Author's Note: This story is totally different from what you are thinking right now, but still is related to the title, is more like mystery and tragedy combined with a plot of battle. This is going to get you in a stable mind. Hope you enjoy and understand or else ask me!

Chapter 1: Dark figure

It was not coffee, it was chocolate. The weather was cold, but in the village Field Brook Trails, was a place where it didn't matter the weather. The warm chocolate was like a heat in the street. There was not decorations, there was not settings, it was only a cold and foggy street, where the small itinerant chocolate shop filled the story in many perspectives. It was February 28,1850, when people decided to not longer to be part of society.

The poor boy was happy and glad to know that he was about to become a man, knowing that he was older didn't give him the happiness and joy that he expected, he only though that been older would only bring tragedy, He though that very soon people would call him young man, and later on it wouldn't matter. He looked hopelessly at the chocolate that he didn't pay, it was free for been his birthday, as he looked at it, he though that life wouldn't be the same, that everything would not longer be free anymore, "what effort would I make in the future to get close to a chocolate?" he though over and over."where would I be in five years? would I be dead, or living under a bridge?" he though as hr kept his eyes on the chocolate.

Mostly he started to think about life, about mystery, about every little thing he could possibly think. Then he analyzed a way of making money and get out of the bad economy, anything he reputed to himself ignoring that someone was staring at him. Then the man of the shop that for so long he called Mr. Collin with respect, who for so long stared at him, analyzed him, and studied him, finally interrupted him.

"What's wrong Jimmy? what are you thinking back there so serious." asked Mr. Collins while looking at him with curiosity. Then for a moment he realized just how innocent the boy was and how mature he had become.

" If I only knew how to make people happy for a minute, for an hour, for a day, even a month, but it seems to be more complicate than I though." said Jimmy without looking at him.

"What do you mean, are you thinking about money again?" asked Mr. Collin confused as he washed the dishes in a pail.

"I have come from my village Point-tree because you promised me a hot chocolate, listen ... on my way here, I didn't see anyone on the streets, it was like, it was like people watching me from their windows, may be this would sound crazy to you, but I think people don't want to get out of their homes anymore, it's like some sort of mystery, I know a man who walks towards the store, and then back home, he does not speak to anyone, everyone around him are like strangers to him, even though they all were neighbors once, and they know each other for years, it's like a feeling of-" He was interrupted.

"what feeling?" said Mr. Collin as he cleaned his hands on his cope.

"People don't trust anymore, the laws have changed over the years, the laws only apply for women and children, and soon you would say that I'm not longer a kid, and people would start to put a finger on me, I'll have to take care of myself from now on, be responsible, and some day people would look up to me and respect me." said Jimmy proudly touching his chest.

"Jimmy I don't care what people say about you, I know that you are an honest, and-" He was interrupted.

"Go ahead, say what you actually want to tell me. Tell me right in my face just how orphan I am, tell me, guilt became, shout what people blame on me." shouted Jimmy as his tears came out slowly ready to cried.

"Jimmy please, listen-"

"No you should listen to me, I'm standing here in front of you, right here, right now."

"It's not your fault that people from your orphanage do things that they shouldn't do. I mean, that's the reason you left in the first place, isn't it?" He approached to Jimmy but he back off.

"I should have said this a long time ago. Thanks for the chocolate." said Jimmy looking at his eyes like a small puppy ready to cry.

"Ok, I don't want to talk about that anymore. But there it's one question that I wanted to ask you that it's bothering me, and I would like you to be honest with me." said Mr. Collin nodding trying to reaffirm that he understood what he was saying.

"What is it?" His eyes were wide with panic as if something bad had happened.

"Where are your shoes?"

"It's kind of story, but I'll tell you. A thief is stealing shoes from all the villages, and people are talking about a ghost in the woods, some said the thief left over eight hundred shoes there, and he came back with a small piece of goal, it's a ritual or an offer to those spirits. I don't know if it's true, but I do know that a thief is a thief, and I walked all the way from my village without shoes to prove it. Believe me or not, that's what happened." said Jimmy as he looked down at his poor feet.

"Poor Jimmy, you don't have another pair of shoes?"

"This is embarrassing, but ... Yes, I don't have, these days shoes are far too expensive." Jimmy raised his head realizing that Mr. Collin was worried for something else.

" Listen Jimmy, I'm proud of you, so far you have become a wise and noble young man, and I want to share a story with you, or I should say a confession that I should had said a long time ago." said Mr. Collin.

"huh! ...What?"

" My wife and I were happily marriage a long time ago, she wanted to have kids, and I didn't ... so one day we decided to adopt a child from the orphanage. When we came back from the orphanage after seen all the kids, I started to decided which one to pick, and my wife was unsure, so she went back for the second time, she came back so ... so happy, she got close to me and said: "honey ...you won't believe what I saw." then I said: "What." and she replied: "I saw a boy standing on the rain, he was still, unwinking, he was all wet, he was outside and I was in the orphanage looking through the window. It was a boy that I have never seen before, then he looked at me and smiled, I wave my hand, and it was the most beautiful smiled that I have ever seen, I don't know what happened because I hurried to get outside with two umbrellas, but the boy was gone, when I asked the receptionist why he wasn't with the other kids, they said that the boy visits the cemetery every day to visit his parents no matter what." She was so moved by the kid that she went back for the third time without telling me, and that time ... she didn't come back, I call the orphanage and they said that she never made it. To this day, I don't know what happened, I don't know if she is dead, ... or alive, there is nothing behind, but one think is for sure, when I visited the orphanage and asked for the boy, they said that he escaped and moved to another village."He looked at jimmy and smiled.

"What does that have to do with me?" said Jimmy.

"I believed that the boy that she wanted to adopt it's you." said Mr. Collins.

" What?" said Jimmy.

"and I think it's you because the orphanage told me that the kid invented a fake name before he left the orphanage, they said Jummy." said Mr. Collin in a serious voice.

"Yeah, it's true, I invented Jummy."

"Listen Jimmy, we really wanted to adopt you back then, but now you are a man, and I should have told you this before." said Mr. Collin with relief.

"That's alright ... I'm sorry to hear about your wife." Jimmy was trying to remember her.

"She was so happy when she met you that she wanted to give you her last name." said Mr. Collin changing his temper.

"hooh really, what's her last name?" Jimmy smiled with excitement.

"When I met her, she was Miss Claus. But listen ... In memory of my wife I'll ask you to keep your real name, not Jummy or Jimmy, your real name along with her last name. she would have liked that way." said Mr. Collin in a soft tone.

" I can't ... It's nothing personal." said Jimmy with fear.

"Are you listening to me? she loved you like a real mother does, it's just that she didn't have the chance to share that love with you, I'm sure she wouldn't like to see her adopted son around the village without shoes, and a fake name, if you have respect for your parents, then have a little of respect for your adopted mother." said Mr Collin angrily.

"I'll think about it."said Jimmy quickly.

"Look your chocolate is already cold, let me give you a hot one." Mr Collin moved to get a hot chocolate.

"you won't believe me, but may be destiny has made you come to me without shoes. My wife was going to make a birthday party for you, she was wondering what to give you, I told her to give you a watch or a t-shirt, but she was so ... stubborn, she wanted to give you something special, "but it has to be the best" she complained, over and over, she brought the most expensive shoes for boy, and even when I told her that the shoes were too big for a boy, she didn't make up her mind, I got so ... angry at her, for so ... long, I made her sad, I treated her so bad ... now I know what she was trying to do." said Mr. Collin.

Mr. Collin handed the hot chocolate to Jimmy and entered to his shop and took out a metal box. Jimmy took a zip and looked how Mr. Collin took out a pair of shoes with silver buttons, and in a blink he felt that someone jumped right beside him, it was almost like a push to the side when Jimmy realized that the hot chocolate went towards his face, screaming and trying to clean his eyes and chocolate from all over his body that changed the excited expression on his face.

The last thing he heard was Mr. Collin screaming, Jimmy calmly look what was in front of him, but he only saw a dark figure, almost like a man dressed in black that moved very fast and disappeared in the mist.

unwinking Jimmy looked hopelessly at Mr. Collin who was lying on the floor cover with blood but he though that the chocolate had affected his nerves, and in a deep breath he reacted and screamed so hard that his tears were chocolate, suddenly he heard voices of people approaching and yelling at him in a loud voice attracting the attention of the village saying "HELP MURDER."

To be continued ...