Slightly had no idea what he had stolen from the corner shop. It was flavorless aside from the conglomerates of grease that dripped from the doughy substance and onto the paper wrapping. But it wasn't as if the boy had a much room for complaint. This would be his first meal in two weeks. Not that hunger pangs bothered him much. So long as he had water, they were easily ignored.
That is, until his body stopped obeying him properly.
Go right, swing left. Drop, tumble, roll. But instead he got a growl of protest from his stomach and ornery appendages.
It was a comfortable pain, that twilight of starvation and exhaustion. It heightened his alertness, making every sound and color vibrant and boisterous. Even the faintest of smells stung his nose, cause his nostrils to flare in shock. The hairs of the back of his would stand erect, even when what touched his skin was nothing more than a feathery breeze.
But there was such a thing as getting too cuddly with that wholesome embrace. So now Slightly stuffed his face with a mutant sandwich that tasted like a pink belch wrapped in soggy cardboard. It was gone in two minutes flat, not a portion of it spared from his gob. What layered around his lips was wiped onto a sleeve and sucked clean. It was the same with his fingers till every inch of food-stained skin was salt-free.
Not one to be wasteful, Slightly licked the crinkled wrapping which bore the brutal holes of an overeager mouth.
As he lapped up the coating of fatty pink mush and oil, a wisp of movement ghosted past his peripheral. Slightly froze, pausing mid-lick, allowing only his eyes to move as he watched the living shadow cross his vision.
There was nothing particular fascinating about the hooded figure, except that Slightly had taken a fancy to the hoodie. His own coat was threadbare and drafty, the tiniest breeze sending a torrent of chills down his prominent spine.
Slightly deliberated for a heartbeat or two before he decided he liked the coat too much to let it go. He crumpled up the checkered wrapping and tossed it over his shoulder. He then slunk towards the mobile hanger with a pretty beam on his face.
"Oooh, lovely thing that. You look toasty in that you do." Slightly chirped, a friendly grin splitting across his boyish face. "So carefully made are its seams, I can almost see that needle gleam."
The urchin's gaze then fell to the stranger's hands which were tucked neatly into a pair of stark gloves. "Lookie, lookie, mitts unseen. I wonder what it could possibly mean?"
