Transcending Abnormality

Cold Evening

Roman thanked the man running the street-food van, taking the portion of chips held in a Styrofoam container from him. He sighed, sitting himself down on one of the wooden benches surrounding the food court.

He was in the centre of Arcas, having managed to meet a very nice woman who was driving through the town and offered him a lift. To be fair, he had told her that he was fifteen and had no money to get home, so she'd taken pity on him.

The young man found it incredibly easy to pass for younger than his age - he was quite short for an eighteen year old and his shoulders weren't very wide, which did make him look kind of pre-pubescent. He was glad he had ID, because he could imagine getting denied when trying to buy things like alcohol very easily.

Either way, it had worked out in his favour today, as the kind woman in the red car had been very generous in making sure he didn't get lost getting 'home'. And now, here he was, as the sun was setting, sitting on a bench eating $3 chips to satiate his hunger.

He hadn't really thought this far. He knew he'd wanted to get out of the city, especially now that he was, yknow kind of being held captive. He was finally out now, and he wondered whether Janus and Remus had noticed that he was gone yet. He thought about it for a moment and then decided that it didn't actually matter because he wasn't with them anymore.

He wanted to find Logan and Virgil. Over the past few days, he'd had a bit of a revelation that maybe he was a little harsh towards Virgil and he now felt the need to help him out. Well, either way, he wasn't going to stay with the guy's deranged uncle, that was for sure.

Roman had stolen money from Janus upon leaving, so for a moment he considered trying to find somewhere to stay. But he was so tired. He hadn't done many physically exhausting activities, but mentally? It had been a long day.

So, when he finished eating, Roman threw away his litter and walked himself over to the pavement to walk down the road for a little longer and try find somewhere he could sleep for the night. He was completely pulled out of his sleepy haze when a police car drove past, lights on but sirens off. It slowed down around where he was walking, and then stopped about a metre in front of Roman.

The officer in the passenger seat leaned his body out of the window and caught Roman's eye.

"You alright, son?" He asked, making Roman stop walking and realise that he now had to interact with this policeman.

"Uhm, yeah. I am." He nodded, placing his hands in the pockets of his jeans - slightly anxious by this presence.

"You look local to this area, and we're looking for two young men at the moment, so if I give you a description can you do us a favour and let us know if you see 'em?"

Roman felt a little bit too awkward to correct the officer who had assumed he was from Arcas, so he just nodded.

Standing a few feet away from the police car and listening to the description, it suddenly dawned on Roman that this man was talking about Virgil and Logan. He glanced down the street and then back to the police car as the policeman finished his speech.

"Which area of town did you last see them in?" Roman asked, feigning natural curiosity.

"Oh, you know," The man replied. "Not far from here, maybe a mile down that way, by the hospital - but we don't know where they could've gotten to now."

"Yeah, yeah, alright." Roman nodded, smiling. A lamppost shortly in front of the car illuminated the policeman as Roman focused on a reply. "I'll let you guys know if I see them."

"Thank you, have a good night lad."

"Yeah, you too." Roman whispered, not even loud enough that the man he was talking to had any chance of hearing.