The Story of The Prince

Chapter 3: Lost In The Windy City

A gust of wind blew in his face as he read the big letters again.
'CHICAGO' he read again, not believing what his eyes were telling him.
He stepped back in fear and accidentally bumped against a grumpy looking man.
"Watch it kid!" the man said angrily before walking further across the pavement.

"what do I do now?" Kyl thought to himself. He had never visited Chicago before.
He was just a scared, little boy all alone in a big and unknown city.

He had no idea how he ended up here or how long he had been traveling.
Now that he thought of it, the entire trip felt like a dream.
But it wasn't a dream. He actually was here and he really didn't know what to do.

He looked up and saw the sun rise.
As the light of the sun shone down on the city it filled him with a soothing feeling.
For some reason he always felt more comfortable when the sun was out.
He didn't have an explanation for it, all he knew was that he was at his best in the sun.

It was still somewhat cold outside, but not as cold as in his hometown.
This was a different kind of cold though. More breezy.
He had once heard that Chicago was also known as 'The Windy City'.
"I guess it lives up to its name.." Kyl thought to himself.

Kyl decided to look for a place where he could eat or get shelter.
He didn't have enough money to get back home, but maybe he would be able to find a good place to sleep, or at least some food.

He had no idea where to go, but decided it would be for the best if he walked away from the center of the city.
There would be no way he'd be able to afford a place in that part of the city.

Walking, walking and even more walking. It felt like it would never end.
The sun had risen higher up in the sky by now. Whenever a cloud blocked the sun Kyl felt his steps getting heavier.
Luckily for him the sky was mostly clear today. A rare occurrence this time of year.

After what seemed like forever Kyl noticed that the buildings around him started looking a lot more like normal homes.
The busyness of downtown Chicago seemed to fade away.
There were still quite a lot of people, but not as much as earlier.

"This is a good place to look..." Kyl thought as he walked through an older looking neighborhood.
The sun was at the other side of the horizon by now.

He must have been walking all day.
He definitely felt like it.
He had not gotten any sleep in almost 24 hours. He was exhausted.

As he looked for a place to stay Kyl hoped things would turn out well for him.
However, luck wasn't on his side that moment.

He walked past an alleyway dividing two buildings when he suddenly felt a tugging on his jacket.
He looked around and saw two older looking boys grinning at him with looks in their eyes that just screamed 'trouble'.

"How's it going buddy?" the taller one said. He had beady eyes that studied him thoroughly.
Kyl didn't like it one bit.
"Just.. Walking.." Kyl said with a weak voice.
He barely had the strength to talk after today.

"Isn't that nice.." the tall one said with a threatening look.
"Well that 'walking' you seem to be doing here, annoys me. This here is our turf, we don't want any outsiders in it." he continued.
"yeah no outsiders!" the other boy yelled with a squeaky voice.

Kyl wanted to back away from the boys, but they grabbed him and pulled him into the alleyway with them.
He tried to break free from the tall boy his grip, but he was easily overpowered due to the age difference and the fact that he was exhausted.

"Entering our turf comes with a price buddy." the tall boy said while pinning him to a wall.
"Empty his pockets!" the other boy said.
The tall one acted accordingly and searched his jacket.
He grabs the money and puts it in his own pocket.
"Looks like our lady is gonna get treated tonight." he said grinning.

Kyl felt completely hopeless.
What was he supposed to do now?
He had no money, no shelter and no food. It was all over for him.

"Don't show your face here again, buddy." the tall boy snarled.
"We wouldn't want something bad happening to you, would we?"
Kyl nodded in fear.
"Glad we can agree on that." the boy said.
"Now scram" he said.
The tall boy dropped him to the ground and walked away with the other boy.

Kyl felt his consciousness slipping away as he fell to the ground.

It was cold, dark and lonely once again.