I'm sitting in an old chair, when I hear the sound of the front doors opening. I groggily call out "who's there?" The small boy who had just entered jumps in surprise and drops the case he's holding. I get up and walk over to him. I must look like a wreck, because he scurries back away from me. I lean down and pick up the case he dropped. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. My name is Max." When he doesn't answer, I shrug to myself and hold the case out to him. "You dropped this." I say. He still doesn't say anything. "Are you alright?" I ask. He points to his mouth and shakes his head. "Oh. You're mute, aren't you?" He nods. "I'm sorry" I take off my hat. "How do you communicate, then?" He starts making rapid-fire hand gestures I don't understand, so I say, "Stop, stop, I understand now, but I don't get it. Why did you come here?" He tries to gesture again, but I hold up my hand. "Wait. I have an idea." I walk off through the maze of boxes, until I find my target. When I get back to him, I hand him some chalk and an old piece of chalkboard. "Here. Use this." He writes, "Thanks. Luckily, I'm a whole grade ahead if all the kids in my class, so I can already write fluently. Anyways, the reason I came here is because I ran away. My daddy is often drunk, and he beats me. So I came here, thinking that it was abandoned. But I see you live here, so I'll go now."
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Mad Max
General FictionThis is a story about a reclusive man and a mute boy who become unlikely friends who help each other in many ways.
