4 | Is this my home now?

Several small burps escape a young boy's mouth as he stares at the napkin in his hands covered with crumbs. Satiated and satisfied he remains seated and thinks back to his uncontrollable actions just a few seconds ago, the kid resembled a feral beast that has not eaten for days. 

As he ponders, something catches his attention; there is a lot less pain surrounding his body and he doesn't feel as weak. To verify his observation the curious kid clenches his muscles to the best of his ability causing him to flail on the ground like a worm. Surprised by how easy it was the young fool quickly returns himself to the wall and stares at the merchant's back in embarrassment. 

After a sigh of relief, his focus turns to himself, "Beyond odd…"

Now aware of his strength, the boy carefully presses against the wall and slowly raises his body. As if mocking him, the body moves without the slightest resistance. While the boy is glad about the lack of struggles now, he feels sour about how much suffering he had to go through. Trusting his body, the young body separates from the wall and takes a step forward. Excited about his accomplishment, his mouth opens up while his cheeks lightly touch against his eyes, and his body begins moving falling to resist the happiness.

Although not a sound exits the young boy's mouth, his dance-like movements generate enough sound to attract the merchant's attention. Concerned that something has happened to the kid, he turns around in order to assess the situation. To his surprise, all he saw was a small build dancing in a way he had never seen before.

"I'm glad to see that you're feeling better now!", a slightly amused voice exits the old man's mouth.

"Uh?", surprised by the sudden sound, the young boy stops.

Witnessing the flustered dancer stop so suddenly, the merchant lets out a light-hearted chuckle. Confused by this reaction, the boy looks around to get a clue about the cause of it. 

An angry red-haired man on the other side of the stall yells, "Hey? Where the fuck did you go?"

Startled by the yelling, the old man quickly turns around, "Oh, my deepest apologies, I'll help you right away."

Annoyed by the situation, the agitated man scoffs, "Sure, whatever, just get me these two."

While the old man takes care of his business, the clueless kid quietly approaches the stand to get a better look at the rude man. Somehow the buyer appeared to be better dressed than the merchant, he certainly stood out. Impatience emanated from the man as he stood waiting for the merchant to wrap the goods and count the given coins. Despite his demeanor and a small glimpse into the habit of looking down on people, he somehow seemed scared.

Calmly, with a smile on his face, the merchant extended his arms towards the annoyed man, "Here's your goods and the change, sir."

Just like one would swat a fly, the angry man took the items from the old man's hands, "Took long enough!"

Before anything could escape the old mouth, the ball of anger had already disappeared in the distance. While only a slight bit above the tallest part of the stand, the kid's eyes were staring in amazement at the speed the rude man moved. He was able to follow only the very first steps, afterwards, the man almost transformed into a blur. As he stares into the distance, the boy wonders if he had the opportunity to observe the movements further, would they transform into something else.

"Quite impressive, isn't it?", with a bright smile faces the merchant towards the young eyes.

Slightly startled by the old man's voice so close to him, the young head quickly turns to his left side. Keeping up the smile, the merchant keeps his eyes fixed on the boy, after a while of staring, he lets out a light sigh. 

"Do you have a home, kid?", carefully putting his smile away, the caring man questions.

"...home?", big open eyes stare at the old man in confusion.

"Oh, I didn't expect-", the surprised man stops mid-sentence and calms himself, "Yes…do you have a place to stay?"

Still confused by the question, the kid looks around with his head as if searching for something. From the eyes of the merchant, it seemed like a very sad and disturbing sight, the silent desperation of the boy brought some memories for the old eyes. Saddened by his past, the merchant slowly fades away in his head, but before he manages to fully sink, the sounds of the market bring him back.

"If that is okay with you, I can take you somewhere safe.", sad eyes look down at the confused boy.

"...somewhere safe?", almost as if mimicking his previous self, the kid looks up at the merchant with hopeful eyes.

"Yes, is that something you want?", a light smile shines from the old man.

Thinking back on his recent suffering, the kid nods with certainty. 

"Alright, let me clean things up here and we can go.", showing off his kind side, the merchant removes the sign above his head.

Patiently waiting, the young boy observes how various items from the stand are bagged by the caring merchant. It was apparent that he had done this many times, despite it seeming so chaotic in their placement, the old hands grabbed all the items with odd precision. Within what seemed to be only a minute, the old man gathered all his inventory and closed the stall. 

"Thank you for waiting, we can go now.", holding a big bag in his right arm, the kind man gives his left hand to the boy.

Hesitating for just a moment, the youngling tightly grips the welcoming hand. At a comfortable pace for the small legs, they both move away from the market. Turning at multiple corners, the small kid ends up losing track of where they came from, but he doesn't feel too worried since he has tightly gripped onto the old hand. 

As they approach a stone brick house on a corner of an empty street, the kind man looks down at the boy with a pleasant smile. Noticing the attention, the safe kid directs a happy smile towards the pleasant man. After the exchange of their emotions, they have finally reached the door of the building, they enter it.

Carefully closing the door, the old man continues smiling, "It's just down those stairs."

Turning around, the happy kid notices the stairs, he energetically approaches them, and the nice man follows shortly after. Just after a short while they reach the bottom, but before the boy gets to look around, the good man grabs the kid.

Turning the boy's body to face him, the wonderful man smiles, "Just go down the hallway and don't look around, that's fine, right?"

With a happy smile, the excited boy nods.

Although it was cold, it did not trouble him, since the man was nice, the man was very nice. The boy is going to be safe. 

With a bright smile and a kind attitude, the wonderful man says, "Could you just turn right and sit down for me?"

Happily walking and smiling excitedly, the boy nods as he does what the angelic man asked. Sitting on the ground feels uncomfortable, but he is not worried, as he is sure there is a good reason for it. Behind him the sound of metal clashing shakes the air. He turns around as the curiosity overpowers his trust.

Still brightly smiling, the warm lips move, "You are safe now, I will take care of you."

As he finishes his last word, the man turns to his left side and walks away. The kid stares past the metal bars at where the good man stood.