text: Feeling his hair blowing wildly in the breeze, he kept his eyes set forward toward the light, just breaking through the trees. It was far too late for his comfort, but the boy kept moving anyway, too many nights having been spent against a tree or in a field for both his emotional and his physical comfort, young joints aching as though he were of an old man, hunger weighing his body down toward the earth below his feet. If his navigational skills were any good- the main part of that phrase being if - then it was likely he’d find himself in civilization once again. Perhaps that was ignorant hope or naive optimism, and he’d simply be walking these woods until he wasted away. He finally paused for a moment, chest heaving with exhaustion as his lungs gasped for breaths that, in reality, it truly didn’t need , but longed for, reaching for the feeling of being fully human, rather than this bone-weary shell of his starved potential. he allowed his pack to slowly slide off his back, hitting the ground with a solid thump and gazed upwards. If he were near any sort of civilization, perhaps he’d be able to see it more reliably from higher up than on the lower level in which he stood at the moment, obscured by trunks reaching what felt like to the heavens. With a heavy breath, the boy grabbed the lowest branch, beginning his ascension, branch by branch, a trial of judgment of his weight and resilience. After minutes passed, branches threatening to splinter and give in from the force of his hand’s grip, he managed to find a solid footing in a fork in the canopy, poking his head out from the branches of the oak. There was a decent-sized cabin not too far from where he stood, the lighting of candles bringing slight illumination, though nothing that gave the boy an idea of whether they were able to be trusted. Aside from that, the next town he could find still was another few miles off, and that didn’t even guarantee a place to stay without having to beg. With the hope of a comfortable place to stay beginning to dwindle, he sat himself down, leaning against one of the sturdy offshoots in the canopy. If he were going to have to continue walking for so much longer or risk having to spend the 3rd night without a bed, he at least deserved a small break, at least a reprieve of the pressure under his feet. “Hey, kid, you doing alright up there?” The shock of hearing another man’s voice below him almost brought the boy off the branch, instinctually gripping a close branch near him. “I-... er, yes sir, I’m okay,” he responded, his voice gritty from lack of use, as though his own words were scratching his throat. “I’m sorry, I’m... not trespassing, right? “No, no, I was simply on a walk.” The man came into his eyeline now, seeming small from where he sat, but with a strong frame, his hair unkempt and choppy at the shoulders, but held no look of malice in his eyes. “Jesus, you look awful... kid-” “My name’s Lucas, if that helps at all.” The man grinned, nodding with some combination of relief and compassion. “Thanks, didn’t wanna pry, but you really don’t look well, and it’s late into the evening.” “Yes sir, I know. I’m trying to find a place to stay, sorry for distracting you from your walk.” “Don’t worry about that, I wasn’t trying to get anywhere specific.” He squinted up at Lucas, before speaking once again. “Would you be alright with coming down here? You look like you’re in pretty awful shape, even from down here.” He gave a friendly grin, but perhaps that almost off-put Lucas. With so much uncertainty and rioting from desperation, something about even the concept of receiving kindness felt foreign to him, but he wasn’t completely blinded by his despair to not at least entertain the kindness. “...that depends. I’ll come down on two conditions.” “Alright, what do you want?” “One, can you give me your name? Y’know, since I gave you mine and stuff-” “Ah, yes! Sorry, kid, the name’s John.” The certainty and speed of the answer brought Lucas comfort, but he still kept his guard up, watching the man below him carefully. “Okay, thank you Mr. John, but...” a wave of exhaustion hit him again, and he had to shake his head just to refocus himself. “Sorry, I... yeah, anyways, why... Why are you talking to me?” John’s expression turned from something of compassionate amusement to genuine concern, though somewhat masked. “It ain’t often you see a kid sitting in a tree who looks like he’s going to fall off at any moment.” Fair answer, can’t judge that. He nodded, before, very carefully, descending himself down the tree, a feat that, while far easier than trying to pull yourself up branches, left him feeling far more anxious, the risk of falling a dangerous amount more likely with less certainty about the strength of branches, but managed to find himself back on the ground no more scathed than he was before. John stood about 6 inches taller than the boy, and the strength in his form even more noticeable now that they stood, one in front of the other. “...you’re taller than I realized.” John gave a good-natured laugh, eyes that were creased with worry now a little bit less stressed. “Yeah, I get that a lot. Something about good bones, or something.” There was a calming quality to the amusement in his tone. If there was an attempt to lower Lucas’ guard for nefarious reasons, it was pretty effective, in all truth. Still, he didn’t fail to notice the concern in John’s eyes become just as clear as it had been before, now seeing Lucas in all of his starving and exhausted glory. “...I promise I’m okay.” “‘Okay’ clearly does not have the same definition between us, bud.” “I just.. Y’know, a little hungry, a little tired.” John nodded, silent as he thought, before speaking once again. “Would you like a place to stay tonight? I stay in a cabin pretty close by with a friend of mine, we have an extra bed and some soup, you could rest up for a day or two if you need.” Lucas looked at him, eyes wide and body still. “I... Why?” “Why what? Why am I showing you basic human courtesy? Lucas, kid, you look like you’re about to collapse, and you’re a good bit out from town, I’m worried about you.” “You barely know me, though.” “Doesn’t matter. Honestly, you look way too worn-down to do any damage even if you wanted to, I’m not worried about it.” John spoke with only genuosity, such a rare sight that Lucas allowed himself to nod at the offer, smiling. “Well... If you insist, I’d appreciate that, sir.” “I promise you don’t gotta call me “sir”, kid. Anyways, it makes me feel old, I’m not that late into my 30s.” So Lucas grabbed his pack and the two of them walked, the light conversation at least being enough to somewhat distract the boy from his aching limbs and his empty stomach. Despite being somewhat small talk, likely motivated on John’s end by the desire to make sure Lucas didn’t wear himself down too much, Lucas still learned a good bit about him. He fought in World War I, just 17 when the war started and 20 when he joined. “Not an experience I’d recommend, really, and not a war I found myself understanding the purpose of, but I didn’t know how to cope with my teenage spite,” he said, and, one some level Lucas found himself sympathizing with this, despite not liking even simple confrontation, much less violence, but he did find himself relating to the idea of unplaced spite. One could even argue that was why he was out there, so stubbornly set on making sure he didn’t follow the steps of men who he knew he didn’t want to resemble. Hateful, pretentious men who see themselves, and by proxy their ideologies, above others. Of course, he didn’t want to admit that he was spiteful to the man who was giving him a place to sleep and food. Still, though, there was simply something he trusted about this man, the sort of bright, yet not wide-eyed, attitude he had, clearly with his own experiences and their impacts, but not sunken down by them. Eventually, they reached the cabin, and once couldn’t help but think about how nice this must have been, just the quiet forest, a nice, decently sized garden, and your friend. That honestly sounded like a dream, but as most dreams are, was more than realistic. One of them must have had the house before all of this, lucky enough to be able to survive decently enough to not have to sell it. Lucas didn’t have that, he barely had enough to keep moving and keep getting small jobs, much less find himself any place to live. After walking next to Lucas’ side most of the walk, he walked ahead when they neared the door, taking and twisting the doorknob. “Henry, I’m back, and I have somebody with me.” Looking past John’s shoulder, he saw another man come from around the corner, with shorter- though just as shaggy as John’s- hair, much closer to his height than his friend’s. There was a moment of quiet between the two, a couple of back and forth expressions, a silent sort of connection only close individuals could have, before he looked Lucas over, before motioning to John to come inside. “You two come in. The soup is done, and you look like you could use it. What’s your name?” Henry’s voice had much less energy, coming off as slightly aloof, though not mean. Jaded, perhaps. “Lucas, nice to meet you, sir.” There was a small chuckle, copied by John. “Kid, I promise, you don’t have to call us sir, we aren’t your school teacher.” He nodded, following him into a decently sized kitchen and dining room (even having one felt astonishing, though) Henry reached up and grabbed a bowl, pushing his heels up just slightly to reach. “So, Lucas, what were you doing out here? I assume you found him in the forest, John?” “You say it like he’s some stray cat,” John laughed, getting a look shot at him, though the smile pulling at Henry’s lips betrayed amusement. “Hey, no, that’s not what I intended, and you know it. Lucas, I’m not saying you’re some stray, just curious as to why you’re out here.” “Ah, just... trying to find work, I suppose? I got a bit lost trying to find another place to stay and work, though.” His voice was quiet, glancing down at his feet and shifting his feet awkwardly, hoping that they didn’t take that as some excuse. “Hard to find any 1 place to have consistency, though, so I kinda just try and go around. Saw a town past the forest on a map, and just thought that I could shortcut my way there...” “Wait, so how long were you out there?” John spoke up, raising his eyebrows. “...well, I’ve been walking for about 2 days, in the forest for over a day, through the night, so not long.” The men were quiet, looking at each other with concern etched on their faces before Henry looked back at him. “And how old are you?” “15, which I know seems young, but I’ve been traveling for work for a while, don’t worry. Anyways, you gotta learn survival skills at some point with how... y’know, just about everything is. You have to sort of rush around to make it.” He could feel their eyes drilling into him, though they quickly averted their gazes as he looked up, and he reached to try and lighten the tension, letting himself grin. “Y’know, you could say this is my coming of age arc. I’m a little old for it, but better late than never, I suppose.” The other two gave somewhat crooked smiles, slightly amused but expressions still marked by worry for the boy, though perhaps somewhat lighter now, whether that be out of a want to not stress Lucas out or genuine relief, and Henry turned his back to grab a ladle and fill the bowl. “Give him my portion too, please, Henry. I’m not hungry, and he could use it.” The expression Henry shot back was one of reluctance, but John was too set for any words to be effective, so he gave a small shrug and refilled the ladle. John drew his attention back to Lucas, then behind him, toward another small hall. “We can get you set up in the extra room once we get you fed. If you need, we’d be happy to let you stay here for a couple of days while you figure out where you’re planning to go next-” “If he needs, finds some work in the town over, I’d personally be alright with him staying in exchange for some help in the garden or running to grab something from town,” Henry spoke over John, coming over to hand the boy a bowl of vegetable soup, the carrots and celery looking far better than anything he had gotten his hands on in quite some time. Still, he couldn’t help but feel like he was being parasitic to the strangers’ kindness, and Henry picked up on this quickly. “It’d be helpful to have another set of hands around here, and we have the extra room, it’s not being used by either of us.” “3 bedrooms is impressive, this is a wonderful place.” There was a moment of confusion on each of the two’s faces at the 3 , but they both understood the misunderstanding and silenced their corrections. Explaining the situation would be far too complex of a feat to try and convey to this child, and far from safe. Best to just let him draw his conclusions. Anyways, Lucas was comforted by the kindness shown between these two men. They were close, though he wasn’t sure just how close. Still, a part of him found himself jealous of their close companionship, wishing he could have reached for that without the repercussions from his family, the stern lectures and the forceful attempts at “firming the boy up.” Still, that was on a different level than what Lucas assumed they had, the likelihood of being able to live out his dream like that... “I’m sure it’s really hard to keep yourself this well though, I don’t want to make anything harder-” “Kid, I don’t think you realize that we’ve been living out here since before all of this. You need a place to rest for a while, and I don’t want to have to wonder if you’re going to accidentally get yourself back to this condition again. You don’t have to be dashing around, there’s a better option for you, as long as you want it and are willing to help out around here. You don’t have to keep rushing to give yourself anything. I’m not saying you’d be able to fully take it slow- I don’t think any of us really can- but you can at least recover, maybe, with some luck, find a place to work without having to worry about where you’ll stay.” Maybe, on some level, John could see the struggle this kid was going through. A 15 year old was young enough to want home and old enough to be useful, clearly something had happened, and there were a lot of bad men out there. Maybe part of him wanted to protect and guide him, and he could see that same concern in the way Henry looked back at him. He couldn’t make the kid choose to do any particular thing, but he could give him some sort of chance. “John, you’re talking your head off, let the poor boy eat something,” Henry teased, handing a bowl to him as well. “And you eat too. There’s enough for all of us.” Lucas took that offer with no objections, finishing it within minutes of letting his weary legs rest, finding an almost instant rejuvenation, refreshed by the full meal and the supportiveness. The talks for the rest of the evening were lighter, and while there were still questions, there was a mutual understanding that they could wait till the morning. For 1 night, maybe they could all take it slow, not worry too much about the hatred and panic of their reality.