“Kid, you gotta get moving! The patrollers are on the way!”, a burly voice shouted from somewhere nearby just as a gentle breeze passed me followed by the scent of someone who probably hasn’t showered for weeks.

Before I could even fully register the words that had just been said to me, my legs were already working overtime. Only God knows why but, they were taking me closer and closer towards the voice.

The air tasted of burning embers in my lungs, the cityscape of countless skyscrapers looming from the heavens started to close in on me. I wonder why the clouds look extra menacing today. Tiny droplets of sweat pooled on the surface of my skin and lingered for just a second before falling to their demise. Slow down. Don’t let the smog catch you.

Before I could get my bearings on where I was going, something strange happened. My body... It was laying on the ground covered in scrapes and bruises.

And the voice…

It was… picking me up?

“Kid, what are you doing? You’re gonna get us both killed if you don’t get your stuff together. Let’s go!”, he said as he slung me onto his back, sprinting away from the increasingly deafening screech of the patroller.

“Where are we going? All I had was that box, where are we going?” I asked as if my life depended on it but, what life was I really trying to fight to keep? Even if I died right now, my soul would be so much happier than to stay another second. But for some reason, I just couldn’t d-

“I know we just met but it would be really great if you just shut up for two seconds while I figure out how to keep us alive”, his feet moving faster and farther than mine ever could while he almost effortlessly spoke to me.

A raindrop fell. A raindrop had fallen on my nose. Another on my eye, then five on my cheek and then ten on my head. The overhang of certain alley business entrances, like Mortimer’s Place and Buckingham Service Station, paused the assault of rain from time to time but the constant barrage was impossible to escape.

The longer we ran, the more anxious I became.

Why was this guy, who I had never met before, trying to take me away to something new? Why was this guy, who I had never met before in my life, someone who, despite my every natural urge and instinct, I trusted fully? Why do I trust him? It has to be because I’m tired. I haven’t had a full night’s rest in a fortnight. Or maybe it was because I’m hungry; it has to be because I haven’t eaten in days.

It has to be.

“Why were you in a box, kid? Where are your parents? What happened to your band, did you lose it?” he shouted, completely ignoring that just a minute ago he had told me to shut up.

“I… I don’t know”

He didn’t even so much as look at me for the next two minutes. We just moved from alleyway to alleyway, dodging patroller after patroller. Running. I don’t even know if he remembers that I’m here. What if he forgets me.

“How don’t you know why you’re living in a box, where your parents are or what happened to you? Do you know anything? What’s your name?”

“I… I… I really don’t know.”

He came to a halt almost immediately in an alley far away from where any patroller could ever reach us. His chest swelled with air, breath after breath, trying to suck in as much air as it could before all of the heavy breathing finally subsided.

It was surprising that even he was struggling for breath. I guess it wasn’t that surprising since we ran for what seemed like miles with the only break being to stop for patrollers scanning the streets before we darted into the next alley trying to escape all of this madness.

I really wonder why he decided to stop and take me with him. He must’ve seen that I didn’t have my band but, I have no idea why he would stop for me. I could’ve gotten us both killed if I slowed him down for even a second.

“Let’s start again. My name is Gui Hoisenberry. I’m something like 30 now. I used to live in Raleigh, up in province but some government workers didn’t take to me too kindly. And now I’m on the run just because of some stingy rich asses. What’s your deal?”

Gui said each and every word like he had recited it a million times in preparation for his big moment on stage. Like he was some famous actor waiting for his scene and the world was just his play area to tell stories about how he saved the queen from rogue assassins.

“My name is Riley. I used to li-”

“Why couldn’t you answer my questions before,” he said with a little disdain and distrust in his voice, “didn’t you hear me ask them?”

“I was afraid.” We were afraid.

“Afraid of what?”

“Afraid of… I was afraid of everything. Why did you think you needed to save me? I was perfectly fine in my box. Why did you even stop to take me from my box? Did you just have a death wish or something?”

“The patrollers were taking different routes tonight. The first time in two years. I think it’s part of the new government’s plan to rid the city of all rejects, once and for all.”

“But why would they change their routes today? They’ve had the same patterns for the past two years.”

“Don’t you know anything? Today’s independence day. October 9th, it’s the first that Dravia had made a name for itself. Freed ourselves from our oppressors known as The Dark Ones, from the Empire of Modalis. And today is our 50 year anniversary, so they doubled the number of patrollers and they changed all the routes.” Gui paused for a second as if he was taking in everything he had to explain to me. “Do you know anything about Dravia?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“When I was born, the nurse forgot to give me a wristband. By the time that my parents realised it, it was too late for it to be retrieved. They knew that if they told anyone, especially someone in the government, that I would’ve been put down. So they hid me. For fourteen years, they hid me,” I said as if I could still remember my parents’ faces, “They never taught me anything except for how to speak and fend for myself. They hid their faces so that if I ever saw them on the street, a stupid reject, like me, wouldn’t come running towards them and get us all killed. For fourteen years I lived without friends or family I could truly call my own. So, I don’t really know anything about where we are.”

“Why aren’t you with them now?” He asked as if this would bring them back somehow. He may be older than me but he sure has a lot of false hope.

“Because of the incident.”

“What incident?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“But I need to know something, or I ju-”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it!”, I near shouted as every muscle in my body started to tense up, holding back whatever suppressed memories were trying to bubble up and explode at the surface.

I don’t have to tell him a damn thing.

Stagnant.

The air grew still. A silence fell over us like some sort of horror movie come to life.

Great. He’s going to leave me just like everyone else. Of course now’s the time that the patrollers decided to stop making noise.

Gui hesitated a little before he continued, but after some time he finally managed to say, “Listen, I know whatever happened must be hard for you to relive. But I can’t trust you and stay with you if you can’t tell me anything about your past. I don’t know anything about you. I just… I just want to be able to believe that I wasn’t stupid for saving you back there.”

“I get that you want to trust me but my past is a part of me that I’d rather leave in the past. I don’t know why you saved me and I’m really grateful that you did but, can you just drop it?” It was hard to stop the tears from welling up in my eyes and cascading down my cheeks, “I want to have a fresh start life, to my life, and not have to relive memories that make me question my very own existence.”

A second passed. Then two then five. He was unmoving as if what I said was like seeing a ghost for the first time.

“Okay,” Gui muttered, “No more talking about the past. All we have to worry about is the future, promise.”

“Thanks.” The pause before my next question was nearly painfully long. Gui’s gaze even started to drift before I was able to finally ask, “You never answered my question. Why did you stop to save me?”

“Because you looked alone,” Gui said nearly solemnly, without missing a beat. “I remember what it was like to be alone so I didn’t want you to have to live the kind of life that I was barely able to escape myself. Even if you were one of them, that’s no life to live.”

“One of them? Who are they?”

“God, you really don’t know anything, do you? Listen, I don’t have much time to explain right now. When I sprinted past you, I was on my way to the city centre.”

“But that’s in the complete opposite direction from where we ran!”

“We?” He said, almost jokingly.

“You. It’s in the complete opposite direction from where you ran.”

“C’mon kid, don’t be such a spoilsport. I was only playing with you. I was running that way bec-”

“Riley,” I managed to mutter under my breath with the little strength I had in my lungs.

“What was that?”

“Riley… My name’s Riley…”

It was all I could get out before the darkness consumed me. Maybe it was finally time for me to go. Was this what they meant when they said on the store televisions that one day, we must all meet our maker? Don’t let him in. Those television shows were always so strange. I wonder who makes them. He will be the death of you. All of the actors and actresses look so pretty on the tv screen. Most of them have such elegant and pretty dresses or suits, but some look like plain ol’ me. He can’t be trusted. I think I saw a trans woman on tv the other day. She was so beautiful. She rocked her dress better than I could ever dream to rock mine. If I had one.

“Riley?! Riley, wake up! C’mon, this isn’t funny.” Gui said frantically, faintly at first but then at full volume.

“Wh… what happened?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know?! One second you’re talking to me and the next, you’re on the floor and the only thing I can see is the back of your head. You’ve been like that for at least two minutes!” He said, appearing to fear for my life.

The next thing that Gui did was something strange. He seemed to sort of, catch himself before he continued with his next words. It was as if he had broken character for the first time in a long time. “What would’ve happened if a patroller came by?! You could’ve killed me!”

That’s weird. For a second it sounded like he… like he cared about me.

“Oh yeah, that happens sometimes. Where are we going now?”

“What the hell?! You can’t just play that off!”

“I’m fine.”

I’m not fine. I will never be.

“How could you be fine?! I thought you were… I thought you were dead.” he said this as if some faint repressed memory was about to resurface.

“I’m here, aren’t I? I can walk and talk and move and groove. I’m fine. Where are we going?”

He can’t know I can’t be fine.

“We’re not just dropping this, I’ll get it out of you one day. But you still have to answer my questions before I go anywhere with you.”

Don’t let him in.

“What questions?”

“Why were you in a box?”

“Because it’s all I have.”

“Where are your parents?”

He will desert you like the rest of them.

“Gone forever.”

“Why are you alone?”

“Because I have no one.”

“Will you join me?”

“N-... Join you?”

“Going to the centre will be awfully lonely, I could use some company.”

Trust no one.

“Well, I guess I wouldn’t mind joining your journey if it wouldn’t be any trouble.”

“Do you have anywhere else to go?”

“Not really, no.”

“Then it’s not a trouble in the world. This place is as good a spot as any to sleep until the patrollers stop patrolling. How about we call it a night.”

“S-sure.”

For the first time in what seemed like forever, I was finally able to have a good night’s sleep. Even if it was in a dark alley with my new found friend.

Trust no one.

Next Chapter: Chapter Two