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It's been a while since I've gone and typed up a journal entry hasn't it?
When I first met him, he was just a boy, hugging his knees as he stared down at the shallow crystalline pond, watching as his tears fell into the blue water, rippling their disturbance of the otherwise unmoving waters.
When I first met him, I was just a boy, hiding out by the shallow pond, where I could cry in peace. I was just a boy, but I had been raised to not allow anyone to see me cry. I liked watching my tears hit the water, it had a calming affect, to watch the ripples as they grew wider and wider, eventually disappearing, hiding the fact that they had even been there. It kept my mind off of my family tragedy.
"What's wrong, child? Where are your parents?" He had asked from behind me, his voice soothing and sympathetic.
"What's wrong, child? Where are your parents?" I had asked him, it was rare to see a child out this far, none of the people near by had children that I knew of. I was worried about him. Maybe he was lost? He flinched at my voice, probably didn't expect anyone else besides himself to be out this far from the main city.
"My parents are dead." He said bitterly, glaring at me as he wiped at his eyes, they were red from so much crying.
I jumped when he called out to me, it wasn't often that anyone would be out this far, and I really didn't want someone to know I was crying. I was a boy after all, I'm supposed to be strong, no matter what.
"My parents are dead." I glared at him as I wiped at my eyes, desperately trying to erase all evidence on my face that I had been crying. He didn't respond to my comment, nor did he look angry that I was glaring at him, a complete stranger who had only asked about my well being. I looked closer at him. He was a tall man, with long black hair tied up by silk ribbon and dark blue eyes, probably in his early 20's and was well dressed, almost as if he was a nobleman. He sighed before stepping closer to me, and pulled out a handkerchief, wiping at my eyes.
He was just a kid, shaggy brown hair and bright green eyes, dressed a plain white ruffled button cotton shirt and dark slacks, dirty from the sand around the pond that he still sat by. I sighed. What a day this was turning out to be, I had intended on just going for a simple walk to momentarily forget the duties that were waiting for me back home, all those bloody invitations that I had to read through, accept or deny, and instead, I ran into a child. I sat on one knee, in order to be at eye level with him and dried his tears with my handkerchief.
"If you have no where to go, why not come back with me? I can help you look for your relatives if you want." I said calmly, this child looked to be the type raised not to accept charity. He blinked at me.
"I don't have any relatives, they all died in the fire." The boy looked away. It was then that I noticed his shoes were missing, the bottoms of his feet were burned, and his hands had dried cuts and bruises scattered all over them.
"A Rothschild, perhaps?" I spoke out loud without realizing it. I had heard of that incident, Troupe Rothschild was a family owned circus that traveled from city to city. I vaguely remembered news of the Rothschild's temporary home on the outskirts of the main city had caught fire due to a fallen lamp. It was believed that there were no survivors, apparently that fact was incorrect.
The man had, whether he had meant to or not, spoke my family name out loud. All I could do to keep myself from crying again was to simply nod at his question. My family had all died in that fire. A fire I had caused. It was only a game, I hadn't meant to knock over the oil lamp when I was chasing after Randy the wolfhound. My shoulders shook with pent up emotions that I was refusing to show in front of this stranger. I could still feel the fire on my feet as I had ran to the front door with Father, I could feel the cuts the ceiling beam had caused on my hands as I tried to push it off of him, the look of defeat on his face as he told me to run. I was weak and a coward. I should have been able to do something, ANYTHING in order to save them, but I ran. Ran as fast and hard as I could and didn't look back.
"But that had been three days ago." The man said so quietly it was barely above a whisper. He placed a hand on my head and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into a light hug.
"But that had been three days ago." I said in quiet shock. How had this child survived out here that long? All alone, with no one to talk to or anything to eat...In a soothing manner, I placed one hand on his head and pulled him into a hug.
"It is okay to cry in times like these, poor child." I spoke barely above a whisper. His whole body was shaking with held back tears now. He sniffed and hugged back, a desperate child's hug. I felt his tears soak into my silk dress shirt as he pressed his head closer to my neck. He really was just a child, probably no older than ten.
"It is okay to cry in times like these, poor child."
When he said those words, I couldn't help it, I broke down and cried. Just cried and cried and cried, hugging him back as if my life depended on it, as if this kind person would just disappear if I didn't hold onto him with all my strength. I didn't want to be alone again. Then he spoke the offer that would change my life forever.
"Come child. Begin a new life as my student and assistant." I looked up at his warm smiling face. I was at a lost of words.
Gently, so as to not hurt him, I let go of him and stood up, dusting off the sand that had clung to my knees and held out a hand.
"There will be food and a well deserved bath waiting for you if you wish to learn the was of a Nobleman's assistant." I offered warmly. I could not just leave this unfortunate child to die in the wilderness.
He stood up on his own and looked stubborn. "I can find food on my own." He said with a slightly cracked tone, wiping at his tears. Then his stomach let out a loud gurgling noise and he blushed, embarrassed that his stomach had betrayed him. I laughed and offered my hand again.
"Come child." He laughed as my stomach growled non stop at the thought of food. With hesitance, not used to people being so kind, I took his hand, my face still red with embarrassment as he and I left the clean pool, him leading the way to my new life. I vowed that I would become the best student and assistant the world had ever known for this kind man.
It was a kind sight, almost as if a painting, a man and child, holding hands as they headed towards the bright sunlit city and towards their growing friendship and loyalty.
A painting that-once I figure out how to draw it out properly-will eventually replace the above squeeness that is Allen :3
 Fizzyology · Fri Apr 24, 2009 @ 06:16am · 1 Comments |
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