Urchin

Leo slipped quietly into the kitchen. He collected his few meagre belongings, and grabbed a small bit of food. He knew once Boris found out he was worthless, he'd be beaten and tossed out.

He was determined to never end up like the other orphans he saw on the street, weak, tired and starving. He would survive.

He walked out of the village, heading towards the forest. The forest always calmed him down. There was something about it, even knowing his father had died out there, that felt reassuring.

He had never belonged in the village. He had no friends. When he was younger, he remembered the village children being pulled away from him by their parents. "You know better than to play with that dirty orphan," they would say.

Dirty orphan. Street rat. Scullery boy. Very few people called him by name, and their tone clearly said it was an insult as well. Leo. No last name. If he had one, no one ever told him.

So lost in thought, he walked for hours. He suddenly realized it was much later than he meant to stay out. Worse, he had no clue where he was. The trail he was on had seemingly disappeared. It was getting darker, and he didn't have any clue which way the village was.

Leo sat down, and felt hot, angry tears start to stream down his face. "It's not fair." He heard the sounds of insects, and a crows caws in the distance. "Where do I go? I can't go back to the Inn." He remembered the few orphan kids outside the village had a shack, but he had no way of finding it now.

Seeing some kind of glimmer in the distance, Leo wiped his eyes, stood up, and started walking.

"Fireflies." He has walked into a glade filled with them. Small lights danced in the air. Near the center of the glade, bathed in the moons light, was a solitary tree.

As Leo approached, the lights continued to dance and shine. It seemed surreal. "Like a Faerie meadow," he said aloud.

When he came near the tree, he realized there was a small gravestone beside it.

'Edward Rhynehart' was carved into it. Leo felt his eyes burn with tears when he read the name.

"Dad..." he said, as he fell to his knees and cried. "I don't know what to do. I'm not talented. I don't have a home. I have no place to live, no money. What do I do?"

He fell asleep by his fathers grave, still crying even in his sleep.