I'm a bit further ahead than what I'm posting here because I wrote it all so quickly while I was deliriously tired (crazy amounts of work giving me no sleep
), and now I'm just going back and just making sure it's not too inconsistent... although I'm still quite sleep deprived, so i'm not sure how useful my editing it is. ---
Downtown Karlstad, not far from the metro station.
“Excuse me.”
“Excuse me.”
It took two times for the soft voice of what seemed to be a young girl to catch the attention of two men, maybe in their mid twenties, talking outside of a bar while smoking. It was only eight o’clock they were already drunk, and quite oblivious to the child until their ever so important conversation was interrupted.
It wasn’t her voice that caught Patrik’s attention though, it was the response of one of the men.
Patrik had just been out getting a few groceries for a late night snack in front of the tv when he spotted this destitute looking young girl, soaked through from the freezing drizzle without a coat.
“What do you want?” When the young man saw the face of a twelve year old girl, he waved a hand at her, “Fuck off.”
She continued anyways, undeterred, “Could either of you help us to get a hotel in the area? I have money --”
“I said fuck off, go home to your mommy, we aren’t buying you anything.” The young man reached out and pushed the young girl back with a light press on the shoulder. She was manipulated with no effort whatsoever, falling down onto her rear end with an ‘oof’.
“What are you doing? Beating up kids?” The young man’s friend didn’t sound particularly upset, in fact, he was snickering, even while he was chastising him.
“I barely even touched her.” His friend held up his hands.
“I can pay you extra to get us a room, please.” The young girl continued speaking from the ground, emotionless, or at least good at hiding any of them.
“Oh, you have money, huh?” The young man who’d pushed her turned about and placed his hands on his hips, slowly walking over the girl and standing above her.
Patrik had had enough of this since the moment they’d touched this girl. He had already crossed through the middle of the street without so much as a glance for any traffic, his eyes were set on the altercation he was witnessing.
“Leave her be.” His deeper, gruffer sounding voice betrayed how much older he was, though his appearance couldn’t be called intimidating. Not particularly tall, a little overweight, well worn clothing, and carrying a plastic bag as he approached them.
He had short, dirty blonde hair, and though he wasn’t taller than either of the two young men, he was wider, stouter, and probably a lot more capable of handling himself. He was maybe fifty or so, but looked like he moved swiftly and with ease.
“What are you, her dad? Why don’t you get her back home to bed then?”
“Get out of here you little shits.”
“Fuck off.”
“Just back off then.” The older man placed himself between the kid and the young men, and perhaps thankfully, they didn’t seem to have any fight in them, especially since he turned his back on them.
“C’mon.” He offered his hand to the girl, who hesitantly accepted the help, getting back upright soon thereafter.
”What’dya need? A ride home? Make a phone call?” The man was clearly trying to usher her away while the two men stared at the both of them. Before long though, the two hotheads seemed more interested in their conversation once again.
“I just need...” She hurried along, glancing over her shoulder once, “We just need a little help, to get a place to stay.”
Patrik turned to look at the girl who seemed to be unsure of herself, looking about nervously. She’d stopped walking when they’d gotten in front of an alleyway, still only a few yards away from their little confrontation.
Into the darkness she went and appeared moments later, her arms around a young, similarly aged boy. He had blonde hair poking out from underneath his winter hat. He was a touch pudgy, but still rather frail looking himself, and in fact, he looked quite worse for wear. He held one hand on his stomach with the other in his pocket, and stared glassy eyed toward the ground as he let himself be led along by the young girl. She left him there momentarily and dodged back into the darkness of the alley.
“Hey hey -- are you alright?” The older man wasn’t going to let this go, and immediately turned to hold a hand out to the boy, grabbing his other arm. “He looks sick -- you aren’t stabbed or anything are ya?”
“No, no, he’s sick though.” The meak voice called out from the shadows.
“Let’s get him to the hospital, c’mon.”
“No!” She shouted this time, loudly, deeply, it was almost unnatural the voice that came from her, causing Patrik to stop in his tracks, he was just about to bend down to pick the boy up when he heard that. The dark haired girl emerged from the darkness once again, this time dragging a large leather bound trunk. It looked heavy, and she looked as though she had no real way of moving it around.
Perhaps the two of them had been carrying it side by side before the blonde one got sick.
“We’re...” The girl glanced from side to side, then up with wide eyes, as though she’d just remembered, “We’re in trouble.”
Runaways. He breathed in deeply, eyes shifting between the two kids. Kids, that’s all they were. He didn’t believe her, not in the way he interpreted those words.
“With who?”
“Please.” She pleaded with him, these sad eyes looking at him as though this would ruin their lives if he brought them to the hospital, or a police station.
If this ‘trouble’ they were in was simply with their parents, or foster parents, he understood.
“Afraid to be put back... home?” He paused, “Both of you?”
The girl hesitated, then nodded, her eyes averting from his.
“He needs to be seen by a doctor, what if it’s his appendix?”
“It’s not -- I know what it is -- he’s... We just haven’t eaten well...”
“Hungry, too?” The man let out a sigh. If things were going to pull on his heart strings, it was going to be that.
“...Yes,” The dark haired child sounded hesitant, “He’s... allergic to bread, and we didn’t have any other choice.”
Patrik wasn’t sure what to make of it, something sounded a bit off, made up on the spot with the subtle stuttering he’d heard in that soft voice. He knew of various allergies, some rarer than others, it was fine, inconsequential. He shrugged, it seemed to fit. The two were runaways, no money, hard to get food, had to scavenge for something and it just wasn’t good for this poor kid. Wait, didn’t she say she had money? He couldn’t be sure what he heard on the way across the street, regardless, getting a place to sleep inside was far more important than getting a bite to eat at this time of year.
“Alright c’mon, it’s too cold out here anyway, and we can discuss it back at my place.”
“No please, if you could just help us get a hotel room for the night.” The girl reached into a small bag slung over her side.
“No, no, I insist. I promise I’m not some pervert -- my girlfriend will cook you some food, you’ll get warm, and then you can figure out what you’re doing.” The man tried to smile, lifting up the hand that carried the bag, “Listen, I was just picking up some cheese and snacks. Come to my place, knock on the door, meet Emma, and then decide if we’re too scary to stay with.”
“If you want to leave right away, one of us will bring you somewhere to get a room for the night, I promise.”
Patrik watched as the girl turned to her boy companion, he didn’t look well at all, and he hesitated having even suggested this, but maybe Emma would have a better chance at convincing them to go to a doctor.
“Alright,” The girl acquiesced, reluctantly it sounded; there was no doubt to Patrik that he felt untrusted. Good, he thought, that would keep these two a bit safer on the road.
“If it isn’t far.”
“It’s not, do you think he can walk? I can carry your trunk.” The man was already setting his things atop it and squatting down.
“Yes, I can help him.” She ducked under the boy’s arm, lifting him up as he groaned in pain, easily supporting his weight, much to Patrik’s surprise. She looked tiny compared to him, but he supposed the boy weighed next to nothing despite whatever moderate softness around the midsection he may have had.
He nodded to her once and lifted up the trunk -- it wasn’t too heavy, awkward maybe, but not entirely full. The poor kids probably had next to nothing with them, hence why the girl was wearing so little. He nodded to the two of them as he started walking once again, balancing that plastic bag against his chest and face on top of this ridiculously large suitcase.
Just as he’d promised, the building was right in downtown Karlstad, only a couple blocks away. And just as he’d said, a woman opened the door to the apartment moments after he’d called out to her by name.
)
