Dylan Richardson

Luther poured the bag of bird seed into the bowl in Luther Jr's birdcage. Luther Jr. got a birdcage because Luther was tired of having to clean up bird poop from random places in his apartment and the birdcage only cost around 50 dollars so it wasn't that big of a deal.
"Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
YO HO HO and a bottle of Rum
Take a few sips and the devil does the rest
YO HO HO and bottle of Rum" Luther Jr. screamed while flapping his wings.
Luther Jr. was picking up and copying everything Luther said, that song being one of them.  He learned it from one of his old foster parents and song it every mourning in the shower. It was a habit that wasn't really bad so Luther never addressed it. He just let it happen.
"How you doing little buddy!" said the bird cutting off Luther's thoughts.
"Hey, you're the little one here." ,Luther replied.
"You're the little one here!", Luther Jr said back.
"Whatever", Luther said while leaving his room and going into the kitchen. In the kitchen he stopped completely forgetting what he was going to do. Luther Jr let out a loud squawk that could be heard from the kitchen. Luther sighed and went back into his room. Luther Jr was eating the bird seeds and looked up when Luther walked in. With his head cocked slightly to left like a possessed doll he said "You're the small one here!"
What a strange bird Luther thought to himself. He grabbed a open box of cereal on his bed and sat down.
"He L. J. can I tell you a story?" Luther asked. The bird looked up from eating and then went back to munching on the seeds.
"I'm going take that as a yes." Luther didn't have much people to talk to. What with the fact that he lived alone and his issues being around other people.
"I got  lost in the woods when I was like 17." Luther was eating and talking at the same time. "Well I got lost on purpose. I tried to run into the woods and starve to death. It was when I was living with the Richardsons, another foster family and the ones I remembered the most. The had a son named Dylan who was 18, around my age. Dylan was really special to me and we became best friends. I cared for him more then I cared for my own life. He was really smart, his brain worked like a calculator and his drawing skills were extraordinary." Luther stopped to pause and Luther Jr looked up and flew to the end of the cage closest to Luther. "Well I kinda fell in love with him. I was never really interested in anyone before romantically or sexually for that matter. Till then that stuff didn't really matter to me. One night I woke up and went to get water and when I came back Dylan was in my room. He said he wanted to sleep with me. At first I was a flustered my face turning red but then I released he literally meant sleep in the same bed. I told him he could and then we got under the covers together. His arm wrapped around me and I pushed back against him loving every moment of it. Then I turned around a kissed him and he kissed me back. That repeated every night for almost two weeks. When one day I asked if he was my boyfriend and are we dating."
Luther paused to eat more cereal and Luther Jr squawked in protest, he wanted to hear more.
"Well he said no" Luther's voice increased in volume." He said at night we could be together but during the day he was straight. I can't believe that anyone would say that. Hide a whole part of himself for what reason. Until then I never seen any problem with what we were doing and I thought he didn't either. We argued until his parents walked in. He tried to silence me but I made a pretty bad decision. I yelled at his parents and told them that he was in the closet. After that I ran outside into the the park next t his house and then in the woods. I wanted to get lost with no food an starve to death. I wanted my life to end.
Luther released he had tears running down his face and stopped to wipe them.
"I've been in foster care since I was 7 and I never felt accepted until Dylan but that was all just a lie. He was just like everyone else in society. When the police found me I as taken back and the Richardsons told me that I had to leave. So I packed my bag and went on to my next foster home."
"My name is Luther!" Luther Jr replied.
"Yeah, me too." Was all Luther had to say.

The Perfect Pumpkin

Luther walked out of Flannigans with a big bag of bird food for is new pet. It was a a regular sized Premium blend of seeds and it had a blue bird that looked exactly like Luther Jr. It was actually a lot bigger and heavier than he thought it would be. In fact it took both of his hands to hold the bag. Along with two boxes of cereal on top of the bird food Luther looked very awkward walking out of the store. He was on his way home when he saw that there was a truck selling pumpkins. It was today only so he went to go get one. " I can't miss this chance.", Luther said out loud. He looked around and saw the perfect pumpkin. It was a decent size and the orange almost burned his eyes. It was indeed perfect.

Luther went to grab the pumpkin when he remembered all the stuff on his hands. He sighed with frustration and looked around. He couldn't go back home someone would surely take his pumpkin but he couldn't leave his stuff. It was food for Luther Jr. and himself.

"You need help?" said a feminine voice.

Luther stared forward for a few seconds, pondering if that voice was real or not. He looked to left and saw a red haired girl standing with a not-as-perfect pumpkin. "Are you going to answer?", she said. "Uh....yeah I guess?",Luther replied. He whipped his head around so that his long black hair would move out of the way of his face. "I think if you put it on top of my stuff then I could carry it", Luther said. The girl tried but the pumpkin kept rolling off. "That's not going to work out." she said. "Ok.......Um", Luther was thinking of ideas, "I live down the street could you maybe carry it for me." As Luther said that a small boy ran up to the girl and said loudly "Syria, Syria I want this one." He then showed here another not-so-perfect pumpkin. "Ok we'll get that one.",the girl said while putting the pumpkin she held back. "She looked up at Luther and said "Do you live in Maplewood?" Luther nodded he felt awkward around people. "Well I do too. We can buy our pumpkins and I can carry yours on the way back.", she said walking towards the register. "Ok" Luther said following her, "thank you".

Luther and the girl paid for the pumpkins and started walking down the street to the street. The reached the building and walked in. When she pressed the elevator Luther was hesitant about getting on. "So what floor?" she said looking at Luther. "The 14th" ,he replied. While the elevator moved Luther tried to make conversation. "So your name is Syria" Luther said. "Yeah...how'd you know" she replied. "Um the kid with you said it back at the pumpkin truck",Luther said quickly. "Oh",said, "Well yeah I'm Syria, whats yours?" Luther paused than said, "Luther." "Well Luther you look sick",she said. Luther paused again and replied,"Yeah I don't like elevators"

Voices in Luther's head were getting excited. He hated the constant bombardment and it was making him sick. Right when he couldn't handle it anymore and was about to release what he had in his stomach the doors to the elevator opened. "Good we're here" said while stepping off the elevator, "My apartment is right there" Syria and the little kid followed him to the door and placed the pumpkin on the ground. "Thanks for the help",Luther while looking at a slip of paper hanging from his door, "what's this?"Syria replied,"That must be the invitation to the cook out later today. I'll be there cause my Caillen wants to go. Are you going to be there?" Luther thought for a moment. It was a chance to meet other people in the complex. It could help with him getting over his social insecurities.

"Why not. I don't really many of the people who lives but I know you now. So what could go wrong?" Luther said.

"A lot of things can go wrong but I'll meet you there." Syria said while walking back to the elevator.

Luther Jr.

Luther went up the stairs. He always took the stairs even though there was always a little voice in his head that always told him to take the elevator. But frankly Luther was a bit uneasy when it came to elevators and all his exercise came from the fact that he had to walk to the very top of the building every day when he walked up to the the top floor of Maplewood Crest where his apartment was.

Thinking to himself made the walk up to the 14th floor last only a few seconds. Before Luther even noticed he was in front of his door. 235 his favorite number. Luther reached into his bag looked around for his keys. He found it in the smallest pocket of his book bag and opened his door. After going in he turns left into his kitchen. There he found empty boxes of Frosted Mini-Wheat, Brown sugar and maple. He searched around to find a box that wasn’t empty. He was hungry and he wanted his favorite snack, a bowl of cereal, but of all the boxes were completely empty. Frustrated he opened the refrigerator, maybe some milk will make him feel better, but there was only one carton and it was empty. When Luther closed the door he heard and screech. He looked around and listened but it was dead silent. That was very peculiar. He choose to ignore it continue.

Luther went into his bedroom and put his bag on the bed which had purple sheets on it. There was clothe all over the floor. Eight piles to be exact.  One huge one at the foot of his bed where he kept all his dirty clothes and seven more at the far corner. One for each day of the week. All his clothes were purple. Almost everything in his apartment was purple. On his nightstand he found a box of Frosted mini-wheats, with cereal in it. He grabbed the box and started munching when he heard a squawk. He stopped and scan the room. “Squawk” there it goes again.

“Matt hurry up we’re going to be late”

There was someone in the apartment with him. Luther pulled out the pocket knife from his nightstand and opened it ready to start stabbing. And out from his bathroom came a bird, that landed on his stand up lamp. A blue parrot with a yellow belly. What was he doing here?

“Matt we’re going to be late close the birdcage” said the bird followed by a squawk.

“Umm, Hello?” ,Luther replied.

“Umm, Hello!”, said the bird.

“My name is Luther.”,he said.

“My name is Luther!” said the bird with another squawk.

“Wow we have the same name.” Luther said. He was fully aware that the bird was just copying him but he thought that his little joke was funny. The bird flapped it’s wing and flew to the kitchen singing.

Luther thought about what happened and remembered that flash of colors that flew in his apartment when he left that morning. It must of been one of the exotic birds that belonged to the couple that was moving but they already left.

Luther left his room and saw the bird, Luther, standing on his old purple couch. The bird was really pretty. “It would be cool if you were purple.” ,Luther said to the bird. “My name is Luther!” replied the bird. “I’ll call you Luther Jr.” Luther said.

Luther Jr squawked back happily.

"C" The Zoot suit Man

City Lights wasn't to far of a walk from Luther's apartment. In fact he could always see it from his porch. He always stared at it. He was strangely attracted to what it was hiding behind the doors. It could be books, it could have the doors to the next world or it could be that special someone Luther has always been looking for.

On his way there Luther recalled the conversation he had that got him the job. He was outside City Lights, finally deciding to see what he always stared at, it was surprisingly very run down up close. Luther looked up to his apartment porch. It looks nicer from farther away. That's odd he thinks to himself.
He was about to leave when he notice a figure in a expensive looking zoot suit walk out of the ally next to the bookstore.

"You see something you like" the figure says in a deep voice. Luther was staring like he always does. He stopped himself and said stuttering, "I'm sorry I was just looking at the store." The strange figure looked at the store then back at Luther. "Do you want a job there" ,he said as a car drove by and someone else walked out of the ally and in to the car. Surprised Luther said, "I don't know maybe....yes". "You start Monday 8 o'clock, you'll get your papers then." he said while getting in the car. "But wait...." was all Luther could say before he was cut off by the strange man deep voice "The names C." and then he drove off.

Luther was at the door when he focused back on the real world. He didn't know what to do, the door would have been locked. Plus Luther was 15 mins late because of an incident he had with the 13th floor. With nothing else to do he opened the door and to his surprise it opened. But he didn't push it open like usual, he lightly shoved it and let it open on it's own. Standing on the other side was another person.

"Will" said a voice. "What?" Luther said. "What?" the person replied. "Never mind" Luther quickly replied noticing that that he was just hearing things again. Luther face turned red. "Do you want to buy a book?" ,said the person. He was holding some napkins and a duster. He was obviously cleaning the place up and it need some cleaning. "Sir do you need help" said the person,  "Do I have something on my face?" Luther was staring again. "Sorry, sorry I don't mean to stare" he said. There was a few seconds of silence. "Oh. I work here now" Luther said while pushing back his shoulder length black hair. "C told me.......wait he told me to be here at 8 o'clock and that i would have to sign some stuff" "Oh ok. My name is Will Thomas. I'm running the place. So I guess I'm your new boss." ,Will said."Oh ok" said Luther, "Umm...I don't know what to do." Will handed him the duster and said, "How about you help clean up the place, We need to fix up this place. I'll get the legal documents from the register, Be right back"

Luther garbed the duster and began to clean.  

City Lights

Luther pulled the door as hard as he could to get the door open. The damn thing was always hard to open and he knew that before moving in but he needed to live in apartment number 235. It was important.
Once he got the door open a colorful flash of blue, yellow and red flew by, into his apartment. No time to fix that problem. It's probably is mind playing another one of its devious tricks. Luther closed and locked the door to his apartment and traveled down the hall towards the stairs. 

"Take the elevator" ,said a voice in Luther's head.

Luther stopped and turned for the elevator but immediately stopped himself. That wasn't his voice and he wanted to take the stairs why did he have to listen. On that note Luther turned for the door and went down the stairs.

"Should of taken the stairs you idiot" , said the voice.

As Luther went down the stairs he passed the 13th floor and stopped. He thought for a moment. "there's no 13th floor just the 14th floor" he thought to himself. Luther turned around to see that the what he saw was real. He was staring at the non exiting 13th floor. He brushed it off and kept going. He didn't have time for that he was almost late for work.
When he got to the first floor he saw that there were boxes and luggage every where and two empty bird cages. Outside it was raining as if it was judgement day. 

"Judgment day? That's horrible writing, narrator." Luther thought.
"You not supposed to be able to talk to me, Luther" I reply.

Ignoring that, Luther notices a purple umbrella on top of the luggage. Lucky for Luther it was purple and he quickly swiped the umbrella and went for the man entrance. "I saw that Luther" ,said Colby the doorman. "I'll bring it back" Luther replied walking out of the door. Luther thought to himself, "Today is a new day" and went to City Lights the bookstore for work.

Every Single Morning

The day started with the same head splitting headache Luther always had in the mourning. His mouth felt extremely dry, so he used his tongue to spread saliva around his mouth.He immediately regret his decision when he tasted his breath and by the gods it tasted horrible. After laying in his bed for a while staring at the ceiling thinking about the events of last night and the many bad decision that he made and is going to make. He forced himself to get up. His bed was so low to the ground that by the time he stood up the blood had rushed from my head leaving him disoriented, with no feeling but the headache painfully trying to pull his head apart. “Every single morning”, he grumbled to himself. Look around his room he hears the voice of his mother “Lou, Lou clean up your room”. He ignored it. There was clothes in piles all over the floor and he went to the used-but-doesn’t-smell-that-bad pile. Purple colored shirt, short sleeve, with a collar and two buttons and blacks jeans that loosely fit but are comfortable. “That’ll work” he thought to himself. He started walking toward the bathroom right outside his bedroom and stops himself “I never meet my mother. Whose voice was that?”. He stood there pondering in his boxers when he was interrupted by the taste of his own breath again. “Captain, to the bathroom we go”, he said out loud while walking into the bathroom. After putting the clothes he picked out on the closed toilet seat he started brushing his teeth, counting to 235……….exactly 235, no more, no less. After that he hops in the shower and while scrubbing he sings to a tune in his head.

“Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest

YO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF RUM

take a few sips and the devil does the rest

YO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF RUM”

He stays silent for the rest of the time, washing his long black hair. Thoughts ran by his head.

“Who did I hear a while ago?

Why are all my clothes black or purple?

Why didn’t I take off my boxer during the shower?

235 is the best number EVER maybe thats why I picked this apartment”

After finishing his shower he steps out, dry himself with his purple towel and gets ready for the day.