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, but suddenly Madam Theresa's footsteps stop. Someone calls 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. A few minutes later, Madam Theresa's footsteps sound disappear and he fastens his movements to his room
"Gosh!"
Suddenly, someone knocks on the door, he opens the door, and turns out there is a fat woman with black hair standing in front of him.
"Madam Nigera, what's wrong?" Bradley furrowed his brow.
"Bradley, Madam Theresa is calling for you." Nigera walked away from Bradley's room, but suddenly, she stopped and turned her head to Bradley. "Oh, and she's waiting for you downstairs."
"Yes, Madam."
Bradley walks down the stairs and he sees a tall woman dressed in black with a large black dog with thick fur sitting next to her which turns out to be Madam Theresa.
"I have some business to attend to, but someone must accompany Mr. Wolfy," she said as she petted his dog and threw the leash at Bradley.
Bradley furrows his eyebrows at the dog's sharp canines with a continuous stream of saliva coming out from its mouth. "Madam, but I'm ...."
"Hey! Remember where you are now." Her tone raised and she stared sharply toward Bradley. "You're alive because of me, so show some respect!"
That word made Bradley's head even hotter and he keeps clenching his fists trying to squeeze out the anger in his heart. He desperately wants to smash her face, but indeed his life now depends only on Madam Theresa.
"Okay, I'll take Wolfy to the city park," she said in a weak voice.
"Good, I like kids who listen to my commands."
Mrs. Theresa then left without a word and Bradley slowly took the dog for a walk in the park. During the walk, the dog kept jumping several times and trying to break free from his grip.
"Wolfy, calm down." Bradley kept trying to pull the dog's leash.
However, Wolfy's size made it difficult to control the dog, so he could not contain his anger and shouted at him.
"Shut up, stupid dog!"
The words instantly made Wolfy's eyes widen, making the dog duck weakly and finally, Bradley easily controlled the dog until they arrived at the city park.
"I feel like I was too hard on that dog." Bradley patted his head repeatedly while looking at Wolfy who still lowered his head in disgust. "Argh, why am I acting like Mrs. Theresa?"
Bradley shook his head, slowly took a breath, and let go of the dog's leash.
"Hey, buddy, I'm sorry. You definitely need some freedom, don't you?" Bradley stroked the dog's ears then the dog jumped at Bradley and licked him.
"Wolfy, stop it." Bradley laughed amusedly while covering his face from the dog's saliva. Not long after, the dog left Bradley and began to lick his face.
Bradley shook his head then slowly took a breath, and let go of the dog's leash.
"Hey, buddy, I'm sorry. You definitely need some freedom, don't you?" Bradley stroked the dog's ears and then slowly the dog jumped up to Bradley and licked him.
Bradley stroked the dog's ears and then slowly the dog jumped on Bradley and licked him.
"Wolfy, stop." Bradley laughed as he covered his face from the dog's lick.
Not long after, the dog leaves Bradley and runs to the center of the park wagging its tail happily.
"Ah, I'm so happy to see Wolfy finally being happy again."
Bradley quickly stands up and walks to the water faucet in the park washing off the traces of Wolfy's saliva on his hands.
However, just as he finishes washing his hands, he suddenly hears the sound of someone crying not far away and the sound is getting louder.
"Weird, who is crying over there?"
His curiosity runs through his veins and decides to follow the voice until he encounters a group of children who are beating up a child.
"Please stop! I don't do anything wrong!" The skinny child's moaning voice could be heard followed by sobs. "What have I done to you?" He just looked down and didn't look forward in the slightest.
"Shut up! You must die, witch!" the tall children shouted, kicking the innocent child who was asking for help to the ground.
Bradley, furious with the bullies, walks over to them and punches one of the bullies, the fat one, screaming in pain.
"Hey, who are you, what are you doing!" The fat kid held his cheek with a grimace of pain.
"You're still a kid but you already enjoy torturing people like that." His hand pulled the boy's ear harder and harder until it turned red like a tomato. "This is the consequence of what you've done."
"Shit!! What have you done, man?" said one of the curly-haired bullies. "You've-"
"Woah, watch your mouth kid!"
Bradley hit the kid in the face until it bleeds and makes the kid speechless.
"Once again I see you hit him. I'll definitely make your faces shapeless He stared at the boy with a horrified look.
"Dammit! I'll report this to my parents, just wait."
"Yeah, see you losers." Bradley rolled his eyes.
The bullies eventually leave and Bradley rushes to help the boy and talks to him. However, the boy simply bows his head and does not reply at all.
"Well, it's okay if you don't want to talk now." Bradley simply smiled. "Hey, but your wounds need to be cleaned."
The white-haired boy responds to Bradley's words with a small nod and Bradley brings the boy to sit on the park bench.
"Now I have to clean your wound first." Bradley slowly put down the wet tissue that was in his pants pocket and slowly cleaned the dirt on the boy's face.
The boy was silent and kept his eyebrows closed trying to endure the pain until his face was slowly cleaned.
"Thank you, Sir."
"Hey, don't call me Sir. Do I look old to you?" Bradley furrowed his brow.
"No, no sir." The boys said frantically. "I didn't mean that." He lowered his head and his face turned red.
"Haha, don't be so scared. I won't eat you." Bradley smiled at the boy. "Hey, you can call me Bradley. Nice to meet you."
"My name is Markus Gideon, but people call me Gideon."
"Gideon, why are those kids hitting you?" Bradley asked curiously.
Gideon explains that the group of kids dislikes him because Gideon often talks to animals alone and everyone thinks he's weird.
"My parents also work in circus stuff, so they think I'm weird even more." Gideon bowed his head while holding back the hurt on his face.
"Geez, so that's why they are bullying you?" Bradley shook his head at Gideon's words. "Hey, I've talked to animals too and I think it's normal because they're living creatures too, right?"
Gideon's eyes lit up at Bradley's words and then asked Bradley where he lived.
"Oh, I live in an orphanage called Happy Life" Bradley sighed.
"Sorry for my impudence," the boy's brown eyes widened. He immediately covered his mouth. "Gosh, I didn't mean to ...."
"Hey, calm down. I'm used to it, Gideon." Bradley patted Gideon on the shoulder.
"So, you live alone there?" Gideon asked even more curious.
***