a day in the future

A thin boy poked his head out of the old crumbling red brick building he had been hiding in for the last few nights. His stomach, demanding to be fed, notified him with a loud growl. He silently slipped out of the small crack in the wall on the second floor and climbed onto the flat roof of the smaller building next to it. Walking across the roof he entered into the neighboring apartment building by climbing over the fire escape into an open window. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and look around to make sure he hadn't been caught. The street rat, a boy named Milo, was silent by fate due to a birth defect that left him unable to speak but perfectly capable of making all sorts of sounds. He moved his nearly bare feet along the carpet, his shoes had started falling part a long time ago and the soles were almost worn right through. Milo maneuvered through the hall lined with old tables and benches, he ran down the stairs and through the lobby to the busy street outside. walking down the hall, down the stairs and through the lobby to the busy road outside. Milo sauntered down the sidewalk, humming softly as he moved in between grown-ups going about their daily business. Sighting his target Milo approached the man who was yelling angrily at someone on his phone as he stood in line waiting to get his food at a busy outdoor restaurant. Milo reached out, his small fingers quickly pulling the wallet from the mans back pocket. By the time the man reached back to get his wallet Milo was already long gone. The hungry teenager happily excepted his hot dog from the vendor beside the park. Munching happily on the cheep food Milo walked into the park to enjoy the sunny day while it lasted. He loved to listen to the small kids laughing and playing. He made sure however to avoid the trouble making teenagers and young adults that enjoyed making life miserable for anyone nearby. Sitting in the park, enjoying his hot dog. It was quite peaceful. A small bird perched on a branch on a nearby tree, it started to sing and Milo, deciding he liked the little birds song, copied it, which confused the little bird a bit until it flew away. Milo bought another hot dog and headed back towards the canteen where he stole the wallet, he put it in the lost and found box, cash free and quickly left before anyone spotted him. "Hello Milo," Mrs. Vautier said as Milo rounded the corner of the library where she worked, Milo smiled at her. The pretty white haired old lady had never been anything but kind to Milo and all the other kids who came through her library, the only time Milo had ever heard her raise her voice was to viciously scold some teenagers that were picking on a little boy who was taking out girly books. Mrs. Vautier set them straight and since then they hadn't bothered anyone, at least not in the library. Mrs. Vautier was a sweet lady, she had had white hair since before anyone could remember. She loved to smile, her eyes were the prettiest blue in the world, she loved to wear old blouses that were flower printed. The first time Milo had come into the library it was because he was bored and hungry. Mrs. Vautier had noticed a 10 year old Milo was picking out random hardcover books just to stack them into a tower, she had come over to ask him to put the books back and just pick one or two to read. When Milo had looked sad after she mentioned reading Mrs. Vautier had asked if he could read. After discovering he couldn't read, and that he had very little education at all, Mrs. Vautier set it upon herself to teach the wordless boy everything he would have learned in school if he had ever gone. It had been 7 years since then and Mrs. Vautier had taught him how to read and write, as well as math and history and a few other subjects. Since he had learned to read Milo had had a thirst of knowledge, when Mrs. Vautier gave him a book on sign language he had been on a month long mission to learn it. Now, 6 and a ½ years later he was signing fluently with no trouble at all. 'Hello, Mrs Vautier.' Milo signed back to her, smiling brightly at her as he took off his backpack and returned the books he had borrowed the week before. Mrs Vautier smiled kindly and checked the books back into the library before she presented Milo with a shoe box. "Here Milo, I thought you could use a new pair, your old ones are pretty worn out." Milo blushed a tad sheepishly as he took the box from the elder lady, the moment he opened the box he broke out into a smile as he quickly sat down to put on the new sneakers, his old ones were falling apart, not to mention they fit quite poorly and had caused many tripping incidents. Mrs Vautier shook her head slightly at the pure delight on the boys face as he put on the new blue and orange sneakers, he started to sign his gratitude but she held up a hand to make him stop. "You don't have to thank me Milo, you've been working so hard to learn that I thought it would be a nice reward for you." Milo smiled with pride at the praise, he thanked Mrs Vautier once again and headed off to get some new books to check out and pass the time back at his hideout. After getting a half dozen new books checked out Milo walked along the sidewalk back to the old 2 story building where he had set up a temporary base, he went in the same way he got out, going into the apartment building he climbed up to the second story and pushed the window that led to the fire escape open, once he was outside he climbed over the fire escape railing and jumped onto the roof of the single story building between the apartment complex and the condemned building where he was currently staying. Jumping onto the old fire escape Milo climbed into the abandoned building, he walked towards the small alcove where he had piled blankets and pillows to make up his bed, rounding the corner of the small room Milo stopped and stood still , his eyes widening as he came face to face with a boy roughly his own height, both boys jerked back, the intruder taking a fighting stance, Milo had accidentally trapped him in the small windowless alcove, leaving him no option to flee. Not wanting to fight Milo quickly backed away from the strange boy, allowing him to cautiously step into the more open room where Milo could finally see him in the light. The silent boy's eyes widened at the strangeness of the boy in front of him, the dark blue skintight material of his clothes had luminescent cyan lines going through it where the seams would normally be, his pants were a similar design only slightly dark in color, the entire outfit clung to his form like a bodysuit, outlining every shape and curve of lean muscle. The boots he was wearing were the strangest of all his clothes, the soles looked like they were made of gold, the main part of the boot itself looked to be some kind of black metal only it moved and flexed just like a normal shoe, the whole thing was bizarre to the boy who had only ever seen t-shirts and jeans. The boy shifted uncomfortably under Milo's stare, his silver white hair falling over his eyes for a moment before he brushed it aside, deciding to ignore Milo the boy turned away from him a little bit, tapping the metal covering his arm from elbow to wrist. A see though screen suddenly popped up into the air, filled with information Milo couldn't even begin to grasp but the strange boy seemed to easily understand, with a heavy sigh he shut the small wrist device off and turned back to Milo. "Hello teenager from the 21st century. My name is Aris, I am from the 31st century and it appears I have had the unfortunate pleasure of getting caught in a temporal flux which has brought me to rest in your... " The silver haired teen looked around, his silver eyes showing uncertainty as he looks for a word to describe Milo's current home, which was falling apart in some places and quite dusty and dirty in other places, after a few seconds he finally settles on one. "In your dwelling.... might I ask your name?" The silent boy sighed when the odd boy asked him for a name, it usually took Milo a very long time to tell someone his name when they didn't understand sign language. Milo didn't have any writing tools about so he couldn't communicate that way, almost sensing the boy's frustration Aris quickly told him not to bother with telling the name. Milo looked up from the floor at the seemingly nutty boy, clearly grateful when suddenly a chilling feeling overtook him, sending shivers through his body. It was cold for a few seconds and then the coldness simply disappeared. Milo blinked and rubbed his arms a bit while he stood there, trying to figure what had just happened, he quickly decided it didn't really matter since it seemed to be gone now. He looked back up at Aris, his own gaze having dropped to the floor when the chill overtook him, when their eyes met silver stared into bright green, both boys stood almost completely still as they just observed each other for a few moments. Milo lost the silent staring contest when he looked away and went to put away the odd mix of coins and bills he earned that morning in the small wooden box where he put all his keepsakes, once the money was put away Milo sat by the window, enjoying the warm sunlight for a moment before opening one of the books he had brought with him from the library. He had read a book once about people with mental conditions that made them seem like they were in a whole different reality. The advice the book offered suggested to the reader that they try to put themselves in the Victims place of mind, instead of telling them that they were insane they should attempt to gain the others trust and guide them to a safe place for them. Such as a mental hospital. Milo glanced up at the boy again, peeking at him over the edge of his book. The male... Arin or whatever his name was, was currently crouched over by the burned down stairs, his hand on the wall as he peered down into the depths of the burned room below. Thinking that doing that might be unsafe, Milo whistled to get the others attention.