Chapter 7: Day Out

Anya was back on the city streets, but this time, in the area of well-dressed people selling things like food and other things that she didn't know what they were. And most importantly, she wasn't alone this time, she was with Angel Dust again.

All along the way, Angel told the girl not to stray far from him, to avoid taking off the hat he had lent her in public and, most importantly, not to talk to strangers.

For some reason, Anya felt happy to hear someone say that to her, because she felt like someone genuinely cared about her in a way that she wished her potential parents could show her.

She felt especially hungry again on the way, and realized that they had entered the food court. There were several types of food that Anya had never tried before. She was excited to see a stall selling peanuts, her favorite.

But despite this, the child did not have the courage to ask Angel Dust to buy it for her.

And surprisingly, he walked up to the stall and asked for something, and handed Anya a large package of peanuts, surprising her. She looked at him and smiled at him in thanks.

They both continued walking until they reached their destination: a large mall.

Anya's eyes lit up again as she saw how immense and shiny the building in front of her then, she felt Dust hold her hand, making her look at him again, and they both entered.

The little girl looked around, taking in every detail and shop there was.

"First time in a mall, Anya?" - she heard Angel Dust ask, taking her by surprise. - "Yes, Anya has never been to a place like this before. Anya never thought it would be this big and bright."

Angel chuckled lightly at her response, and then he exclaimed softly. - "Oh, look. There's the clothing store. Let's see if they have any in your size, girl." - This made Anya excited at the prospect of not only having new clothes, but also being able to go in and pick out what she wanted to wear.

Of course, she still had to avoid taking off her hat to prevent them from seeing her, but as long as Dust was with her, it would be fine.

She saw him sorting through and choosing some pieces of clothing that could fit her, while he also asked her what she thought of that piece and what color she wanted.

After choosing, they both started looking forclothing fitting rooms, so Anya could try on the selected clothes.

As soon as they found it, Anya began trying on each chosen piece of clothing. Some were approved, others were not. For those that were not approved, Angel would go and ask a store employee to find other pieces of clothing for the little girl.

Anya not only received fancy clothes, but also clothes that she would mainly wear to sleep in. One of her favorite pajamas ended up being one that looked almost like a penguin costume, which made her delighted.

After a while, they had both chosen about 15 pieces of clothing, 3 of which were pajamas. The child felt a little bad that Dust was paying so much for her, but she could see from his thoughts that he wasn't bothered by it at all. In fact, he was quite smiling about it.

On the way out, Anya finally started to open the package of peanuts and ate a small handful. She even tried to offer some to Angel, but he politely declined, saying he wasn't hungry.

At one point, something else caught Anya's attention: a toy store. But despite this, she once again hesitated before turning to Angel and timidly pointing to the store. She closed her eyes, hoping he would say no to her.

But to her surprise, Angel Dust agreed and pulled her into the store.

Inside there were several types of toys to choose from. The types that caught Anya's attention the most were the plush toys, especially the big ones.

While Anya was mostly looking at bears, elephants, dogs, and rabbits, she noticed Dust lifting and holding up a large penguin plush that caught her attention. With that, she ended up choosing it, hugging it tightly.

They also bought a red beach cart, to carry the penguin plush and the rest of their purchases the whole way.

For the first time since arriving at the hotel, Anya felt very happy about that day. Of course, she still felt bad about it, as if she didn't deserve all of this. And this feeling made her feel a little guilty at that moment.

Angel noticed this and asked. - "Eh, is everything okay there, Anya?" - the child looked at him and mumbled. - "Yes, everything is fine. Anya is just feeling bad that Mr. Dust spent so much money on clothes and..."

"Wow, wow. Don't worry about it, girl. There's no need to feel bad about it. I myself offered to buy you some clothes, remember? And I told you I had something planned for you, right? So, there's no need to feel that way, after all, we had a lot of fun, didn't we?" - Angel declared, wanting to cheer her up and rid her of any negative thoughts she was having.

Anya smiled at him, and murmured a "thank you" to him, while trying to keep the tears from her face. Dust smiled back at her, until he felt something vibrating.

His smiling expression changed to an annoyed one as he picked up his cell phone and began checking his messages. As this happened, Anya began trying to read his thoughts to know what the message was about, when out of nowhere, she heard a strange sound on the other end and turned to look.

Without her realizing it, she started moving away from Dust and started following the sound. As she got closer of a narrow alley, she heard a thought of "now".

Out of nowhere, Anya's vision went dark and she found herself inside something made of a strange fabric, and after a few moments, she perceived thatwas in a large bag or something. And that was when she realized, she was being kidnapped by someone.

She tried to scream, but her voice was muffled due to the thickness of the bag. Anya felt like she was being thrown into something and one of the kidnappers thought they would make a lot of money with a child like her.

She felt helpless again, but she tried to remain calm and certain that Angel Dust would notice her absence and come looking for her immediately. She just hoped it wouldn't take too long.

01/22/2025: Here's another chapter. I hope it was good. In three days, the sequel will come out, and then I'll go to sleep before I end up passing out from sleepiness, now.