Adoption

Shaking vigorously the joints in Oliver’s ankles tiptoed on the the ground leaping out of their sockets. Fear  rolled up his back as his eyes were held open by the last threads of light that slipped through the iron bars which caged him.

Hastily Oliver weaved through the streets and on each turn he would see him, the two holes that dug into his pupils interlocked with Oliver’s, his pale grin wrapped across Oliver’s mind. Oliver’s heart was like a succession of footsteps that beated anxiously as his pursuer’s cold presence resonated in the atmosphere.

But however much he tried he always found his endeavours of escape slicing down into hopelessness in unison with his chances of survival cornered down to a dead end. The ever growing futility punctured his will power as his demise eclipsed.

Suddenly a booming voice tore his ears, bouncing onto the chipped cobblestone, heaving his scrawny body into the air Oliver rubbed at his dry eyes, red serpents stretcher across them. Was it a dream? He wondered as he turned, Right-left, right-left constantly keeping a cautious eyes scanning his surroundings as he  lazed into the rough environment.

Oliver slumped onto the broken stones as his body hung onto the black pipe that traversed the brick wall. A sharp, coarse yell twisted his ears, without hesitation Oliver stood straight his puny skeleton hiding beneath the other boys that huddled into him.

Abruptly a stout man with a large beard stumbled into Oliver’s dormitory.

“Now which one of you goes by the name Oliver,” he bellowed.

             Making his way through the crowd of giants Oliver’s minuscule size was at first a blur in Mr Bumble’s vision but he was slowly made out as he bounced of Mr Bumble’s large chest.

“Hello!” I yelled my voice tucking under everyone around me like a squeak.

Their was no reply but two blood-shot red eyes boring into me. There was an odd feeling like a mist curled around him but somehow he was familiar, it was as if I had seen him before.

He grinned his wide smile obliging to keep a frozen face as the inside of Oliver crumbled and trembled in fear. His gnarled fingers clamped onto Oliver’s shoulder as he bellowed once more:

“It’s your lucky day how would you like to get adopted,” and just like that Oliver for once had escaped the extraordinary conditions he was obliged to undergo for the first 9 years of his life but that was soon to change.