Chapter 1 : ESCAPE

He was running away at the middle of the night, trying to escape his hell like reality. In that dark forest, he clutched his bag to the front, at his chest. He found a small light far away at the end of the jungle. He lost his glasses while running, so he couldn’t see that far clearly. A gleam of light shone to his eyes, so he sped up in hope, but tumbled over a puddle. With a sprained ankle he kept on leaping on his other leg and reached the end of the forest.

Sitting on an almost broken bench he sighed, he was too light to break it though. He had a sandwich with him in his backpack, it won’t make him full but he only had this at the moment. His ankle was swollen and reddened, he had small bruises on his feet as well from scratching on sharp branches and leave. He didn’t had any medicine.

A bus came, he took his bag and got on the bus. It looked quite old inside the bus, the fabrics on the seats were torn at some places ,but it’s the only bus to go next city at that time.

Sitting on a window seat at the back of the bus, his heart was pounding, so excited for his new journey but afraid as well. His legs were trembling and sweating all over his body. A cold breeze brushed his face, he calmed down with a sigh . The bus was almost empty at this hour, dark inside, he looked outside the window to the jungle. A bright full moon lit up the forest, the leaves waved him goodbye.

A man sat next to him, a tall quite bulky gentleman with a sharp jawline, also young ,maybe about in his 20’s. He was staring at him from the first sight, then he looked away quickly. He hid his face as to hide his bruises in his hoodie. Staring at the window, enjoying the breeze he fell asleep.

Two boys were playing on a sunny day in an empty playground, around 5-6 years old, they were playing on the sand. One boy couldn’t make a sand castle no matter what. Although he had help from his friend but his castle fell down over and over again as soon as it built. That place was quiet as there weren’t many people there.

“Ryan, let’s play something else”, his friend asked.

“What should we play?”

“ Hm, we can play a role-play game as a family, Ryan you be my wife, I’ll work for you and you will cook me food”, they played like that by themselves for quite a long time.

“ Ryan, let’s go home”, his mother called him over from the swing at distance.

Their mothers were chitchatting while they were playing. Ryan waved his friend Darius a goodbye and went with his mom. He saw his dad reading a book at their study room when they reached home. A loving happy family with a big house, comfortable and cozy too. One could feel warmth in their everyday life.

He ran to his father, laughing and talking about how he spent his day playing with Darius. Suddenly, he heard something breaking down behind him, turned to see his mom was standing in some distance while the walls were crumbling in front of him. His mother started to fade away in front of his eyes, his face saddened, eyes filled with tear, cried and ran to save her. Only to notice his father too was disappearing, he ran to catch his dad, but to no avail, he lost his perfect happy family in front of eyes.

Ryan woke up from a yell beside him with teary eyes.

“How the hell did you get to be my manager, you can’t even take care of my car,… in this middle of the night I can’t even get a taxi”, that person was shouting on his phone

“Sorry Mr. Davenport, it was my negligence, I am driving there to pick you up”, his manger replied over phone.

“No need, you go back, I am already in a bus , I’ll meet you at my office, don’t waste time anymore… And take my car from there and arrange my flight ticket for tomorrow evening, don’t forget”, he hung up the phone.

The bus stopped at the next city bus terminal. It was a big place with lots of buses resting there. Only two people including him got off there. In that early in the morning , a calm breeze blew through him, freshened his mind. His didn’t wanted to remember any of his past that happened in these few years , though it haunted him every now and then.

Five years ago, Ryan’ s father was a high ranking employee on a famous company, but he lost his job. He harassed a female co-worker in an year ending party. After losing his job he started gambling with his saved up money, but blew them over in a blink of an eye. Even to put food on table he gambled over their house. At that time they lost both their house and dignity. They moved to a small room apartment after being homeless like that. His father went mad for even a tiny bit of mistake by his wife or son. He beat them whether he was drunk or not. The difference was when drunk , he acted like a beast, breaking everything in their tiny house, beating anyone he found in front of him. Every time his father went on a rampage, his mother put him in a small bedroom and locked him. That room was small, with just a old mattress on the floor lying. Ryan cuddled in that mattress and covered his ears, he never wanted to hear his mother screaming like that. When his father beat her enough, then he started hunt for his son. He also beat him to a pulp leaving bruises all over his body.

Ryan looked at a scar on his hand near his elbow and thought, “ I shouldn’t dwell on my past . . . I am going to live my life fullest from now on”. He was walking on an alley ,it was quite narrow, only two person can walk together through there. He passed two apartment buildings, he was searching for the 25/A/1 B Lane, he was already walking through B Lane and looking for the address. At a corner of an old building he found the written address, but it was too old and rust was all over the writing, it couldn’t be read properly, Ryan didn't hesitate much and called his friend’s number whom he was meeting. No response came. He called him again. This time he heard the door opening sound so he stood there properly straight and neatly.

“Darius, at last I found the correct place”, Ryan sighed.

“Well, come on, my room’s on 1st floor, let’s go”

“How long have you been living here?” he almost stumbled over while stepping on the stairs.

“Hmmm… about 3 years, Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah” Ryan’s feet were numb and swollen but somehow he was trying to walk as normally as possible.

“ Dad and mom are working all the time, so I have to live on my own anyways… so here, I’m living”, He smiled.

“All by yourself?”

“Yeah! It’s easy, don’t worry, you’ll get accustomed. Well I’ve got a roommate for the first time you see.”

They entered a relatively big apartment, it’s Darius’s room. Relatively big because the apartment he lived before with his parents was only an apartment with a small bedroom and hall *** kitchen with a cramped bathroom. But Darius’s house is a lot bigger with a bedroom *** study room. Although piles of books scattered literally everywhere, cloths were all around the bed, chair and also from the cupboard hanging.

“It’s quite messy now I know”, Darius hurried to gather his shirts and stuck them in the cupboard, “ now, now, you sit here.”

“Um, this is a single bed” Ryan looked around to find another bedroom but there wasn’t any, “ It’s quite small.”

“ Yeah, I’ve talked to the owner she will manage another bed, it’ll come in next few days, so adjust for now.”

“… thanks”

He smiled, “ You can stay here as long as you want, don’t take any stress about anything. If you need anything just let me know, I’ll be at your service.”

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