Haven

1

"Please stop," the small boy whispered, to quiet for anyone to hear him. Of course this wouldn't stop the group of teenagers tormenting the injured bird. The bird had a bad wing, that was most likely broken, preventing it from flying away and escaping the torture. The boy began to cry, pleading with the teenagers to let the bird go. Finally hearing the boy, the group only laughed and began to pull at the wings of the bird making the boy fall to his knees in despair.
His small body went numb as the sound of the bird's cries stopped and all fell silent. It was dead. They had killed it.

8 years later

"Listen up little bitch, you cant do anything you're weak and frankly quite pathetic," the bulky said roughly shoving his victim to the ground. The boy on the ground sat up once his attacker walked away, finally satisfied with the damage he'd caused. He wiped the mud from his face with the back of his brown sweater and reached for his round glasses. Pushing them up the bridge of his nose he stood with a sigh. Elias always seemed to be in this position, pushed to the ground by some random person who decided they would pick on the frail boy. He had never been one to stand up for himself; he mostly just let people do whatever they wanted with him.

Being the quiet kid was usually an easy job, nobody ever payed attention to you. However, people saw Elias, and for reason, they usually didn't like him. He was surprisingly okay with the harsh words and bruises. They didn't bother him like they would any other victim. He had grown so used to it by now, since he had been bullied since he was about 5 years old. He assumed people only bullied him because he was small and vulnerable.

Elias pulled himself up using the brick wall of the school building. The school day ended about 2 hours ago, but he stuck around to help the librarian shelf books and a couple other things. This only took about 30 minutes and when he finished he went to tend to his garden. He had found the old abandoned greenhouse behind the school at the beginning of his freshman year. It was now the fall of his junior year, and his garden had grown to be quite successful. He would often take his vegetable produce to the school kitchen for them to serve at lunch, and sometimes they even paid him for it.

Today in particular he left his green house to walk home. He was met with the all to familiar face of Brayden Coston. Elias's stomach dropped, he was having such a good day he had only been shoved a couple times in the halls. He sighed, expecting the usual and braced his small body for the punches.

Elias watched as Brayden walked with his head held high back to truck. His right eye was just beginning to swell and his basket of carrots laid overturned on the ground. He dusted his sweater once more then bent to pick up his backpack and the strewn carrots. He frowned at the basket of vegetables, they were practically shredded from the impact and covered in dirt. Walking to the main road once Brayden had driven off, he turned left instead of right towards his house. He would walk to the edge of the woods in the park and leave the carrots there for the animals.

Once in the park he waved at a passing mother and her children on the path. He turned abruptly and pushed through the trees at the edge of the park to reveal a faint trail through the woods. This was Elias's favorite spot in the whole world. He loved the way the oak trees stretched over his head to create a canopy that stretched the length of the hidden path. He walked to the small brook that ran alongside the makeshift path. There he left the basket of carrots he would pick up the basket tomorrow sometime. Tomorrow was Saturday which meant he could spend the whole day reading or in the woods.

The stretch of woods was only connected to the city by the park next to it. From there it stretched up and out past the mountain range that surrounded Elias's hometown. The farthest he had gone was only halfway to the mountains, but tomorrow he had planned to go all the way to the base of the mountains. It was about 13 miles from his spot to the base. He noticed the sun hanging low in the sky and checked the time on his phone. 5:44.

As he opened his door he sighed with relief. His dad wasn't home yet, meaning he wouldn't be home until late. Elias's father worked then came home 6:30 except for some occasions where he would go out after only to stumble home drunk.

Elias blended a layer of concealer over his eye and face and threw on a black hoodie, leaving the hood up. He put a plate of spaghetti in the microwave from dinner a couple nights ago. As he ate he pulled out his journal and began to write out his plan for tomorrow's hike. His father wouldn't miss him; he'd be too hungover or even getting drunk again to notice him leave.

I literally don't know what this is or where it's going? but uh yeah enjoy I guess.
-Kai