Macabre - His Beginning

- Chapter Two -

Two weeks had passed since the man had saved me from the streets. This was the first time I had left the bedroom since being brought to his home. He had given me plenty of time to rest and recover my strength but that meant in that time he never spoke to me much; not that I felt strong enough to answer him back anyway. I felt good today and decided to join the man in the dining room for breakfast.

"Feel like you can answer some questions today?" He asked me as I shoveled food into my mouth. I gave him a small nod and he took that as permission to begin his questioning.

"Seeing as it would be inconvenient to call you 'boy' all the time, how about we start with your name?"

"Rogan. I'm Rogan Barton". The man gave a slight frown as if he had to think about something. But he quickly changed his expression into a smile.

"Pleasure to meet you Rogan. My name is Bastion Jäger. But I would ask you to address me as 'Sir' while you are staying here." His name sounded foreign. I raised an eyebrow in a quizzical manner. As if he responding to my unspoken question he continued,

"Ha ha. My name sounds strange to you doesn't it? I am from Heidelberg in Germany." For a foreigner, there was no tell of an accent at all. He sounded like he had lived in England his entire life.

"You know Rogan, my name isn't the only foreign sounding one here. Were you born here?"

I nodded to confirm I was indeed born in England and then proceeded to explain.

"It's Irish. My father was born here but my mother is from Ireland." My words came out more coldly than I expected. My mother never let us forget where she was from. Always saying how much better things were for her back home. Always trying to convince my father to take her back there. But with no money they were stuck here. Noticing my unease when I spoke about my family, Bastion quickly moved onto another question.

"Hmm, last question for now... How old are you?" I had no idea why he needed to know my age. Perhaps he was just looking for an easy subject to move away from the topic of my parents. Even though I thought it weird, I had to reply, out of respect for the man who saved me.

"Eleven." Bastion gave me a huge grin to my answer.

"Just eleven? You must be quite strong and resourceful to be able to survive out on the streets alone at such a young age. And with winter fast approaching too." I just shrugged my shoulders. I felt it was just pure luck I survived for as long as I did and didn't deserve the compliments he had just given me. I continued to eat my breakfast but the man had finished his and got up to leave the room. As he reached the door he turned back to me,

"Sorry, just one last question. I couldn't in good conscious put you back out on the streets so, how would you like to live here?" My head jerked up in surprise and I stared at him with wide eyes. I was frozen in place. I was just shocked by such simple kindness, I didn't know what to do. Bastion just looked at me with a big smile on his face waiting for my answer. Was he being sincere? Did he want something from me? Realising I wasn't going to answer him anytime soon, he chuckled,

"Why don't you have a look around the place and think about my offer while you do. Oh but do not attempt to open any locked doors. They are locked for a reason." I found that an odd thing to just say but I didn't press him for explanations. All I could manage was a simple nod and with that he left me alone with my breakfast.

Later that day I took Bastion's suggestion and had a look around his home. It was a nice home and on the larger side. It wasn't anything too fancy but it was clean and the floor wasn't rotting away like my old home. I went outside to find the house was outside the city. The place was surrounded by trees and bright green fields. I ran out into the field and collapsed onto the soft grass. As I laid there I staring at the sky I thought about Bastion's offer. I honestly couldn't see a downside. I never got any bad feelings from him either. There were no ill-intentions that I could sense. And it was either this place, the streets or a workhouse anyway. Might as well go for the safe choice for once. Didn't I deserve safe? I sat up and looked at the house. I saw Bastion watching me from a third floor window. He smiled and waved at me before turning back into the room.