The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Trespasser

*End of re-edited version, some of the story may not make sense. 

Theodore Redferne quickened his pace to keep up with the boy ahead of them, slightly out of breath as he pealed his way over the brambles and brush of the outskirts of their small town. He tried not to let himself long to complain, knowing he had no right to ask the other to slow down.

"Keep up! Can't you?" The boy prodded, and Teddy pushed his legs ever faster attempting to quell the fierce cramp forming in his stomach.

"Sorry." Teddy apologized sheepishly. The other boy, Damien, scoffed and rolled his eyes. As they reached the final edge of a green clearing surrounded by tall trees stretching like giants into the clouds. Their leaves were red and orange with regard to the season, drifting lazily down and piling around the bushes.

"Go on," Damien gestured to the berry bushes that marked the perimeter of the opening. "On with it. Let's get this over with.. I don't want to be stuck around you longer than I have to on my day off."

"Of course not." Teddy mumbled, quickening his pace to fill his basket with the ripe glossy cranberries off the bushes. Rather than helping to make the time go by, Damien elected to continue his lament from the outskirts of the clearing.

"I don't see why you couldn't have done this alone. When are you going to grow up, huh? How can you expect anyone to tolerate you when you can't even do a simple task by yourself?" He insisted.

"I'm sure I can't." Teddy agreed absentmindedly. Damien was certainly not his favorite person, and not at the top of he list of people he'd attempt to spend his morning with. Picking berries was best done a solitary task, especially when a partner refused to help anyway. Besides, the mindless job he was given to keep him out of the house, didn't need to be complicated with an escort.

No, Teddy could't wait to put himself as far from the older boy as possible, but nobody cared what he wanted. It was Damien's fault he was tied to Teddy, though Damien would never admit that. If the stupid boy hadn't been caught drinking with his mates behind the mill, then he could have been home doing as he chose and not out with the town's outcast. Teddy could never say that to the angered Damien, because if he did it'd only serve to annoy the boy worse, and that was a fate like death.

Damien was something of a bully, perhaps more of brooding annoyance that was wrought with annoyance in return. To Damien, certainly Teddy was the problem, but Teddy tried to avoid him as much as possible. Being the adopted son of the local priest had many drawbacks, such as the perception that Teddy could never break the rules, but it had the benefit that Damien would never actually touch him for fear of being damned to hell.

Teddy wished that wasn't the only thing stopping the boy from hurting him at all times, but he'd learned a long time ago not to ask for any more than the good he was allocated. He turned his attention back to his mission, not just to get away from Damien, but to get back home before it was dark.

The cranberries were in full blossom covering the bushes that decorated the perimeter of the forest. The leaves drifted down in the October wind and caused Teddy to wrap his burgundy sweater a little closer around his shoulder. Teddy wished Damien would just go off with his friends like he wanted to; Teddy preferred to be alone anyway. Fr. Charles never trusted Teddy to be by himself, still he spent most of his time that way since he was such an outcast. Though, should the fall evening give out to a winter night and the son go down, Teddy'd be glad to have the boy.