Chapter Nineteen

For the first time in a while, Stu was in a normal place: a diner. He wasn't hungry but he just felt a little more safe in such a place. Nothing could go wrong could it? He hoped for the best.
He looked around: everyone seemed pretty normal. He looked around ever more until his eyes landed on a Chinese boy sitting across from him. He wore ancient Chinese clothes: Stu had seen them before on the History Channel. 
“Where did you come from?” He asked the boy. The boy cocked his head sideways as if he did not understand. “Do you talk?” The boy shook his head. “So you are mute?” The boy shook his head again. “Okay----------------so have you taken a vow of silence?” The smiled and nodded happily. “Well mind if I ask why?”
The boy was motionless for while until he turned, pointing to someone in the corner. It was a man: a very old man. He had ragged, dirty clothes and had a hacking cough. A dog lay by his side as well as a cane: the man was homeless and blind. The boy then pointed to someone else. It was a girl who was standing outside, her face against the window: she was poor and starving. Again he pointed to more people. A teenaged boy who was using crutches and a girl who was using a wheelchair.
Stu was lost: all he noticed was that these people we disabled. The boy tugged Stu's sleeve and then pointed to the other people around them. Something was strange about these people but he couldn't put his finger on it.
“Do you have a name kid?” The boy nodded. He grabbed a few straws and spelled his name out: Hero. “Okay, Hero. Is there any reason I'm here?”
Hero just stared back at him. How eerie, Stu thought to himself. Hero's hard, long stare reminded him of someone: another one of his students.

Stacey Sue: yes, that was her real name and she was proud of it. She was the tallest in his homeroom so that's how he remembered her. Not only by that attribute but also by her heart of pure gold. She was always making daily trips to children hospitals and feeding the homeless when she got a chance. She was extremely accepting of everyone: a trait that Stu somewhat lacked.
Stacey Sue was passing out flyers for something. She came over to Stu and handed him one. It read:

Come Feed the Homeless!
Saturday at 9 am to 3 pm
Hope to see you there,
SS
:)


“Do your parents know you're degrading yourself and making yourself an open targeted for whacked out weirdos?”
“Yes,” she answered. “They're not stopping me.”
“What kind of parents do you have?” Stu asked in fear. What parent would let their kid but herself in danger?
“I do it because I want too,” She continued. “I have such nice food Mr. Stu but they don't! We have so much nice things that we take for granted.”
“They dropped out! Its there fault!”
“There are sorry for it now. How they wish they could change their life!” She sighed sadly. A silver tear dribbled down her face, splashing onto one of the flyers.
Stu still thought it was dangerous: risking your life for bums. She didn't heed her warning and she hadn't been raped, jumped or anything. He was still convinced he knew what was best for her and if he was her father, she wouldn't be going anywhere near those hobos. 
Well he wasn't her father and she wasn't her child. He looked at Hero then his eyes darted to the outside of the diner. He squinted as a figure came by. Was that who he thought it was? The door burst opened: his biggest fear had just entered. The man who had made his life a living hell: Glenn Saldivar.

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