From outside the wall, rough voices echoed through the quiet surroundings, mixed with the sound of shoes scraping against gravel and dry leaves crunching under careless steps.
"Where the hell did that rat disappear to?" one boy spat angrily, kicking a loose stone across the ground.
"I swear he ran this way. I literally saw him turn near the back yard," another replied, panting slightly as if he had been searching for quite some time.
A third boy clicked his tongue irritably. "That coward always runs like this. The moment he sees us, he starts shaking and vanishes like a ghost. Acting like he can escape forever."
"Search properly, idiots," a deeper voice spoke, clearly the leader. His tone carried irritation mixed with wounded pride. "That bastard embarrassed me today in front of everyone."
"What are we even going to do if we find him?" one of the boys asked, though the twisted excitement in his voice already revealed his intentions.
The leader cracked his knuckles slowly. "What do you think? He has been getting too comfortable lately, always hiding behind Nancy like some stray dog. We need to remind him of his place."
Another boy snorted. "That girl really treats him like he is something special. It pisses me off every time I see them walking together."
"Yeah," someone else added quickly, "Always smiling at him, sharing her food, helping him with chores. Makes it look like he is better than us."
"He is nothing," the leader snapped harshly. "Just abandoned trash that no one wanted, not even his own relatives."
One of the boys leaned against the wall, lowering his voice slightly. "Maybe he is hiding in the playground storage or behind the old water tanks. He hides in weird places."
"We already checked there," another replied. "He is not stupid enough to hide somewhere obvious anymore."
A short silence followed before one of the boys spoke again, his tone hesitant but curious. "Hey... did you guys hear what Big Boss said yesterday?"
A few of them immediately turned toward him.
"You mean about the old man?" another boy whispered, eyes lighting up with interest.
"Yeah, that," the first boy replied, nodding eagerly. "Big Boss said that this orphanage is loaded with money. All those donations and charity stuff. The old caretaker hides it somewhere inside the building."
The leader’s expression sharpened slightly. "Of course he does. Those people donate all the time. Food, money, clothes... and that old fossil acts like some saint."
One of the boys scratched his head. "Then why don’t Big Boss and the others just come and take it? They are way stronger than anyone here."
Another boy answered quickly, clearly repeating something he had heard before. "Because if they do it now, the police will come here a lot. Big Boss said orphanages get too much attention. If something happens suddenly, everyone starts sniffing around."
"Yeah," the hesitant boy continued, trying to recall properly, "he said they need it to look like... like normal death or something. So no one suspects anything."
The leader smirked faintly, clearly enjoying the seriousness of the topic. "They are planning to kill the old man quietly first. Once he is gone, everything becomes easy. New caretaker means confusion. Records get messy. Money can disappear without anyone noticing."
One of the boys’ eyes widened slightly. "But why not just scare him and make him tell where the money is?"
"Because that old man is stubborn," the leader replied confidently, repeating words that were clearly not his own. "Big Boss said people like him would rather die than speak. So they will make it look like he died from sickness or falling or something. Then they can search the place slowly without panic."
Another boy lowered his voice even further. "And Big Boss also said there are cameras near the front gate and donation hall. If they break in suddenly, they will get caught. They need someone inside to help later."
"Someone inside?" one boy asked curiously.
The leader shrugged casually. "Probably someone who lives here. Someone who knows which rooms stay locked, when the old man is alone, and where the keys are kept."
Several boys exchanged glances before one of them suddenly laughed.
"Maybe we should help Big Boss. We live here anyway."
"Idiot," another boy replied, though he was grinning as well. "We are already helping by watching things. Big Boss said to keep eyes open and tell them if the old man hides anything new."
A moment of silence followed before one of them suddenly kicked the ground in frustration.
"Damn it... if that Ash didn’t keep hanging around that Nancy girl, we could have used him already."
The leader raised an eyebrow. "Used him how?"
"Think about it," the boy continued eagerly. "He follows her everywhere. Nancy always goes near the caretaker room to help him. That coward Ash probably sees everything."
The leader’s lips slowly curled into a cruel smile as the thought settled in.
"Yeah... that worm might actually be useful," he muttered.
Another boy laughed darkly. "Or we can just scare him enough to make him tell us anything he knows."
"He is already scared enough to wet himself," someone added mockingly.
"Still," the leader said slowly, his voice lowering into something colder, "fear can always grow deeper."
A few of the boys snickered, their laughter echoing unpleasantly against the walls.
"First we find him," the leader continued. "Then we make sure he remembers who owns him. After that, maybe he will become helpful."
Another boy leaned closer. "And if he tells Nancy?"
The leader immediately shook his head. "He won’t. He is too scared to even speak when we hit him. That is why he is perfect."
He then straightened and gestured toward the yard.
"Come on. Spread out and search near the outer fence and playground. He has to come out eventually. And when he does, I want him caught before he runs to Nancy again."
The group scattered quickly, their footsteps fading as they moved away, leaving behind only faint echoes of their cruel laughter.
Inside the storeroom, the black haired boy pressed himself tighter into the corner, his trembling hands clutching his sleeves as his breathing turned shallow, while every word he had just heard carved itself deeply into his mind.
While Ash just watched those seven year old kids, who were already walking down the wrong path from such a young age, run off searching like hawks hunting for prey.
He said nothing, thought nothing, and simply watched everything unfold in front of him. There was no point in trying to interfere or react, because everything that was happening existed only for him to witness, only for him to confront what he had buried deep within himself.
For him to face his....past.
He slowly turned around and walked back inside the storeroom. His steps were calm, almost mechanical, he had already accepted that he cant escape this memory or dream.
His gaze shifted toward the kid sitting in the corner. The boy was still shivering, his shoulders trembling as he struggled to process everything he had just overheard, his breathing uneven and fragile.
And then he started to mutter.
With his seven year old mind, Ash at that time could only comprehend as much as his experience and fear allowed him to.
"Kill? They are going to kill him?"
Ash muttered, his voice trembling as fear slowly began to take root inside him. The word itself felt heavy and terrifying in his mind, and as he tried to grasp its meaning, dread crept deeper into his chest.
His fingers tightened around his sleeves as his body began shaking uncontrollably, his thoughts spiraling faster than he could handle.
He did not care about the caretaker himself. That was not what frightened him. What terrified him was what would come afterwards. If the old man died, would the next caretaker still treat Nancy kindly? Would those bullies gain complete freedom inside the orphanage without anyone to restrain them?
That future terrified him more than anything else. He wanted nothing more than to avoid it. He wanted nothing more than to stop it before it could ever happen.
But how?
The whispers he had just heard about him being useful lingered in his mind like poison spreading through his thoughts.
Ash did not understand what they planned to do with him, and that uncertainty made his chest tighten with suffocating anxiety. Then another thought suddenly surfaced in his mind, uninvited and terrifying.
T-Those... street thugs or whatever g-g-gangsters they are... will they somehow use Nancy to kill the caretaker? Only she is close to him, and I am always with her... b-but if I continue to hide... won’t they target Nancy?...
T-What if... this bullying is only to make me cooperate with them to kill the caretaker...
Although Ash was still just a child, his mind had matured far beyond his years because of everything he had endured. He was always thinking, always overthinking, always trying to predict danger before it could reach him. His mind constantly searched for escape routes, for hidden threats, for outcomes that others never noticed.
That cautious and calculating nature would later become one of Ash’s defining traits. His guesses often struck frighteningly close to the truth. At least, that was true for the Ash who existed now, not the fragile child trembling in that dark storeroom.
But as that thought took deeper hold in his mind, a voice suddenly echoed from somewhere far deeper than logic or fear. It was not something he heard with his ears. It rose from his heart, raw and instinctive, as if something inside him refused to stay silent any longer.
Protect her.
Protect her kindness.
Never let the world touch her with the same cruelty that shattered him.
Never let her cry the way he once did.
Never let her feel alone, like he did.
Never let her become what this world made of him.
At that moment, something fragile yet unbreakable stirred within Ash. A quiet shift occurred deep inside his heart, subtle yet profound, as if a small seed had been planted within the soil of his fear and pain.
At that time, a seed of change was born in Ash heart.
***