The Abandoned Genius

How Do You Carry Yourself?

As it happens everyday on his daily walks through town, an enthusiastic salesperson was giving out free samples to each passerby. He was loudly exploiting what he was giving out, however the nearby townspeople were speaking just as loudly in return. The young child couldn't make out what was what. Ignoring the conversation with the annoying adults, Hans took a small sample for himself and sat on the side of the road.

Today's treat was some sort of meat. By the looks of it, its original shape must've been a cylinder, but was cut into much smaller portions to hand out as samples. Steam was coming off the meat, and it smelled strong and distinctive. Hans didn't complain about free food, shoving the entire sample in his mouth nonchalantly. Almost instantly, Hans's cheeks suddenly turned red.

'So spicy!' Hans inwardly cried. He struggles to swallow the beef, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. He sighs in relief when the burning in his mouth cools down though his expression is pinched in pain at the overwhelming spice. 'That was awful!'

Hans relaxes in his spot, passing the time watching all the people walk by as the spicy taste still simmering on his tongue slowly fades away. It had always been one of his favorite things to do; people watching. Just a glimpse could tell him a lot about a person. Despite being a stranger he doesn't know, he could make some strong deductions by what he sees.

'She's shy and doesn't trust others,' Hans thought as he saw a physically appealing young woman walking with shuffled steps and her head hung low. 'He's wise but bitter,' an elderly man stalks along with a slightly hunched back and pinched expression. 'She's self obsessed and they're overprotective.' Hans eyes a group of teenagers carrying an air of undeserved confidence as they talk way too loudly and walk beside each other so they take up the entire road, especially with the girl in the middle. There was also a small family of three, two adults with a young child practically wedged in between them.

"Help!" A woman cries out very suddenly. Her piercing voice snaps Hans out of his daydreaming as the crowds of people freeze where they are. "Somebody, help! Thief!"

Hans stands to his feet, recognizing that word. He remembered seeing that word in so many crime stories he read in the papers as well as a selection of books. He looks towards the crowd hastily assembling to either side of the road, his eyes following a man in dark clothing heading his way in a sprint.

Nobody was taking up the chase to stop this man. Only a rather plain woman, evidently the victim, was trying to follow him, struggling to keep up with his speed as well as carrying her own weight. How cowardly were all these people? Apparently, simply not knowing this woman gave them enough reason to sit back and watch her panic.

Hans quickly recalled what the authorities did in the last story he read and used that as instructions. Just as the shady man dashes past him, Hans takes up the chase, jumping out of the crowd and going after him.

Hans may not be anything special in terms of speed, but he soon realised that neither was this man. The thief soon noticed the young child following him and stopped in his tracks. Hans skidded to a stop as the sinister man turned around. A cold shiver ran down his spine when the man nearly twice his size pulled out a dagger, ready to attack. The woman seemed to have stopped following them, keeping her distance from the clearly unstable man.

Hans copied the dangerous man, taking his newly acquired knife in his right hand as the two stared the other down. The boy knew how much trouble he just got himself into just by chasing the criminal, but he also knew he couldn't back down now. He had acted without thought and was close to beginning to regret his decision.

He quickly regained his focus and thought back on the story he read the day before. 'What did the authorities do?' Hans thought to himself. He could recall that the police encountered a very similar situation in the story that he now finds himself in. 'Let's see, the criminal threatened to attack them, so in return they-'

The shady man took note that the child holding a clean, unused knife wasn't moving. The crowd was keeping out of the way too, so he began taking small steps to increase the distance between him and the idiotic child.

Hans was able to snap out of his wandering thoughts the second he saw the man's feet shuffle. His instincts took over, allowing him to charge for the criminal, his target. The second his small feet launched off the dirt road, his mind went blank.

The thief blinked and the child was gone. Dust kicked off the ground from where he was standing, so he knew he hadn't imagined the brainless kid that dared to challenge him. But he couldn't make heads or tails of where the kid had disappeared to; a human, a child for that matter, with such blinding speed was unheard of.

'If the criminal attacks, they return fire!'

It was over in a flash. Hans had inexplicably caught up to and gotten behind the dangerous man. The knife in hand, he held it against his throat and whipped it across as hard as he could. Blood instantly flooded onto the road like a broken dam, and the lifeless body dropped like a rag doll.