Deep Trouble with You

7 Caught

I carefully study the girl from my hiding place. Now I understand that she’s one of the local street kids. Worn-out clothes, the manners of a little thug, a predatory, very un-childlike look, and foul language every other word. She was in the company of several other scruffy, homeless-looking teenagers and was heading toward the nearest back alleys. That’s where I decided to intercept her.

I get out of the car and see the girl turn the corner into a courtyard passage with her group. Waiting a bit, I quickly head after her. I quietly approach the corner of the alley and sneak a look so I don’t scare off the little bird. I see that the girl is already alone and somehow staggering deeper into the street.

Excellent! Someone’s about to get it on their thieving little ass!

In a matter of seconds I catch up with the brat and jerk her around to face me. The girl didn’t have time to react and she staggered into the nearest wall, because it turned out she was clutching her broken nose with her hand.

For a second I even felt sorry for her that I hadn’t calculated my strength properly, because someone had already hit the girl pretty hard before me, and blood was pouring through her fingers.

“Damn!” I cursed, assessing her condition, and reached for my handkerchief when that little pest suddenly bolted.

Fast and nimble for her age, but I’m quicker, and I’m not exactly born yesterday. I catch up with the brat just as she practically runs out onto the sidewalk of the big street. I pin her carefully against the wall with one hand, since she weighs practically nothing, and she starts struggling.

“Let go, you f*****g moron!” the brat snarls, seasoning her curses with some pretty adult swearing that even made the hair on my body stand up.

“You little pest!” I stare at the hooligan in shock.

“Go f**k yourself, you old pervert! You’ll end up locked up under article one-five-six, you freak!” the brat kicked desperately… threatening me!

“Have you completely lost your damn mind?! Why the hell would that be?!”

“Because! Assaulting a minor in an alley with the use of physical force,” the insolent little b***h points at her broken nose, and I was pretty damn stunned by that turn of events! “If you don’t let me go, I’ll scream! With that face of yours you’ll be crowing in prison for a long time!”

“Oh yeah? Go ahead,” I grin maliciously, holding my trump card. “You’re a ragged street rat and nobody will believe you. But I’ve got video proof of how you robbed me near the pizzeria! Where do you think these freeze-frames came from?” While holding the little s**t with one hand, with the other I pull out the printed photos, and the brat’s face changes, she quiets down and looks at me with hatred like a little wolf. A beautiful girl, and that could bring her even more trouble on the streets in the future.

Once again I’m struck by how un-childlike children’s eyes can be. When you grow up on the streets, you have to grow up fast. That is, if they have a childhood at all. Because while some play with dolls and study, others try to survive in this world and find at least something to eat, not even mentioning other necessary things.

“Now calm down!” I bark at the girl, though I soften slightly and release the hand holding her. “You won’t manage to run away, I’m faster. I won’t hurt you, stop shaking like that. You can keep my money,” because it’s obvious even with the naked eye that she needs it far more. She’s so skinny… “Just give me back my documents and cards.”

“They’re not on me,” the blonde pouted, wiping the blood from her nose with her sleeve.

“Then we’ll go wherever they are,” I insist and still hold out my handkerchief to the brat. “Who did this to you?”

At my question the brat only rolled her eyes without answering, but she took the handkerchief. She swayed as if she might faint at any moment, and that worried me.

“Alright, first let’s go feed you, otherwise you’ll collapse from hunger in a minute,” I support the brat by the elbow, and she allows me to lead her away.

“I’ve got nothing to pay with. And I haven’t grown what you want yet for adult payment. I won’t suck you off! If you try anything, I’ll bite it off!” the brat blurted out, throwing me into a state of complete f*****g shock.

“Are you stupid or what?!” I snapped, looking at this walking soup kit. “Do I look like some kind of pervert to you?!”

“Who the hell knows,” she mutters indifferently. “It’s a normal thing. You see worse than that on the streets. Rich uncles have their own cockroaches in their heads…”

“Has anyone ever taken payment like that from you?” I ask the question… and I’m almost afraid to hear the answer.

Bitterness rises in my throat and anger clouds my eyes when I even imagine that someone might do such things to children. How the hell can anyone do something like that to kids?! How sick in the head do you have to be for a child to turn you on?!

“No. I’ve been lucky with that so far,” and I swear it felt like a stone dropped from my chest.

We came out onto a busy street and I dragged the brat into the nearest café. Once inside, the girl began looking around nervously but with interest, and we sat down at a table. A waitress immediately came up to us and looked at the girl with disgust. It was clear from her face that she wanted to kick the child out, but then she noticed me and spread into a fake smile.

I ordered a huge pizza, fries, and a bunch of other little things kids usually like. For myself I only took coffee.

“What’s your name?” I ask just to keep the conversation going.

“Masha,” the girl muttered shyly, lowering her eyes to her hands.

“How old are you?”

“Eleven.”

“You don’t look eleven,” I snort, because outwardly she looks maybe ten at most, if I compare her to my nephews. Though kids are different, and my boys are pretty big guys. And me… well, the Yartsevs in general aren’t exactly short.

“Well, that’s what I am… What is this, an interrogation?” a pale eyebrow arches.

“Just curiosity,” I twist my mouth sarcastically, copying her. “Do you have parents?”

“I do,” Masha sighs tiredly. “Only what’s the point…” she mutters quietly under her breath, but I heard it.

When the food appeared on the table, to my surprise Masha didn’t jump on it. On the contrary, she looked at it with hungry eyes but didn’t eat.

“What’s wrong?” I don’t understand.

“There’s so much here,” the girl says without raising her sad gray eyes to me. “I’d rather take it with me and eat it for a few days.”

Fuck! Something scratched unpleasantly inside me when I heard that.

“Eat as much as you can,” I look at the girl seriously. “I’ll order more, you’ll take it with you.”

Shyly and uncertainly, Masha began eating the offered food. But it was obvious she was restraining herself and controlling how much she ate. Apparently she often goes hungry, and the girl simply can’t stop saving food.

I ordered more food, and they also packed up what was left for us to take with us. After paying, we headed to the place where my things were supposedly kept.

We stopped near an inconspicuous five-story building that should have been demolished a long time ago.

“I’ll go and come back.”

“Yeah, sure, like I’ll believe that,” I stop the brat. “You’ll run off and then try finding you.”

“I won’t run! I promise,” she glares angrily with her huge eyes.

“No, kid. I’m going with you.”

Masha didn’t argue and we went together. On the first floor she stopped by a battered wooden door and opened it.

“Wait for me here,” the girl asks. “I’ll be right back.”

I decide not to push my luck and wait by the door behind which the blonde disappeared with the bags of food.