleepily nodded, he liked reading, but never really had the chance to read due to the fact he was constantly fainting from hunger in school.

——————————

As soon as Lei woke up from his food coma and the overfull sensation left him, he yawned.

“How long was I out for?” He asked Jiayi.

Lei was sprawled across his sister’s knees with his head on her lap, he got up and stretched a bit.

”3 hours, Come on, let’s go read.” Jiayi said to him.

”Yeah, I got it.” He said.

Chapter 4: More shopping.
Jiayi and Lei went to a film theatre two hours later, Lei felt almost better immediately.

”What film should we see?” Jiayi asked Lei.

”I don’t know, your pick.” Lei replied back.

They saw movie posters for the latest movies.

”Want to see the latest Harry Potter film?” Jiayi asked Lei.

Lei nodded.

Chapter 5: Motel
The twins arrived at a motel around at 8 pm, they were both very tired and wanted to sleep, Jiayi booked herself and her twin brother in and both arrived at their room, holding their birthday gifts.

The TV had very few channels and Jiayi put on one of the main channels, which focused on films and movies.

”That was fun, you know, running away from my bastard foster parents after starving for two days.” Lei said to Jiayi.

“Yeah, At least you’ll sleep with some food in you, huh?” She said, patting her twin brother’s abdomen playfully, causing him to contract and laugh a little.

” (Jiayi, You know I’m ticklish!)” Lei protested.

” (Oh right, If this was one of your bullies in high school, they would never let you hear the end of it, but since you’re pretty stuffed and I don’t want you vomiting on me, I’ll do it later on)” She said to him.

The twins spoke for several hours.

Jiayi went back to sleep on her bed.

Chapter 6: Day 2
Jiayi got out of bed, her twin was still asleep, she got changed from her pajamas, which consisted of panties and a loose top and into her dress, she nudged her brother’s shoulder.

”Hey, Lei, time to get up.” She said.

Lei slept topless wearing loose shorts, his long hair was sprawled over him.

”5 more minute--“ He said before Jiayi blew a raspberry on his midriff.

Lei almost squeaked, he ended up nearly falling off the bed.

”Okay, Let me get dressed!” He said between laughs, Jiayi stopped and she turned her head around as her brother took off his loose shorts and got dressed into his clothes.

”It’s okay, I’m not peeking.” She said to him.

Lei smiled, due to the fact there was only one bathroom and it was incredibly small, only having a bathtub was only small enough to hold one person, sink and a toilet, Both twins got changed in the bedroom.

Lei put his shorts and trousers on and buttoned the latter up.

”You can look now.” Lei said to Jiayi.

Jiayi turned around, only to see that her twin brother was shirtless and was in the middle of putting his buttoned shirt on.

”There’s nothing they said about me putting my shirt on in front of you.” He joked to her.

”Just, shut up and put your clothes on, we’re siblings.” Jiayi said.

”Alright, okay.” He said.

Lei was finished getting dressed and both packed their things and left.

”So, what you want to do?” Lei asked.

”Hmm, Want to have some breakfast and maybe find something to buy?” Jiayi replied.

”Yeah, let’s go.” He said.

The two went to the reception.

”We’ll be back here.” Lei said to the receptionist.

The woman nodded.