The air was cold and the streets were covered in ice. Wind blew through the trees and the hair of the late night stragglers crossing the street. The cars blared their horns and the drivers shouted at one another as the traffic moved along. Every New Yorker was absorbed in their nightly business that nobody noticed a blonde, blue-eyed boy curled up in a box on the street corner, shivering from the cold and weeping because of hunger.
This boy, nine year old Alfred F. Jones, had run away from a horrible orphanage, where the children did most of the work and were beaten if they couldn't do the chores properly. They barely had any food and weren't given proper clothing. A lot of children died in that place because of sickness or injuries, because the beatings, the lack of care, or medical treatment.
Alfred was sick of all of the abuse and decided that the streets were better than that hellhole. So, one night while the caretakers of the orphanage were asleep, Alfred and a group of other children escaped the orphanage through the second story window, using a rope made out of clothes. After they had ran a good block or two away from the orphanage, the children had went their separate ways, wanting to try their luck in New York City by themselves.
Now that Alfred was here, half dead from sheer hunger, he thought that the orphanage hadn't been so bad. At least in that place he was somewhat warm. He wanted to go back but he was so weak from hunger, he could barely walk. Crawling, he was now in an alleyway to shift through some garbage because all of it was right nest to McDonald's and he had heard from the TV that the place had good food.
The poor boy searched and searched until he found a half-eaten double cheeseburger. It wasn't much but it would have to do for now. Alfred ate all of it in one bite, but still felt hungry afterwards. He whimpered and crawled over to a bigger box than his first one, hoping that it would keep him somewhat warm. Once inside, he curled up into the furthest corner of the box, shivering still from the cold. Despite the coldness and his hunger, Alfred drifted into an uncomfortable, restless sleep.
Alfred was in a bright white room. The cold from outside of the room couldn't reach him and there was sense of happiness here that he had never known from anywhere. It took him a few minutes to make him realize that he wasn't alone in this room. He looked around and saw somebody in the far corner of the room, sitting there all alone.
It was a boy, roughly the same age as him. His hair was a lighter shade of blonde than Alfred's and reached his shoulders. His eyes were a bright violet color and his body was slightly smaller than Alfred's. He had on a small shy smile and was staring right at Alfred, gesturing for him to come closer.
Alfred couldn't explain it but, he felt drawn to this boy, almost like he was connected to him somehow. He started to walk towards the boy but he noticed that the more he walked towards this boy, the further away he seemed to be. Alfred then began to run towards him, desperate to get to him, to be next to him, to play with him. He felt as though that once he reached this boy, he would be...happy for once.
But the boy seemed to be growing further and further away from him. Alfred began to run faster, huffing along, tears of an unknown fear leaking from his baby blue eyes.
"Wait!" he screamed, reaching out for the boy who was being pulled away from him by an unknown force. "Please! Don't go! Don't leave me! Mat-!"
Alfred jolted awake, sweat dripping down his forehead, even in this cold weather in the morning. He put a hand over his fast beating heart, trying to catch his breath. Even though he was still in his box, he felt like he had run a mile. Frowning, he crawled out of his box, wondering who on Earth the boy in his dream was. Once out his stretched a little, he realized that he was sore all over. He was dirty too, and still very hungry. Sighing, he went to the trash can next to him and began to shift through it to look for some breakfast.
"Vow, you look like you've been through Hell kid," said a voice behind him. Alfred turned around quickly, dropping the empty box of McDonald's fries he had been hold. Standing there against the McDonald's wall, was a man with white hair and red eyes, He was wearing mix-matched and a giant grin, playing with a coin in one of his hands, sliding between and underneath his fingers.
"Wh-who are you?" Alfred stuttered, taking a step back away from the man. Something about him intimidated him a little, but not enough for him to start running away immediately.
The man chuckled and started to walk towards Alfred who was now glued to the spot. The man then put a hand on Alfred's shoulder and said, "Ze name is Gilbert Beilschmidt, kid. And you look like you can use some of mein awesome help."
A/N: Well here's another story guys! I've had this idea in my head for awhile and I've wanted to posted it since forever! This is based on the movie Oliver and Company or the story Oliver Twist. I'm not exactly sure which one it is yet. But I hope you guys like it! Review please!
~Ellie~
