Chapter Text
“He… He was the one… I knew it from the moment I saw him…”
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In a small town of Hurricane, where it usually was peaceful and uneventful, lived a young boy at the age of 10. He was not much of a fighter, and more of a ‘crybaby’ which was a nickname given by his older brother, who was usually nothing but a brute force on the boy. His father wasn’t anything better, as he practically gave not a single care in the world about him; Sometimes the young boy wondered if the man even acknowledged his own son’s existence. At least there wasn’t any abuse towards him, he much preferred being a ‘ghost’ than be covered in bruises and in pain every single day, like the neighbor girl a bit younger than him, or the boy his age across the street, who had to brush the pavement with nothing else but an old worn out tooth brush.
Unfortunately, the 10 year old’s mother was not often at home due to her being out on business trips leaving him without a ‘safe place’ to confide in, all his hurt… He sometimes just wanted a person who’d give him a warm hug and a reassuring smile, not much more. He theoretically could go to his 13 year old sister for comfort, as she was the only one in his family, though he would rather not be a ‘burden’ to her, like he was to the rest of his family. So he just sobbed in his room here and there on a daily basis. All in all, his life was not the best, not even close.
On one particular day, the boy was walking home from school through the local park, which was usually empty around this time, when his brother ambushed him from the bushes near the path. The older teen lifted him up by his backpack, dangling him above ground. The teen laughed at the younger one’s struggles, as the hands and feet went flying in all sorts of directions, to no avail.
“Mikey!! Let me down, please!!” He was about to cry. Why was it always him being tormented? Can’t there be at least one day in which he could live a normal life? The brother let out a mocking wave of laughter.
“Pfff… Why on Earth would I do that? You are just a crybaby, and it’s so entertaining seeing you miserable. I think I’ll let you hang here for a while, hahaha.” The boy in the grey sweatshirt was trying so hard to fight back tears; he was hopeless here, fighting against someone much stronger than he’d ever be.
“You know, I don’t have time to waste holding you up like this. What about if I hung you up on a tree branch? That would be way more fun and enjoyable than this. You’re barely a foot above ground, there you’d be at least five times the height.” And with that the mean teen started carrying him towards the trees, eyes scanning for a perfect branch to use as a clothes rack, or in this case a ‘crybaby rack’. Soon the older brother found just the perfect branch to hook the bag from. It was located above a bramble bush. The young ginger head seeing the bush and knowing his brother’s thoughts, started wiggling and swinging to try and break free. Mike’s grip just tightened around the backpack’s handle.
This was truly his faith, hung on a tree, for the world to see and laugh.
But just then, the small frail boy fell to the ground, face first. Mike had dropped him, but why? Turning over on his back, the ginger’s eyes opened to a surprising scene.
His tall lean brother was knocked over by someone, but not just anyone. It seemed to be another boy around his age, who had messy brown hair, a green vest like sweater and glasses, had knocked the older one over, on the grass.
“What the fuck, dude! Chill!” Mike let out, wincing from pain, but the brunet did not stop one bit. The knuckle fest lasted a few more minutes before the teen just took off bolting at the speed of light. The boy in the green vest dusted himself off, before offering a hand to the ginger. His eyes were caught in a surprise from the storm that had just happened in front of his very own eyes. He took the hand and was back on his two feet.
“Hey, you okay there? You took quite a toppling.” Asked the brunet.
“I-I’m fine. Thank you for h-helping me.” He gulped, letting those words out, barely above a whisper. The other just smiled.
“No problem. I hate seeing others get bullied, especially if it’s a jerk like that kid doing it.” It seemed as if the ginger head had stumbled upon a decent person in what seemed to be a lifetime.
“Anyway, care to give a name?” The boy just looked flustered, and scratched the back of his head awkwardly at the question.
“Oh… Sorry… I’m Evan…” He said shyly. How could he have not introduced himself before? This was so embarrassing.
“That’s an interesting name… ‘born of yew’...” Tony made a thoughtful expression. Evan on the other hand just looked at him confused. What did he mean ‘born of yew’? The boy in the grey sweatshirt asked, curious.
“What does that mean?” The other boy just let out a little chuckle.
“That’s the meaning of your name. Don’t you know that?” The ginger head just shook his head.
“Huh.. Well now you know. Anyway, care to grab some food? We can chat more while eating. If you want to.” The sudden offer was not expected… It felt so foreign getting offered to spend time together by anyone else. If it wasn’t clear, he did not have friends; that was a thing he unfortunately was not lucky enough to have. With a little pause, he nodded his head.
“T-That would be awesome…” He said, with a tear in his eye, but he tried to hide it. It was touching, it was joyous, it was… special.
The two then proceeded to head off to a nearby cafe. This was the start of a friendship that could evolve into something along the way… That was certain, but only time would tell what was to come.
Maybe life wasn’t so bad after all? What if I just happen to be in the right place, in the right time finally? How long will this last, because I don’t know if I could let go of this…