Stray Story - 001

This story is something of an embarrassment to me. Whilst I may admit to being just a kid, perhaps I only truly realised what that meant after the events I'm about to tell you about.

After I realised just how childish I really am. The consequences of my previous actions which I hadn't even considered, came back to me, and hit me in the face. I can only wonder just how childish I've been to this point. Just how selfish, to not realise the consequences of my actions.

Or perhaps I knew all along, and just refused to admit to it. That what I'd done had affected and hurt other people, but I didn't want to know about it.

There's something important that I need to talk to you about. It has to do with my brother. Could you meet me in the park next to the mall about ten?

-AJ

Tayla was away on holiday in England, so I went grocery shopping on Tuesday, one of my days off, in the afternoon. When I got back home, I found this letter nailed to my front door.

Yes, nailed.

Like, who carries around a nail (and presumably a hammer), to post letters to people's front doors?

Scary.

But, in any case, I couldn't not go, given that AJ had said that it was important. I just hoped when she said it was about her brother, that it wasn't something to do with drugs again.

After Christmas, the next time we had a shift together, I told AJ all about what had happened after she'd passed out. My fight with Ray Starcrawler, the arrival of Kiss Duskdancer, and how she saved us from Ray. I also ended up telling AJ a little bit about how me and Tayla were involved with the Mother's Order, but I didn't go into much detail. Especially not about what had caused Tayla to leave the Order in the first place.

In any case, I headed to the park as the letter asked of me. Since I didn't have much else to do, I left early and ended up arriving ten minutes before ten.

Come to think of it, I didn't know where in the park we were supposed to meet. A real issue, given the size of the park. Maybe if it was even a couple of hours earlier, I would be able to spot her from afar, but most of the park is poorly lit, and I can't even see the other side. I guess the only thing to do is walk around the park.

It would be nice to have a phone. When the week ends and I get my next paycheck, I should have enough money to finally buy a phone. It really is one of the greatest conveniences of modern life. Not having one for the past five months has really made me appreciate that.

Even though it's before we're supposed to meet anyway, I start making a loop around the park. I decide to walk in the garden part of the park, away from the main road first, since it's probably the least likely place I'll find AJ. In fact, where I am next to the mall, is probably where she'll be, but I'm bored, so I commit to making my way round the park.

The park's garden is rather nice to look at. There's many colourful and flowering trees and bushes, and a decently sized pond populated by ducks and frogs, but you can't see any of that at the moment. I can hear the frogs calling from the direction of the pond, but that's all. There aren't any lights in this part of the park, so I'm having a hard time just following the path. My eyes eventually adjust enough that I can make out the path, which is slightly paler than the surrounding garden.

As I'm walking past a park bench, I notice it has an extra layer of depth to it. A patchwork of clothes, in the shape of a human being.

There's a person there!

Sleeping on the park bench, there's a person.

The common and sensible thing to do, would be to keep on walking and ignore them. I don't think that I could be blamed for doing just that. After all, you can't know what kind of person it is who's sleeping under there. It could be some creepy old guy, a middle-aged bum, or a crazy cat lady.

And, I'm supposed to be meeting AJ in about five minutes. I don't have the time for this.

Truly, the sensible thing to do, would be to walk away.

There could be no more responsible response.

…

I sigh.

"Hey…" I call out to the person on the bench.

…

…

No response.

I reach over and shake their shoulder.

"Aaah!"

With the voice of a young girl, the person on the bench jumps, somehow coming to a sitting position in front of me.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."

"Stay away!"

I still couldn't see her face very clearly, but I could tell from her voice and small physique that she was quite young. Probably a preteen.

"I'm not going to hurt you; I just want to talk. What's your name?"

…

…

…

…

"Caroline… just Caroline."

No last name, huh? Well at least I've finally gotten her to talk. That's a positive.

"Nice to meet you, my name's Alexander Giovanna, though just Alexander is fine too. Could you tell me why you're out here?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Well, yeah… I guess it is."

So, she doesn't want to talk about it. The reason that she's run away from home. I can't exactly blame her. I'm in no position to judge her, after all.

"You know, you remind me a bit of myself."

…

She had nothing to say to that, apparently.

"Well Caroline, it wouldn't feel right to leave you here, so I'm giving you two options. Either you tell me where you live and we go home together, or, if you don't want that, you can stay at my place tonight."

…

"What's it going to be?"

"Just leave me alone. Aren't you supposed to keep out of other people's business?"

"True. I'm not going to ask you to tell me what's going on, but I can't just leave you here. Even though it's summer, the temperature's going to drop soon. You'll freeze if you stay out here. So, what'll it be?"

…

…

…

"I'm not leaving until you give me an answer."

Caroline spoke up, "fine, I'll come with you."

"Okay, try to keep up then."