Killer Child

Chapter 4 - River

I winced as the shopping bag handles dug into my palms. Why did I volunteer to do the shopping? And why did we have to run out of everything now? Suddenly, I came into a fork in the road. I turned to go right but stopped and looked in front of me. It was a dark alleyway filled with dustbins and black bags. I grinned. In my books, whenever the hero went into a dark alleyway, something happened. Squaring my shoulders, I walked on.

The smell coming from the bins was horrible and every so often an old, torn newspaper rolled over my feet. I shivered. Maybe I should have gone the over way… I turned to go but a groan caught my attention. I pricked my ears up. Yes, there it was again. Dropping the bags, I moved cautiously moved towards the groans. A grubby blue trainer peaked out from behind a bunch of black bags. Holding my breath, I looked around and almost screamed in shock. It was the boy from before, but he was in a seriously bad condition. His grey–looking face was covered in sweat and his left leg was covered in blood. His mouth dropped open when he saw me.

“River?” He cried. He tried to move but it caused a fresh wave of agony and he whimpered. I squatted down next to him and peered at his wound. It looked much worse closer up, and was oozing pus.

“What happened?” I asked.

“A dog bit me.” He explained, clutching his bad leg. He coughed and shivered, making fear fill me. How long has he been here? I pressed the back of my hand to his clammy forehead. It was hot enough to fry an egg. My assumptions were confirmed. Fever. I shrugged off my jacket and placed it around his shoulders.

“Here, you need to keep warm.” I suddenly remembered I had brought anti-septic and bandages and the shop. “I’ll be right back.”

Leaving him wrapped in my jacket, I rushed over to the shopping bags I had abandoned, and I rummaged around before finding what I was looking for. I hurried back and started unravelling the bandages. He watched with an amused expression on his face.

“What a lucky coincidence, hey?” He grinned. I smiled back in reply and tore open the packet of bandages. 

"Are you going to tell me your name this time?" I asked, picking up the bottle of anti-septic. Otto's grin wavered and slumped back against the wall.

"...Otto." He mumbled, averting his eyes.

Nice to finally put a name to his face. I thought to myself, opening the bottle of anti-septic. Ever so slowly, I dripped the liquid onto his wound. Otto yelled out and grasped his leg tightly.

“Hey, it’s anti-septic! It’s meant to sting a bit!” I retorted. Otto glared at me before removing his hand and closing his eyes. As I continued to drip onto his wound, he had a sharp intake of breath, before biting on his knuckles. The minutes seemed to drag on forever but once I was satisfied all the pus had gone and the wound looked cleaned, I grabbed a bandage and started wrapping it around his leg. Slowly, Otto opened one eye.

He didn’t open the other one until I had tied the bandage. I sat back, looking with pride at my work. He gingerly patted the wound and didn’t wince. He smiled at me.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. Maybe I’ll make a good nurse one day.” I laughed. I packed the rest of the bandages away. “Do you think you’ll be able to walk?”

“I can try…” Slowly, he stood up and took one step forward. He gasped in pain and would’ve fallen over if I hadn’t steadied him.

“Lean on me.” I ordered, placing one of his arms around my shoulders. He placed one foot forward and smiled.

“Hey, I can do it.” He beamed.

Eventually, we made it to the end of the alleyway and he looked at me.

“Where shall I go?”

“I’m sure Mum and Dad wouldn’t mind letting you stay for a while.” I shrugged. Suddenly, Otto looked terrified.

“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea…” He stammered, looking like he was about to be sick.

“Don’t worry; we’ve had people stay the night before. We can just say that you’re my friend from school.” I reassured him. Otto still looked scared but before he could say anything else, I pulled him along and we headed towards my street.