Novel Squares
No family
Luna, her eyes welling up with empathy, stopped in her tracks, she felt a sharp pain in her heart for the little boy.
“I am sorry. I didn’t know. You can tell me about other things if you want. I won’t force you, I promise.” She apologized with a sympathizing look on her face.
Jaden, conflicted by the mix of different emotions within him, softened a bit, “Other things, huh?” He sighed.
“Well, there’s not much to tell. I don’t really fit in anywhere. Not with Joseph, not with my sister, not with my foster family, and certainly not in this so-called ‘magical world’ you’re talking about.”
Luna approached cautiously, her curiosity undeterred by Jaden’s initial hostility. “Maybe you just haven’t found your place yet. Maybe, you are still new in this world.
But there’s magic in everyone, you know? Even if it’s hidden, one day it will resurface.”
Jaden raised an eyebrow, intrigued despite himself. “Magic? You really believe in all that? Well, I have heard my foster parents talking about it once. But does it truly exist?”
Luna nodded earnestly. “Absolutely! The forest teaches me. The animals, the trees-they all have something special. You just need to look for it.”
Jaden, despite his tough exterior, felt a flicker of hope. “What’s so special about me then?”
Luna grinned, her innocence shining through. “I don’t know yet, but I believe you have something magical too. Maybe you just need to discover it.”
As they continued talking, Luna shared stories of her adventures in the forest, describing the mystical encounters with animals and the secrets she believed the trees held. Jaden, despite himself, found comfort in her tales.
In the midst of their conversation, a sudden rustle in the bushes interrupted them. Luna’s eyes widened with excitement. “Look, a baby fox! It’s a cute baby fox!”
The fox looked at Luna for a long time, and suddenly it ran off. The little girl quickly stood up and made an attempt to run after it, but Jaden held her hands.
“Where are you going?” He asked curiously, looking at the running little fox.
“Don’t worry about me, the fox will lead me out of the forest, it is my guardian whenever I get missing. I was actually waiting for it all along,” Luna confessed and without waiting for his reply, she ran off happily.
“You haven’t told me your name!” Jaden shouted from where he stood.
Luna paused momentarily, and took a deep breath. “Luna, my name is Luna Queen,” she replied without facing the back.
“Jaden! My name is Jaden, the hunter!” He also screamed out, Luna smiled secretly from where she stood, she had the urge to go back and tease him, but she knew that the fox would have gone too far, so she hastened her steps and ran faster, leaving the boy alone in the dark forest.
Jaden’s POV
“Wow, so this is what it feels like to have someone who truly cares about your well-being? So this is what it feels like to have a friend?” I asked myself different rhetorical questions, as I walked around the forest.
My little legs were weak, and my belly was growling, but I just didn’t know what to do.
I don’t have food, neither do I have money to buy some. I would have loved to ask my foster mother for some food, but it would definitely be useless because Joseph has spread a false rumor about me.
He lied to everyone that he caught me stealing and his mother had angrily hit me on my back before sending me out of their house.
“How sure am I that she is my friend? What if Luna doesn’t like me, what if she hates me the same way my foster siblings hate me?” Different thoughts ran across my mind, and it was then I realized that I didn’t ask her if she wanted to be my friend.
Slowly, my mind drifted off to the past, the memory I have always been trying to forget. I have heard my foster parents talking about it many times, and Joseph is always reminding me that I was found inside a dirty stream.
…………………
Flash Back (Author’s point of view)
“Is it me, or is a baby really crying?” Olivia’s voice echoed in the lonely path known as (death)
The other five people who were with her also stopped in their tracks, and listened attentively.
Clever, also known as Parish, held his ears trying to strain his ears, but no matter the amount of time he did that, he just couldn’t hear anything.
“It is not a baby cry, it is the gushing of that stream water!” He announced with a thundered voice, pointing his fingers at the stream.
“Water!!!”
There was a loud scream, and the six adults quickly ran to the stream.
They have been in the forest for over a month now, but they couldn’t find water to drink, and they were really thirty.
On seeing the water, they kind of forgot all their pains and ran to it quickly.
Alison, another member of the group, squatted beside the stream, and hurriedly used her hands to scoop water for consumption.
The stream water was not white like normal water, but they were too tasty to care.
As they were drinking the water, Queen, another member screamed with a loud voice, and the other five ran to meet her quickly.
“What is the matter, Queen?” Samuel, asked curiously, his eyes looking around, trying to find what scared the lady.
“Over there,” she said in a whisper, and pointed to another side of the stream.
On turning to the direction, they were all speechless.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
A little baby wrapped up in pajamas laid on the water, he was inside a basket, and the basket was floating. Unfortunately, water was starting to enter the basket through their holes, and the baby’s life was in danger.
They quickly ran to the baby’s side, and without thinking, Olivia jumped into the stream, and carried the baby. When the baby was in her arms, it made a faint cry, and the six members pitied it.