The Little Boy Who Had Hope and a Red Balloon

Chapter 3: Observations

Georgie and Red were still on the sixth floor. Reason being because he decided to stop and talk with the people in the stairs. It was much easier to talk to those of them that were awake. See Georgie being so uneducated and unaware of most dangers in the world, made him very intrigued with how life worked.

People were interesting subjects to study. Some were always in a hurry, others were slow. There were people who had problems like him, and were open about it. There were people who hid their issues. He saw love, compassion, and friendship. However, Georgie also viewed hatred, murder, and absolute monsters of the human world.

Georgie was also aware that the apartment held some of the worst times of his almost six years of life. Georgie sat down on the steps of the sixth floor, Red absorbing his body heat due to the fact he had him close to his stomach.

He stared down at all the people sleeping in the stairs. There were many different sizes and colors of people. Their roles in society also differed. Some were children about his age, there were few teenagers, many women, but still fewer men.

The children around his age, at least those that were in his viewpoint had dirt smudged faces and mud-covered clothes. Georgie did not see this as a problem though. He loved going out and getting dirty. His mother never cared anyways, which was why he still had a mix of dust, dirt, and crumbs smeared across his face.

He looked over to the many women. Most of them, like the children wore tattered clothing. Some were sleeping; some had ruthless expressions, others impassive. What caught his attention most was a little girl sitting on her mother's lap.

The mother was holding what looked to be a storybook. She read the words slowly, so her daughter would understand them. Occasionally the little girl would attempt pronouncing them. When she was not successful, the woman would give her shoulder a squeeze and whisper, "You can do it." Georgie saw the love that was between the mother and her daughter. He felt a pang in his chest, knowing he would never be able to experience that with his mother.

Georgie then turned his attention to the teenagers, as to control his emotions before they got the best of him. He could see no cell phones, or designer purses as he usually did. There was a little bag of green, chunky stuff at their feet. Since they were dozing, Georgie decided to get a closer look. He crept down the stairs, step by step, being careful as to not hit anyone by accident with his boots.

As he neared the sleeping teenagers, he saw one of them open their eyes. Georgie backed away slowly, with caution because in the past the few mean people of the stairs had beaten him. He went along his way, going down to the fifth floor. His footsteps echoed in the damp, moldy stairway.

Georgie was not afraid of this though. What he was bothered by, was the light that was so dim, it made the people of the stairs look terribly frightening. "Come on Red." He whispered quietly. On this floor, Georgie saw men and women huddled together with blankets. They were wearing shabby clothes, covered in blankets, and had miscellaneous food tins littered around them. Some were sprawled out, side-by-side; others were so close to each other it was as if one let go, they would die.

There was a single man who caught Georgie's attention though. He was in the far corner of the stairs, down by where the fifth floor steps would become the fourth floors. He had salt and pepper hair, with warm, brown skin. The intriguing man was wearing a plain, white, button down shirt and black pants with a rip in the one knee.

This was not what Georgie was so interested in. You see, the man had a large, dark red stain on the upper right side of his chest. He looked to be in a lot of pain, and was breathing irregularly. His brown eyes were wide with fear and pain on his sunken face. The man was skinny, but one could observe he still had some muscles.

Georgie walked over to the man with Red. The man looked up at Georgie, eyes softening as he noticed how young the child looked. He gave the boy a small, but weak smile as Georgie moved to sit next to him.

As Georgie sat down, Red scraped the concrete wall making a squeaky sound. The man winced, not being able to tolerate the sound. "Hiya." Georgie said, crossing his legs pretzel style. He looked to the man expectantly, eyes wide with wonder.

"Hey kid." The man wheezed out. Although he had never been to a school, Georgie knew enough that he could maintain a simple conversation. "My name's Georgie." He said with a cheesy grin on his face.

"I'm.... Mathias..." Mathias said, wheezing more heavily. This caused the wound to gush more blood. Georgie stared at the wound, recognizing the color and understanding the pain.

He knew that the wound would need bandages or maybe even stitches. Since Georgie was not supplied with any of that though, he leaned over and gave Mathias a peck on the cheek. Georgie knew deep down, that the best remedy for pain is love. Moreover, love is something every person deserves. Regardless of whom they are.

Everyone makes mistakes. It is your decision what you do after to either fix the mistake or leave it. Your decision to change and yours alone.