It hadn't taken long for Kyle to find a nearby alleyway to hole up in until his grandfather had lost track of him, but the swirling thoughts of guilt were rummaging in his head, daring to make him consider turning back. Did He really do the right thing? should he just accept his punishment.
His heavy breathing from all the running was echoing off the tall house walls around him, the terraced houses and the long corridor like alleyways behind them were perfect for hiding in, but they were loud and filthy most of the time, Kyle, not having any knowledge of how the streets work. Decided to take up residence in a strangers back garden.
Noticing that they had a shed and a bundle of lavenders in plant pots, he kicks the door open, and bunkers inside. It was cramped with many things, bolt cutters, chainsaws and anything else you'd dread being used on someone else, but it only reminded Kyle of his Grandpa, who would use anything and everything just to abuse him and his brother.
"Miriam! some hobo is in our shed!"
Kyle swore to himself, bursting from the shed at high speed and vaulting their small garden wall, continuing in his search for somewhere to hide discreetly, not seeing any substitutes he bails on this side of town and searches in the more rough areas of Fordwich.
He was making his way down the main road, hoping to death his grandpa wasn't anywhere near him to see where he was going, settling on a bridge with the street name carved into it.
"King street..." Kyle whispers to himself, looking over the bridge to see more homes and places with older people flocking down the road for their early game of bingo (even though Kyle had no idea what Bingo was). The bridge was small and stretched over the Westbere Marsh, he had no idea where he was going but he didn't want to stop, not now.
He followed the road past bricked houses and worn-down fences before coming up to a dirt path, leading down into more greenery and at the end of it was a large metal green gate.
"God dammit!"
Kyle had already committed to the walk down, so he saw no other options than to climb over it, living on a farm had its uses, he was in no way weak and could easily lift his own body weight. Gracefully ignorant of the warning signs right next to the gate spelling out:
Beware the dogs!
It took only a few minutes to climb fully over and drop into the field below, the grass was browned from all the traffic the path got. and the flowers to the side wilted and decayed.
"Ok, where does this lead?" he said to himself "Need to get away, need to get away..." he continued to reassure himself as he walked down the path leading to the brink of a forest, he had no idea where he was but he wasn't about to let himself get caught before he could enjoy himself.
It wasn't too bright out, the clouds were invading the blue sea of a sky and then slowly they started to darken. It didn't take long for small drops of rain to cascade down, slowly the pour starts to thicken and thunder.
Racing into the woods surrounding the dirt path inside he takes shelter in the trees, the rain thinning out underneath the protected leaves.
He sighs with relief as he pressed forward, refusing to stop for any reason. The only sound around him was patter of rain smashing against the ground and trees, and it seemed like it went on for a while.
Until he eventually comes across a sign post leading in three separate directions, one sign to the left read "Pond", the middle said "House" and the right said exit which he had just came from. Deciding he didn't want to encounter anyone who'd hurt or expel him from the premises, he heads left to the pond, hoping to find sanctuary for the few hours he had before nightfall.
After a few minutes of walking down the dirt path, he comes across the acclaimed pond he was looking for, it was larger than he expected and full with colourful fish that swam placidly in the mostly green murky water. Frogs were hopping around the bank, and their spawn was also nearby, zig-zagging in patterns around their many brothers and sisters.
Kyle smiled at the sight, the entire pond was shaded by the surrounding trees, apart from a pillar of light above the center of the pond, the rain was thinning, but the sun still shone brightly for him to see all this nature had to offer him.
Taking a seat just by the bank, he takes off his shoes that were a size too small now, he always recalled the way his grandmother would say:
"I accepted you into my home, you should be more grateful with what you have!"
He never was.
He learned a long time ago that everything he was told was most likely a lie, or at least half the truth, so what if his mother was a whore? she probably had money problems and had no other way. Or his dad being an alcoholic, that cant be for no reason he thought. Kyle was always alone in that house, despite his brother going through the same trials.
"What are you doing here!"
Kyle's eyes shot open in the middle of his pondering, a voice from behind him had aggressively said, a strong presence looming right at his back.
"I-I wasn't doing anything i swear!"
"Looks to me like you were eyeing up our fish, there's a market not far from here thief, why dont you go steal from there" the voice warned, it was a mans voice and he didn't sound too old, but definitely older than him. Kyle was too scared to turn around and meet the voices face.
"I-I dont want to steal your fish, i just-"
"You just WHAT!"
Kyle flinched as he raises his voice, triggering his instincts from surviving the hut as he elbows the other man in his body, immediately taking off in a sprint away from the pond, scrambling in a chase.He took the nearest dirt path away and follows it into an open clearing, a large green field in front as he doesn't hesitate to leap away from the person chasing him, who dives out after Kyle in hot pursuit.
"STOP RIGHT NOW!"
"NOOO!" Kyle squeaked.
Despite his own fears, he takes a second to glance behind him, seeing nobody behind him and nobody chasing him anymore. He stops running, bending down to take a few breaths for clarity.
But behind him, the man was sprinting at him with full force, tackling him to the ground in a swift motion, taking control of his arms and pinning him to the ground.
"Really? you decided to run?"
Kyle struggled against his captor but found no matter how much he tried, he couldn't over power him. In fact, his entire hand clamped easily over his wrist. Looking up at the guy, he notices a scar flitting across his left eye, he had black hair that was nicely trimmed and a small amount of stubble that was just growing from his top lip and chin in a goatee shape.
His eyes were the most distracting features however, they were an impossible shade of fiery amber that burned into Kyle like a hot knife. But he was snapped out of it when he opens his mouth to speak.
"You know I've never been outran like that, you do a lot of running away from people?"
"Only the people that want to h-hurt me" Kyle whimpered "Let me go please"
"Let you go?" He thinks it over in his head despite never taking his eyes of Kyle's. "I dont know, what do I get out of that? you try and steal our fish? im guessing you dont have much to give"
"Oh, god..." Kyle was dreading what the man on top of him was about to say in these fleeting moments, but after a minute of awkward silence he stands, and offers the flustered Kyle to his feet.
"Besides, i have more self-respect than to try anything gross with you"
Kyle was unsure if he should just book it right now, but the more he looked at the man, the more he couldn't shake the fact he was important somehow, like he already had history with him.
"U-uhm have...have we met before?"
The man looked at Kyle with a cheeky grin, clearly his mood had switched almost instantaneously from angry to friendly.
"Hmm, you do look familiar...Ever met anyone called Roland or Weyland?" he Chirped, now suddenly very interested
"N-no" Kyle stuttered, still shaken from the whole experience.
"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you, in fact, you forgot your shoes back there" the man chucks Kyle's shoes to his feet as Kyle snorts to himself as he laughs at his own stupidity.
"Its ok, they were too small anyways"
"Your parents ain't got you shoes that fit you? why not?" He asked, almost shocked to see someone like Kyle around here, not sure if he was judging him or pitying him.
"Because my parents aren't around...I live with my grandparents"
The man paused for a moment, and looks behind him to the tree line.
"You know, I could take you back to my place and get you shoes that actually fit you...your socks look painful as fuck" he said, pointing to the very crusty, stained, holey socks with his big toes wiggling in the grass.
Kyle had never been offered anything like this before, Was this what having friends is like?
"You live...In the forest...?" Kyle looked around him.
He bellows with laughter, clutching his eyes and wiping tears away.
"No, we have a house not too far from here, we live in the nature reserve" he jokingly punches Kyle's arm jovially.
"We?"
"Well I wouldn't be living alone would I?"
He sets off just in front of Kyle, walking just a few steps before turning back around.
"Well? you coming or what?"
"Yeah...wait whats your name?"
He smiles back as Kyle catches up to him.
"I'm Zayne, You?"
"Kyle..."
The two walk peacefully past the treeline, and further into the reserve around them, happily chatting the time away.