6 Chapter 6

Cecil's blood chilled, and a feeling that felt like his heart was getting stabbed again and again washed over him. The chair dramatically crashed to the floor as he jumped out of his seat. The blood in his ears rushed furiously, and his heart pounded in his chest. 'This was a set-up. I fell for it. My own fault. Quick, what to do next? Get away from them.'

Right as he lifted his leg to run, he felt a weight land on the back of his shirt. He shook it off aggressively and hastily made a decision. Opening his mouth, he screamed as loud as he could.

"HELP ME! I'M BEING KIDNAPPED BY THESE TWO HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS PEOPLE! HELP ME!"

The inn quieted suddenly, and Cecil could feel all the eyes in the inn turn to him. Behind himself, he could hear Travis and Darius rushing out of their seats to assure the public that no, they were not going to kidnap him, they were going to arrest him, but Cecil bawled loudly before they could even say the first word.

"I'M SCARED! I GOT LOST FROM MY MOM TODAY, AND THEY BROUGHT ME HERE! M-MY FAMILY IS REALLY RICH! MY PARENTS WILL DEFINETELY PAY YOU IF YOU HELP ME! I HAVE PROOF, TOO! SEE?"

Cecil shoved his hand into his pocket, and his fingers closed firmly against one of the coin bags. With just a quiver in his lips, he flung the pouch into the air. It rotated in the air as if it was in slow motion, and all the eyes in the inn flew to it as the gold coins inside started falling out.

Clang!

There was a single moment of silence as everyone's stunned eyes darted between the coin bag and Cecil.

Then, it was a pandemonium.

"Catch those kidnappers!"

"Save the kid!"

"Hands off! This is my money! I laid my eyes on it first!

"Call the guards!"

Travis and Darius struggled to untangle themselves from the crowd peacefully, but it wasn't long after until they were cornered. Unwilling to attack the inn guests, they could only helplessly defend themselves from the barrage of beatings.

Using the chaos as cover, Cecil snuck out from the inn by using the tables as cover and crawling under people's feet. His clothes may have been stepped on a few times and dragged through a few questionable substances, but they were already so shabby, what was a little more?

Cecil ran back to the safehouse he found, huffing and puffing the entire way. As soon as he was inside and safe, he crashed to the floor, holding onto the wall to sit upright. His chest throbbed.

Scrambling through his clothes, he breathed out a sigh of relief when he discovered he still had the other coin bag and briefly mourned the loss of the other.

He gently set it down on the floor, wrinkling his nose as a disgusting smell wafted to his nose. Thinking back, Cecil let out a disgruntled groan and buried his face in his hands.

"I must have crawled through something horrid earlier. These aren't even fit as cleaning rags, how can I even wear them now? I will have to go out to get a new set of clothes, but those guys are probably going to keep looking for me in this town. It likely won't be long either until they find me? What should I do?" Cecil bemoaned.

"I can't let myself be recognized, I can't keep wearing these clothes, heck, I can't even go do my usual stealing! There are so many problems... is there anything that I can even do?" Cecil grabbed his hair in frustration before sighing at his own incapability.

"I need to throw these clothes away first though. I can't keep wearing them if they're like this. Ah, during times like these, I really wish I had a partner again. It would really make things so much easier." Making up his mind, Cecil let go of his hair and leaned on the wall for support as he hauled himself off the floor.

His body continued to buzz with adrenaline as he stumbled out the door, picking up his new shoes after a moment of thought. Cecil scrunched up his face and lamented silently at the building headache in the back of his head, but he continued to move (it wasn't like his usual, silent walk, more like floundering around) to the trash disposal area.

"I guess I'll have to go dumpster diving again, but the biggest problem right now..." He mumbled to himself as he turned the corner. A awful stench wafted out of it, and Cecil's eyes watered at the odor before pinching his nose reflexively. The boots were dropped next to the wall a moment later.

'Just my luck that the most disgusting dumpster in the entire town is the closest one to here.' Cecil cried to himself mentally as he wiped his tears away, forcing his eyes open.

A sea of trash greeted him, more trash outside of the dumpster than inside. The damp concrete was littered with various animal droppings and rotten food that Cecil couldn't identify.

'The Dumpster of the Dumpsters,' Cecil mused to himself as he forced a reluctant foot inside. 'The old trash collection area in these slums. Since it was deserted by most people after that flood a few years ago, the majority of the people that live in this part are criminals, beggars and the likes. Forgotten by the main part of town, trash has been collecting here for years without anyone to take it away. No doubt that it has certainly lived up to its title.'

Wracking his mind for the clothing dumpster, Cecil tiptoed over to the right side of the alley. Counting the dumpsters to the third one, he peered inside without much high expectations, and it didn't fail to disappoint.

It was full of dusty, faded clothes. Most had holes in them, and Cecil scanned over them contemplatively.

'Maybe some of them are still salvageable.' He tilted his head, reaching a hand in. It came out with an old jacket that looked like it had seen many harsh days before, judging by the multiple stitches on it. Placing it aside, Cecil continued to silently sort through the dumpster.

After about 10 minutes, Cecil finally managed to put together a decent outfit and tossed his old clothes inside without a second thought. Slipping on his new clothes, he ran out of the dumpster alley to switch shoes as well.

While putting on his left boot, his stomach grumbled, and Cecil was suddenly hit with a wave of hunger.

"Right, right, I was supposed to eat dinner earlier, wasn't I?" Cecil thought back to the incident at the inn and grimaced. "I'm never going back again. At this time, the night market is probably one of the only places still selling food. I'll go there."

Cecil let out a decisive nod for himself. After spending all that time in the stinky, old alley, the adrenaline had long worn off, and his body felt heavy with exhaustion. Blinking rapidly, to keep himself focused, he trudged in the direction of the main street.