Late in the evening Baekhyun climbed up the ladder to the attic as he always did. But instead of curling up on the mattress like usual, he sat perfectly still and listened. His mind raced as he heard the old man just like every night, calling out threats of bodily harm if anything was stolen or broken overnight, and then leaving by the front door, locking the orphan into the shop. 

Baekhyun waited another few minutes, thinking. 

Making up his mind, he slipped off the mattress and crept slowly back down the ladder. At the bottom he stopped and held his breath for a moment, listening carefully. There was no evidence of anyone else around, and the only sound was the wind blowing through the cracks in the old building, just partially drowned out by the pounding of his heart. 

The lock on the back door was worn from years of overuse, and the orphan knew just how to jiggle it to make the lock fall back into place after creeping out. He carried a large piece of cloth that he had tied into a makeshift bag. Inside was a few extra pieces of scrap material, his metal cup, two slices of bread and two pieces of cheese that he took from the chilled pantry box. He could have taken more, but he wanted to travel lightly to not slow himself down. The old man would be livid when he found out the orphan had taken the food, but Baekhyun planned to be as far away as possible by that point. 

Sticking closely to the side of the building, Baekhyun avoided leaving footprints by placing his thin feet on the rocks that had settled into the dirt creating a pathway. He had been back there enough times to know which ones had been worn down so that no sharp edges bothered his bare feet. He planned to wrap his feet later, but for now he just needed to get away from the town. At the end of the alley he paused to carefully look around. The weaver lived in a different direction of the shop, but Baekhyun didn’t want to appear suspicious enough to be stopped by anyone else that might interfere with his plans.

The sun had fully set and the rising moon gave just enough light to show that no one was within sight of the alleyway. The sounds of conversations were very faint, which meant people were either indoors or not close enough to see the orphan dash across the main road and head straight for the trees that surrounded half of the small town. 

He quickly made his way through the thin underbrush on a path that he had taken many times before when he had gone to bathe in the river that flowed through the thinner section of the woods. This night there was a distinct chill in the air, so Baekhyun hoped that would discourage anyone else from coming to the naturally cold water. At all his previous visits to the area he hadn’t strayed far from the path, so after following the river about 75 feet he knew he was heading into unknown territory. He stopped and pulled two strips of material out of his bag, then sat on a low rock as he fashioned makeshift coverings for his feet to protect them in the unfamiliar terrain. 

Then, with only the dim moonlight filtering through the trees to help, he kept his eyes glued to the ground and picked his steps carefully as the water rushed beside him. The river flow wasn’t fast but it could be deep in spots, so he knew it wasn’t the wisest decision to be walking the rocky shoreline in the dark. Baekhyun also knew the southbound river led away from the town, so he followed it as far as possible until he found a narrow area to cross it. He stopped to take off the strips of material, placing them back into his bag, and then placed his bare feet into the river. The ice cold water immediately began numbing his toes, and as he cautiously walked through the calf-high flow he struggled to keep his footing. At one point his foot slipped off an underwater rock and the drop caught him off guard, causing him to twist his ankle. Even with his skin numb from the cold water, he could feel the pain shoot down through the arch of his foot, and he hissed in agitation. Slowly limping his way through the rest of the water, he finally reached the other bank and carefully sat down on a rock. Once again pulling the strips of material out, he wrapped his feet back up, making the material tighter on the injured foot and ankle.

While he was seated, his stomach reminded him it had been more than a few hours since he had eaten the one piece of bread the weaver had begrudgingly granted him much earlier in the day. The moon had risen further through the trees and was now almost directly overhead, helping the orphan see better as he pulled out one of the slices of bread and a piece of cheese from his bag, filled his metal cup with water from the river and ate his small meal. 

Once done, Baekhyun tested bearing weight on the bad foot and decided it wasn’t too bad. Heading directly away from the river this time, he gingerly limped off through the trees in hopes of finding another town where he could beg his way into a hopefully better situation than the unfortunate one he had left behind at the weaver’s shop. 

A long while later the orphan was exhausted. He wasn’t sure how many hours had passed. Thankfully the woods hadn’t been too dense, but his ankle throbbed as he limped along and his mouth was dry from not having had any water when he had eaten the other piece of bread and cheese as he walked. The moon had long since disappeared and he could tell the sun would be coming up soon. His stomach was beginning to show signs of wanting more food and he desperately needed a place to sleep that would be safe. The trees seemed to get a little thinner up ahead, so maybe there would be another river where he could drink some water, spash his face to wake himself back up a bit, and possibly soak his sore ankle. 

Strangely, he began to smell somet