Watcher

Chapter 7: Incident in park

Bradley's face is instantly pale, cold sweat also flows non-stop on his face. His hands tremble every time Madam Theresa's footsteps are getting closer and closer to him. He bites his lips, his mind’s blank, and his body refuses to move.

“What should I do?”

The sound of footsteps starts louder and clearer. He doesn’t have any choice and it’s too late to move now. He can only surrender if Madam Theresa finally finds him. Suddenly, Madam Theresa's footsteps stopped. Someone called her name and she walks back away from Bradley's position.

"Heavens! She almost got me."

Bradley takes a deep breath and tries not to make a sound. Madam Theresa’s footsteps sound disappears. He moves as fast to his room.

"Gosh!" Bradley

Someone knocking on the door. Bradley immediately runs to the door and opens it. A fat woman with black hair of hers stands in front of her.

"Madam Nigera, what's wrong?" Bradley furrows his brow.

“Madam Theresa is calling for you.” Nigera walks away from Bradley. She suddenly stops her movement for a while and turns her head." Oh, she's waiting for you downstairs," she said walking back.

Bradley walks down the stairs. A few meters in front of him, a tall woman dresses in black and beside her, a large black dog with thick fur is sitting.  The woman turns around and shows her face. It turns out to be Madam Theresa. She wants Bradley to take a walk with her beloved dog out to play. She throws her dog's leash at Bradley.

"I have a business to do, but someone must accompany Mr. Wolfy," She said while stroking her dog.

Bradley instantly furrows his brows. He sees the dog has quite sharp canines and is followed by a continuous flow of saliva coming out from the mouth. “Madam, but I ….”

"Hey! Remember where you are now." Her voice suddenly rises. Her eyes bulged at him. "You lived because of me, so show some respect!"

Bradley's head is getting hotter, he keeps clenching his fists and trying to suppress the anger in his heart. He wants so badly to crush her face into shape. However, his life depends on Madam Theresa.

"Okay, I'll take the Wolfy to the city park," He said with a weak voice.

"Good, I like children who hear my orders."

The white-haired woman walks away from him. Bradley slowly takes the dog outside for a walk in the park. The dog jumps several times and tries to escape from his grip. He tries to pull the dog's leash. Nevertheless, Wolfy’s size is big enough for a dog. It’s so hard to control it. Sweet keeps pouring down his face. He cannot hold it anymore and yells at the dog.

“Shut up, dog!”

Those words make Wolfy's eyes wides instantly. His ears are down and his head keeps looking down. The dog finally follows Bradley's orders and walks quietly toward the city park. However, there is something that makes him don’t feel uncomfortable. He feels guilty for yelling at the dog.

“Am I being too harsh on this dog?”

Bradley shakes his head. He feels sorry to see this change in the dog's traits, slowly takes a breath, and unties the dog's leash.

“Hey buddy, you need some freedom, right?”

Bradley looks into the dog's eyeballs. The dog's ears slowly rise, it has no longer concealed its tail and jumps in the middle of the garden alone. However, He hears someone crying not far from his place. Yet, the sound grows louder in his ears.

“Who is crying there?”

His curiosity flows along his veins. He decides to leave Wolfy alone for a while and follows the sound until he meets a group of children. They seem to be beating another child. 

"Please stop it! I don't do anything wrong at all!" The sound of the thin child's groans is heard followed by sobs. "What have I done to you?" He just has his head and does not look forward in the slightest.

"Shut up! You must die, witch!” shouted the tall children kicking the innocent child who asks for help until he falls.

Bradley furious with the bullies walk closer to them. He hit one of the bullies, the fat one until he screams in pain.

"Hey, who are you? What are you doing!"

"Hey, you're still a kid but you have already enjoyed torturing people like that." His hand pulls harder and harder on the boy's ears until his ears turned red like tomatoes. "This is the consequence of what have you done."

"Shit! What have you done man?” said a member of the bully, the curly hair. “You already …”

“Hey, watch your mouth!”

Bradley immediately hits the child's face until it bled. His eyes immediately fill up with water. He moves his body closer to the child.

“Once again I see you guys hitting him. I will make your faces formless!” He looks at the child with a hideous gaze.

“I will report this to my parents, just wait and see.”

“Yeah, so long loser.”

The bullies and his members left. Bradley helps the victim of bullying and speaks with the boy. However, the boy just keeps his head down and doesn’t reply to him in the slightest.

“All right it’s okay if you don't want to talk now. But, your wound should be cleaned.”

The white-haired boy replies to Bradley's words with a small nod. He helps the child walk until sees the park bench nearby.

"Now I have to clean your wound first." Bradley slowly places the cloth over the child's wound.

"Thank you, Sir." He said in a small voice.

“Hey, don’t call me Sir. Do I look old to you?” Bradley furrows his eyebrow.

“No, No Sir.” Said the kids panicked. “I don’t mean to.” He bows his head.

 “Haha, don’t be so scared. I will not eat you.” Bradley smiles at the kid. “Hey, you can call me Bradley. Nice to meet you,"

“My name is Markus Gideon, but people call me Gideon.”

“Gideon, why did those kids hit you?” asked Bradley curiously.

Gideon explained the group of boys had been after him for a long time. They don’t like Gideon at all because they think Gideon is a strange child because of his parent’s job. Gideon said his parents work in a circus which makes him always bullied by other kids. Bradley shocks to hear that word.

“Geez, so that’s just the reason why they bullied you?”

Gideon replied to him with a small nod. "Yes."

"It’s such a stupid reason. What's wrong with having parents who have those jobs?" asks Bradley curiously. "Hey kid, I think your parents' work is cool."

Gideon's eyes immediately lit up. He asks what is Bradley’s parent’s job.  Bradley is silent for the moment. He said he is an orphan and lives in the “Happy Life” orphanage.

“Sorry for my impudence," The boy's brown eyes are wide instantly. He quickly covers his mouth. “Jeez, I don’t mean to ….”

“Hey, calm down. I'm used to, Gideon.” Bradley pats Gideon on the shoulder.

“So, are you living alone there?” Gideon asked increasingly curious.

***