• [Trek]

    I mumble to myself as I sat in the time-out pin which was really small since it was made for little kids. It had a tiny white bar fence that wasn’t even high to my knees. A boy, about six years old, was in here with me. He was taking this more calmly than I was.
    “I don’t want to be in here!” I whine. “Let me out…”
    One of the workers behind the cash register spoke. “It’s your fault anyway, kid. You should’ve known better than to eat all those candy’s” his expression was business like, it reminded me of Kert.
    “I couldn’t…help myself…”
    “And you didn’t even have the money to pay for it, either, so stay in there and be quite, you’re disturbing the customers”
    “How bossy! I’m not going to listen to you at all”
    “That boy is handling this more maturely than you are. You really need to act your age”
    “I don’t care about acting my age!” I stuck my tongue out at him to annoy him, which worked. “If I did, then my whole personality will be a bunch of fakes!”
    “It wouldn’t!” he disagreed. “You’ll just be more—“ there was a small buzzer and the little gate to the time-out pin opened.
    I laughed as I stood up and stretched my arms. “Times up, now I can leave. Well see yeah, mister!” I waved goodbye to him then ran out the candy store. After a couple blocks away, I slowed down and started walking. “What a bother…”
    A little girl came running past me holding the biggest rainbow lollypop I ever saw. I was practically drooling over it. Then a different girl came out of a store with a giant chocolate cane. I looked around, seeing all the candy being eaten one bite after another. I wanted some, too, one that’s huge and delicious. I imagined an enormous Easter egg the size of a sky scraper. When the egg cracked open, inside it was candy gems as big as a house. There were blue ones for blue berry, yellow for pineapple, pink for peaches, red for cherry’s, and orange for orange. I was thinking about more flavors but was cut off as someone tugged on the bottom of my sleeve. I looked down to see a little boy with golden brown hair. His eyes were golden, too, like a lions. It was the same boy that was in the time-out pin with me at that one store. But what is he doing here?
    “You need something?” I asked him. He didn’t answer. “Are you lost, then?” he still didn’t answer. I tried more and more, but he wouldn’t reply back. “Um…well I got to go so…” I tried tugging his hand away from my sleeve but he wouldn’t let go. I brushed my hair with my fingers and sighed. “You want to come with me?”
    He looked down, back at me, and nodded yes.
    I sighed again and continued walking. After a couple of minutes, he slid his fingers down from my sleeve onto my hand and held it tight. I scanned the crowds, hoping to find someone who knows this kid but at the same time not wanting them to notice him. I’m pretty sure this is kidnapping. Oh man, what if I get in trouble? I’ll get kicked out of this town and be called a criminal. The guys will look down on me with shame! I glanced over to the boy who was calm, unbelievably calm. I mean, he’s this young and yet he doesn’t yell, beg, whine, or cry. Jeez, he even follows a stranger and holds their hand! I remembered what Kert kept saying when we were ten, ‘don’t talk to strangers, don’t associate with them, either’ I always talked back to him saying that you couldn’t make friends if you couldn’t talk to them as strangers. A day later, I talked to a stranger to prove him wrong, but that was a bad choice. I ended up being kidnapped and almost killed if it wasn’t for the guys. I guess I shouldn’t mess with the wrong people. I flinched as someone tapped my shoulder.
    “You need something?” I said as I turned around.
    “Yeah” the man said, cracking his knuckles. He was big and buff, with long greasy black hair. He wore tight clothing’s that were ripped. His breath smelled like alcohol and cigarettes.
    I was starting to wonder what a guy like this was doing at a candy and toy store area but then realize that I wasn’t at the place. I think I wandered off too far and entered a different area but didn’t know because I was too busy thinking about the trouble I’d be in. The place I’m in now seemed like an ally way, a space between two apartments. There was laughing and more knuckle cracking, but it wasn’t coming from the guy, it was coming from all around. More people came walking towards me with evil grins on their faces. I looked at the boy to see if he was doing okay. He still looked and acted the same as he did before.
    “What’s a feller like you doing here with a little squirt?” the man said.
    “I…it was an accident so…” I tried to think of something to say. “I—we just wandered here. I wasn’t watching where I was going, sorry. I’ll leave right now”
    “Oh, no you won’t” he lifts his fist so that I could have a good look at it. “Won’t you play with me? I’m really bored and there’s nothing to do. Maybe you could give me that hammer of yours, and that squirt. We’ll get nice ransom money from him since he’s one of the Revaltos. I could share with you” he licks his dry, cracked lips.
    “Oh, sorry, cant. You see, I’m sort of kidnapping this boy, too, and I’m positive that kidnappers don’t give their stolen goods to other nappers, so I guess we’ll be leaving now” I grinned. He and his gang were getting angry. I picked the boy up into my arms and told him that it’ll be alright.
    “Why you—“ he was cut off as I jumped high in the air, landing on the rooftop.
    I looked down over the ledge to them. “Bye! Thanks for the offer, though!”
    “What in the world?” someone grabbed my shoulders and I screamed, nearly dropping the kid.
    “Relax!” it was Jen. “What’s gotten you worked up?”
    I sighed, turning around. “This right here” I held the boy out to him. He wasn’t even struggling at all.
    Jen was mystified. “Why do you have a little kid with you?”
    “Aw man…it wasn’t my fault!” I put the boy down. “He wanted to come with me…I didn’t know what to do…”
    “So you let the kid tag along”
    I nodded yes.
    “Oh, Trek, Trek, poor you” he patted my back. “Well, seeya!” he turned and left.
    “Wait!” I shouted after him. “Aren’t you going to help me?”
    “No!” he laughs, not turning back around. “He’s your sin! Go deal with him yourself” he walked across a metal board that connected one roof to another to join the musicians who were playing jazz songs.
    The boy held my hand again but doesn’t make eye contact. I sighed, where to now? I looked around and saw a roller coaster far away, about ten buildings away. An amusement park! I picked the boy up and started running there on the roof, not needing to jump from one place to another, just needed to go across the path walk. Once we reached there after a couple of minutes, I jumped off the roof and landed on the ground. Luckily nobody noticed. The boy didn’t even seem to look surprised at all. I put him down and sighed—I’ve been doing that a lot lately.
    “Which ride you want to go on?” I asked him, even though I knew he wouldn’t answer, which he didn’t. “Okay then...let’s go on…” I scanned the area. “that!” I pointed to a ride that was big. It looked like a farris wheel that lay flat on its side. You go inside a room shaped like a metal ball and once everyone is ready, the machine raises you up high into the air, about two hundred feet, and starts turning but doesn’t turn too fast. Some of the balls spin slow, some of them spin fast, some doesn’t spin at all. I think the people inside controls how much they want to spin.
    I held the boys hand, incase he gets lost, and headed for the ride which was called Ferry Twirl a Whirl. The line was really long which was horrible. And then I realized I needed money which was even more horrible.
    “Sorry, kid” I said, patting his head. “Guess we cant go on” as I was about to turn around to leave, a man, one of the workers, shouted out. “A Revaltos!” he was looking at the boy. “Come, come!” he gestures us to go on the ride which already came down and was unloading.
    “Oh, uh, okay!” I tugged the boy forward “Let’s get on!” he hesitated, but followed. “Sorry, I don’t have any money” I said to the man who led us into one of the balls.
    “It’s an honor to serve you” he says, smiling.
    “I…okay” I noticed he was only paying attention to the boy.
    “Be safe, and I hope you enjoy the ride” he closed the round door and made sure it was secured from the outside.
    After awhile, as other people were getting on, and the ride finally started, I looked at the boy who was still expressionless. I wanted to know what a Revaltos was. The sleazy guy from the ally way and the worker here said the same thing about the boy. ‘An honor to serve you’ I wonder if he’s high society.
    “Hey, kid” I waited till he looked at me. “Who are you?”
    He didn’t say anything, again, but I didn’t expect him to. Instead, he pointed to a pin that was clipped onto the front of his shirt. It looked like something made for royalty; I can’t believe I never noticed it before. On it was a gold dragon with crystal eyes that blew ruby fire. It was surrounded with green emeralds.
    “Have you always had that on?” I asked, mesmerized.
    “No, but I put it on when we were in the ally way because I thought the thugs would leave if they saw it. Then I took it back off but put it back on at the amusement part so we could go on this ride” he said, finally speaking.
    “So uh…why do all that? Its just a pin, right?”
    “No” he paused. “My name is Ennel. I am a Revaltos, a future warrior of Symphony, the descendant of Heranicus the Dragon Gladiator”
    I was baffled. I’m not sure he’s supposed to be out here if he’s that highly ranked.
    “I made a decision recently, to not return back home”
    “Uh…oh um, why?” I was surprised by his use of words for a little kid.
    He ignored my question. “I’m running away, with you”
    Running away? With me? “No way, you can’t! I’m taking you back to your—“
    “No! If you do, I’ll tell them you kidnapped me and tried to murder me, and then they’ll sentence you to death”
    I gape, this kid is serious! Oh man, Kert, Jen, Roger, what do I do?!

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