Epilogue

A steady drip fell from the crack in the gutter above him, splashing rhythmically onto his forehead several times before he could ignore it no longer. Sleepily he rubbed at his face, unknowingly smearing grime and dirt across it. A painful ache in his leg kept him from standing up right away. He could see the budding bruises from where the local boys had kicked him and the scrape from when he had tripped and slid on his shin over the cobbled stones of the street. In truth the wound had looked worse than it felt, but not by much.

It was much the same wherever he went. No one liked a beggar boy. And no matter where he went, it always seemed to prompt all of the kids into to banding together and personally seeing to his short welcome.

There had been maybe two towns where he had run into little trouble and only one where he had been able to escape any. That was the town where the odd-looking man had rewarded him for his crime rather than punish him. He had wanted to follow the man's instructions, but instead he spent all of the money, save for enough jewel for a train ticket, on junk food and guilty pleasures before wandering on.

Slowly, he pulled out his only other shirt from his knapsack, tearing the fraying remnants off into crooked strips and used them to bandage his leg. He struggled to hold back the tears and winced when the fabric squeezed down on the tender flesh. When he was finished and certain that the pieces would stay in position, he checked the small pouch of money he had tucked away in a secret pocket that had been poorly sewn into his knapsack and smiled at the familiar bulge. He stood and tentatively took his first few steps out of the alley he had been hiding in. It was dark and had clearly been hours since he fell asleep waiting for the danger to pass and thus hopefully making it safer for him to continue his trip back to Clover.

A/N:

Hey everyone, thanks for joining in! I truly hope you liked this new story!

I know I said I wouldn't kick off with the new adventures until July 1st, but after reviewing my schedule for next week I wasn't certain if I would have been able to post on time if I didn't post it now.

Besides, this was already complete and I felt confident enough to post it.

I will say that these next few will be more light-hearted than The World, but there is another epic that I've been working on to complete the series, so hopefully this didn't seem too out of character for you all.

Again, hope you enjoyed it and here's to seeing you all again in two weeks with the next one!

Until then!

Betty B.