Manny's Despair

Chapter 4

He sighed, mentally preparing himself for what's to come.

First of all, he had to get out of the town. But not without getting supplies. Sure, he had supplies, but it might not be enough for where he wants to go.

He clenched the doll in his hand, before softening his grip and gingerly putting her back in his bag. He swung the backpack over his shoulders in a quick motion and turned around to get back on his bike.

But, he stopped.

He couldn't get back on the bike. That would attract too much attention here, sure, it's normal for a 15-year old, uh, boy, to bike around by himself. But at night? Not only that, he looks rather young for his age.

He groaned, and grabbed the bike by it's handles, yanking it out of the space. He guided it past the shops, looking at the scenery, clothing shops, decor.

Food.

He looked through the window of the restreraunt, because of how late it was, there wasn't much people sitting down. The place wasn't all that fancy, it was basically fast food with a french name. He looked at the white, delicate tables, seeing a waiter wipe one of them clean. Manny's attention soon diverted to another table.

It had two people sitting around it, a sister and her younger sister, or, a mother and a daughter? Manny blinked, as he watched the wholesome scene.

The older woman was playing with the child, the child giggling, it was so.

Sweet.

The older woman looked really tired, like she had just worked a long shift. But still, took the time to hang out with her sister or daughter. When the woman looked at the kid, there was pure joy in her eyes. Like the child was no burden to her at all. Like the child is loved.

Manny looked at the scene, a sadness slowly growing over him. He thought about it all. No matter if they were two sisters, or a mother and a daughter, Manny wanted something like that. Manny turned around, squinting his eyes, to prevent tears from coming out.

"You do want something like that, don't you?"

Manny's eyes shot open, and he looked around, trying to look for who said those words. Those, weird, cruel, words.

But there was no one around to say it, for him to hear it.

He exhaled shakily, and grabbed his bike again and started walking. He looked at the pavement the whole time. It was so blank, and boring! He didn't know why, but his gaze was stuck on the ground. The white, concrete void.

A while has passed, he's still walking and looking at the ground. But he hears footsteps.

Manny doesn't look up, the pavement is so wide that whoever was making those footsteps could walk around him. But the man didn't.

The man stumbled onto Manny, knocking his bike over as Manny nearly fell onto a nearby wall.

The drunk man fell to the ground, he was at Manny's feet, his hands almost touching his leg. Manny backed up from him, and growled. "Hey! Watch where you're stepping!"

Manny brushed his hands through his hair, and leaned over to grab the bike, but before he could get a grip on it, someone grabbed his shoulders, and he heard slurred speech:

"The fuck did you just say to me, kid?!"