"RUN!" Eugene yelled to Emil and Finnian. They were the closest things he had to friends. They had grown up together in the orphanage for the past eleven years. Emil and Finnian had taken him in when he first arrived at the orphanage and he was eternally grateful for it, without them guiding his way, he didn't know where he would be.
"WHAT HAPPENED?!?!" Emil hissed.
"We were spotted. I'll tell you about it when we get somewhere safe," Finnian panted.
The three boys ran and ran, they felt like their legs were about to fall out from under them. They knew the guards were still behind the, they needed somewhere to hide, so they ducked into an alley.
"In here!" Finnian whispered, holding open a grate for the other two boys to slip into. Eugene slipped in first, they had hid form the guards so many times, he knew they would make him go first. He was only a few months younger than the brothers, but they treated him like a little bother, and he looked up to them like they were his older brothers. He worked his way further down the tunnel to make sure it was safe. Once he made it to the end and saw the coast was clear he went to call out to them, telling them as much. Then he heard yells and what sounded like a fight. He tried getting back to the grate as fast as possible, but it was almost impossible for it to be fast since the tunnel was small and he had to hunch over. He fell multiple times, tripping over unseen forces, it seemed like the universe was against him. The shouting grew fainter and so did the sounds of the fight. He tried to rush even more, but it only made it worse.
He finally made it to the grate and the alley was empty. He tried with all his might to open the grate, but couldn't. In the small area he could see, he looked frantically for the brothers. He started to panic, he couldn't see them. Panicked and frustrated at not being able to see his friends and not being able to open the grate, hot tears started to run down his face. They couldn't be captured. They just couldn't. It wasn't like them to be caught. He needed them to be there. He needed them to be safe. He knew what would happen if they were captured. Living on the streets, cold and hungry, was better than being captured. Finally, realization set in, he would never see the brothers, his closest friends, ever again. And it was all his fault. He should have done a better job of distracting the baker. If he had, Finnian would have been able to swipe a couple loaves of bread and then send Emil in for a couple more. But he failed, the baker had been suspicious of him, he had tried to hard to distract the baker and it showed. Finnian was caught in the act and now they had paid for his mistake.
In that moment, he vowed to himself, and to the brothers, he would be better for them. He would not let anyone else suffer because of his mistakes. He was prepared to become someone else to keep that vow.