The Prey of the Vale

1

On a humid afternoon, two boys happily tackled each other, engaging in a play fight between the two. The director who had been in charge of that department came to do the role for the afternoon. He scanned the room, watching all the children playing. "Daisuke get off of Katou." The director shook his head in disapproval. The room went silent, the two scurried off of each other.

Daisuke sat in the corner of shame, quietly mumbling to himself. Katou on the other hand stood not far from the troubled child. "Kambe?" Katou tapped the wall to get Daisuke's attention however this ended up being futile as Daisuke was in his own world.

"Kambe?" Katou knocked on the wall this time, startling Daisuke from his trance. "Hm Haru? What are you doing?" Daisuke turned his head to face Katou. "You're out of timeout you know? It's been 5 minutes." Katou pointed at the clock and crossed his arms. "You can read that thing? It's just moving sticks." Daisuke remained seated, puzzled by the 'moving sticks' he saw on the wall. "They're called the hour, minute, and second hands you dimwit. Did you even pay attention during morning group today?" Katou bent down to grab Daisuke's sleeve, but hesitated and quickly got up on his feet. "Come on afternoon group is soon. I can help you with whatever paper it is just please come with me to this one." Katou felt his cheeks burn a slight red from the embarrassment of having to beg his best friend to come with him for afternoon group. "Fine Haru I'll go this time" Daisuke stared at Katou for a moment before getting up and walking out. Katou hurried close behind, rubbing his face.

"Good afternoon my children." A little old lady said to the room of children. She was smiling as per usual. She seemed to be a very happy lady for someone as old as she is. "How are you all?" The room erupted with voices each pitching in their feelings. "I'm great." Someone said from the back "Awesome!" Another yelled out in the crowd. The lady's smile grew a bit from all the happy children who chimed in to express their feelings. "That's great you all feel good today." she clapped her hands to bring all the attention back to her. "Alright, my beautiful children today we have a guest speaker who will be able to teach us some science!" Excitement grew back into the room, some wanted to ask questions while others told their friends how happy they were.

"This sucks don't you think.. Haru?" Daisuke raised an eyebrow at Katou who was interested in all that was going on. "Huh? Oh yeah sure I guess." He shrugged and turned his complete attention back to the old lady.  Daisuke glared at his friend before turning back to face the small window in the room. 'Salty Daisuke' Katou thought while holding back a few laughs. He relaxed once more after the thought had passed. Not once did he glance back at Daisuke after that.

Later that night while Daisuke laid on his top bed. He thought of all the times he wanted to leave this place and be free. How good the real world would be. He had lost his parents not long ago to an accident he believes he caused. The young boy spent his nights blaming himself for everything that had happened that one day and now all he wants to explore is the world. He never got the chance to before why can't he now? He was tired of seeing plain fields and tall grass. He wanted to see high buildings and airplanes soaring through the sky. "This isn't fair." He quietly whispered, wiping furious tears from his face. He whimpered with each breath he took.

"Kambe." A soft voice startled the whimpering boy. "Ah.. what?" He peeked over his bed to see Katou staring at him. "Are you okay? I and some others heard you talking to someone. Is everything alright?" Daisuke nodded his head, wiping his tears away. No verbal response was given yet Katou knew Daisuke wasn't in a good place to talk right now. He nodded back, mouthing the words 'talk to me when you are ready'. He gave a thumbs up and went back to his bed on the opposite side of the room.
.
Both boys knew that wasn't the end of that conversation.