This made Valerie confused, she was sure she had heard his stomach grumble twice, yet he didn't want any food.
They got to Valerie's room, and there was a fruit bowl on her vanity, Alan stood there and looked at it.
Valerie hadn't noticed so she took an apple from there and bit into it. It made Alan's eyes light up and she noticed that.
She handed the apple, which now had a huge bite of it missing, to Alan which he carefully took and ate within 2 minutes.
'So he won't ask for food, and he won't take untouched food, but if I bite his food then he'll take it, noted.' She didn't know why he would eat the food she had eaten first but wouldn't ask for his own. Then she remembered being told that slave's never eat anything other than their Master or Mistress' scraps.
She thought the boy looked far too skinny, all you could see on him was flesh and bones, so she took a small bite from another apple and gave the rest to him. She didn't give him anymore because she wanted him to eat his dinner.
The next day when Valerie woke up to start work, Alan was still asleep in bed beside her, wearing the same clothes from yesterday.
She got ready for work and left him in there by himself to sleep.
2 hours later when Valerie was just bringing the King's plate from his breakfast to the kitchen, she felt something tackle her to the ground.
"Mistress Valerie, the mean old man is trying to hurt me!" The butler came from behind the corner with a wooden stick in his hand.
"Come here boy, and be shown a lesson to listen to your elders and do what's been told!" Yelled Stan, who was running down the hall and towards the pair of people on the ground.
He slapped him on the back with the stick, Alan cried out in pain.
"Next time it will be worse if you don't learn some manners boy!" Said Stan before he walked away to attend to his work.
"Aw, I'm sorry sweetie. Come on, let's go see Malphus, maybe he has some candy. Want some candy?" Alan nodded his head. He'd be sure to never leave his Mistress' or Master's side.
Indeed the King did have some gummy candies to give to the boy. Alan took them and ate half, then took the bag with the rest of it and stuffed it in his pocket for later.
He ended up helping Valerie with her work for half the day and playing in the garden with some children the other half.
He had dinner with Malphus and Valerie, as Valerie never ate with the other maids, and Maplhus never ate outside of his study if he was inside the castle.
He got half of Valerie's dinner and half of Malphus' dinner, and while the three of them ate they listened to his stories of what he and his newly found friends played in the garden.
Alan became well known around the castle, even with the other maids. He was a little helper, he would always help with anything anyone asked. They only asked if they really needed help, in case someone else needed more help than them at the moment, and also so the boy would have a little time to do what he wanted to do.
They knew he wasn't a new maid or anyone there's child, so they always wondered how he got in the castle every day without being caught by the guards, and where he went when the day was done.
No one told on him because of him being such a big help to others, and some actually enjoyed his company, like the cook, the stable cleaner, and the gardener.
While Valerie and Alan were playing hid and seek in the garden and Alan found Valerie he said: "Got you, mommy, haha!"
"Mommy? No, Alan, I'm not your mom"
"But of course you are, you're nice to me, let me sleep in her bed, bathe me, and feed me." After a short pause, Alan began again "All my first mommy did was hit me on the head with a bottle and make me buy her drinks, when we couldn't buy any drinks mommy cut me and hit me until my skin turned blue. Then she sold me to those mean people who hit me more. But I got food with them and not with mommy."
What the boy said made her tear up, no one should have to go through that, yet people did, every single day. While she was here living with filters on life.
She pulled Alan into a tight hug and kissed the top of his head. "You'll never have to go through anything like that ever again okay?"
"I know mommy, you and papá will keep me safe."