Stay with me

Part 9

The night 'A' left his abuse parents' house, he walked. He walked without caring about the destination or the direction. He walked even though his feet were hurting, and he desperately needed some water and food in him, but all he wanted was to get away from the hell house as far as he could. He walked for so long that he did not realise it was midnight. For a 6-year-old kid, all alone in the countryside, he did not feel scared at all. Rather, he felt as if he belonged to the nigh with all the shadows lurking around. He preferred the pitch-black darkness over a house with his abusive parents, any day.

As 'A' kept on walking without an aim, he saw a glow. It's kind of a glow he has not seen before, a glow that he has read in the books he saw in the library. A magical kind of light. The light looked almost like a flame with a purple outline, with blue inline, and then the core was greenish blue. Not three colours you would expect to see together in a flame. But those three colours blended, and he could not see exactly when and where one colour started, and the other colour ended, but It was beautiful. It was so beautiful that he walked towards it even if that meant getting away from the main road and walking into a forest. 'A' did not care. The flame felt like home than the house he grew up in.

Further and further, he went into the forest, less hungry and less tired he felt. He was all of a sudden energetic, and he was excited to see the source where the flame came from. One thing that was clear was that as he got closer to the flame, he could hear lots and lots of voices. 'A' stopped and looked around to see if he was near a carnival or a similar setting, but everything around him screamed a forest that no human had stepped on years. 'A' looked back at the flame and walked toward it. Maybe, just maybe he would meet someone here who can help him to find the gold colout eyed man.

When 'A' was about a few meters away from the flame, voices were so loud, but he still could not see anyone, but one thing was clear, his whole body was reacting to something. A very familiar feeling even though he had never experienced it before. His whole body urged him to walk forward towards an energy field where he felt so attracted to.

One step, two steps, three steps, and he felt as if he walked through a thin wall that was made from cling film. There was a bit of resistance but not enough to keep him away from the flame, so he just kept on walking, and finally, he was out of the invisible wall. 'A' did not even realise he had his eyes closed. He slowly opened his eyes. The sudden burst of light made him wince and close his eyes as it was not his eyes were not expecting that much light. 'A' slowly opened his eyes, giving his eyes enough time to get used to the colours around him. Once his eyes were okay, he looked around. It was like a carnival but lighted with green colour lights. There was a very busy path ahead of him with shopping carts on both sides of the path with hundreds of people? But different to the people he has seen. Some had pig noses, some had tails, some had pink bodies, some had horns, one had half human body half horse body, one looked like someone straight out of a fairytale but with very sharp teeth that made 'A' jump back a bit. Everyone looked colourful, and all of them had unique traits to them. 'A' walked more and more into the bustling marketplace even though he did not know what he was expecting to see there. For a 6-year-old kid, just been in a busy carnival like that, which gave him a bit of joy. He did not feel scared by any other the people around him. Instead, he felt as if he belonged there. He embraced the change and the sounds and the visuals around him.

'A' kept on walking more and more into the busy path when he smelt it. The smell of delicious, mouth-watering food. He could not pinpoint what exactly he was smelling, but he knew he needed some food. His stomach rumbles did not help either, so he walked towards where the smell came from. And there she was. The lady with the kindest eyes he has ever seen in his life. She had green skin, and she had corals all over her hands. She was wearing a beautiful dress that was all the way up to her calves. Her brunette hair was decorated in beautiful white flowers, which he later learnt was jasmine. Her eyes were focused on the food she was preparing on a grill in front of her. Instead of the normal coals, she was using fire that came out of her hands to grill the food. She seemed to be in her element. So A walked a little bit closer to her in case she drops some food so he can pick up and eat. He was scared she might shoo him away from the food stand because of how he looks and how his appearance would chase away any potential buyers but her almond shape black eyes that seemed to be full of understanding and caring made him brave.

'A' was now so close to the grill that he could feel the warmth in his cheeks. The food smelt so good that he was staring at the food with his mouth slightly open, and he was a second away from drooling. He still made sure to check if there was any food on the floor. Surprisingly, she has not seen him yet. He was not sure he should be glad or not, and she hadn't seen him yet. As 'A' stared into delicious looking food, someone bumped into him. Even though it was not his fault, 'A' quickly turned around to apologise.

"I am sorry, little fella. I did not see you all the way down there." A guy with really long legs and a tail that suspiciously looked like a horse's tail apologised.

"No, it is okay. It was my bad." 'A' quickly apologised in return and turned again to look at the delicious looking food in front of him.

"Wait!" The guy with the tail said.

"It is a mundane kid." He said again. 'A' was not sure what he was saying, so he kept on staring at the food in front of him, but soon he realised a lot of eyes were watching him, and everything went eerily quiet. So he peeled eyes away from the food and looked up at the lady in front of him to see that she was staring at him with her eyes wide open.

'A' did not know what he did wrong but he assumed he did something wrong, so he looked around only to see that almost everyone at the fair was staring at him with very similar expression to the lady in front of him.

"Um.. kiddo?" The lady spoke, and 'A' quickly turned around to look at her. She quickly gave him a soft smile. She stepped closer to him and got on her knees, so she was at the same eye level as 'A'.

"Are you lost?" She asked kindly. 'A' shook his head to say no.

"Are you here with someone?" 'A' shook his head again to say no.

"Can you tell me how you got here?" She asked kindly. 'A'observed her face, and he knew she was not a bad person, but he did not know how to explain how he got there. So, he just kept on staring. After a few minutes, she sighed but not annoyedly. She got up and looked around everyone who had gathered around her food cart.

"There is nothing special to see here. It's just a mundane kid with temporary vision. Now go on your own way." She waved her hand to dismiss the crowd around them. Most seemed to be convinced, but some did not look very happy.

"I will wipe his memory and send him away. There is nothing to see here." She said again to reassure everyone. This seemed to do the trick as everyone started leaving. Once everyone left. The lady looked at A and smiled.

"Hey, kiddo. Are you hungry?" to which A nodded his head so quickly.