Leftover Life // Danny

I fumble with the lock for a few seconds before getting the door open, stepping into the cold early February and smiling. My jacket was not thick, but it kept me almost warm and my thick, fluffy hair covered my small face. As I walk towards the square, I wonder what life had in store for me today. Would I curl up and sit with stomach pain for hours until Felix came? Would someone steal? Would I meet someone new to talk to? The first was the most likely, the last the least. A matter of fact, I was like a magnet for disease. As though to enforce my thought, I cough, though I was better right now.

I begin to hum a meaningless tune to myself, toying with my hair as I take shortcuts through alleys. It was the dangerous route, but to get to the library it would normally take two hours to walk from my house. Using the alleys, I could knock it down to just an hour. Fifty-one more minutes to go. Felix often told me not to go anywhere without him, but I finally decided it was time to start living. I didn't want to die without seeing things first, right?

I do pass a few unsettling people, shaded by buildings, staring. Any one of them could hurt me simply by poking me. Any one of them could so easily manipulate me into doing something. I took notes from Felix though - and didn't look at them. I was no career, and though if handed a knife I can easily get it center target, I only did it so my father thought I was useful. Against these people, I'm a ladybug. Forty-seven more minutes.

I pass a few young children, playing with marbles at a corner. One rolls my way, and the smallest of them runs over and picks it up. I marvel at the energy of the child, so young. When I look back up, I realize in staring at the child I had taken a wrong turn. Shrugging my shoulders, I turn back around and go in the opposite direction. But now I am confused - where did I turn wrong? Did I pass that blonde? Wait - they're all blonde.

I groan, recalling the times Felix had warned me to pay more attention and keep my head out of the clouds. Now I'd done gotten myself lost. I do the only thing I could do, and approach the nearest calm looking person. Took a bit of walking, but I finally found someone who wasn't currently glaring and holding a blunt object. I ask if they knew which way was out of the alley. I'd take the long way - since the backways were not currently working out.