Arya glanced at his watch and scowled, rubbing his forehead in frustration. Adjusting his glasses, he peered around the empty, two-way street, scanning for hostile entities. When he found none, he whipped his head back towards the alley and hissed into the darkness. “Guys! It’s been five minutes. Where are you?”

A faint voice resonated from the alleyway. Or, rather, voices. They grew louder and louder until they became clearly audible.

“RUN!”

Arya cursed under his breath and slipped on his hood. Hiding his identity was key to making it out of here alive. He waited for his band of mates to catch up, then he sped off. Behind him, he heard the roar of some man, no, prehistoric being, splitting his eardrums. God damn it. Butch was going to catch up.

Arya gasped out to his closest friend, Mickey, as they sprinted through the twilight streets,”How’d he find you? I thought you said this plan was foolproof!”.

He just grinned back at Arya.”It is...For me anyways. For you? Well...just run faster”. With a cackle, he bolted past him and sharply turned the corner. Arya, being quite unathletic compared to him, didn’t have the agility to keep up and, instead, ran by the intersection.

Spying a streetview mirror, he slowed down slightly to see how close Butch was to him.

Ehhh...Give or take 50 yards. He could make that work.

Thinking quickly, Arya ran to the nearest shop and threw open the door, slipping off his hood in the meantime to seem more agreeable. In it was an elderly couple who, assumedly, owned the flower boutique. The older man was ducked behind the counter and almost banged his head on it when he shot upright to look at his surprise visitor. The slightly younger woman came sprinting from the shop’s back storage, eyes filled with obvious frustration. They both were about to start screaming at Arya when he quickly spat out,”THERE’S...*gasp*...SOMEONE CHASING ME!”

The older couple turned to each other and nodded. The man quickly unlatched a gate that separates the cashier’s aisle from the general store and ushered him through it. He motioned for Arya to duck behind the cash register and he promptly did so, right as Butch wrenched open the front door.

Arya quietly stuck his head out from the counter. At the slightest sign of danger, he’d bolt.

Now, normally, no one would bat an eye at this sort of behavior. Some of the shops around Arya’s home had rusted hinges and it was extremely difficult to get any of them to move. However, Butch was not a normal person. He was a towering man who was buff and heavily mustached. If Arya had to compare him to anyone, it was probably the Hulk. Butch looked like he could bend iron bars with relative ease.

Brandishing a thick butcher’s knife, Butch whispered in a low, threatening tone. “Where’s the little brat that decided to-”

The couple didn’t blink an eye. Before Butch could finish his sentence, he had a knife to his neck, courtesy of the old man. Wait, where did he come from? A moment ago, he was locked behind a counter and now he was one swift movement away from ending Butch’s life. The woman, on the other hand, displayed two twin revolvers, one in each hand, seemingly coming from nowhere. Her eyes, devoid of frustration, now filled with rage.

“Now listen here. I don’t exactly mind people barging into our establishment. But I will NOT have anyone pull out a weapon in our shop. Do I make myself clear?” He snarled.

It was a tense few moments. Time seemingly slowed as the two parties laid frozen, reading the other’s movements. Arya watched in tense anticipation, hoping for someone, anyone, to relieve him of this stress.

Butch complied. Now fearful for his life, he nodded his head, careful not to allow the blade to cut into his throat. With a grunt, the old man released him and Butch scurried off, muttering something about “police” and “big trouble”.

Arya finally realised that he hadn’t breathed for quite a while. He stood up and stared at the couple, who immediately went back to their work like it was nothing. He contemplated calling the old couple out on their obvious display of ruthlessness, but decided against it as he slinked to the door and almost had his hand on the doorknob when the old man barked,”HOLD UP! You’re not leaving anytime soon…”

Crap.

Arya jumped backwards and gave the old man a nervous smile.”Soooooo...your flowers look nice...”.

He eyed him with a look of exasperation and started.”Listen boy, I don’t know who you are, or who attacked you...but don’t bring trouble like this into my establishment. Me and my wife have been through enough, we don’t want more trouble.”

Arya nodded vigorously, eager to get this conversation over with.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He narrowed his eyes, but sighed and motioned towards the door. “Scat.”

Arya promptly did so. Except...his hand froze as he held it over the doorknob. Something gave him pause. He spun around and blurted out his thoughts.

“How’d you do that?”

The old man gave Arya a weird look, almost as if he was remembering something, and shook his head.

“Some things are better left in the past”. He said tiredly.

Arya almost pursued the subject more, but a little voice in his head told him to drop it. He nodded, but asked one more question.

“What’s your name?” Arya asked quietly.

The old man smiled and gestured towards himself.”I’m Tavos.” He then pointed haphazardly to his wife,”This is Heline”.

The old woman gave Arya a kind smile

He slowly nodded and shuffled to the door.

“Thanks...for the whole...situation,” he mumbled.

Tavos smiled.”I’ll see you around, kid…”

Arya thanked him and left

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Damn it Mickey! Why are you such a prick?” Arya seethed as he met up with the traitor at their usual spot, a little secluded area in the community park that provided peace and privacy.

“Don’t blame me!” Mickey raised his hands.”I don’t wanna die!”

“Yeah? Well neither do I.” Arya retorted.

“Both of you, chill!” A third member, Eli spoke up. “We got the meat and no one got hurt! That’s pretty successful in my books.”

“Shut up, Eli.” said the quarrelers in unison. The pale boy backed off.

“Whatever, hand me my share.” Arya said flatly.

Mickey gave him a shit-eating grin. “What’s the magic word?”

Arya grinded his teeth.”Please.”

Mickey’s grin grew even larger."Please, whaaaaat?"

At this point, Arya was ready to strangle the little pest. But, he kept his cool. Damn it, Mickey was so lucky they were close friends or Arya would be digging his grave right about now.

Or maybe not, considering all Mickey had to do was leisurely jog away and there was no way Arya could catch him.

“Please, may I have my share of food which I had worked so tirelessly to earn?” Arya enunciated sarcastically.

“That’s the spirit!” Mickey chuckled and handed him his actual portion.

Arya thanked the boy and examined the meat, checking for blemishes or things of the like that would indicate spoilage.

“So...how did you get away?” Eli asked suddenly.

Arya paused, considering how to answer this question. On one hand, he could say that he just outran Butch, but on the other hand, he could say that an elderly couple ninja’d their way into holding Butch hostage after he had entered their floral shop.

On second thought, he would go with the first option.

“I just...outran him, I guess?” Arya shrugged.

Mickey and Eli eyed the boy with suspicion, but let it pass.

“Well,” Arya finished,”I have to be home for dinner. It’s getting late.”

“But it’s only 5 o’clock!” Eli exasperated.

Arya nodded.”I have to be home soon. My mom needs the meat to cook for dinner and I need to finish studying.”

Mickey groaned.”Man, all you do is study! I haven’t seen you go without a book for more than a week at a time! Isn’t that too much?”.

Arya smirked.”If I want out of this shithole, I’m gonna need to ace the entrance exam for Adanton.”

Mickey gave Arya a pitying look.”Dude, you know they aren’t gonna accept you. You’re from the slums, my man! Those big shots in the inner circle step on us like we’re nothing. Trust me. Go for something local. It’ll save you the embarrassment.”

“‘Local’ doesn’t guarantee food on the table. If I manage to get into Adanton, me and my mom are set for life! I’m pretty much given a six-figure job straight out of there.” Arya retorted.

Mickey shrugged.”Whatever man. Just know, when you fail, we’ll be there. Don’t worry, I’ll treat you to some ice cream.”

Arya’s mouth watered. Maybe he should fail after all. Their local ice cream shop sold some of the best ice cream he’d ever had. It was to die for!

Granted, it’s the only ice cream he’s ever had, but his point still stood.

“Nah, I’ll pass. When I get in, I’ll be the one to treat you to ice cream!” Arya smiled and held out his fist.

Mickey returned his smile and fist bumped him. Suddenly, the group of friends broke into laughter and that laughter carried with Arya as he bid the two goodbye and set off to go home.