As Free As The Birds

Nelle woke up and felt her hands tied up around something cold, it seemed like a metal pipe. She looked around, and all around her were some racks filled with boxes full of parts and unused things.

Across the room was the door out, she looked over her shoulder and at the corner of her eye, she could see that rope was the thing that was keeping her tied up.

"Great, just what I needed." She groaned.

Trying to struggle her hands out of the rope she slowly stood up, she could feel her back sliding up the cold, hard surface. Her legs suddenly felt cramped, being stuck unconscious in that uncomfortable position for a while was straining her muscles.

Nelle looked for something she could use to cut the rope around her hands, but all the things that were possible to cut the rope was way out of her reach. The racks and boxes were at least a few feet away.

She could think of two possible ways to escape, one was to call for help hoping that someone would help her get out, not questioning why she was tied up in the first place, but that would be wishful thinking.

The second option was to try and untie the rope with her hands, she quickly moved her hands around, trying to find the rope's knot. After a minute of struggle, she finally felt something that could be the knot. After a few attempts of untying herself, she gave up out of fatigue.

Nelle panted, looking up to the room's ceiling. She noticed that the ceiling had the pipe continuing up above, there was a small space that was giving off light from the upper floor.

She suddenly thought up of an idea, one that might just get her out of there.

Meanwhile, on the floor above, the yellow suited man was at the section of the De Veue' where the private rooms are. He was in his room, sitting down on a chair opening a red handbag on a wooden table, his eyes fixated on the contents that lied within.

His bodyguard was outside, guarding the door.

He rustled around the bag and pulled out a box, it was as big as his hand, and was kept tightly shut with a padlock. He kept the key somewhere no one could find, what was in that box was something he could never leave without. Or better said, something he could never live without.

A knock on the door took his attention away from the box, it was the bodyguard outside.

"Sir, the girl is secured. She won't be able to leave that room."

"And what about miss Lundmann?"

"I tied her up and locked the door shut. She won't be leaving that room anytime soon, sir."

He placed the box back in the bag, closing it up with the bag's zipper. He stood up from his chair and hid the bag under the wooden table, and walked to the door, opening it to see the bodyguard standing there waiting patiently for his next orders.

"Come, we have more important matters to attend to."

The bodyguard nodded, "Yes sir."

They walked down the private room's hallway then he abruptly stopped and turned to his bodyguard.

"Where's the other guard?"

"I don't know, sir."

He shrugged, "No matter, only one will do."

In a small room located somewhere deep in the second floor of the De Veue' was the nameless girl, her dark blue elegant hair was now a mess; her skin was now sticky from the sweat that dried up. Trapped in a room with only a light from above and a door that was tightly shut.

Her eyes were red and puffy from crying several times. She wiped her face with her clothes, still rather clean but has seen better days.

She wrapped her arms around her legs hiding her face. Once again, she felt trapped. Alone in the dark with no one to be with. The room was cold, she wanted to cry for help but her throat had given in to the pain from shouting repeatedly.

"Someone… Please.." She sobbed, in a raspy voice.

The orange sunset sky had completely disappeared, the moon's light taking over the whole sky over the town that is called Woodstolve. The crowd that was surrounding the bakery had finally gone away, after a good hour.

"Finally.." Sho sighed as he walked to the bakery's counter along with Connard.

There was a boy with black hair working at the counter, he was wiping the counter with a white clean cloth and he notices the two coming in his direction.

"Oi! Samson! Prepare me a fresh batch of dough!" Connard shouted.

Samson left the counter and quickly grabbed a fresh piece of dough, he placed it down on a wooden board. Giving a thumbs up to Connor, who was entering the bakery along with Sho.

Sho looked around the bakery in awe, he could see all kinds of tools and ingredients. All sorts of baking trays and tins, cutters, and whisks hung from the walls; two kilns connecting to the ceiling and to the outside that drew the crowd in from earlier. Turning his head to the right, he could see Samson and two other people.

One was a girl that looked older than Sho, and a bit more taller than him. She had dark purple hair and light turquoise eyes and wore a brown shirt and a dark grey apron. The other person was beside Samson, a boy that had a strong resemblance to Samson's face.

"Sam! Sam! I made a dough worm!" The boy laughed as he wiggled a piece of dough like a worm.

Samson clicked his tongue and took the piece of dough out of the boy's hands.

"Don't play with that, Mako! You'll get us in trouble for playing with ingredients!"

Samson scolded him, Mako was Makoto shortened. But Samson liked to keep names short and simple. He and Mako were brothers, they lived a few blocks away from the bakery, and they needed a job because their father wasn't earning enough money to get the medicine their mother needed.

"Hah! Don't worry about it, Samson. It's fine!" Connard laughed.

"I-If you say so, sir.."

He looked down at his brother with eyes resembling some sort of wolf. Mako felt a shudder go down his spine, he slowly backed away and ran behind the girl with dark purple hair. She looked at Mako, confused then turned to look at Sam but he quickly averted his gaze.

"Well, anyways.. Let me start preparing." Connard tended to the piece of dough that Sam got for him. "What do you want, Sho?"

Sho recalled what his uncle told him, "Uh.. The usual bread.. Three pieces and your special, oh- make that five pieces please!"

Connard smiled and gave a thumbs-up, "Leave it to me!" He grabbed a rolling pin and started flattening the dough. While he was preparing the bread, Sho looked at the three of them and watched.

"M-Miss Annie! Help me!" Mako yelled as he buried his face in the dark purpled hair's name which was Hasashi, she gave a half confused, half awkward smile as Mako cried his heart out into her apron.

"Makoto! Don't ruin Annie's apron!" Samson tried to pull Makoto's messy tear-covered face off her apron; he didn't budge a single time. Annie didn't know what to do so she just continued to smile like nothing was happening.

Sho just laughed, it seemed that the three got along quite well. A few minutes passed by and the bakery finally calmed down, though Annie's apron was ruined at the end of it all. Samson and Makoto deeply bowed and apologized to her, she was caught off guard; she was quickly flustered, and her face grew beet red.

"N-No it's fine.. I'll just have it cleaned by the morning.." She shyly said she hung her head low.

"Let us clean it!" Samson quickly offered.

"Let my brother clean it!" Makoto said.

"Eh?" They both turned to each other, "What did you say?" The two of them said at the same time.

"You ruined her apron, Makoto! So you have to help me!"

"Huh?! It's your fault for growling at me like some sort of rabid wolf!"

"Wolf?! Why you…"

"H-He's doing it again! Save me, Miss Annie!"

Annie giggled at the two brothers, they both quickly stopped what they were doing and looked at her, looking somewhat confused.

"You two really are brothers." She smiled. Her kindness shined from within like a bright star in the sky, they both quickly averted their gaze and blushed. Sho's cheeks couldn't help but grow red as well, though he noticed and quickly looked down and covered his face.

Annie giggled, shortly after it grew into a laugh. The two boys joined in and laughed as well. Sho had a memory pass through his head, a time when he and his parents were playing outside the farm. He sighed, wishing they were still around.

Makoto noticed Sho sitting down alone and walked up to him, he noticed him coming in his direction.

"Hey there." Sho waved his hand.

"U-Uh, Hi.."

He sat down beside Sho but didn't say anything afterward.

Sho crossed his arms and sighed. He couldn't stand the cold and silent air so he thought up a good conversation.

"So, what made you work for Mister Connard? It's been a while since I've come here so I don't have much information on what's been happening around these parts."

"My brother and I needed money to buy medicine for our mom because our dad can't get enough money on his own."

Sho nodded, "That's good, having your whole family still around."

Makoto looked at him, unsure of what the meaning behind his words were.

"U-Um.. What do you mean by-"

"Sho! Your delicious baked goods are ready and hot!" Connard said as he pulled out a steaming hot tray of different kinds of bread, the steam still rising from the golden-brown dough.

"Ah, your bread is ready- Uwhee?!" Sho suddenly took Makoto's hands and wrapped them with his own.

"No matter how hard it gets, stick with your family. It's the only important thing in this world." Sho said with a smile, Makoto's eyes widened. The smile hit something deep within him. His smile was similar to Makoto's mother.

"Sho.."

He let go of Makoto's hands and stood up. Walking towards Connard who had already prepared the goods in a paper bag.

"Thank you, Mister Connard. Let me just get your payment-"

Connard placed his hand on Sho's shoulder and gave him a smile. "No need! It's on the house!"

Sho nodded and left the bakery, but just after he walked a few meters away from the bakery he turned around and shouted, "I'll make sure to have Uncle Kenji give you the best batch of baking ingredients you'll need!"

"I'll look forward to it!"

Makoto watched from over the counter as Sho walked away with the moon slowly rising from afar.

He gripped on his shirt where his heart was near as he felt his heart beating extremely fast.

"He's kind.. Just like mom.."