In the days after his beating, the words haunted Charles’ mind. Whenever he left his apartment, he caught glimpses of the proud gang members in his building beating a new person and thought of the words. When he saw another person wandering around the halls, high and in a completely different world, he thought of the words. And whenever he heard a gunshot from down the hallway, he thought of the words. 

        If you aren’t strong enough to.

	His mind grasped and wrestled with what the words meant. Why they were uttered and what they implied. And soon he made a connection. He was weak. The strong hate the weak. The weak escaped the strong however they could. When they couldn’t, they died. He felt clarity in his realization. So much so, that it replaced the words the man had said and became his mantra

        I am weak. The strong hate the weak. The weak escape the strong however possible. I am at the mercy of the strong.

        When his legs guided him to the cafeterias for meal hours, when his eyes glazed over his phone screen, when he laid in bed and stared into the darkness, he repeated the words to ground himself onto something. They were all that existed to him.

	And one day, after a month of finding and internalizing his mantra, he spotted Daniel and his crew walking his way. Charles immediately hid in another alley, his heart pounding as he cowered and peeked out from behind a dumpster. When he caught sight of Daniel, he pulled his head back. And as he stared at the asphalt, only the sound of Daniel’s tongue click filled his ears. It wrapped around the words that he had memorized, chipping away at them. Charles gritted his teeth, feeling the anger bubble up inside of him. He peeked his head out again, wanting to pick an opportune moment to surprise attack him. But he paused when he saw Daniel being comforted by everyone walking around him. They all laughed and patted him on the shoulder and leaned their heads in close as if offering their sympathies. In those seconds, Charles examined every single part of them that he could. And he realized what made Daniel strong. He had friends.