Chapter 9

Chapter 9: A Very Strange Friend

Altoz blushes. "Do you really think that?"

"Of course," Balazs replies. "I'm not stupid. People never believe that I'm younger than I am. They always assume that I'm older, but I've never met anyone who guessed that I'm only sixteen. I'm almost certain that if I told everyone that I'm only ten, nobody would believe me."

"Ten?"

"Yep," Balazs says. "Remember how I said I had a brother who died?"

"Yes."

"Well, he was the same age as me. He died in the war, though. That's what happens when you're born in a country that's fighting a war against a nation that's bigger and stronger than yours. Anyway, it's not important. What matters is that I was ten when he died, and I haven't grown since then. I'm still a child, even though I look older.