His stomach growled in a animalistic fashion, making him wince as he held his doll and bag close, passing through the crowd of strangers. His eyes were on the floor, tracing the cracks and leaping across the footprints left by those who had stepped in something damp before traversing the dry pathways. He became so engrossed in his little entertainment that he bumped into someone. He stepped back and looked up hastily, seeing the stranger on the floor.
“Hej, titta där du går!” The voice shouted, making him jump back. The stranger picked himself off the floor and looked to the boy before him. The hard glare in the eyes of the stranger softened at seeing how scared and confused the boy before him was.
“Hej, är du okej?” The stranger asked him, looking to him with a soft expression.
“I don’t understand what you are saying” His voice was quiet and shy as he buried his face in the doll he held.
“Are you a tourist?” The stranger’s voice changed along with his words, becoming slightly accented but still very much understandable.
“I am lost. I don’t know where I am” The boy’s voice was shaken slightly and the stranger frowned.
“You are in Sweden.” The man told him. “Are you hungry?” As if to answer, the boy’s stomach growled ferociously, making the stranger frown deeper.
“Yes” The blush was evident in the words as the doll was raised to hide the crimson face.
“Let me treat you” The stranger said, taking the boy’s hand. The boy flinched but his tense muscles relaxed as he realized the stranger was not moving to hurt him. “Call me Pewds” The no-longer-a-stranger said, voice holding a laugh with it. He was not comfortable with sharing his real name with this boy he had found but a nickname that could not be tracked would suffice.
“Subject Zero point three two electric” The boy replied, lifting his head. Pewds stepped forward to look at the face that had lifted from the doll.
“I’ll call you Cry. These streaks here look like tear streaks” He explained, pointing to the marks on Cry’s face. They were, in actuality, scars that had been left by the experiments and tests but stained a light black by the electricity that had burned it shut.
“Cry... huh?” His voice was gentle as it rolled the new name across it a few times. “I like that”
