Thread: Young, Wild, and Free (Crusade and Mim)

RE Young, Wild, and Free Brathwaite's General Store had been a place of refuge for young Willie. Since he was a boy, he found himself frequenting the place, running up and down the old set of wooden stairs that led from the store up to the lodging that held the owner, Lloyd and his wife, Ethel. The two always took a liking to the rambunctious youth, sneaking him candies and other goods since his parents were essentially absent throughout his life. Willie was born to a drunk who left his mother when he was only three. He never saw the bastard again. His mama did the best she could, but with Willie being the youngest of four, being dirt poor was just a way of life. His mama would often just sit in her rocker on the front porch of their ramshackle old hut and stare off into space for hours while her babies let off menacing cries just feet from her inside. They had no heat, so in the colder months, Willie and his brothers and sisters would all huddle together on the floor to keep warm. It was a meager existence, one that left the boy born with a chip on his shoulder instead of a silver spoon in his hand. The Brathwaite's were the only means for Willie to have any normal sort of childhood. He only attended school through the fourth grade. He figured it was easier to try getting work at the general store sweeping up or something than it would be to have to endure school and his mama's blank expression when he got home. They would give him a penny here, a nickel there. It was enough for a boy his age. When he became a teenager, Lloyd got Willie a bike and hired him to deliver food to some of the people around town. It was a good time and Willie was really good at navigating. The only problem was, some of the food he was delivering he just couldn't pass up. He stole what he figured had to have been at least 10-15 of the things he was supposed to hand out. Soon, oblivious to his sticky fingers, the old couple invited Willie to stay in their spare room above the store. He jumped at the idea and thanked them for a good two weeks. It was bittersweet leaving mama. Unfortunately, she died just a month after he left. He hated to reason it was from a broken heart, but he couldn't formulate any better reason for it. The Brathwaite's helped with funeral expenses and then Willie got back to work. They had upgraded him from delivery boy to an actual clerk in the store. Willie was a little quirky, but he seemed personable enough to run the register. Everyone around town knew him and liked him, even if he had kicked their dogs and beat in their mailboxes and tore their shutters from their hinges. They didn't know any of that stuff. They also didn't know that he'd been in almost all of their houses, stealing little trinkets and petty cash that he used to keep himself afloat. Nor did the old couple who boarded him know of his propensity for taking money from the till. He hated to think it, but he got off on stealing. Since his youth of debauchery, Willie aged a few years. He was just a few days shy of his twenty-first birthday. He still lived above the general store and still worked as a clerk, but old Ethel had died a couple of years back. Lloyd tried going on without her, but he ended up retiring and handing the business not off to Willie, but instead to their oldest son, Roy. Roy was a prick. He detested Willie and Willie felt the same disdain for the sleazy fellow. He had threatened to fire him on more than one occasion and told him he'd be out on his ass if he didn't start wising up. Willie took idle threats like that to heart, so instead, he put on a nice guy persona and proceeded to rob the bastard blind. So much so that the old general store was caving in on itself. Thankfully, Willie had pocketed enough cash to move into his own apartment, which was just a room in a home owned by one of the wealthier family's in town. A room with a small bathroom and no kitchen. Not exactly high living, but these were tough times. With no means of income aside from stealing, Willie stepped it up. His small time burglaries weren't getting it done. He was going to have to kick it into another gear. Luckily, despite all of the hardships, he had one silver lining in a girl he'd met nearly a year ago. Her name was Celia and she was married. Not exactly the type of girls he usually went for, but Celia was gorgeous and her husband beat her. No matter how violent he liked to get, Willie had never and would never hurt a woman the way Henry hurt Celia. He didn't have it in him. The two started having late night rendezvous while Henry got drunk or midday escapades while he worked. The two were smitten, but Willie felt the need to wipe out Henry so the two could be together properly. He swiped a Colt pistol from Eli down the road. Had bullets and everything. He planned on showing Celia and hinting at giving old Henry a taste of his own medicine. With no other way of contacting her since the store went out of business, Willie had to either walk by Celia's house and knock when Henry's truck wasn't outside or he had to wait for her to see him. He was itching to see her as he lay in his bed, spinning the chambers of the gun in his hand. How's that, ya bastard? Pop. Right in that stupid fuckin' face of yours, Willie muttered, pretending to aim the gun at a bare space of wall he imagined to be Henry's face. He hoped to see Celia soon. He couldn't wait to see her face when she saw the gun!