1 New Roads [I]

A boy sulked near the benches constructed in the culdesac. Houses were more or less desolate of any life, but life still evident from onlookers as the flickers of lights began emanating to signify the night of day.

Lynn Taisei looked down from where he fell, scraping a large portion of his knee from the pavement. Not accounting all the other injuries of red marks of some missing flesh and bruises. Not much could be heard as the crickets began their ballads of cries and the night prowlers started stalking their prey in silence. Pieces of asphalt already embedded in his skin, and no adults in sight nearby for supervision.

He was only seven as he faced issues with his family. His parents divorced and both wedded others as their truly beloved, only to forget the byproduct of their failed marriage. The only one that paid any heed to his presence was his stepdad, who always had a nasty look to him as he stared with ill intent. And the stepmom that wanted to dictate his entire life, brainwashing him that nobody cares about his existence besides her.

Lynn was at the brink of his mind, his body couldn't handle any more abuse, he wanted to end it all. But he didn't know how...

A man cautiously eyed him down, fidgety as he looked as he moved closer. A night prowler eyeing his prey.

"Are you okay child? Do you need any help?"

Lynn Taisei twitched at the mere word 'help'. He looked up from his surroundings to see the man, wearing a dark streak hoody and a pair of jeans, mostly wore down through the ages.

"H-Help?"

"You look very injured boy. Come let's get you fixed up."

The dark garbed man took him by the arm as Lynn Taisei, almost like a ragdoll, still an arm's length as he covered his eye to rub the tears with his other arm. The grip on his forearm was strong, causing the pain from a bruise to almost skyrocket.

This night prowler would then have his bounty soon enough when-

A blast of a handgun cried out in the air. The sound of a large bang awoken pretty much the entire culdesac as lights from the houses began turning off one by one. This was as most would often mention the worst part of town there was.

"I suggest you put that young boy down."

One of the residents of the culdesac was watching with a wistful observation at Lynn as he watched all this unfold. He finally intervened as he shot his firearm towards the sky, and replied with a raspy and hoarse voice.

"Look, you don't want to start any trou-" He interrupted once more.

"Boy, Down, Now." He didn't take no for an answer for sure.

The same darkness made everything hard to glance at what these silhouettes were on about. As both stared at one another for a good minute. In sudden succession, a strange event had occurred where one seemed strained as he let out rapid breaths for air. A pained expression painted the captor's face as he clutched his arm, not illuminated by the street light.

"Alright....keep the kid."

From what Lynn remembered of the man was akin to a summer's day of bleak and dull color as it passed quickly to speak of its praise. He seemingly vanished at that point.

"You should tread carefully at night child, else those that hunt down innocent people like you will show up at your doorstep, go home."

He stood up from his rocking chair as a squeak emanated from the floorboards of his porch and chair screeched on each other.

"I don't want to go home..."

For some reason, the man didn't expect that answer and scoffed in disbelief.

"Look, kid, just go back to your mommy and da-"

"They don't want me..."

"Why should that matter to me? Then how about any relatives..?"

"None...."

"Guardian? Landlord?"

"What's that?"

The disgruntled groans of the man revealed his elderly status but pushed on as it is.

He stood up lopsided as a cane in his hand attempted to level him to the ground.

"What's your name?"

"Lynn...?"

"Alright, Leen," He stammered on the steps pretty hard as his cane went down each step to get closer to Lynn.

The markings of abuse became much more noticeable from the step father's side, rashes formed from the great friction of the rope on his hands, the shirt on his body had a portrait of red and brown on the back that seeped into the white canvas.

"I can't do much for you kid, the laws here specifically at least. Come here for a quick second."

Lynn thought he seemed friendly enough and followed his order, grasping the side of his body to resist the burning pain on his back. It was unbearable, however, the young boy suffered through this many times and this wasn't the worst of it.

The man began walking off from the side into a patch of grass on his neighbor's lawn, shortly on the sidewalk. Lynn tried his best to keep his expression in check as he tried following.

Lynn thought he needed to catch up so he took a brisk pace to cut the distance as it was quite wide from the start, but the old man made it seem as it were impossible.

Lynn didn't know if minutes or hours passed, but they were walking for quite a while. The sound of crickets died out with the sound of the oncoming traffic running to and fro to accomplish their tasks.

He finally broke the silence with a simple question.

"What's your name?"

"You're asking for that now? Has no one ever told you not to follow strangers..." Yeah, who would tell him that? Not exactly his parents. He looked at Lynn for a quick second before doubling his pace, making it harder for him to keep track. If no one noticed he was old, he would seem like an experienced marathon runner.

Lynn was having trouble keeping pace but did his best to at least get to where he was at.

The walking soon became jogging. Then shortly to running and then sprinting. How long has it been now? It didn't matter to Lynn at this point as his sole goal was to reach to where the man was at. But just as he thought he would reach him, the man would continue to speed up the moment Lynn was near.

His panting caused the air to crystallize as the man stopped at a nearby park with another bench.

The resting was blissful as he sat on the bench, steam emanating from his body as his hot tired body reacted to the cold winter night. He was practically shivering at this point compared to the man decked out in entire coats and mittens.

"Why...did you run?" Lynn Taisei spoke as he gasped for even more air. The man jolted and looked at Lynn once more with a peculiar face.

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Not exactly..."

"To relieve your pain of course!"

The dialect of an intermediate school kid was rather rich at this point and an angry response was all he felt.

"Relieve what pain!?" He pouted with a strong glare towards him. The man seemed surprised at his reaction to their 'walk' but felt obligated to tell anyway.

"Don't you get it? What do you feel now?"

"What do you think I feel? I feel tired as hel-"

Lynn didn't realize this now, but something in him could feel what the answer was. His sole purpose to catch up to the man was all in his mind, the unbearable pain was no longer felt with but a strong numbing sensation. The tired and wrought out body made him feel the crisp cold air, the misty fog of breath and water vapor. To even the hums of the vending machine to keep the drinks warm, almost as if his ears could hear even more sound than usual. The sound of the crickets never stopped at any moment during his marathon, it made him feel grounded to the earth beneath him.

"World's much better now isn't it when you don't focus on the bad stuff."

Both stood in silence as the man proceeded to take out a cigarette from his coat pocket, along with his lighter.

The man took a huge puff and let out a dark mist.

"The name's Helzinger. Edmund Helzinger."