A ragged-dressed boy with fair skin, in contrast to his clothing, was sitting on his crossed legs beside a tarred road. In front of him was a small circular bowl, and inside it were a few coins. These coins inside the bowl were his earnings so far in the day, and how much he earned was going to determine if he was going to have any meal that day.
He wished things were going to just continue being hard, but not expensive at least. The cost of living was rising with every day that passed by, making living a do-and-die affair for someone like him. If only it had been in the past, the coins that were contributed for him so far by the charitable would have served him three meals already. But now, he can't even get any with what was in the bowl.
And he was very hungry.
Looking around him, Dimm shrugged. It seemed as though he was the only one suffering from this brand of poverty since everyone his eyes had come across for the day seemed to be already made. Rarely, people walked on the road, but most of the road users traveled by car.
'Maybe that's why I'm not able to get enough, each day. If only these car users contributed…'
His thoughts were disturbed by a sudden splash of water. A young woman had just poured water on the tarred road, and a car had sped across the water, splashing it all over his body. He poked his nose on his clothed arm and perceived the smell.
"Disgusting…" he said. "Not like I wore neat clothes anyway."
This was the world he lived in. A world where the majority cared less for the less privileged, where the poor continued being poor, while the rich continued being rich. He had grown as a little child to learn that there are turn-overs at times for the poor, where they later become rich.
But…but to him now, all those seemed to be mere blabbing and superstitions. That was what they believed in, but that was not reality.
He gave himself one more glare before looking up at owner of the brittle voice he just heard.
"Hey," came the voice of the little girl that stood in his front.
"Hey," he returned the greeting. "She…I think your mom is not interested in waiting for you."
The girl seemed to be walking on the road with her mom, but as expected, her mom didn't take interest in the young boy sitting in rags as she passed by. Only the little child seemed to care. Just maybe because she was still little.
"Don't bother. If she gets home without me, they will send a driver to come and pick me," the girl rattled with her mouth.
"You are fast in speaking," Dimm commented. He was happy at least, there seemed to be someone who cared or someone willing to talk to him. It could have been, either passing him by, or carelessly tossing a coin into his bowl.
"I know. People tell me that a lot," the girl said as she went to sit on the bench that was behind Dimm. "But, why aren't you using the bench instead of sitting there?"
"When I was still as young as you are, I used to misunderstand 'why' too. But don't worry, as you grow, you will get to understand," Dimm replied. "Although, I pray you don't meet the same fate as mine."
"But, you are young too," the girl chipped in. "How old are you?"
"I'm fourteen," Dimm replied. "But trust me, I have done things that even a father can't do, just for survival."
The young girl stood from her bench and came closer to observe Dimm. She looked from his head to his crossed legs before uttering another word.
"Your eyes look bulgy…" she said, and paused. "Are you hungry?"
Of course, it was shameful for a girl her age to feed a teenager. Or, maybe it was to Dimm.
If she stretched out her hand with snacks in it, offering it to him while they explored a tourist center, it would have just been termed fun. But, she is giving it to him because she clearly knows he is hungry, yet, he is not going to decline.
"Yes, I am," he admitted.
The girl brought out a packaged object from the small purse she carried and stretched her hands to give it to Dimm before withdrawing her hand.
"I will give you this snack on one condition," she said.
"What condition?" Dimm asked, looking surprised. "Why would a rich girl like you want anything as gain from a wretched living thing?"
"Not that I want it," she replied. "I was just going to use it as an excuse for giving you this snack."
After a brief pause, she said, "You will have to give me all the coins you've made today in exchange for the snack. It's a chocolate."
Dimm was more of shocked than surprised. His eyes immediately moved to the price tag on the chocolate the girl held with her right hand, and he returned his eyes to the few coins inside his bowl.
"But…but…" he tried to speak, but the words weren't coming. The girl, however, helped him out with what he wanted to say.
"I know, the chocolate is quite expensive. But you see, here," she brought out another chocolate from her purse. "I have two, and it's not bad if I share it with you. So, you can have it."
Dimm pushed his bowl of coins to the girl since he didn't want the girl to come closer, and asked her to throw the chocolate at him. Catching the chocolate mid-air, he brought it down with his glance focused on it.
'Judging from its size, this can serve me for three days if I follow the instructions "Store in a cool dry place",' he thought, while unwrapping the snacks.
Without wasting much time, he thrust the card that followed the chocolate beside him and savored a bite from the chocolate. But, what wrong did he do that made the little girl scream?
"Noo!!!" she screamed, as Dimm chewed the chunks in his mouth. "You should have read the instructions on the card. There are two methods of consuming the chocolate. Not only the chocolate, every snack has a card with two instructions on how to consume them."
But…was he still hearing what she said, at this minute.
His mind seemed blurry and weak to process any voice that resounded around him. He clutched his stomach as he struggled, writhing in pain as he fell on the floor. All he could tell, all he could see through his blurry vision, was a girl who could serve as his immediate younger sister, with her long yellow hair trailing behind her back.
Apart from that, his mind seemed to let him hear the last voice before he blacked out. "We will keep his body safe until he either dies completely or returns to life. Let's go…mi-ss."
With that last voice, Dimm suddenly slipped into a deep trance, or call it temporarily death.
Everything. Everywhere. Became black.
And then, in the darkness, he heard a voice.
[Welcome to Ellipse, Candidate 160.]