Reflections of Light

Run Away

Billy was leaning against a garden wall at the end of the road, kicking his feet against the tarmac and waiting to see if his mother would come after him.
He didn't understand why she didn't do that so much anymore. She had the first few times he'd pulled this trick, he'd managed to achieve exactly the desired reaction, but now, not so much.

Scuffing his feet on the pavement, he nonchalantly watched the world go by, as he waited out his mother.

A leaf fell from the tree above him, floating lazily down through the air in front of him, a mottle of colours illuminated by the sun.

Billy watched it, tilting his head to admire it, until something else in the corner of his eye caught his attention.

Taking a few seconds to curiously observe what was going on, he decided to investigate, tucking his things up more securely under his arms, and beginning to absent-mindedly walk towards it.

"...Look, if you come over here, you can see him just around the corner there..."

Luci trailed off, her pointing arm falling.
Then, with barely a seconds pause, took off at a run.

"WILLIAM! COME BACK HERE! WILLIAM!"

Jace was being followed.

He was fully aware of this, and was also fully aware that his shadow was of little threat, being that they didn't come up any higher than his waist, had his shoes undone, and was carrying the fattest Build-a-Bear tiger in existence.

Currently, the kid was spying on him from behind someone's wheelie bin, convinced he was more hidden than he actually was.

He also appeared to be alone, which was quite worrying, as he seemed quite young, hardly old enough to be out on his own.

He called out to the small boy peering out from behind the bin. "Are you alright?"

The boy, realising he'd been spotted, retreated almost shyly behind the bins, as if he could suddenly become unnoticed.

Jace walked towards him. "Hey, it's okay. Are you supposed to be out here alone?"

Billy nodded determinedly. "Yes."

"Really? You sure?"

"Uh..."

"I thought so. Where's your parents?"

Billy stomped his foot. "Not sayin' nofink!"

Jace couldn't help but laugh at this kids attitude.

"Alright, alright. But won't they be worried?"

"No. Mummy wasn't even upset I was movin' out. But I'm going to live all on my own and be all inda-pendent, cos I'm all big now and she's a meanie."

"Live on your own? You're like, what, six?"

"No." Billy scowled, stomping his foot.
"Dis is boring, you're boring! I fought you'd be doing somefink interwesting, but you're not!
Just askin' stupid questions. Dis is stupid!"

"Okay, okay!" Jace was quick to soothe the petulant child, in fear that he'd run off and get himself into trouble.
"Look, I know this is annoying, but you can't exactly be on your own..."

"Can too. Mummy used to leave me alone all day time! Sometimes days an' ages! Ab' den I be all alone in da mansion..."

Jace looked worried. " Really? What, on your own?"

"Well, Miss Evelyn's dere. An' my fwiends, and some uvver people. Miss Evelyn's really smart an' posh an' nice. She showed us how to play hop-scotch, but she was wearin' a really tight, skinny skirt, an' it made her fall over 'cause she couldn't jump prop'ly. Was funny!"

"Sounds great. So, if you're not going to go back to your Mum, what about calling or going to Miss Evelyn's? Is this Evelyn Mater, by the way?"

"She phoned Mummy da uvver day. Was angry at Mummy, I fink for taking me away to da new house. I don't like da new house, it's teeny small and people keep eating my special cereal, and I can't watch the telly in the front room because..."

"WILLIAM ROSEWATER!"

Billy visibly shrank at his mother's yell, guilt etching itself across his face.

"You do NOT run away from home to punish me!

And you do NOT follow strangers into dark alleys!"

She snatched his hand, smacking the back of it none too lightly, yanking him towards her and away from Jace.

She crouched in front of him, turning him towards her, as he tried to avoid her eyes.

"Do you hear me? That was a very bad thing to do! You have never been in more trouble, ever! You scared me to death, do you know that? Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

Billy turned his face to look at his mother, and immediately broke down in tears.

Luci put her arms around him. "I'm sorry, Sweetheart, but you understand what a bad thing to do that was, right? What if something had happened to you? I wouldn't have been able to get there in time."

She scooped him up in her arms, tucking his possessions up next to him.

His overstuffed tiger fell out her arms onto the floor.

Jace picked it up, brushing it off and handing it to her.
She took it, eyeing him warily.

Jace chuckled nervously under her scrutinising gaze. "Hey, no harm no foul, right? He's okay. I made sure nothing happened to him."

"Doesn't matter. He shouldn't have left home in the first place."

"Well, yes, definitely, but..."

Turning on her heel, she strode away, ignoring what he was going to say, her small son clinging to her like a life preserver.

Whoa, this is long! Kind of should have expected it, as I've been working on it since Friday.

Let me tell you, it's hella hard to write Billy's dialogue whilst battling the most over-eager autocorrect in existence.
(No, I don't want to randomly change his name to Benjamin, Billy is an actual name, thank you very much!)