3 Street rats

"Hey, kid you ok?" A man spoke as he looked at the dirty child on the ground. He has seen this kid appear around town a few weeks ago. The kid had dark hair and deep blue eyes, a frown seemed to be permanently stuck on his face, he would be considered a beautiful child if he wasn't dirty all over and a doom and gloom aura on him. He also notices the haunting eyes the kid had as if he had seen too much of this world's cruelty. It broke his heart knowing that this kid was about the same age as his niece, and already he was abandoned by his family. He resisted the temptation in bringing him home, he would at the very least point him in the orphanage direction.

"Look kid, if you go east you should see a big building in red bricks, with a green door, go in and tell them you don't have anyone to take care of you. They will take you in, well at least until your eight." The man didn't get too close, he pointed in the direction he spoke of, once done he nodded. In his head he was confident in his good action, he walked away feeling lighter at his good action.

Zen watched the man leave, he hadn't spoken one word. The light in his eyes was dead, weeks ago he'd ask that same question about the orphanage. The result was a place that was much worse than being on the streets. The adults beat up on the older kids to vent, the older kids beat on the younger kids to vent, and the food was scarce. The manager took most of the money leaving hardly anything for food or beds, the adults in charge force the kids into thefts to which they took a cut. The older kids were in charge and the younger ones were treated as slaves by everyone else. Some night he didn't even get to eat anything, he left the orphanage, not that anyone had cared. It was only until he tried stealing did they beat him up, all the time they did they keep saying stuff like. "You're not allowed to work on our turf and if we see you again will break your bones."

"This isn't really going well for me, I need to find a place where I'm fed a decent meal, the ones in charge at the orphanage are semi-sane, and if I could some status, it would go a long way in order to protect myself. Not having parents suck." Zen looked in the direction the older man had left.

"That old man was an idiot. He lives in this town and he's got no clue about the orphanage states. Still, it doesn't change the fact that I need a place to stay. But with my current appearance, if I approach any adult no one will want to help me. I don't exactly have too many options here. Should I try stealing a fishing boat to go to another island?" He shook his head, the last time he nearly didn't make it, he had seriously underestimated the seas. Even the fact that this was north blue one of the four most calm seas, it still remained a sea. He almost drowns multiple times just on his burn wooden door. He also lost all his food halfway, oh and he was harassed by a few sea creatures. Luckily for him, they seem not that hungry after taking a taste of the burn paddle.

"As much as I hate to say it, my only real option is the orphanage, but I got to risque exposing myself a little more than before. I had hope that I could live low-key, but the environment at the orphanage was much more savage than I was expecting. I thought that there would be abuse but nothing at this scale. I mean the whole thing is just corrupt up the yatzy. Sigh, but my best hope is probably Mr. Simmon, from the little I saw he was no doubt the laziest one there. My chance of convincing him in getting a higher position in power is much better than the others." Zen got up, on his weak legs and slowly made his way back to the orphanage.

On his way, he was spotted by both adults and kids. The adult keeping their distance, and checking their money pouch. The kids trowing a threatening glare at him, that promising a world of pain if he tried anything in their territory. Zen did find all this depressing, there was a marine base on this island, but child thieve were tolerated and almost ignored. The world government put more focus, on hunting down pirates than managing the island around. He also learned that yes people had noticed the smoke coming from his island. But apparently, the marine had gone around calming the people, saying that his island was having a huge bone fire.

Zen knew that someone with a lot of power had basically covered up the massacre on his island. No doubt it has been a smart thing not to mention his origins, because whoever had ordered this, probably didn't want any witnesses. In fact, he was wondering if some noble wasn't part of this little dick move. For one, no marine had gone to check on the smoke, next the pirates had been given free rein in their pillaging and killing. And now the news of the massacre was shut down even before it could come out. Someone very high up in the food chain was pulling the string, sadly he was at the very bottom, and powerless to even learn the names of the ones responsible.

Zen looked at the building and frowns, his past experience in the orphanage had not been pleasant. On his first day, he'd been lock inside a closet, for speaking up at what he thought was a violation of the rules. Only to find out too late, that the rules here did not hold for all who were at the bottom. They could change as quickly as the wind, if someone with any power decides to change something to their benefit, the only one who could stop them is someone with even more power. It became a week of hell for Zen, everything he'd learn at home he had to throw out. His only method of survival was bowing low, pleading and begging for mercy. He only lasted eight days before he decided to leave and tried living on the streets. It had been another failure, this plan was his only shot at a more stable environment. If this also failed, he would be in a really bad spot.

"Ok, you can do this, just sell it like your life depend on it. Well, it does actually." He tried pumping himself up before speaking to Mr. Simmon. This would either bring him up or send him down in a desperate spiral. He took another deep breath and open the door after knocking.