Back To The Past (4)

Little Jason for the first time smiled in years as he looked at the little kid in front of him who is smiling and playing happily without the concern of the world.

"What is your name?"

Jason asked and interrupted the kid's play.

"My name is Derry, mama said papa gave it to me, he then went to become a star in the sky with grandma and grandpa"

Jason nodded, even though he is timid and scared doesn't mean he didn't understand what the adults around his talked, to survive he had to figure out his surroundings and so he did, he understood what adults talked about, even though some things still made no sense to him, matters such as death and fraud was very clear to Jason.

"What is your name, big brother?"

Little Derry asked as he looked at Jason's emotionless face.

"My name is Jason"

"So can I call you Brother Jason? Brother Jason."

Jason nodded.

He continued to look at Derry as he made up stories about Mr. Horsee and Mrs. Twinkle adventuring far and wide.

Suddenly Jason noticed his father exiting out of the tent with a fat envelope in hand, a bald man walked behind him.

Jason's father pointed his finger at Jason showing him to the bald man, the bald man took a glance at Jason and nodded.

Jason's father laughed and walked away without even taking a glance at Jason, he was salivating looking at the fat envelope in his hand.

Jason just looked at his father walking away with no emotion, he understood one thing, his father sold him, he didn't know the consequence but he still felt better staying here than going back with this so-called father of his.

From the moment Jason remembered, he had always seen his father be physical with him, beat him, call him a leech, scold him. At first, he thought all fathers are like that but soon he came to the realization that his father is the worst of all, he had seen fathers of the kids around his slum work hard day and night to feed their son and daughter but his father would even take away the money he begged and brought back, he would even beat him if he didn't collect enough money to buy his beer.

Jason felt nothing seeing this man walk away from his life.

A day passed and Jason spent it with Derry, Jason felt different from his usual day, he had someone to hang out with, the place didn't smell and it was warm.

'Being here doesn't seem that bad after all'

Jason is still naive so he doesn't know what's going on, the change of surrounding made him feel good and happy.

As another day is coming to an end, he noticed something, the children around here are very little compared to before, he then noticed the bald man he saw yesterday with his father walked towards him and Derry.

"You two come with me"

The bald man said with a cold voice, Derry got a little scared and hid behind Jason, Jason is also scared but he is the bigger one amongst them so he had to get over his timidness and follow the bald man.

Jason held Derry's hand and smiled at him.

"It's going to be ok, just follow me"

Derry nodded and quietly followed behind Jason as he followed the bald guy, soon they entered the big tent in the middle of the area.

As Jason entered the tent, he saw some men sitting around with guns in their hand, some women with very little clothes sitting next to them, in the middle of all this, a man with a black beard, hair with a deep scar mark on his cheek sitting on a chair with one leg above the other, he held a black gun in his hand.

This man looked at Jason and Derry.

"How much did you pay?"

He asked the bald man.

"5000 Gs for the big one and 2000 Gs for the little one"

The bald man answered.

The bearded man looked closely at Jason.

"Hey skinny kid come here"

He called Jason towards him, Jason tried to go towards him but suddenly felt Derry's grip tighten around his hand, he looked at Derry and patted his head.

"It will be ok don't worry"

Jason said, hearing him Derry nodded and let go of his hand.

Jason walked towards the bearded man, the bearded man bent down and looked at Jason's eyes.

"His eyes are very unusual, very black, I can't even tell if he is scared or not"

The man said as he grabbed Jason's cheek and turned it left and right.

"He has a pretty face and with his unique eyes he will fetch a lot of money, especially to those rich freak bastards"

He said and looked at Derry.

"He doesn't seem any special, he also has a pretty face but he is too young"

He paused and then looked at the bald man again.

"Feed this skinny one properly till he looks healthy again, as for that small one raise him for two years then let's think about it later"

He said and turned around, he dragged a woman who was sitting on the couch with him inside a separate room and closed the door from inside.

"Ok now get out from here"

The bald man said, hearing him Jason quickly grabbed Derry and brought him out.

Jason and Derry went back to their usual spot, Jason's heart is beating at an extreme rate, he was very scared, every second felt like someone is suffocating him.

He looked at Derry who was smiling at him.

"Brother Jason, just like you said nothing happened"

Jason smiled and nodded, he looked back at the tent, he is afraid but his eyes helped him hide his emotions.

'I have to figure out what is going on here. If something is bad I have to escape with Derry'.