Beguile

Chapter 52

3rd Person's POV

Everyone avoided this part of the street because of the foul smell. Nearby is a dumpter where theres already generations of garbage packed in. No one had come to pick it up, and no one would dare to.

7 year old Rie was born here. He's been here for so long that the smell no longer bother him.

This deep in the slums housed many kinds of people, some are nice but most are evil. And like the grimes and dust and spiderwebs decorating their house his father is as disgusting.

The boy have a hard time reaching for the door knob, everyone in the neighborhood is poverty-stricken so nothing really helps him grow. He is pale as snow,and he's a literal skin and bones. Even his clothes are picked up from the dumpster, full of holes but hundreds of them combats the cold snow.

He finally able to turn the door open. The air immediately fills up his nose, and excitement lights up his eyes as he take on his favorite time of the year.

The once graffiti-filled floor is now thickly covered with red and orange leaves, and they still keep coming -falling like magical snows from rainbows, all sparkly, wrapping the stains of his reality.

Suddenly dread wiped out his smile.

This season is his favorite at the same time a misery. This is a warning for the upcoming winter, it's when cold takes up the whole place and when they have to suffer with an empty stomach. All they have are old dusty fabrics and nothing more.

"Someone's excited for the fall."

His smile widens when he realized who just spoke.

"Kelly!" He waves his hand in excitement. "Let's play by the leaves! It's like a mountain out there, I saw it, it's this tall!" He stretch out his arms as much as he can, but with his small undeveloped stature it's too far from the real one.

His neighbor, Kelly, is a year older than him. She once had an older brother, its just that one day he left home and was never seen again.

Maybe he simply left, tired of the poverty clinging onto him. Or maybe he died. There are so many possibilities, and there are so little the poor can do. All he knows is that like his family, everyone else also argue a lot.

Money is power. Money is peace. Without is bound for chaos.

"I guess I'll go. Not much I can do when a kid asks."

"Hey! You're only a year older!"

"When you're 8 you'll understand. Everything seems to become different, like the world has become smaller, see?" She stands on her tiptoes and she easily reaches up to the doorknob, "Like the adults do!"

He couldnt help but gape in awe. She always seem to know everything even though they both couldnt go to school. Truly, his friends are the only ones that make life a little better.

"Let's go over to Jane's! She's gonna be so pissed!"

Jane is also their neighbor who's a little older. She's 10 years old and a giant compared to both of them. She usually boast about her life: Like how she gets to eat cereal for breakfast like the ones they see on magazines; how she got better hair; how she looks healthier, prettier.

And how she got her period............. That was yesterday.

When they arrived at her house they saw an unfamiliar man. He has a beer belly, balding, and he have a huge tattoo running down his arm. All in all he is out of place in this slum where beer is a luxury, and the only ink they can afford are from moldy fruits -though it doesnt last as long.