City Kids

Chapter One

Foxuaje (Fox-WAYj) Clements pushed through the crowds of the shopping mall. Friday rush hour was always like this, and a boy from the Agrakla Slums didn’t fit in at all. He ran up to the desk in the middle of the crowd and said,
“Zkhuh iv wke halw?” The woman looked at him strangely as he was speaking in Monranian.
“What?” She asked, a girl appeared behind Fox.
“He wants to know where the exit is.” The woman directed them to the exit and continued typing on her computer.
“She’s just playing games anyway.” The girl scoffed and looked at Fox. “Hi,” She said, Fox looked at her questionably,
“I know you speak English, you can’t fool me.” Fox rolled his eyes,
‘How’d you know that?” He asked,
“Because you showed signs of recognition when the woman asked you what the heck you just said.” Fox scowled, “What’s your name?” She asked him.
“Foxuaje, Foxuaje Clements. You can call me Fox. And you?”
“Pivfkeli (Piv-kelly) Johnson. Call me Piv,” She answered. “What are you doing away from the Agrakla Slums?”
“How’d you know I come from there?” Fox immediately asked, if he was that easy to be spotted then the police might catch him.
“The shirt you’re wearing is damp, it’s been dried. But not rung out because it’s not all crumpled, if you had ironed it then it wouldn’t be damp. The water on it is rain water, given the angle of dry spots around your neckline. It hasn’t rained much here for a few days, so you can’t be from here. It has rained in Harkomsa, and Agrakla. But Harkomsa is too far away for your shirt to still be wet, and that means it’s Agrakla. Your clothes are also very roughed up, about 3 years old. Every person with a decent amount of money in Agrakla can buy more clothes every year, so you’re poor. You aren’t starving, nor dying so you have a place to live. There is only one main slum district in Agrakla with that much hospitality and that’s the Agrakla Slums, now I shall ask you that question again. What are you doing away from the Agrakla Slums?” Fox gaped at her.
“I was just trading some goods.” He lied,
“I told you, don’t lie to me it doesn’t work. You don’t have a trading cart, and you’re too young. This centre doesn’t take young traders.”
“You get around often.” Fox said,
“Yeah, well. News travels fast here.” Piv looked at her watch. “On the topic of that, watch this.” She walked past an apple store, then walked away.
“THEIF! STOP RIGHT THERE!” The store manager yelled and pointed at Piv. She smirked and started running as the mall cops followed her. Fox ran after them and watched as she jumped onto the side of the escalator and hoisted herself up. Civilians screamed as she boarded the busy escalator and the cops tried to get past the crowd. She laughed and ran through the store closest to her and knocked over the displays. More cops followed her as she continued running through the stores. She took a spray can from the cosmetics and sprayed a cop in the face before jump through the space between him and the wall. Fox laughed as she stopped to dance to a song in a clothes store. Quickly grabbing a flat back hat and putting it on, she ran away. Suddenly, she jumped off of the second floor and rolled to break her fall. She turned to see the cops gaping at her before flipping them off and running out of the place. Fox ran after her and exited just in time to see that she ran into a small alleyway. Fox smiled at the thought of what just happened before seeing a cop stare at him. He walked away normally before turning the corner and sprinting off onto the footpath.

Thanks for reading. Tell me if you like it so I know okay?