2- The streets of Norway
Part 1: And the Devil will set you free
Teenage Toki, on his own and trying to get by. They’re still not speaking English, of course.
Warnings: OC’s, a bit more warped religious stuff
Disclaimer: I do not own them, and all that stuff.
Toki’s walk back to town exhausted him, he hadn’t slept in two days and was physically and emotionally worn out. All he wanted to do now was sleep.
It was too cold though, he knew if he didn’t find some sort of shelter he might die.
He couldn’t even think clearly anymore, couldn’t think of his options. But he had to find something soon, he wouldn’t last much longer.
He paused, leaning against a parked car, resting. A car...
He tried the door, expecting it to be locked but it wasn’t. Could he sleep in the car? What would happen if he was caught?
There was no time left for options, he would have to risk it.
Toki crawled into the car and shut the door, curling up on the back seat. It was still cold, but he would be okay.
The sun woke him up the next morning, fortunately the owner of the car hadn’t found him yet.
After a quick look to make sure nobody was watching, he got out and started walking.
Although he had never been there alone, he decided to head for the library. It was warm and quiet there, and there were bathrooms where he could wash.
He was hungry, but he could ignore that for now. It wasn’t like he’d never been hungry before.
Toki actually liked the library. He wasn’t a big reader, but just knowing that he could read stuff if he wanted to was enough.
That’s why he hadn’t been allowed here alone, his parents worried that he might read something that they disapproved of. So of course, he was tempted to do just that.
It wasn’t much of a plan though, because there was way too much they disapproved of and he had no idea where to even start.
After flipping idly through an assortment of things, he ended up falling asleep in one of the chairs.
Later, a lady shook him gently awake. “Sweetie, we’re closing. Is somebody coming to pick you up?”
Panic made him think fast. “Oh no, I’m late!” He grabbed his bag and headed out the door.
Falling asleep had been stupid, what if somebody had seen him there? If people saw him, alone, they would know. Know that he was so bad that his parents had given up on him, know his shame.
For this same reason, he was hesitant to even walk the street, he just wanted to hide where no one could see him.
Something caught his attention, money. A bill had escaped from whoever owned it, and blown his way. Toki grabbed it, it was real.
He should try to find who it belonged to and give it back. He shouldn’t stuff it in his pocket before anyone could see it.
But he was too hungry.
Feeling like a thief, Toki headed for a place he knew sold cheap food. Water wasn’t a problem, he could drink out of bathroom faucets, but food wasn’t free.
Choosing wisely, he calculated how to get the most food for his money, and have some left over for the next day or two.
Then he headed back to the alley where his father had caught him just the other night, it was time to face the Devil.
There was no reason to keep putting it off, the Devil wouldn’t forget about him.
He sat in the shadows, eating his food and watching the bar across the street.
People came and went, but there was no sign of the Devil. Music came out occasionally, but he was pretty sure this wasn’t Devil music, he’d heard similar stuff before and his parents hadn’t overly reacted to it.
The night dragged on, and eventually the bar closed. The Devil had never come for him.
Why?
Giving up, Toki dragged himself up and went in search of an unlocked car to sleep in. It didn’t take long, thanks to the low crime rates most people didn’t bother locking up.
This time he chose to sleep on the floorboard behind the seats, lower and a lot less likely to be seen if someone passed by.
His old bear, shameful as it might now be, made an excellent pillow.
Luck was with him again, and he woke and left the car without anyone noticing him.
After buying more food (and using most of the money he had left), Toki wandered around trying to stay out of the public eye.
It felt like everyone was watching him, judging him.
How many of them recognized him? They didn’t come to town often, but his parents did stand out. People always stared. It felt like they were all staring at him now.
He made it through another day, and again spent half the night watching that bar. Again, no Devil.
Did this mean that he was somehow redeemed? Had the Devil decided to pass on him, or was he merely waiting for Toki to damn himself beyond all hope?
The suspense and shame were hard to live with. Maybe this was what his father intended, when he cast him out? To walk in shame forever?
Finally giving up, he went and found a car.
When he woke up it was still dark, and the car was moving.
Oh shit, he was in trouble now. Lying with his head behind the driver’s seat, he couldn’t see anything of the driver. Apparently they hadn’t seen him either.
He had no idea how long they’d been moving, but it was daylight before the car stopped.
Toki pressed against the seats, trying to be invisible, wondering where the hell he even was now.
Still oblivious to the stowaway, the driver got out and went... where ever he or she was going.
Toki cautiously raised up and peeked out the window. He was in some neighborhood, and there were people outside.
He was caught, his only chance was to move fast.
Staying low, he stuffed his things back into his bag and took a deep breath. Then he quickly opened the door and bolted.
People yelled after him, several voices, but no one gave chase as he ran as fast as he could away from there.
Just by luck, he’d headed toward a more commercial section of where ever he was, and found a dark alley to duck into.
Sitting in the shadows, he was breathing hard and shaking with fear. That had been too close.
Slowly, Toki pulled himself together. Those people probably hadn’t gotten a good look at him, and they hadn’t tried to follow. Maybe he was still okay?
He dared leave his hiding place.
Where was he? A different town, that was for certain.
A place where nobody knew of him, where nobody would judge him? Was that even possible?
Toki set out to explore, noting that the people in the streets paid no attention to him. That was reassuring.
Finding some place cheap enough, he used the last of his money to buy some food. He had no idea what he’d do now, but he could make it a couple days if he had to.
Maybe he could get a job somewhere? But who would ever hire him?
There had been a sign a few streets back... a hand written ‘help wanted’ sign. Maybe the kind of person who wrote their own signs wouldn’t care that he’d never had a job before? It was probably worth a try.
It took a while to find the place again, he was unfamiliar with the city and had been taking random turns, but he eventually found it.
On closer inspection, it seemed to be a bar, a Place of Evil.
Maybe that was only fitting? Toki pushed open the door and went in.
A lady came over to him, she was wearing a tag on her shirt that said ‘Ingrid’. “Can I help you?”
It was hard to force the words out, he was unused to talking to strangers, but he managed. “The sign... the job?”
She nodded, and called over her shoulder. “Rune! We’ve got a kid here about the job!”
Toki watched a big man come out from the back. He looked friendly though, that was encouraging. He motioned to an empty table near the window. “So you need a job? Let’s have a seat and talk.”
They sat, Toki quite nervously. He waited for the man to speak.
Rune was sizing him up. “How old are you, son?”
What a simple question, even a small child could answer that without thinking. But Toki didn’t know. Birthdays weren’t allowed, he didn’t even know when his was. He had a rough idea of his age, of course, but no way to be sure. When he’d asked, the only answer was always, 'Not old enough.'
The man was waiting for an answer.
“Old enough?” He couldn’t even say it with conviction.
“I kind of doubt that. Do you have any identification? This is a bar, I can’t hire you if you don’t have any.”
Toki shook his head sadly.
“Nothing? Not even some papers?” He felt sorry for this kid.
Papers? He had some papers, he’d never even looked at them. Digging around in his bag, he found the envelope and handed it over.
Rune opened it and quickly read through the contents. “Hmm. Well Toki, you’re not legal to work out here, but I need a dishwasher. My night shift guy quit on me, and we get pretty busy. You interested?”
“Yes.” Washing dishes, he could do that. And he’d get money for it?
“You still need some ID. Hey Ingrid?” She came over to the table. “Ingrid here is normally out night shift waitress, but she traded for today. Ingrid, can you take this kid down so he can get an ID made? You can leave a little early if you want. Oh and grab the cost from the register, I doubt he has it.”
She nodded. “New dishwasher, huh? Alright kid, stick around and we’ll go in about and hour.”
Toki nodded, still amazed at his luck.
Rune motioned to him to follow. “Come in the back, you’re too young to be out here. I’ll show you around.”
There wasn’t much to see, but Toki looked at it all anyway. “How old do you have to be to be out there?”
“Eighteen, you’re shy a little over a year.”
Oh, so he was sixteen then? Good to finally know.
He waited, and soon Ingrid came and took him to... the place he was supposed to get this ID thing. She had a nice car.
Toki showed his envelope to the lady behind the counter. She gave him some forms to fill out, but he had no idea what to put on them. Address? He didn’t have one. Birthday? He still didn’t know.
Fortunately, Ingrid took over and filled the stuff out for him, copying things from the papers. He didn’t know what she put, but it would have to do.
The lady took his picture, then gave him a piece of paper to use “until it came in the mail.”
Ingrid dropped him back off at the bar, and went on her way.
It was fairly simple: The waitress (Toki didn’t catch her name, but he wouldn’t normally be working with her anyway) would bring glasses back, and he would wash them, dry them, and put them on a tray to be used again.
And as promised, it did get pretty busy at points, but he worked as fast as he could and managed to keep up.
Some people didn’t even finish their drinks, he had to pour them down the drain.
When his shift was done and they were closing, Rune handed him some money. “You picked a good day to start, it’s payday. Do you have anywhere to stay?”
Toki shook his head. He didn’t dare risk cars again, especially not now that he had a job.
“There’s a motel a few blocks over, it’s pretty seedy but safe enough. They do a lot of ‘by the hour’ rentals, if you know what I mean.” Toki didn’t, but nodded anyway. “It’s cheap. Tell the guy at the desk that you work for me and he’ll give you a good room.”
The motel wasn’t hard to find, and some of the people he was entering or leaving rooms made him realize what kind of place this was. Another Place of Sinners... those seemed to be his fate. But he didn’t know of any other options, so he went into the office and said what he’d been told to say.
The guy gave him a key in exchange for a surprisingly small amount of his money, and Toki went to check out his room.
He didn’t know it, but the ‘good rooms’ meant the ones saved for the rare actual guest who wasn’t just there for quick sex, the rooms with televisions and complementary toiletries.
Toki took a long shower, he’d never had a shower before. His parent had only a bathtub, and had proclaimed showers to be wasteful and evil. But if everything he was doing was evil anyway, what could it hurt? It was pretty wonderful.
Very clean now, he crawled into bed and watched some TV. This wasn’t so bad. Actually, it was pretty damn good.
He slept extremely well, despite the odd noises coming from some of the other rooms.
The next day, Toki was careful to be out by the checkout time (which wasn’t very early), taking his bag with him. He bought something to eat, and wandered the streets. If this is where he lived now, he wasn’t to get the layout down.
Eventually, it was time for work.
After his shift he received a small amount of money, it seemed that the dishwashers got a cut of the tips.
It quickly became a pattern: Work, get a room, watch TV, sleep. Get up, wander the streets, go to work again.
Everything that he’d been told all his life were evil, these things seemed less and less so as time went on. He was starting to question everything his parents had ever told him, although he didn’t dare examine those thought too closely.
The guilt was still there, slowly lifting but not yet gone.
How many more sins?
Teenage Toki, on his own and trying to get by. They’re still not speaking English, of course.
Warnings: OC’s, a bit more warped religious stuff
Disclaimer: I do not own them, and all that stuff.
Toki’s walk back to town exhausted him, he hadn’t slept in two days and was physically and emotionally worn out. All he wanted to do now was sleep.
It was too cold though, he knew if he didn’t find some sort of shelter he might die.
He couldn’t even think clearly anymore, couldn’t think of his options. But he had to find something soon, he wouldn’t last much longer.
He paused, leaning against a parked car, resting. A car...
He tried the door, expecting it to be locked but it wasn’t. Could he sleep in the car? What would happen if he was caught?
There was no time left for options, he would have to risk it.
Toki crawled into the car and shut the door, curling up on the back seat. It was still cold, but he would be okay.
The sun woke him up the next morning, fortunately the owner of the car hadn’t found him yet.
After a quick look to make sure nobody was watching, he got out and started walking.
Although he had never been there alone, he decided to head for the library. It was warm and quiet there, and there were bathrooms where he could wash.
He was hungry, but he could ignore that for now. It wasn’t like he’d never been hungry before.
Toki actually liked the library. He wasn’t a big reader, but just knowing that he could read stuff if he wanted to was enough.
That’s why he hadn’t been allowed here alone, his parents worried that he might read something that they disapproved of. So of course, he was tempted to do just that.
It wasn’t much of a plan though, because there was way too much they disapproved of and he had no idea where to even start.
After flipping idly through an assortment of things, he ended up falling asleep in one of the chairs.
Later, a lady shook him gently awake. “Sweetie, we’re closing. Is somebody coming to pick you up?”
Panic made him think fast. “Oh no, I’m late!” He grabbed his bag and headed out the door.
Falling asleep had been stupid, what if somebody had seen him there? If people saw him, alone, they would know. Know that he was so bad that his parents had given up on him, know his shame.
For this same reason, he was hesitant to even walk the street, he just wanted to hide where no one could see him.
Something caught his attention, money. A bill had escaped from whoever owned it, and blown his way. Toki grabbed it, it was real.
He should try to find who it belonged to and give it back. He shouldn’t stuff it in his pocket before anyone could see it.
But he was too hungry.
Feeling like a thief, Toki headed for a place he knew sold cheap food. Water wasn’t a problem, he could drink out of bathroom faucets, but food wasn’t free.
Choosing wisely, he calculated how to get the most food for his money, and have some left over for the next day or two.
Then he headed back to the alley where his father had caught him just the other night, it was time to face the Devil.
There was no reason to keep putting it off, the Devil wouldn’t forget about him.
He sat in the shadows, eating his food and watching the bar across the street.
People came and went, but there was no sign of the Devil. Music came out occasionally, but he was pretty sure this wasn’t Devil music, he’d heard similar stuff before and his parents hadn’t overly reacted to it.
The night dragged on, and eventually the bar closed. The Devil had never come for him.
Why?
Giving up, Toki dragged himself up and went in search of an unlocked car to sleep in. It didn’t take long, thanks to the low crime rates most people didn’t bother locking up.
This time he chose to sleep on the floorboard behind the seats, lower and a lot less likely to be seen if someone passed by.
His old bear, shameful as it might now be, made an excellent pillow.
Luck was with him again, and he woke and left the car without anyone noticing him.
After buying more food (and using most of the money he had left), Toki wandered around trying to stay out of the public eye.
It felt like everyone was watching him, judging him.
How many of them recognized him? They didn’t come to town often, but his parents did stand out. People always stared. It felt like they were all staring at him now.
He made it through another day, and again spent half the night watching that bar. Again, no Devil.
Did this mean that he was somehow redeemed? Had the Devil decided to pass on him, or was he merely waiting for Toki to damn himself beyond all hope?
The suspense and shame were hard to live with. Maybe this was what his father intended, when he cast him out? To walk in shame forever?
Finally giving up, he went and found a car.
When he woke up it was still dark, and the car was moving.
Oh shit, he was in trouble now. Lying with his head behind the driver’s seat, he couldn’t see anything of the driver. Apparently they hadn’t seen him either.
He had no idea how long they’d been moving, but it was daylight before the car stopped.
Toki pressed against the seats, trying to be invisible, wondering where the hell he even was now.
Still oblivious to the stowaway, the driver got out and went... where ever he or she was going.
Toki cautiously raised up and peeked out the window. He was in some neighborhood, and there were people outside.
He was caught, his only chance was to move fast.
Staying low, he stuffed his things back into his bag and took a deep breath. Then he quickly opened the door and bolted.
People yelled after him, several voices, but no one gave chase as he ran as fast as he could away from there.
Just by luck, he’d headed toward a more commercial section of where ever he was, and found a dark alley to duck into.
Sitting in the shadows, he was breathing hard and shaking with fear. That had been too close.
Slowly, Toki pulled himself together. Those people probably hadn’t gotten a good look at him, and they hadn’t tried to follow. Maybe he was still okay?
He dared leave his hiding place.
Where was he? A different town, that was for certain.
A place where nobody knew of him, where nobody would judge him? Was that even possible?
Toki set out to explore, noting that the people in the streets paid no attention to him. That was reassuring.
Finding some place cheap enough, he used the last of his money to buy some food. He had no idea what he’d do now, but he could make it a couple days if he had to.
Maybe he could get a job somewhere? But who would ever hire him?
There had been a sign a few streets back... a hand written ‘help wanted’ sign. Maybe the kind of person who wrote their own signs wouldn’t care that he’d never had a job before? It was probably worth a try.
It took a while to find the place again, he was unfamiliar with the city and had been taking random turns, but he eventually found it.
On closer inspection, it seemed to be a bar, a Place of Evil.
Maybe that was only fitting? Toki pushed open the door and went in.
A lady came over to him, she was wearing a tag on her shirt that said ‘Ingrid’. “Can I help you?”
It was hard to force the words out, he was unused to talking to strangers, but he managed. “The sign... the job?”
She nodded, and called over her shoulder. “Rune! We’ve got a kid here about the job!”
Toki watched a big man come out from the back. He looked friendly though, that was encouraging. He motioned to an empty table near the window. “So you need a job? Let’s have a seat and talk.”
They sat, Toki quite nervously. He waited for the man to speak.
Rune was sizing him up. “How old are you, son?”
What a simple question, even a small child could answer that without thinking. But Toki didn’t know. Birthdays weren’t allowed, he didn’t even know when his was. He had a rough idea of his age, of course, but no way to be sure. When he’d asked, the only answer was always, 'Not old enough.'
The man was waiting for an answer.
“Old enough?” He couldn’t even say it with conviction.
“I kind of doubt that. Do you have any identification? This is a bar, I can’t hire you if you don’t have any.”
Toki shook his head sadly.
“Nothing? Not even some papers?” He felt sorry for this kid.
Papers? He had some papers, he’d never even looked at them. Digging around in his bag, he found the envelope and handed it over.
Rune opened it and quickly read through the contents. “Hmm. Well Toki, you’re not legal to work out here, but I need a dishwasher. My night shift guy quit on me, and we get pretty busy. You interested?”
“Yes.” Washing dishes, he could do that. And he’d get money for it?
“You still need some ID. Hey Ingrid?” She came over to the table. “Ingrid here is normally out night shift waitress, but she traded for today. Ingrid, can you take this kid down so he can get an ID made? You can leave a little early if you want. Oh and grab the cost from the register, I doubt he has it.”
She nodded. “New dishwasher, huh? Alright kid, stick around and we’ll go in about and hour.”
Toki nodded, still amazed at his luck.
Rune motioned to him to follow. “Come in the back, you’re too young to be out here. I’ll show you around.”
There wasn’t much to see, but Toki looked at it all anyway. “How old do you have to be to be out there?”
“Eighteen, you’re shy a little over a year.”
Oh, so he was sixteen then? Good to finally know.
He waited, and soon Ingrid came and took him to... the place he was supposed to get this ID thing. She had a nice car.
Toki showed his envelope to the lady behind the counter. She gave him some forms to fill out, but he had no idea what to put on them. Address? He didn’t have one. Birthday? He still didn’t know.
Fortunately, Ingrid took over and filled the stuff out for him, copying things from the papers. He didn’t know what she put, but it would have to do.
The lady took his picture, then gave him a piece of paper to use “until it came in the mail.”
Ingrid dropped him back off at the bar, and went on her way.
It was fairly simple: The waitress (Toki didn’t catch her name, but he wouldn’t normally be working with her anyway) would bring glasses back, and he would wash them, dry them, and put them on a tray to be used again.
And as promised, it did get pretty busy at points, but he worked as fast as he could and managed to keep up.
Some people didn’t even finish their drinks, he had to pour them down the drain.
When his shift was done and they were closing, Rune handed him some money. “You picked a good day to start, it’s payday. Do you have anywhere to stay?”
Toki shook his head. He didn’t dare risk cars again, especially not now that he had a job.
“There’s a motel a few blocks over, it’s pretty seedy but safe enough. They do a lot of ‘by the hour’ rentals, if you know what I mean.” Toki didn’t, but nodded anyway. “It’s cheap. Tell the guy at the desk that you work for me and he’ll give you a good room.”
The motel wasn’t hard to find, and some of the people he was entering or leaving rooms made him realize what kind of place this was. Another Place of Sinners... those seemed to be his fate. But he didn’t know of any other options, so he went into the office and said what he’d been told to say.
The guy gave him a key in exchange for a surprisingly small amount of his money, and Toki went to check out his room.
He didn’t know it, but the ‘good rooms’ meant the ones saved for the rare actual guest who wasn’t just there for quick sex, the rooms with televisions and complementary toiletries.
Toki took a long shower, he’d never had a shower before. His parent had only a bathtub, and had proclaimed showers to be wasteful and evil. But if everything he was doing was evil anyway, what could it hurt? It was pretty wonderful.
Very clean now, he crawled into bed and watched some TV. This wasn’t so bad. Actually, it was pretty damn good.
He slept extremely well, despite the odd noises coming from some of the other rooms.
The next day, Toki was careful to be out by the checkout time (which wasn’t very early), taking his bag with him. He bought something to eat, and wandered the streets. If this is where he lived now, he wasn’t to get the layout down.
Eventually, it was time for work.
After his shift he received a small amount of money, it seemed that the dishwashers got a cut of the tips.
It quickly became a pattern: Work, get a room, watch TV, sleep. Get up, wander the streets, go to work again.
Everything that he’d been told all his life were evil, these things seemed less and less so as time went on. He was starting to question everything his parents had ever told him, although he didn’t dare examine those thought too closely.
The guilt was still there, slowly lifting but not yet gone.
How many more sins?