#funstories

Weff felt like a thief, standing in the middle of a bustling market-square, wearing his grey cloak with the hood up despite the heat.

Nevertheless, he kept it on. In fact, he pulled it lower over his eyes when he walked up to a booth selling herbs. His fingers felt the herbs, and he even sniffed some as he searched for the kinds he needed. As he found them, he placed them carefully into neat stacks, mentally counting up the cost.

“Can I help you?” the booth’s owner asked. Weff detected the subtle wariness and tried not to show his own. He gestured to his stack and even pushed them forward to emphasize. The owner nodded, and deftly twisted each stack together with a small bit of twine. Weff watched, desperate to just pay the man and go. The owner counted the herbs and smiled gruffly. 

“Four copper, two iron.” He said. Weff bit down on his lip. He had known it would be costly, but he had hoped he had overestimated the amount. He had not. With a sigh, he carefully brought his coin sack out and slowly laid out the heavy pieces which the owner demanded. Setting down the last piece of copper, Weff felt the atmosphere change, and an insurmountable thunder of distrust washed over him so strong he almost stumbled back from the force. Glancing up quickly, his eyes sharpened on the owner before him. 

“They are all real,” he said quietly, softly, careful not to let his voice be memorable. The owner shifted uncomfortably.

“Of course, good traveller. Never would have thought otherwise,” he said, scooping up the coins and handing Weff his bag of herbs. Weff smiled, bemused. He was annoyed at the man's lie. He was tired of how they always denied the emotions he was cursed to feel so strongly. The emotions of others. 

Weff took the bag, nodded his thanks, and left quietly. He drew concealment around him like a cloak. Now, no matter how hard the owner looked for him, he would simply fade into the crowd. Just another unremarkable person to be overlooked by the passing eye.

As he slipped though the bustlingly crowd, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Looking around, he spotted four darkly clad figures lurking off to the side.

Weff looked away quickly, dread spreading in his gut. He had stayed in one place too long. He could sense the eyes of the Hunters were on him. And they were getting closer. Weff felt anticipation, greed, and hunger for the catch all at once and the force of these emotions caused him to stumble a little. With shaking hands, he secured his satchel tightly to his body and ran. 

I reside in a college town; two private colleges, one on each side of town. I live near the larger of the two schools. Iona College sits on, and around North Ave in New Rochelle, NY and it is one of many places to people watch and see random sites. There’s a store on the corner; we call them bodegas in NY, and I stop there daily. It’s directly across the street from the dorms and classroom…