āYouāre under arrest!ā
It was following these words that the cursed life I lived truly began.
It became this way under the jurisdiction of a boy ā Yes, a boy, who shouted these words at me from atop a white horse. I looked up at him, but in place of the looming officer I should have found at such height, it was a fellow who'd looked only around thirteen years of age ā he couldnāt have been much older than me.
He was blond, his hair thick and waving onto his cheek, upon which sat an insolent grin that made the rest of him entirely unbearable. He was dressed head to toe in white and gold, colors which only the most arrogant of men could dare to wear in public ā But on the breast of his coat was embroidered the crest of the Holy Guard.
A boy as young as him, as cheeky as him, as lighthearted as him, was by all fact an officer of the most esteemed guards this side of the country had to offer-Ā and he was here for my arrest.
A joke ā I thought, as I took running ā This is a joke!
But I was well aware by that point, that I was Godās most favorite thing to laugh at.
My name, Alexandre De Graham, was read from the boyās roster as if it were a mere chore heād completed. I knew that I was one of many; my crime of petty theft was not worth the Guardās time, but served well to provide training to the youngest of the troupe. The boy who pinned me to the wall took it quite seriously in that regard, and fought my every move with such vigilance- but my role as a training dummy became clear when he smiled again.
āThere,ā heād said. āAre we done now?ā
His playful tone scraped against every nerve along my back.
āArenāt you going to arrest me?ā
āOh, but such paperwork.ā Drawling this, he pulled his arm back and stepped away. My feet became ridden with a powerful urge to run again, but feeling that it would only delay the inevitable, I strove to take comfort in his lackadaisy.
āSo what, then? Youāre letting me go?ā
āWell. I canāt do that. But Iāll tell you thisā If you return what you stole, Iāll let you off with a warning!ā
I couldnāt help but to scoff at it. Once again, āthe inevitableā whispered its vows overhead ā But I considered the coins in my pocket, and their matches within any otherās pocket. My name was on a list, that much was true. But if they allowed that list into the hands of a boy such as this, then perhaps the money I had could buy at least a number of months uninterrupted. In that time, I figured, I could imagine a better way to deal with such a nuisance.
I drew out the coins and offered them to himā But likening further to the ache in my back, he shook his head and pointed in the direction we'd come from.
āGo back. Apologize.ā
This was the future of the Holy Guard..!
Predictably, when the old woman was made aware of the situation, she was quick to fawn over his kindness, his radiance; I felt my skin burning from the grin behind me.
As I was readied to leave, though, the woman took my arm, and her smile, a vague shape casting between the both of us, became directly pointed toward me. āYouāve grown quite a bit for one day, young man,ā She said. āYouāll have to eat to catch up, wonāt you?ā - When she said this, she pushed a coin back into my hand, and nodded to us both. āHave a lovely evening, boys.ā
When she turned, she took the arm of a man, and tapped her path out with a cane. Figures,Ā I thoughtā But the boy grabbed my shoulder to turn me around, and held two more coins up to me.
āSheās right, you know~ You have a lot of eating to do!ā
Laughing, he pushed those into my hand, too.
He'd said goodbye not very long after that, and climbed back onto his horse. I, attempting to let this strange afternoon roll off my shoulders, tried to turn my thoughts to how to best make use of the gifts. Just as Iād begun to sort it out, I heard the horseās feet come to a halt, and the boy called to me once more.
āMy name is Andrel Baker,ā He said, and I looked at him. His smile, for the moment, was no longer cheeky and grating, but looked an odd sort of.. sincere.Ā In that moment, I recalled how few boys my age I actually spoke with, all while running about in the thick of itā I wondered how many he spoke with, from the hallows of that awful house.Ā
But then his face twisted, spitting at me with that same boyish amusement.Ā
āIāll see you again soon, wonāt I~?ā
I took my winnings to the nearest pub, and asked for a small chicken pie.
theartofmadeline
pixelskylines
2087
