No Use for Moonlight

7➪Kathrine

Kathrine couldn't form words as she glanced around the scenery around her. Sure, she knew that the boys didn't live in the best conditions, judging from their dirty clothes. But this was something else. This was horrible and Kathrine wanted it to disappear.

It was dirty, dark, and grimy. The alleyways seemed to sneak away in every direction like a slippery snake. It was dark and dangerous and Kathrine felt sick looking at the puddles. Kids occasionally trailed past, hugging rugged rags to their chests.

Perhaps it looked better in the daylight, but Kathrine seriously doubted it. From her experience, things never looked much better in daylight.

"Welcome to The Outside." Jack said. His voice was causal, and Kathrine couldn't wrap her head around it. He lived here, and grinned? He smiled and joked all while living down where rats made their homes.

Kathrine swallowed the lump in her throat and turned to Jack. "Pretty good place you've got here." She joked shakily.

Jack chuckled. "I know. Built it with my bare hands, including the rats."

"And baby spiders." Elmer added again.

Kathrine glanced around again, though she didn't let her eyes focus on anything specifically. "So, I'm guessing it doesn't get any better from here? Or does it get worse?" She managed to ask.

Jack shrugged. "Not really. Stays the same. Charlie'll show you around." He said firmly, glancing at who Kathrine assumed to be Charlie.

Charlie gave Jack a look, and Jack retaliated with his own look. It was like they were having a whole conversation with their eyes, and it seemed to be a bit of a disagreement. Finally, Charlie groaned and rolled his eyes away from
Jack.

"Follow me." Charlie grumbled, beginning to walk away from Kathrine.

While Kathrine was racing to follow Charlie, she made a few observations about him. First off, which was mildly obvious, he walked with a splintered wooden crutch. He was still fairly fast, and Kathrine had to walk rather fast to keep up with him. Second, he didn't seem thrilled to be giving her the tour of The Outside. He expressed this with his mono-tone voice as he pointed out puddles and grey brick buildings.

It wasn't the best tour Kathrine had been in, but she hadn't on many tours to compare it to, so maybe her opinion was flawed. Maybe Charlie was a superb tour guide as she was too blinded to see it.

She nearly bumbled into him, not realising he'd stopped moving along. She stumbled back, muttering an apology.

He gave her a smile, though it was tight-lipped and fragile it anything. "It's fine. Anyway, how comes you couldn't climb the wall?" He asked, giving her a curious look.

Kathrine gave him her best infuriated glare, but from the way he chuckled, she failed. "Climbing large stone walls is a serious matter. How do all of you do it?" She retorted.

Charlie shrugged. "Dunno. We just do." And that was all the explanation he gave, leaving Kathrine confused and even more confused.

"Even you?" She asked, letting the words spill out before she actually managed a single thought. She expected Charlie to glare at her again, or just walk away.

But he laughed. "Yeah, you see that mountain over there," He gestured wildly to a mountain his by more grey buildings. "I have the record for climbing that. 0.5 seconds to be precise." He told her, acting serious, but his slight grin gave away his joking nature.

Kathrine laughed, and Charlie gave her a look again. Kathrine immediately straightened up and cleared her throat. So much for that bonding moment. Now it was back to being distant and grumpy.

Hooray.