One Little Rat

Prologue - How Do You Do?

Word Count: 390 (only the story)

Now, I wouldn't say I'm dumb.

But I DEFINITELY would not say I'm clever.

In my defence, there was no use for academic knowledge in the streets of New York. The only things we were taught were how to fight, how to flight and how to steal.

I never had to fight, seeing as I never got caught in the first place.

If only the same could be said for my brother, Oli - he'd throw himself into a fight every chance he got, and lose each and every one.

He thought he had to prove himself.

...Well, he probably did. Our parents thought we were weak and pathetic.

Even though we were only ratlings, and ratlings are supposed to be weak and pathetic.

After a while, our parents refused to tend to his wounds, saying that it was his fault for being so reckless. So that became my job, following the steps I had seen on a first aid poster that was on the wall of a flat I broke into while foraging for garlic bread.

I promised him I'd look out for him.

And that's always been the case, ever since our parents died, and all of our other siblings moved away (and if I'm being completely honest, I doubt many of them are still alive - none of those idiots were prepared for the real world.)

Recently, though, Oli seems to have lost the 'fight' part of himself. Instead of challenging others for food, now, he's chosen a food that no-one else would want: garbage.

You heard me, garbage.

He loves nothing more than spending all day rummaging through some filthy trash can.

Hm? Disgusting?

Well, it is a bit.... But he's my brother, and I love him no matter what.

Even though his love for garbage is what got us on this... adventure... in the first place.

'Cause, you see, he was so engrossed in examining a particular apple core that he he didn't hear my shout. He didn't hear the approaching garbage truck.

He didn't even notice it.

That is, until it had already scooped him up.

"Oli!" I had yelled, dropping my piece of garlic bread (so it was obvious I was in distress).

I had chased after that truck, and jumped right in after him.

And that's how I got here.

-

Goodness, this is hard to write. My brain wants to put 'bin' instead of 'trash can' and 'bin lorry' instead of 'garbage truck'.

This story will hopefully go better than The Canary's Flower, seeing as this one actually has a bit of a structure instead of just deciding to write a random chapter out of the blue at 2 O' Clock in the morning.

I'm really excited for this! :)

-Lavendar <3