Curiosity brought a friend

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I'd like to dedicate this chapter to a friend of mine, Sofia. She is the first person whom I've let in on my writing secret after 1.5 years of doing this alone. Thank you for being an amazing friend and always standing by my side.

Love you

.......

The sudden contact with the ice cold ground knocked the boy out for a while. While still unconscious, there was no way Zephyr could hide from the prying eyes of the public.

His eyes fluttered open minutes later, but that short moment was enough to get him a decent crowd. It didn't happen often that someone appeared out of thin air, though it wasn't as uncommon as one would think. Enclosed in a half circle with his back facing a wall, there was nowhere to go. With terrified eyes, Zephyr watched the people around him come closer.

A woman, nothing particularly special about her, approached the boy with a kind smile. "Is everything okay dear?" She asked him with sweet voice. The boy has never heard so easily flowing sound, it amazed him.

"No." Zephyr replied quietly and shied away a little. Though the voice was sweet, danger lured behind it. Never trust a stranger. He reminded himself.

The woman, seeing Zephyr's distress came closer, her hand reaching to cup his cheek. The ghost backed away until his back hit the wall, from there he could only watch.

"Why don't you come with me? Hm? I can warm you up and fill your stomach." She asked.

"No." Zephyr replied with the same answer again. There was no way he was going with her.

"I said something, you are going with me." Her voice raised a little, adding a sharp edge to it. The sweet woman didn't seem like one anymore. She took one final step, her hand roughly grabbing the boys chin. With a slight yank upwards, their eyes met.

The rest just watched. But what were they supposed to do? Pull the woman off the boy? Or walk away? Nobody taught those people what to do when a woman threatens the child of a murderer.

Now pure terror overwhelmed the young ghost, his instincts kicking in. He pushed her hand away and shot upwards. As he looked below from his safe zone in the air, the woman was yelling at him to come back, using a very diverse language.

Zephyr flew until he couldn't hear the people anymore and then he landed on a rooftop with a view over the city. It was nice and calm up there, finally giving the boy the time he needed to process everything that happened a while ago.

As he was sitting at the edge of the roof, the boy couldn't help but lean forward and examine the busy streets under him. There wasn't enough time to admire the view because a sharp pain in his abdomen stopped him. His wounds were finally getting back at him after the adrenaline faded away.

He couldn't even clutch the pained spot in fear of opening his cuts. Without nothing to numb the pain, Zephyr was left to silently suffer. His innocent face shifted into one of pain, small tears running down his cheeks, falling right at the busy street.

Down there, few people turned their gaze upwards towards the grey clouds, but thought nothing of it. Just a single lonely raindrop, they said and continued on their way.

Two long minutes of excruciating pain slowly started fading out as the boy's powers kicked in fully. He took a deep breath, held it in for a while and released it with all the packed up fear. He was going to survive, he was going to see the other day...

Something caught Zephyr's eye from the corner. A small blur in the dark grey sky. He watched it for a while until it disappeared with a faint sound of breaking wood. It didn't come from afar. Curiosity didn't give the boy a break and he was already making his way towards the landing zone. Though he was invisible this time, learning from his mistakes.

A park appeared in Zephyr's field of vision, the perfect place to start his little search for the unknown. He landed gently on the grass and looked around himself. It was a pretty decent park for a city, with beautiful green trees everywhere, kept dirt paths and a big pond in the middle. An intersection laid in from of the boy.

Go left?

Go right?

Or straight?

Zephyr couldn't remember the specific place where he heard the crash originate from, so he did something anyone would do. He chose at random. Though those decisions are never purely coincidental, persons preference always plays a big role. Zephyr's actual preference was the darkest path in the middle. Few would say this, but darkness brought comfort to the boy.

Walking down his chosen path, he was scanning the surrounding treetops, looking for one that was damaged. There was none.

Just as he was going to circle back and take one of the remaining paths, snapping branches followed by a thud caught his attention. Zephyr crept slowly forward, inching his way towards the mystery. A big shadow loomed beside the tree, barely above the ground. When the boy looked even closer, he inhaled sharply.

There he was, the ghost he saw before. Half sitting, half lying on the ground, struggling with his injuries.

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