Around The World For A Kiss

Chapter 2

It was the dead of night, the world deep within the clutches of night. Unknown creatures were probably stalking their prey, possibly an unsuspecting hare, as their predators exploited the cover of darkness they considered lucky to have.

Luke had emptied out his school bag onto the floor, crushed papers, old homework he'd forgotten to do in his endless stupor, and notices for things that he'd forgotten about months ago. He left the contents on a crumpled heap on the floor, strangely reflective of his personality.

He packed lightly, a few bottles of water (knowing worriedly it wouldn't be enough), a lantern, a change of clothes, and a huge stack of paper in case he wanted to draw. He was always teased by the professor about how bad he was at packing lightly, and he had tried to pack only what he needed.

Luke crept downstairs, his school bag slung over his back. The mere idea of getting to see Layton again was enough to bring him up from his borderline catatonic state, but he continued to creep as to not wake his parents up.

He was tightly clutching a map of the city in his hands, which he couldn't read in the dark, but he had brought the lantern for a reason. Luke made a stop by the kitchen, grabbing some snacks and shoving them impulsively in his bag in case he got hungry. His father's wallet was laying untouched on the kitchen bench, laying slightly opened. The glint of a coin that slightly poked out, reflecting the moon's rays caught the child's eye.

"I should probably bring money..." Luke mumbled to himself, lumbering over to the wallet, reluctantly picking it up. He started carefully unzipping the cash packet and pulled out a few 20 dollar notes. He thought for a second before pulling out a few hundred dollars. It couldn't hurt. He felt a stabbing pulsing guilt, but it disappeared quickly.

He decided he'd gotten everything, and strolled towards the door, unlocking the front door with a click he wished wasn't so familiar. The door opened out into the dark void of the night outside, with a large city a few kilometres away in the distance. It shone and sent rays of light in Luke's direction, and even better, Luke knew there was a cargo ship going to London which he could stowaway on.

Luke pulled the door closed behind him, not feeling any regret or second thoughts about his decision. He didn't even turn back towards his place of physical residence. He couldn't make himself see it as his house, because that would be home. Home was not that house.

The small child was at the mercy of the world, map tucked at his side and power walking towards the alluring city lights, much like a moth to the flame. His eyes had been artificially lit up, although the city remained distant...

It took a long half hour to reach the city, Luke stepping into the street lights and feeling somewhat more comfortable. There was a small feeling that he didn't belong there which made him rather apprehensive about the whole situation, but he'd been feeling that way for almost months. The city life was rather different from back in London, but it was still quiet. There were only a few people on the streets, conveniently. 

Luke made his way to the docks, finding a huge boat that loomed over the city. It was a dark shape, kept to the dock by long chains that appeared to go into the boat's side. He heard footsteps gradually coming closer, and quickly crouched behind an area where chains were tied. Two men walked by carrying a small container into the ship. Luke tensed in fear while trying to stay quiet before hearing the familiar squeak of some rats.

Luke listened closely and eavesdropped on the two rodents that appeared to be talking about the ship that loomed over them, menacing and somewhat malicious. It was probably even worse for the small creatures, and Luke felt himself pitying them. They were probably terrified.

He couldn't pick up what they were saying exactly, as he wasn't the most fluent in rat, but they were travelling on the boat by scurrying up the chains. Luke yelped in surprise as the rats both jumped up onto the chains and began a hasty scurry up the chains, small legs moving swiftly and displaying surprising agility for their little fat bodies.

Luke glanced around, finding the men had left. He got to his feet slowly, still checking his surroundings and remaining alert in case they came back and noticed a small 8 year old boy who appeared to be lost. Luke leapt on the chains, each link about the size of him. He was a small boy following rats into a ship to stowaway. His hands blindly grabbed the freezing metal links, pushing himself up with his legs until he reached a hole in the side of the boat. 

Luke peered inside and saw nothing at all, but it was probably just ridiculously dark in there. Luke took a deep breath, closing his eyes and trying to focus on a mental image of the professor, before clambering into the hole.

Luke fell suddenly, making a yell in surprise, but hit the cold metal ground relatively safely. He couldn't see a thing, except for the moonlight that was shining through the hole. Luke's eyes adjusted to the darkness and he saw he was surrounded by wooden crates. He reached out to try and figure out where he was by feeling around, shuffling his legs for a second before suddenly a stabbing pain entered his leg, sending bolts of pain striking through his nervous system.

"WAHH!" Luke's yell echoed through the hull, his hand shooting to where the pain started. He stood up weakly, feeling the pained leg almost collapse. He sat up on a box and drew his hand to his face, finding a streak of red liquid on it. Red liquid was dripping down his calf, and he could see a bit of upturned metal on the ground. He bit his lip and tried to resist crying more, before weakly turning around and looking for something to wrap his wound in.

He limped through the hull until he heard whistling. Luke panicked, diving to the ground and trying to make himself as small as possible. Then footsteps. Someone must be coming down.

Luke curled up, trying to ignore the pain that demanded his attention. He shut his eyes and tried to focus on a mental image of the professor. Soon he'd be snuggled in his arms and in a loving, caring, understanding embrace... Luke managed to weakly smile for the first time in ages at the thought. It was genuine.

He heard the sounds of chains being pulled, before opening his eyes for a moment and having an idea. Although it wasn't going to be nice...

Luke sat up, slowly unzipping his bag and pulling out a pair of black shorts. He proceeded to tie them around his wound, and the pain became a bit more tolerable almost instantly. The stains would probably be impossible to get out, but his life was more important than a pair of shorts. He lay down again, trying to go unseen...

A few minutes later of laying down, the man left, and Luke sat up to survey what had changed. He found that everything was, once again, completely pitch black. The holes at the side of the hulls appeared to have been closed with presumably an airtight hatch, and the only light source was coming from a ladder in the corner of the room.

Luke felt safe once more, and the pain in his leg had been muted. A new sense began to gradually overwhelm him, slowly dawning on him. His eyelids felt heavy and he allowed them to shut. As his eyes fell shut, he felt a quiet rumble and the waves began to rock him gently to sleep...