Chapter - 01
"Thud!"
"Thud!"
The silence of the quiet, eerie forest was broken, and the forest reverberated as two silhouettes hit the ground.
Slowly, the moon crawled out from behind the clouds enveloping the sky. The moonlight penetrated through the thick canopy of the trees and shone the ground. Soon the darkness began to fade away, and the surrounding became clear.
On the ground lay motionless a bulky, greenish figure with a bald head and pointy ears. As Purplish blood seeped out of the many cuts across its body, beside him lay a relatively small human breathing heavily.
The young boy, probably in his early teens, turned his head to look at the blood falling on his hands, but he was too exhausted and had no energy to even lift his arm. All he wanted to do now was close his eyes and drift into a sound sleep.
But he knew he could not do that. Soon, there might be people coming in to investigate this place. And he had to leave before that.
As the coldness began to seep through the boy's body, with great effort, he pushed himself to stand up. As he looked around, feeling dizzy and staggering on his feet, the boy somehow managed to pull out a small pouch from behind his back and swish... the corpse of the dead creature vanished into that small pouch. But the expression on the boy's face hardly changed, as if he was accustomed to it.
'This should be enough,' After he was done storing the creature, the boy thought to himself as he looked around, 'I should leave now.'
And with that, slowly but steadily, the boy got back on the path he entered from, making his way towards the village. The dizziness he felt was also gradually getting better with time.
Soon the boy was out of the forest on the road towards the small village in front. The streets were silent, with not a single soul to be seen, and only a few lights flickered across the borough.
It took him about thirty minutes from the spot he rested to finally stand in front of an inn. This was the old, shabby inn he was staying in for the time being.
Entering the inn, the first thing that the boy came across was the old haggard-looking man sleeping at the reception with his arm supporting him. But the boy did not stop. The boy gave a short glance at the shabbily dressed man and made his way up the stairs to his room.
"It has been quite loud outside," the old man opened his mouth and said slowly, taking his time.
The boy stopped in his tracks and slowly turned back to look at the old man, but the old man was not looking at him.
"Maybe someone is getting married tonight," the boy said, "Poor guy."
"Oh..." The old man exclaimed and closed his eyes again, not continuing the conversation anymore.
Not hearing anything else from the old man, even the boy turned around and, in blood-soaked robes, made way to his room.
Entering his room, the boy first took off his clothes and had a nice hot bath before crashing on the bed. And he was soon sound asleep.
Next morning,
The boy got up quite early and checked out of the inn. But the old man was not at the reception this time. Not that it affected him in any way. So the boy took a cart to the town's railway station. He was going to catch the first train to London.
Settling himself into one of the sitting chairs, it did not take five minutes for the boy to fall asleep, again. And by the time he was woken up by the granny next to him, they had already reached London. Thanking the granny and helping her in carrying her luggage off the train while maintaining the deadpan look on his face, the boy hitched a taxi for his next destination exiting the station.
And after another half an hour of the ride, the taxi finally stopped in front of his destination. Getting off the taxi, the boy stood in front of a large gate, which read 'Hope Springs Home' written on the board in large, bold letters. This was the orphanage he lived in. This large gate has been a common sight for him for the last so many years. But he felt nothing in particular staring at the large iron gate. Pushing the smaller gate beside the large one, the boy made his way inside.
As he walked down the path, several other kids rushed past him. Some of them were so young that they could not even run properly. The atmosphere around him was lively but loud. Some were playing tag among themselves, some were fighting, and there were even a few who were crying their lungs out.
But, the boy hardly paid any attention to them. As he walked forward, his eyes swept all around, searching for a certain someone, and for the first time all along, there was a glint in his eyes.
'There she is,' Finally, his gaze turned towards a wall. A girl with her black, long hair done in a pony, who was about the same age as the boy, was surrounded by kids younger than her as she had fun drawing something on the wall.
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The girl was almost done with her drawing and giving it some final touches, she took a couple of steps back and looked at the wall with satisfaction. The smile on her face grew wider the more she looked at her drawing.
"So? What do you guys think?" The girl turned towards the kids and asked. Looking at the drawing, even the boy standing behind them nodded in appreciation. The drawing was of him and the girl holding hands as they walked down the road while the sun set on the horizon.
"Isn't he that guy who's always missing?" One of the boys asked, making faces, "Why would you draw him? You should have drawn me. After all, I am going to marry you when I grow big and strong."
"Awww... you are such a sweet kid," the girl ruffled the little boy's hair, "But to marry me, you have to grow up fast."
But before the kid could reply, the boy walked up to them and grabbed the kid by the back of his collar and lifted him up.
"Hey, let go of me," the little boy demanded, throwing his arms around, trying to hit the boy, "You big bully."
But the boy paid no heed to the kid's tantrums as he inspected the kid in the air and then shook his head, "I don't approve..." The boy said as he put the kid down and kicked him hard on his butt, "Shoo... Shoo... Get going now."
With his eyes ready to tear up and, waving his finger at the boy, the kid threatened, "Don't you dare sleep tonight." And he ran away from there.
"Brother..." The girl, on the other hand, paid no heed to what happened to the kid. Her eyes were only on the boy in front of her. Not waiting any longer, she jumped into her brother's embrace, "You are back..."
"It didn't look like that you missed me a lot," The boy said, "Poaching a young kid."
"It was all him," the girl looked up at the boy and said, "When did you come?" The girl asked, still hugging her brother.
"Just now," the boy said as he stroked the girl's hair. She was not that short compared to him.
"Look, I drew us," leaving the boy's embrace, the girl said, pointing at the wall, "What do you think? Is it good?"
"It's nice," the boy nodded.
"See... I knew you would like it," The girl was instantly happy. She knew this was the most she could get out of him. There was no use asking for more.
"So... What did you bring me this time?" The girl got out of the boy's embrace and entangled her arm around his.
"I went to a remote place," the boy replied as he slid his hand into his pocket and pulled out a bracelet. The bracelet was silvery in colour and had a red stone on top, "This was all I could get." The boy bought the bracelet on his way from the inn he was staying at to the station this morning.
"Wow! what a pretty bracelet. Let me go show it to my friends," but the girl was still happy about getting a souvenir from her brother.
"Wait, take these for them," Just as the girl turned around to leave, the boy stopped her grabbed a bag full of candies and chocolates, and gave it to his sister, "For your friends."
"Brother!" The girl looked at the boy in surprise. It was so not like him. Happy, the girl tip-toed and kissed the boy on his cheeks before running away from there, "Thank you." The girl yelled as she ran away from there.
Watching the girl run away, the boy shook his head helplessly. She was always this cheerful and fun-loving, totally opposite to him. While she always had a smile on her face, even his scorn was forced.
But it was not the time for the boy to muse over it. He had to meet the head nun. So he made his way towards the church. As he walked passed the corridors, all the nuns greeted the boy with pleasant smiles on their faces. God knows how, but most of the donations made to the orphanage were made in his name. Every once in a while, he would leave the orphanage after getting special permission from the head nun, and soon upon his return, there would be this huge donation to the church and the orphanage.
It was all a mystery, and everyone was more than happy to voice their opinion adding a bit of their own flavour. But in the end, since it was able to sustain the church and the orphanage and even let them extend support to others as well, everyone was happy.
Soon, the boy was standing outside the head nun's office. He looked around before knocking on the door.
"Come in."
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