♪𝕊𝕞𝕠𝕜𝕖𝕤𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕟☁ (Alt. Title: Écran De Fumée)

Chapter 2: Friendly Stranger

Something had filled your senses, slightly startling you as you were pulled from your thoughts. What on Earth was that smell-? You thought to yourself as you looked around the bustling city. It smelled like- smoke-?

But it smelled- sweet too- A million thoughts raced through your mind. Maybe someone having a BBQ? What if someone's house was on fire!? What if..... you stood up, looking around you once again before picking up your bag and following the odd sent. There was only one way to find out.

The smell lead you to to a nearby building.. one that many people in this city had tended to avoid, for one reason only... you'd heard people talking about a man that lived right over here in this area. You had no idea who he was, or why he was there in the first place. You didn't even know if he was dangerous!

Grabbing tightly onto your bag, you kept it close to you as you headed to the back of the building. You eventually stopped in the middle of a large fenced off area. There were two buildings connected with a small fence gap.

Despite this eerie demeanor, however, you kept walking. But all of a sudden, you feel yourself falling forwards into a gigantic hole in the ground.. you close your eyes, waiting for the impact of hitting the solid dirt floor.. but it never came.

Instead, you felt a.. yank.

A yank on the hood of your sweater, pulling you up and away from the hole.

You flinched as you looked down at where you were about to fall. An eerie chill ran down your spine as the sudden realization that you were no longer alone hit you like a ton of bricks.

Slowly, you turned and were met face to face with a man.. despite the heat of that summer afternoon, the stranger wore a bully winter coat. a box shaped hat shaded his face, all except for the worried frown he wore. His hair was fluffy and shoulder length- and you couldn't tell if it was the shadows of the ally or your imagination- but his hair seemed to be a bright teal, matching the scruff along his face. His feet plant firmly in brown combat boots.

One was hand tucked in the pocket of his Jacket while the other- held a cigarette. The butt glowing green in the darkness. He wasn't very tall, (you came up to his shoulder) but tall enough where you had to look up to see his face.

You gulped, backing away, feeling frighted by this strange man- at least.. until he spoke.

"Hey- you alright kiddo-? You almost had a nasty fall there-"

His voice was calm. And- surprisingly soothing. You visibly relaxed but still struggled to find your voice.

You managed to pull yourself together as you tried to stand tall.

"I-.. I'm fine. I guess I just.. wasn't looking where I was going. Thanks for saving me though..." You'd turn your head towards the ground.Seemingly not wanting things to turn awkward, the man took the cigar down from his mouth to speak more clearly.

"What's someone like you doing around a desolate place like this?"

You clenched your bag tighter than before. "J-just exploring. I might've smelled something that came from here and became uh... Curious..."

"Aww, so you're a little explorer huh?"

You took a while to respond.. you didn't want to tell him anything personal, but you also didn't want to lie as to why you were on this walk in the first place.

"U- uhm.. yeah-.. I wanted a place to.. to relax. And- like I said. I became curious.."

You look up at him for a moment, noticing a small smirk growing on the man's face as he calmly listened to your story.