“Hey, kid stop! I’ll even give you money if you do this for me.” Said the man with a smile on his face. Although he was smiling deep down, he was annoyed, seeing Renji not interested made him a little annoyed but he tried to hide it with a smile.

“Oh! How much are we talking about?” said Renji as he turned around to face the man, his ears were both perked up as soon as he heard there was money involved. His parents weren’t in the condition to work full-time, so whatever money they made was barely enough to support them. That was why Renji always went around looking for work to do to earn some money.

“Here, take this $15 and buy yourself some food after you deliver this package.” Said the man with a huge grin on his face.

Usually, Renji had to do a day’s worth of work to even get his hands on 10 dollars, but here right in front of him, a man in a suit was offering him 15 dollars just for delivering the package. Getting paid $15 for 30 minutes of work was like a fantasy for Renji. There was no way he was going to refuge the offer outright.

“Okay, I'll do it but I have just one condition. Give the money to me right now.” Although the offer seemed to be just too good to be true, he just wanted to accept the offer.

“Alright, here take the money and both the package.” Said the man without a second of hesitation in his voice.

‘That easily? Would he be willing to pay more money if I asked him for more? A hell no, I should have asked for more. Why is he so desperate to deliver this package though?’ a lot of thoughts came to Renji’s mind as he accepted the money and the package. He was thinking about more money, but at the end of the day, he knew that if he started to be greedier the man might even deliver the package himself. So, he didn’t take the risk.

-SIGH-

‘Finally, my job here is done, I wonder what we are going to have for dinner today. I hope we get a party tonight.’ Thought the man after sighing in relief, as he saw the disappearing back of the boy.

……………………………………………………

Renji ran towards the location where the man had told him to drop the package. He ran with all of his might, treating this delivery run as part of the training as well. He was

‘I should be able to drop the package and return in just 20-25 minutes if I run this fast for the entire run. Yeah, let's see how fast I can deliver thi……’

“AHHHHHH………” Renji was in the middle of thinking about how fast he could make the delivery, but right at that moment, something hit him like a truck. He was thrown several feet back, his body stopped moving when he hit a wall.

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“AHHHH THAT HURTS…WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THAT?” cried Renji as he was in immense pain, it seemed like someone had just kicked him on his chest making his body fly back.

“Y..YOU?......” Renji shrieked as his body felt a sudden jolt when he finally saw the man who had just kicked him. The man was none other than the fat butcher, from whom he had stolen the meat yesterday.

“Oh, you remember me? Here I thought you had forgotten all about me after just 1 day. You were lucky yesterday when you escaped my grasp but look at you today running straight towards me while grinning ear to ear. Do you think I am some kind of pushover Huh?” said the fat butcher while breathing heavily. His breathing started becoming heavier as his anger started to rise, the more he talked the angrier he got.

‘Ahh fuck I even took the other road just to avoid being seen by him, why does this always happen to me only….ugh.’ thought Renji, he was very frustrated by the situation he was currently in. Earlier he had taken a detour, if he had gone the fastest way, he would have encountered the butcher’s shop from yesterday. Even after going through a longer path, he still ended up facing the fatty anyway.

Renji was right near the border of the slums; he thought that going through the borders was safer than going from the front of the butcher’s shop. Renji started to look around the area trying to find a perfect place for his escape, he didn’t have to search for long as he saw a sewer a few meters away from him. As soon as he made up his mind about where he would go, he picked up the package that was lying in front of him and tried to make a run for it.

“STOP! YOU AREN'T GOING ANYWHERE TODAY. ANYONE WHO CAN CATCH ME THAT BRAT'LL PERSONALLY REWARD HIM 5 DOLLARS.” Yelled the Butcher loudly, so that everyone in the area could hear him. Although he offered only 5 dollars as a reward for catching the kid, most of the people present there started running towards Renji like flies. Everyone running after Renji was in dire need of money, for some, it was to buy addictive substances and for some, it was to feed their hungry bellies. So, even if the butcher offered 1 dollar everyone would have still gone mad.

“Let's see how far you can run this time runt. Hahahaha bring the rat to my shop and take the reward.” Said the butcher as he turned around and started to walk in the other direction. He seemed uninterested in the matter; he didn’t want to waste his time here anymore.

‘Ughhhhh……just one is a headache and now I will have to escape from this many? I don't think going into the sewer would do the trick.’ thought Renji as he turned around to see his pursuers. There were too many to even count at that instant, the plan of going into the sewer seemed dangerous as some of these people might know the sewer better than him. So, he had to make a tough decision on which way he should take.

“FUCK IT……” yelled Renji as he turned to face the Grove of grudges. After weighing his options, he chose to go into the forest itself. Although it might seem stupid to jump into the sea to avoid the river, he had some plans up his sleeve.

Although he had never visited the forest regularly, his parents used to take him to the forest now and then when they were fine. They used to take him to the forest to teach him whatever they had learned about hunting and the forest. Seeing the situation which was so dire, he knew that his knowledge about the forest just might work.

He took a gamble and ran straight into the forest, just as he entered the forest most of the people who were following him halted their footsteps. Those who stopped didn’t even dare to look straight at the forest.

“Hey Kid! Stop don’t go there we won't chase after you we promise.” Yelled a man, the hesitation in the man’s voice was noticeable, even his mouth was twitching when he spoke. He was lying, he thought if he lied the kid might believe him.