wander [ hyunlix ]

02

To be completely honest,
Felix knew he was raised within a privileged household.

Money was never scarce, and the boy could buy, essentially, anything and everything he wanted so long as it was reasonable.
Sure, he had been told about "the importance of saving up," and many had tried to teach him "budgeting," whatever the hell that meant....

Yet those seemingly meaningless lessons now mocked Felix as he stared down at his cold hands, which clutched the last $5 that he possessed.
Perhaps if he wasn't so naive, he would've thought to take more money before leaving home; and yet he'd honestly thought only a couple hundred dollars could last him for a while.

After a hellish week of sleeping on park benches and in abandoned cars he'd found, he'd still managed to spend almost all of his original $200 on food and drinks.
With only five left, he was at a loss for what to do with himself. How could he survive without money? Would he have to give up and just... go home?

"Hey, kid," a grumpy man's voice grabbed Felix's attention, pulling him back to reality.

Around him laid a small convenience store, its cheap items lining every shelf.

The store's cork board displayed a mess of posters: lost dogs, wanted criminals... missing people, even. Felix eyed the familiar poster of another missing boy... some studious looking, glasses-wearing kid, with the last name of Hwang. He'd been gone for a while now, and admittedly, it was this boy's success at staying hidden that had driven Felix to make the choice to run away.

The cashier, a rather stoic looking middle aged man, didn't seem to be quite happy with the length of time Felix had spent staring longingly at their poster board.

"Are you gonna buy something or not? We don't tolerate loitering here," the cashier spoke warningly to Felix, who shrank back at the cruel tone of his voice.

"S... sorry," Felix apologized immediately, his voice small. Somehow even after a week of surviving the great concrete jungle, he was yet to develop even the slightest smidge of confidence.
"I'm still choosing... I'll be quick," he tried to explain himself.

The cashier only rolled his eyes. Being in this part of town, he'd likely seen his fair share of shoplifters and thieves, and the nervous, jittery young man counting his cash didn't exactly seem like the biggest threat at the moment.

While Felix was busy calculating exactly how much money he'd have left if he bought some hot coffee, the door to the store swung open, its cheerful bells a stark contrast to the bleak night outside.

Felix briefly glanced at the person who'd walked in. A man, seemingly, a fair bit taller than him, strolled down the aisle with an air about him that suggested he was searching for something.

As for what the man himself looked like... Felix honestly had no idea. A black hood, black face mask, and a dark blue cap all obscured the person's face from view.
This was a person who clearly did not want to be seen, and Felix respected that. It was none of his business, so he looked back to what he had been doing.

The cashier sitting up front sent the newcomer a wary glance, but quickly returned to his cellphone, most probably playing a game of some sort.

After a moment, the sounds of a crinkling wrapper grabbed Felix's attention. His gaze landed on the weird stranger, pacing down the same aisle as him, picking up a small bag of candy and...