Life of a Street Kid ☑️

chapter 11

We had made good time getting to a small area of the streets. The area hadn't been far from our position near the Gate. It was like a town but smaller and its residents consisted mainly of street kids.

No one paid us much mind. The young kids ran up to me yelling and screaming. They wanted to play but we were in trouble so any stop was risky. I took some dried berries out of my original pack instead. I handed dried berried to each child. They screamed and giggled before they ran off. I smiled at their delight.

I looked up too see Will giving me a weird curious look. "What?" I demanded.

"Why did those kids just run up to you like that? And why did you give them those berries? I thought you said we needed everything we had."

"Well that was before I knew we'd have extra money. I can always buy a few dried berries later. I don't even remember the last time I had been lucky enough to have stolen a lot of money. Plus we have a good amount of food and they need it."

"That makes no sense. You never answered my first question."

"They know me"

"How?"

"How else, I've been here before." I walked towards an abandoned looking house.

"You've what." Will seemed astonished I've been anywhere else.

"I'm not a hermit. I do go places. And I've been here before." A tall skinny boy came out of the house then. He wore ragged clothes. A pair of breeched and a plain shirt was all. His skin was not very dark but he had blue eyes. The boy walked right up to me smiling.

"Pete, it's nice to see you." I smiled back.

"And nice to see you too, Max." Pete's accent covered the words. "It's been a long time. What brings you to this neck of the woods?"

"It has been too long Pete and I'm sorry for that. I've gotten my self into a bit of trouble. My companion and I here need somewhere to stay for the night just until we are able to leave tomorrow night."

Pete shook his head. "How did I know your visit would bring trouble? Okay then lets get you inside so you can tell me the details of this trouble you're in." Pete motioned for us to follow him into the house with him.

We settled into the table drinking some water. Will stood awkwardly while Pete and I caught up. He seemed to drift away from the table until the kids came in. Even though they didn't know him they seemed to think he was alright since he came with me. They took to him right off. He struggled and argued against it but eventually they over powered him.

Pete and I let the kids have fun playing with Will for a while. They didn't get to meet new people often. Most of them wouldn't leave or see the rest of the streets until they were old enough for Pete to take them or old enough to leave Pete's place. They wrestled with Will tag teaming. They were good teams together. Will was having fun picking each one up and spinning them around until they were giggling.

Sadly we had to cut their fun short. "Sorry guys but you have to go; Max and I have some important things to talk about." Pete told them. The children whined and complained. One even wanted for me to let them stay.

"Sorry guys but you heard what Pete said. I promise you that I'll play with you later but you have to leave for now okay. Do we have a deal?" The children nodded their heads then ran out of the room to play outside.

"Now it's time to talk about this trouble you're in. First introduce your companion here."

"This is Will. Will this is Pete an old friend of mine." I introduced.