*1 year ago *
----(The story onwards is set one year before the night of the baby's birth)----
The market was crowded with people. Some vendors were trying to get more customers by offering them luring offers and discounts on the prices. While some had a hard time attending the rush.
Kids ran, chirping joyously on the road. During this hustle, a set of feet landed on the ground cautiously. The person's eyes scanned the surroundings keenly.
People around were too busy to notice the person. And those who did move on not heeding more of their attention.
Some sound caught the person's notice, and his head snapped in that direction. The person pursed his lips to find a cat running ahead and a woman yelling at the small animal for spilling a bag of seeds.
The search had to be continued.
"Where are you?" The words left the person's lips in a whisper, his eyes and ears were on alert.
The person searched behind the large sacks that were placed linearly, in the pots of the potter, under the dresses of the women and hats of the men. But it was nowhere to be seen.
"Where could it be?" The person whispered again. His big green eyes kept scanning the surroundings with thick brows furrowed in the middle of their forehead.
The person's eyes caught something shining at a short distance. Curiously, they took a step ahead, and his eyes gleamed at the sight of what they were looking at. Something else stretched a smirk on his face.
"You sneaky creature!" Smiling victoriously, the person jogged towards a jewellery shop.
"Good morning sir! What would you like to see? Is it for you or your lovely wife?" The seller had recited those lines all of his life, and now he did not find any interest in repeating them over gazillionth times.
The man's eyes-ignoring the seller- kept darting to the right.
"No... I mean... I am not married but if you can suggest me a lovely woman to get married then it would be more appreciable." The man said.
He was not serious, and anyone could tell that by the way, his eyes held mischief and a playful smirk that adorned his face.
The seller did not like his comment. Pursing his lips, he decided to ignore it as he did not want to lose a customer at the beginning of the day. Not everyday people afforded to buy jewellery from his shop.
Clearing his throat, the seller continued, "If you are looking something for yourself then we have cufflings, pocket watches, pens and..."
The man tuned out the sellers narrative as his eyes focused to his right.
"Oh... erm... show me that." He pointed randomly at some item, which was displayed behind the seller in a showcase.
The seller turned around to take that item out of the showcase, and that was the man's best chance.
"No... the right one... the next one... yes!" The man slowly stepped to his right as subtly as possible.
"Also show me that one. Second to the left. Yes and the next one."
Keeping the seller busy with the task, he made sure that he was distracted. The man's face brightened in victory as he stared at the small black coloured mobile thing that had a gold chain hung around its neck and a gold coin in hands that was partially disappeared in his mouth.
"Got you!" As soon as the big watery eyes of the creature met with the man's green ones, he caught it before it could escape and stuffed it in the inside pocket of his coat.
"Sir? Is there something else you liked?" The seller called from the other side.
"Oh no... no... this is good." The man said while running his hand over an expensive gold chain that the seller had picked from the showcase behind.
"You liked it? It costs only-"
The man smiled tightly as the creature inside his pocket coat started wriggling. He put his hand on it and said, "Well... everything in your shop is... great!" He smiled again but half-heartedly.
"But I am not looking for the jwellery."
The seller was confused. "Then what are you doing here?"
"I had nothing to do so thought why not make a new friend? Would you like to be my friend?" The man offered his other hand in dramatic excitement.
His humour was not shared by the seller and, the man's patience broke.
"You fool! Get out! Get out from my shop!" He finally exploded in anger.
The man- unaffected by the seller's outburst- shrugged his shoulders. Then left the shop while whistling easily. He could not hold back the smile as he had got what he wanted.
He had reached only a few feet away from the jewellery shop when the seller found an empty drawer that previously had many gold items.
"Thief... thief... catch him... catch him!"
The man heard the seller's voice from behind, and the heads turned towards him in anger.
The man slowed down his pace as he met with a couple of sets of eyes. The look in them was not a good sign though!
"One... two... three!" He broke into a sprint dodging the people who came in his way to stop him.
The seller had gathered a group of people, and together they chased the man while yelling profanities at him and calling him a thief.
He held onto his coat's pocket and tapped it twice, saying, "Be careful pal!"
Smiling, he dodged the people who tried blocking his way. His legs pushed him forward like an athlete. Someone threw a pumpkin in his direction from the nearby vegetable shop, but he halted abruptly and ducked down. The poor ball of a vegetable smashed on the face of another man who had nothing to do with the erupted chaos.
The thief resumed running, liking the feel of adrenaline rush in his system. It always made him happy. The adventure was what he always sought in life.
The creature in his pocket peeked out of it, but after seeing that the road was blocked ahead, its watery eyes widened in fear, and an unusual squeaky sound left its mouth.
A wooden handcart stacked with sacks of grains had blocked the narrow road ahead. The jewellery seller cried victoriously, thinking he had the thief in his reach. Little did he know that the man he was dealing with did not know how to give up.
The man saw a thick rope tied between the two parallel shops which were on each side of the road. He turned again to see people still following him. Without thinking twice, he jumped high and held onto the rope.
The poor thing could not bore his weight, and one end of it broke loose. With one more forceful tug, it fell on the ground. The other end was tightly knotted, and that was what he wanted.
"Sorry people, but I am in hurry!" He presented a salute to them, and climbing the rope, he reached the balcony of the nearby building.
Women screamed. Men cursed, and children clapped in excitement at his stunt. Winking at them, he jumped onto the next balcony, and before anyone could hold his collar, he was out of the market and on the familiar way where he was sure nobody would follow him.
He liked this feeling. He liked when people noticed him, looked at him for he was an orphan and had no clue who his parents were and why they abandoned him.
Since he gained his senses, he was alone in this world full of misery and treacheries. He did not care about anybody in the world because no one cared for him too. He was like a free bird with no shackles, no destination, and no purpose in life.
The only thing he knew was survival, and for that, he was ready to go to any extent.
Leaving the houses of the town behind, he walked towards the forest that covered a major part of Warthford Island.
He inhaled the fresh air of the forest that lacked human jealousy, anger, and problems. It consisted only of the welcoming freshness of the lush green forest. A smile made its way on his lips.
He loved it here in the company of the tall and bushy trees rather than the greedy humans. What an irony that a greedy and selfish human did not like the other greedy and selfish humans!
The movements in his coat pocket grew, and he finally let the black hairy creature with a hairy tail and a duck-like beak- a niffler- jump out. It shook his body vigorously and fell on the forest ground on its back.
The man frowned at the animal.
"Oh so now you are tired when I did all the running?!"
The niffler made a guttering sound ignoring the efforts taken by the man.
"What a ungrateful creature you are!" He shook his head in disappointment.
He then sat on the ground and took the niffler by his left leg, hanging him upside down.
"Let's see what you have got here, pal."
The niffler started protesting, but the wicked smile on the man's face made it realise that his protests were bound to go in vain.
The man shook the niffler up and down, and various shiny objects- some of the gold while some of the silver and very few with only shinning coating- fell with clinking sounds.
The niffler's eyes crossed when the man spared him at last. The number of things that animal had stolen from the market and the jewellery seller, astonished the man. He smiled widely, shaking his head unbelievingly.
"You are a treasure of precious things, my friend!"
The niffler glared at him as he put it down again. The man was happy that they had enough things to sell in the black market, which would reward them enough to spend the next two months in ease.
He was happy. He lay on the ground, stretching his hands above his head. His niffler- who was his partner in every crime and trouble- snuggled shamelessly to his side even though it was angry at him a minute ago.
The afternoon silence of the surroundings with the mild and lulling sounds of the forest pulled the sleep on his eyes.
Ten minutes later, he was about to enter his dreamland when his ears caught on some sound. On the second time, his niffler craned its neck to see from where the sound came.
But the man did not move. He lay still as if he was deep into sleep. He felt someone hovering above him. The other person leaned some more and moved their hand in front of his face.
"I know you are awake Gerald. Stop pretending and open your eyes."
The familiar female voice made Gerald sigh. He lazily opened his green eyes to meet the face of his old friend- Isabella.
"And where is that stubborn and hot-headed admirer of yours?" Gerald asked monotonously.
"You only need to say my name and I will be glad to meet you right away, my dear friend!" Oscar jumped from the nearby tree as he stared down at Gerald.
The couple who was together for many years was years older than Gerald. However, the age difference never played any role in their friendship- which was more than five years old.
The couple found Gerald when he was stealing someone's pouch of coins. Instead of stopping him, they helped him hide and what followed after that was another story that changed Gerald's life forever.
"What are you two doing here? I am not sharing today's profit with you so forget it!" Gerald cleared out.
But his comment did not settle well with Isabella. She took a small pebble from the side and threw it at him that bounced on his chest.
"Awww... woman! Are not you too harsh for a woman?!" Gerald's eyes flew open, and he sat up glaring at Isabella.
She only shrugged at him nonchalantly.
"Enough! You have to come with us Gerald." Oscar became serious.
"Oh I am not coming with you anywhere!" He said dismissively.
"You have to Gerald! You do not have any choice here." Oscar said.
Now irritated with the couple's nagging, Gerald asked in a hard voice. "And why the hell do you think that?"
Oscar shared a look with Isabella, and she answered.
"Because its Reznor's order!"