The Boy From Everywhere

Ch. 1: The Boy

I ignored my aunt's words as I ran out of the house, into the rain, and ignoring how wet I got as the rain poured from above and puddles splashed onto my legs and feet.

The rain sure was heavy this afternoon, and my clothes got soaked in just a few seconds, dragging me down as their weight beared down on me with every step until I could no longer run in my exhaustion.

At this rate, I was going to get sick. But I guess I preferred that over having to deal with my aunt angrily beating my hands with the broomstick all because I came home past five with no explanation.

Scratch that. Even with an explanation, I don't think she would have trusted me enough to accept it as truth.

I heaved as my pace slowed down, my breath becoming visible in the air before me amd my hair sticking to my face, just like my palm to my skirt as I tried to support myself. I stopped eventually, but a few seconds after that, and I screamed, letting out my frustration at the empty side of town I had ended up in.

Lucky that no one was there to see or hear me.

Unlucky that no one was there to offer me help.

This world must hate me so much that when my parents died, I just had to be assigned to a woman who couldn't care enough about me and only cared about the services I could offer her for free.

I screamed again, gripping my knees as I bent forward, wanting to end it all, wanting to get away from this place, wanting the sky to strike me with lightning, and wanting someone to just kill me right here and now all at once just so I could stop suffering! But as always, because this wasn't the first time this has happened, none of my prayers were answered, and I was left sobbing as I hung my head, my stringy hair shielding my messy face from any secret gazes.

I was alone yet again, and I didn't know whether to be thankful or resentful.

At least, I thought I was. Alone, that is.

I wiped at my eyes, trying to get rid of my tears and the water sliding down my face before I looked around, suddenly feeling embarrassed at the thought of someone I know seeing me like this. I may cry a lot when it comes to my aunt, but I refused to he seen this way by anyone from school. And I was still in my school uniform.

Come to think of it, why did I even run away from her anyway? If I came home much later, wouldn't that make it worse for me?

I looked at my hands again, all wet from tears and rain. She sure did love torturing them. And then I raised my head and looked in front of me, only to widen my eyes at the sight that lied before me.

It was an alleyway. I hadn't even noticed where I was running, and if I kept going, I would have ended up running into this corner. But that wasn't what made my eyes go wide.

In the alley, sitting in the corner near the opening, sat someone curled up, head buried in his knees, drenched in rain, and... eerily still.

I froze, puzzled, shocked, and then disturbed at the person I was looking at. I couldn't really tell how still he actually was, probably because it was raining too hard or that I hadn't really wiped away my tears completely, but this person was...

My heart was pounding in my chest before I knew it. I didn't know whether I should even approach him or not, but I had this nagging feeling.

What if... What if he was still alive? What if he was just in too much pain, and what if my eyes were playing tricks on me?

What if I was wrong?

My hands shook as I raised them, and my feet stuck to the ground like they were nailed down as I forced myself to approach this unmoving person. For a moment, I already forgot that I was still standing in the rain and that I was drenched and completely wet and that the same could be said for this person. But then my hand fell on his shoulder, and for a second, my brows rose at the strange warmth I felt.

And then he raised his head.

This time, I froze for a completely different reason, but my heart calmed and my stiff shoulders loosened at the sight of his eyes.

They were the softest and most innocent eyes I had ever seen. And suddenly, I was wondering what a boy like him was doing here.

And then he asked a rather odd question:

"Uh... How may I help you?"