the abandoned

Sophie Schmid

As you know from time to time cities tend to get abandoned. Black darkness swarms it, and stays. Shadows form as time passes by, building start to disintegrate, falling, crumbling. Many people are afraid of these buildings but for one kid, it's like home. With buildings falling from time, people decide to put up gates to block people from getting in and out.

Leo, a boy who lives among the shadows and calls it home, he's different from all the rest. He tried to get out for curiosity, but high barbed wire gates block his passage. He's curiosity is blocked.

For a young seventeen year old boy, Leo wonders the city yet alone again. As pebbles fall down and debris blankets the streets, Leo climbs alone searching for answers. With dirty blonde hair, and icy blue eyes you can see him from distance but nobody bothers to notice.

As his backpack fills up with items left behind, he heads back to what he calls 'base.' When Leo finds his way back to his messy home, he notices few things are missing. Sometimes in great grief he talks to himself.

"What happened?" he said as his voice echoes off the crumbling walls of the abandoned city. He brushed it off, thinking it must have been an animal, but still kept it on the top of his mind.

He sat down and ate some leftovers from the night before. The broken mirror before him, shattered into little bits, showed him that his hair was probably as dirty as it could get, and his icy blue eyes getting darkening over the years.

As the day grew dark, a slight crash was heard. It didn't bother Leo at all, but as it continued on, Leo got even more curious. He stood, back aching from the night before and walked towards the sound.

As Leo cupped his dirt, blood crusted hands over his eyes; he looked for the source of the crash. A pair of blue eyes caught his attention in the debris, the thing had not noticed him yet so he moved closer to the noise. He wore black close as he moved forward heading towards the mysterious noise.

Leo lifted his feet high so the object didn't notice. As he came closer the darkness outlined the object just as Leo made the wrong move. He kicked a can; the lunged forward trying to grab it before it sped away, barely skimming it. Leo hit the debris as the figure sprinted away, the outline of it fading, and fading.

Leo scolded himself, brushing the dirt off in anger. Then looked around for what the thing was looking for. It seemed to have been digging a vertical hole into the debris. Leo dug a little deeper to find a flashlight still on. He wasn't sure if that what it was looking for, or it was just using the flashlight then forgot it.

He stuffed it in his pocket and continued his way back with no answers. As the night grew darker, Leo's eyes drifted shut from his aching cuts and muscles in his body. He watched the night get as dark as it could then he drifted, slowly, to sleep.

The crash was heard yet again, Leo jumped to his feet and breathed the mourning air, He rushed to the shattered window looking out, it wasn't an animal, it was a human girl! Shock rushed over him in disbelief, all the time there was a girl here and he made no move to notice?

Leo, being himself, jumped out of the window and rushed towards the girl.

"Hey!" Leo yelled as he rushed forward, trying to catch up.

The girl ran into a full on sprint, Leo saw fright in her eyes and tried to catch up, "Stop! I won't hurt you!"

The girl jumped into a building, the sun producing shadows. Leo tried to catch her but she was as fast as the wind. Leo was, once again, left in the dust of the wind.

He followed the sounds into a small corridor that led into a small, tattered, broken down house. Leo searched for any signs of life, carefully walking up the stairs, searching, then continued looking in different rooms. When he found a small, perfectly set up little part of the house, he knew the girl was living here. Right under his nose, never bothered to notice.

Leo took nothing, just inspected, after a while of just standing there he scolded himself for scaring the girl away.

Leo made it to the library on the perfect time, some of the building started to fall before he even got here. He made himself comfy in a small chair, caked in dirt. Leo read in peace, but he felt a presence.

Leo looked around and saw nothing but shadows and dust. The more he read the more he felt watched, he gently shut his book and set it on the little nightstand.

After, nine, days of searching he found not a single trace of the girl. He checked back at where he thought he lived, it stayed perfectly the same. Nothing had changed, nothing has moved.

Leo woke up to the smallest, little noise, he had ever heard. He bolted to his feet and just jumped out the window. He stood and looked the girl straight in the eyes, she didn't flinch or make a gesture to run.

"Please don't run," Leo said quietly.

She stood perfectly still, "I'm sorry."

Two words and she had already confused Leo, "Sorry, but what?"

"For running," she said very quietly.

"What's your name?" Leo moved forward, the girl took a step back.

She seemed annoyed by the question, but it seemed so easy. Just one question and he would get the girls name.

She bit her lip and started, "My name is…"

To be continued…