Note: I realize that Toki and Skwisgaar probably would not have been speaking English when they were these ages, it was just easier to write this way...
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It had been nearly a year and a half since Skwisgaar had met Toki, but he had not forgotten the young boy. He often found himself wondering what had become of him. Today was one of those days. As he sat in a rather uncomfortable chair in the church his mother made him attend, he looked out the window, frowning. He hated church. It was all just stupid stories, which he did not even believe. Why should he have to listen to this every Sunday? A part of him wondered if his mother even believed the crap she made him listen to.
Skwisgaar was now 15 years old, as he had lied, just a little, the year before, to young Toki, telling him that he was already nearly 15. After church, as he followed several paces behind his mother, down the sidewalk, and past the music store, he continued to think of the boy. He hoped that his predicament was not nearly as wretched as it had appeared to be the year before.
After spending far too long in his mother's house that morning, he left the house, without even notifying her, as he was not about to ask her permission to leave. If she denied his request, he would have gone anyway, so what would be the point of asking at all?
He walked down the sidewalk and into the music store, where he was greeted by the manager, who was a rather good friend of his.
"Hey, Skwis," the manager said, smiling, "How was church?"
"Yous knows how church was," Skwisgaar began, "Hows was de church? Pft... I's nots evens goings to be goings to dat churches for much longers. I's so tireds of always havings to listens to stupid religions..."
"Alright, alright," the manager said, "I didn't mean to tease you or anything."
"Yous knows you did means it..." Skwisgaar said.
"Well, yeah. But in a joking way," the manager said, smiling. "Hey, there was some kid in here looking for you this morning."
Skwisgaar thought for sure that the manager was talking about Toki, and felt his heart racing. He didn't want to seem like he cared about anyone other than himself though, so he inquired very casually as to whom the manager was speaking of.
"Oh reallys?" Skwisgaar began to rant, "Somes kids in heres, lookings for me, askings abouts me likes I works heres or somethings? Always nosy, little kids. Askings stuffs dey don'ts needs to know... Who was dis kid? Whats did hes look likes?"
"Oh, I don't know. Some kid... He looked like he was 5 or 6," the manager began, "Said his name was Tony or something... No, it wasn't Tony... I don't know. He had kind of longish hair, like just above his shoulders, brown hair... Toki, maybe? I don't think it was that. I honestly don't remember. He had on this sweatshirt that was way too big for him though, and the tag was still on it. Weird kid... Tony? No... I already said that... I think his name started with a 't,' but I could be wrong."
"Whats dids you tells him?" Skwisgaar asked.
"Told him you were in church, and that he could hang around here for a while and wait, since you come here just about every day," the man said, "He just ran off though. You might want to hang around if you are interested in seeing what he wanted though. He'll probably come back here if he really wants to talk to you."
The boy whom the manager described must be Toki. The description matched perfectly. Toki should be 7 by now, but the manager could have easily mistaken him for 5 or 6. Skwisgaar could just wait for Toki to return to the music store, but the boy could very likely be injured, and wondering the streets of a town which he is unfamiliar with. Skwisgaar had told him to come back to the music store and ask for him if his parents were ever "too mean" to him. What had his parents done to cause the boy to come all the way back here? Skwisgaar had to go find him.
"I thinks Is goings to goes outsides and looks for hims," Skwisgaar said. "You knows which ways he wents?"
"I honestly don't." the man said, "I watched him cross the street, but I got a customer, and didn't pay attention which way he went after that. Good luck finding him though, Skwis, and if this is anything interesting, let me know what he wantes, huh?"
"Alrights," Skwisgaar said, walking outside. The day was nicer than usual. It was still cold, but the sun was out, and it wasn't windy, like it had been recently. We walked down the sidewalks, looking in the allys, and inside of shops, until he looked in a clothing store, and saw Toki, looking down at his own feet, while the store owner yelled at him.
Skwisgaar walked into the store, and right up to the man who was yelling, quite loudly, at Toki, who, without establishing eye-contact with the man who owned the store, flinched a little each time the man raised his voice.
"Whats seems to bes de problems, here?" Skwisgaar said to the angry man.
Toki recognized Skwisgaar's voice as being familiar, and he looked up at him, a smile spreading on his face.
"This kid," the man angrily said, grabbing Toki roughly by the arm, so that he winced, "stole this shirt," he said, tugging on the tag that hung from the sleeve of the shirt that the boy was wearing. "And then the little runt had the nerve to come back in here. Probably wanting to steal something else!"
Toki tried to pull his arm away from the angry man, but it only caused his arm to be gripped tighter. He winced as the man's grip tightened, causing a sharp pain to radiate throughout his entire arm. Noting this, Skwisgaar grabbed the man's wrist, and squeezed it, as tightly as he could.
"Hes is just merely a kids," Skwisgaar said, angry eyes, glaring into the eyes or the store-keeper, while trying to keep his voice calm, "I wills pays you fors the shirt. Lets go of hims."
The man released his hold on the boy's arm and looked at Skwisgaar. Skwisgaar gently pulled Toki's arm up and examined the price tag. The kid had to steal one of the most expensive shirts in the entire store... In any other circumstance, he would have told Toki to choose a different shirt, but Skwisgaar was proving a point here. He pulled a few bills out of his pocket and slammed them down on the counter.
"Theres," he said, angrily, "De shirts is paid fors, but if I ever sees you beatings up on littles kids for stealings a shirts agains, yous will be sorrys. Little kids... dey don'ts knows dat stealings is wrongs. You can'ts beats up little kids..."
He pulled Toki after him out of the store, and walked a few paces to a bench, where he sat the boy down, and sat somewhat sideways beside him. "Whys you steals a shirts, Toki?"
"I was colds," Toki said, looking at his own feet again, ashamed, "I don'ts have any monies."
"You can steals things if you wants, but you can'ts get caughts," Skwisgaar said, "I'm nots mads at yous or anythings. Just be carefuls when you steals things. Yous gots to be more tricky."
Toki's expression brightened, and he looked up at Skwisgaar and smiled. It was then that Skwisgaar noticed a bruise on the boy's cheek, about an inch under his right eye. He reached toward Toki's chin, as the boy backed away, a little, nervously. He lifted Toki's chin, and looked at the bruise on his face. Toki's facial expression quickly changed from cheerful to nervous.
"Dids the store-owner in de shirts store do thats to yous?" Skwisgaar asked, ready to go back into the store and beat the guy up.
"No," Toki said, looking down again, shaking his head.
"What happened to yous, Toki; who did thats? Someones hits yous? Who?" Skwisgaar asked.
Skwisgaar could tell by Toki's expression, and nervousness that he didn't want to talk about it, so he wasn't surprised when the boy changed the subject.
"Cans I lives with yous from now ons?" he asked the Swedish teenager.
Skwisgaar took this to mean that one of Toki's parents had most likely made the bruise on the boy's cheek, and that he had run off, away from home, as a result.
"Won'ts yours parents miss yous?" Skwisgaar asked, trying to get the boy to explain why he had fled his own home.
"Dey won'ts," Toki said, looking up into Skwisgaar's eyes, "Do yous have your owns house? You are a grownups now, aren'ts you?"
"Nots yet," Skwisgaar said, "I lives with my sluts of a mother rights nows..."
"Maybe we should run away froms homes!" Toki suggested, obviously excited with his new idea, "We could lives in our own house, withouts sluts moms and my parents... tellings us whats to dos all de times..." his voice grew softer, "runs aways...with me. Skwisgaar? I don'ts wants to goes back."
"I don'ts either, Toki. I don'ts wants to goes to de stupid church, with de sluts of a mothers. Let's runs aways, Toki. And never comes back," he said, looking down at the younger boy who smiled up at him.
Toki hugged Skwisgaar, and then stood from the bench.
"Where's we goings to go?" Toki asked the older boy.
"I don'ts knows yet, my little friend," Skwisgaar replied, "I don'ts knows..."
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I hope someone is reading this... I'm having fun writing it... If you have read it, please review it, so I know that someone is reading what I have written... I guess it doesn't matter... I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep writing it regardless... but you know, I would always appreciate any thoughts from anyone who happens to be reading this. Thank you.