Little Miss Always Invisible (Haung)

[Izzy Aureth]

[member="Haung Min"]


A little dark haired girl wandered through the busy streets, barely noticed as the crowds passes by. Her eyes looking up at the passerbys as they all move along around her without much of a word. Searching for someone, for something, anything that might give her a clue. Tiny feet taking her further and further from the dump of a home she had once known.

As much as she tried to keep her feelings under control, inside she only wanted to cry. Her parents had been gone for several days, never leaving her alone for this long. Her heart breaking a little more and more each day. Everywhere she could think to go, to look, no one knew anything of them, heard nothing. Or so she was told.

The sad faces of people once familiar to her, should have been a clue, to Elizabeth that her parents were gone. Dead, left her behind, or otherwise, but simply the child could not think that way. We're family. You don't abandon family. Her father had spoken those words she remembered so vividly. Could they really leave her behind?

She just kept mulling over those simple words in her mind. They were out there somewhere and somehow she was going to find them. Her eyes completely telling of just how lost she was, worried, frightened. As many twists and turns as she had taken, nothing was familiar anymore. Every step further getting lost in the big city.

 

[Haung Min]

Haung Min looked around the corner carefully, a group of other children just behind him. Ahead was an open market, the kind that had dozens of stalls selling every kind of food the locals could want... not to mention a few they did not want. Of course, this was only if you had the credits to pay for the food. If not, well for the most part the stall owners did not seem to care whether you starved.

Crouching down, the child waited for just the right moment. When he saw the nearest vender turn to face a customer he whispered, "now!" and charged off followed by the other kids.

When he reached the vender's stall he swept off as much of the food as he could in one arm sweep, being rewarded with a half dozen pieces of fruit. Hugging them tight to his body he ran as fast as he could through the crowd as the vender shouted behind him. The other kids did the same, but they were well practiced and none of them struck the same place and all of them ran separate directions. Even if one got caught, the rest should have enough food to feed everyone.

Far beyond the market, Haung Min turned to make sure he had escaped cleanly. In that moment of inattention he collided with a small girl tumbling to the ground and losing half his catch in the process. "Ow, hey look we're you're going!"

 

[Izzy Aureth]

As she heard chaos breaking out in the distance, somewhere behind her, glancing back only for a moment as vendors started shouting profanity that she'd never heard the likes of in her short life. Something was going on for certain but as to what, she'd no clue. Turning back to searching the crowds around her, she soon found herself being knocked to the ground tumbling through the crowd herself.

For a moment she seemed a bit fearful not sure what exactly happened as she looked around to gather her bearings. Turning back, she saw the boy with fruit scattered across the ground, a few still in his arms. "M-me?" She spoke softly, a bit shy as she moved her eyes away, looking elsewhere for another source but her. She'd done nothing wrong after all. But no one else seemed to be in her position, or his.

After finally coming to the conclusion he had to be speaking to her, she sighed quietly and rose from the ground dusting off her ratty clothing as best she could, not even a shoe on her little feet, clearly just another poor kid from around these parts. Walking away from him, she gathered two of his lost fruits before coming back to him. Without saying another word, she timidly reached out to hand them back to him. "Sorry," She practically whispered, a heavy sadness hanging about her even in the few words she'd spoken. "Didn't mean to be in the way." With that, she turned around intent on walking away, but paused for a moment, looking up at the buildings around them both trying to figure out which direction to go. I' think ... I'm lost.

 

[Haung Min]

As he scrambled to his feet, Haung Min looked back and saw the fruit vender pushing slowly through the crowd. Persistent. Something he would need to keep in mind the next time he stole fruit. That was for another time though, the boy's immediate problem was escaping someplace safe. The police usually did not bother punishing the street urchins harshly, but they did return any stolen food which was just about as bad as being punished.

Looking at the girl trying to hand him some of his food, he could see she was just like him. On a sudden whim he reached out and grabbed her elbow leaving the fruit still in her grasp. "Come on, we need to get out of here."

Puller her he headed down another block and cut through an alley, letting go of her only when he reached a fence with a small child sized hole at the bottom. Pushing his catch through he crawled in after it. Once he was through he turned around and looked back through the hole. "Its safe through here, hurry before someone sees you."

 

[Izzy Aureth]

As he reached forward, grabbing her elbow, making her jump, startled by his actions. "Whoa! Wait!" Surprise so clear in her voice, but still speaking softly even for how frightened she felt in that moment. Glancing back, she seemed completely confused, not sure what he was running from. Well what they both were running from now. It just wasn't making sense as he lead her along. Izzy just doing all she could to keep up with him.

Panting heavily, when he stopped at the fence, she only seemed confused completely as he squirmed through the hole, trying to coax her along with him. "What's going on?" Probably not a good time for curiosity, but she wanted to know.

Hearing shouting again, she jumped, and pushed the fruit she had been carrying through the hole, and not more than a second after that she drove through the hole herself. Standing up, once more dusting herself off, she looked back to the boy uncertain of what she'd been drug into. "Where are we going?" The boy didn't seem all that bad, save for the whole knocking her down, and dragging her with him part.

 

[Haung Min]

At her first question, the boy did not answer directly. He knew their time was limited, but explaining things he knew was a lot harder than it sounded. "Come on, I'll tell you later!"

When she finally came through he helped her get the fruit she had grabbed and pointed away from the fence. "We're meeting up with the others, the adults can't follow us here." Still, despite his words he hurried down the alley they had ended up in. Turning a few times and crossing a street, making sure he did not lose the girl he had bumped into, they arrived at a worn down looking building.

On the side was an old rusted door that Haung Min was able to open with some effort. Inside was the other kids from before, as well as more that had not come for the heist. Looking around he felt satisfied seeing that no one had been caught. A table had the food from everyone else, and he walked over to add his. Turning around he could see no one was looking at him, but rather they were looking at the new girl.

 

[Izzy Aureth]

For the life of her, Izzy just didn't get what was happening. Nothing made sense to her. The adults that were chasing after him, well them. Just not putting together that it had something to do with the food in their hands. Never in her life had she thought to steal something before. Not now, not ever. But then again, her parents had only been gone for a few days. No note, no nothing. She'd never had the need to take something without paying for it in return, never had to provide for herself. The concept something new for the nine year old.

"What others? Can't follow us?" Quiet as ever, but clearly confused. "Why are they following us?" Talking as she hurried to keep up with him, a lot of questions to ask even in her shy nature. If it wasn't for fear, she would never have let him take her this far. However, seeing the mess they had left in their wake, there really wasn't a lot of choice in the matter.

Finally coming to the door of the run down building, she only glanced to him furrowing her brow. A silent question. Glancing back over her shoulder, she hesitated before stepping into the building. Her eyes widening to see the other children.... So many others. Now she understood a little of what he'd told her. Taking only a single step further, she looked to him, then back to the other kids and back at him. Starting to tremble a little, feeling quite out of place and fearful, her expression said it all for her. As she couldn't seem to find her voice any longer.

 

[Haung Min]

Given how easily she had followed him with the stolen food, Haung Min was surprised to see her freeze at the sight of the other children. The fear in her face was obvious, he had encountered more than enough scared children in his short life to recognize it. Whether he had ever worn that expression he did not remember, perhaps when he had first been on his own. That had been almost half his life ago though. To survive, he had abandoned his fear.

"Hey guys, this is... uh, a new one of us," he said realizing he did not know her name. Turning to her, he held out his hand like adults always did when they met someone new. "I'm Haung Min, I lead the Raiding Parties."

Ever since he had learned what "raiding parties" meant, he had insisted on calling their stealing food and other stuff that. He thought it made them sound cooler, and like they were just taking what rightfully belonged to them anyway rather than stealing from otherwise innocent people. Leaning forward, he whispered. "Uh, what's your name anyway?"

 

[Izzy Aureth]

[member="Haung Min"]

Feeling terribly lost and confused, Izzy quite timidly reached out, taking his hand and shaking for the briefest moment. Her trembling likely felt before she could quickly pull away. Still frightened and quite worried about the whole situation, nothing felt right here to her. And all she wanted was to go back to her old home, crawl under the covers and pretend nothing had happened. But even as naive as she could be, in her heart she knew there was nothing left to go back to. The reality was starting to sink in that she just may be on her own completely.

Haung leaning towards her, his whisper in her ear, pulled her from the train of thought. Shyly she looked up to him, "Izzy," A slight pause came between as she finally decided to tell him her full name. "Izzy Aureth." She whispered in return. Well, it was not exactly her full name, Elizabeth was her name. One she had soon given up, as Izzy soon became her nickname, spoken far more than she ever heard Elizabeth by far. That name seemed reserved for when she was in trouble with her parents.

 

[Haung Min]

"She's Izzy Aureth!" Haung Min called to the rest of the children. "She helped bring food, so that makes her okay!"

His loud declaration seemed enough to satisfy the rest of the children, who wandered over to say hi and introduce themselves before returning to whatever they were doing. As always the trio of children everyone called the "Durasteel Chefs" for reasons Haung Min did not know were getting ready to start dinner. They were the only ones that really knew how to cook things right.

"Its going to be a while before dinner is done," he said to Izzy, "so whatcha wanna do until then?"

 

[Izzy Aureth]

Little Izzy just watched as he spoke to the other kids. Still, she couldn't help but feel as if every eye in the room was upon her. The place, the situation, all of it, left her feeling completely out of place. The same sadness returned to her as she glanced around, missing her family, just wanting to be able to go back in time and have them back once more. Anything so her life wasn't completely upside-down as it was now.

Shrugging her shoulders, she sighed kicking a bit at the floor. More than a little unsure of herself. "Don't know." Whispering still, "Was looking for my mom and dad when you knocked me down."

[member="Haung Min"]

 

[Haung Min]

[member="Izzy Aureth"]

She said she had parents, but he knew a street rat when he saw one. Her clothes were too dirty. Of course it was always possible that her parents were homeless, and if she was not an orphan like them then she really did not belong with them. He felt responsible for pulling her along and getting her lost. He would just have to help her get back to them.

"Where are your parents?" he asked. "I'll take you there. I know these streets better than most adults, I'm sure i can get you to them."