red stone heart {l.s} • needs editing

chapter one

Louis scrounged around his small box of items, once again. He was trying to find his smallest paint brush and if he didn't he wouldn't be able to finish his painting.

Louis was homeless. He lived in an alley between Lulu's Beauty Supply and a quaint pizzeria that had gone out of business so many times the name had been changed constantly.

Louis liked the place he called home. He would find brushes left from Lulu's in the dumpster and sometimes there would even be pizza.

Louis could paint for hours. That's the only way he got money. Holding up a small sign asking for change worked for a couple of weeks but after that, money became tight and the amount of people generous enough to spare a few dollars was scarce.

He bought canvases with any of the money he earned and if he had some left over he would get a polar pop from the gas station down the street along with a donut that he would nibble on for a few days.

Currently, Louis was painting a city scape. He was using the water colors that he had found once in the back of an art institution. They dripped down the canvas in a messy yet beautiful way and in his personal opinion, it was good. If he had a house, he knew it'd be something he would want on his wall.

After finding his paint brush, Louis finished the outline of the carnival Ferris wheel with his blue, then grabbed his three other unsold canvases. Louis walked quickly to the front of his alley and sat down, showing off his canvases against the side of Lulu's Beauty, hoping someone would be interested in his art.

He pulled out his little sign that read:

paintings $5-$10

in his messy handwriting.

Some people glanced but no one stopped. Louis kept the smile on his face. He knew that no one would really be walking by until 4, the time everyone got off of work. But his smile turned into a frown, remembering it was Tuesday. School.

Some teenagers from the school 3 miles away had taken a disliking towards Louis. They would harass him until they got bored, sometimes even ruining his drawings or ripping up his shirt.

At 3:30, Louis saw the three boys walking towards him. Ricky, Josh, and Mark. They were tall, taller than Louis. Louis' small 5'7 frame was nothing compared to their 6 feet.

Louis was tiny. There wasn't any exaggeration. He had small hands and feet. Even his hips had a small curve. The only thing that wasn't particularly tiny about him was his bum.

"Well, well, well. Now Mark, I thought the trash had already been taken out?" Ricky, the tallest and leader of the small group turned to the blonde.

"Oh. They must've missed a piece." Mark said, harshly nudging Louis with his foot. Louis fell over onto his elbows, scraping them against the pavement.

Louis whimpered. Josh picked up his sign and read it aloud. "Oh wow. Your paintings aren't even worth $20." Josh laughed.

Ricky bent down and picked up a painting of an eye. It was many different colors and Louis thought with all the work, it gave a sophisticated vibe. Ricky pulled out a pocket knife with a smirk on his face.

"Please don't!" Louis said quickly. That was his most expensive painting. It took him almost two days to finish.

"Oh, what?! Something special about this painting?" Ricky questioned evilly.

"Yes. Please, sir! I spent time and money on that painting!" He whimpered frantically. Louis' politeness was still showing after what they were doing to him.

"Oh. So this-" Ricky made a slice through the middle, "hurts you?"

They all laughed as tears began to run down Louis' face. His elbows were stinging and now his most valuable painting was ruined.

"Hey!" A deep, gruff voice yelled. The boys mumbled curses before dropping the painting and running.

A tall, muscular yet lanky man stood in front of Louis, looking down at him. His brown curly hair, falling to frame his face. He was wearing a suit and tie, clearly a business man.

Louis curled into a ball. "Please sir, don't hurt me! You can take the paintings but please don't hit me! Take anything you'd like!" Louis stumbled upon his words.

"Baby, I'm not gonna hurt you." The man squatted next to Louis. After he reached out his hand to hold Louis, he cowered away in fear. Curly sighed, then an idea came into his head. "Hey, baby boy. Tell me about your paintings, I'm interested in that one." He said, pointing to Louis' most recent one, the city scape.

The small boy looked up at the man innocently through his long eyelashes.

"It's..its $7. And um, it's made out of uh water colors. It's supposed to be a city. See, the buildings and the Ferris wheel..." Louis spoke slowly and quietly. He could see the look on the mans face after he had mumbled the price. Shock. That scared Louis.

"I can bring the price down to $5 or maybe $3." The man stayed silent. "$2 if you want, I'm sorry sir." Louis tried, his voice small and feeble. Harry didn't speak. Louis gave up. "You can just have it. Take them all." Louis said, scooting the paintings over to the bigger lad and shuffling away back into his alley.

Louis sat down on his dirty blanket, next to his box of things. He pulled out his water, seeing it only having a few gulps left and drank the rest of the bottle.

He sighed. Today was rough, his body ached, his arms and knees stung from the scrapes and now his paintings were gone without payment.

Louis stood after a few moments and went into Lulu's through the back. He didn't want to go to the front of his alley again. He saw a young woman, maybe 20-25, at the counter. She was chomping on her gum obnoxiously.

"Um..Hello. I was wondering if you had any spare band aids or plasters. I got pushed outside and my legs and arms are bleedi-"

"I don't need your pathetic story. You're the one boy in the alley. You're gonna have to leave there, you know. It's illegal to loiter." She spoke sassily, folding her arms over her chest. "I won't hesitate to call the police!" Louis knew she wasn't joking around.

Louis winced as a cool breeze from the door being opened hit his cuts harshly. He seethed before nodding. "Yes ma'am. I'll be gone by tomorrow morning. Please don't call the police. But please, may I have something to cover my scrapes? I won't bother you again."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes before bending down behind the counter. She came back up with 4 large band aids. "Be out by the time sun rises and I won't say anything." She said and shooed him along.

Louis rushed out the door. He didn't have anywhere to go and no other alley could possibly be as promising as his own. He sighed, plastering his injuries, then grabbed his box and blanket. He began to walk to the start of his alley. The curly haired man was still there.

He was examining each painting. Seeing Louis from his peripheral vision, he looked up and stood. "Hi. I'm Harry Styles. I'm very interested in your paintings. Your talent is much more valuable than a mere 7 dollars. I assume this is where you lived?" Louis confirmed with a nod of his head, shocked at how intelligently Harry spoke. "Well, why don't I go ahead and take you home with me? We can talk about your paintings and you can get a little cleaned up before heading on your way?" Harry asked softly.

Harry wasn't one to open his home to strangers. He was very serious. Always getting things done and never stopping until every job was completed. He worked at a major charity center. He was CEO and he would make final calls on when, where, and the cost of building schools and orphanages for children and homes for the poor.

"Yes sir. Thank you, sir." Louis said quietly but gratefully. He didn't want this offer to fall. Maybe this man could hire him to be his maid or something, even though they haven't known each other for barely 30 minutes.

Harry nodded, taking the box from the boys small arms and walking along, with Louis following close behind.