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it's been a couple weeks since andie confessed to josh, that makes it about four months since andie and evan had arrived.
during those couple of weeks, josh would help andie and evan find ways to avoid ezekiel. he wanted them to be as safe as possible. a way they avoided ezekiel safely, was to be at the village and blend in with the town.
and, today is klaus' birthday.
who's klaus you may ask?
a little boy in the village, a boy andie would talk to when visiting the villagers.
it was currently sunrise, andie attempted to awaken evan to accompany her on the walk to the village. but, it was no use, evan was deep into his slumber.
a bit after that, andie thought about asking josh to join her on the walk, but she didn't want to disrupt his sleep.
she ended up heading towards the village by herself, picking a variety of flowers on the way.
intertwining stem by stem, she created a colorful flower crown; it held daisies, poppies, delphiniums, baby breaths, and many other kinds of small flowers she found.
however, her enjoyment was disrupted when she heard some arguing further down the main path in the village.
andie decided to stick her nose where it didn't belong — entirely in someone else's business. she followed the sound, seeing a group of kids circling a little kid.
"klaus, why are you wearing a dress? you're a boy," a little girl told klaus, walking up to him. it was as if she was sizing him up. andie wanted to step in, but something told her not to. "boys don't wear dresses, it's weird. might as well call you 'claudia' instead of klaus."
klaus was holding himself together as well as he could, especially for being only eight. "well, actually, boys can wear-"
a bigger boy, around the age of twelve or so, shoved klaus to the ground. "why do you talk like that?"
andie almost went to his aid, but once again held herself back. he could take care of himself from what andie had seen, and if anything got too out of hand she would help him.
truthfully, the words that were being spewed by older kids absolutely made her blood boil with rage. clothes were clothes, she didn't see the issue with being a boy in a dress.
she strained to hear the other words being said, but didn't catch much.
"come on, klaus, you're not a girl. just dress like a boy," someone said.
andie was shocked and infuriated to see a grown man, probably about thirty or so, grabbing klaus by the shoulder and hoisting him up to his feet. "wear clothes fit for you. you're a boy. where'd you even get that dress?"
"sissy said i could wear it," klaus replied. despite being a few dozen feet away, andie could just tell that he was about to cry. "sissy says clothes and makeup aren't just for girls or just for boys."
"well, your sissy is wrong," the grown man stated, pulling klaus along. "don't listen to her. no girl like that is gonna ruin my son and turn him into some.. some thing."
"sissy said clothes don't have labels, so leave me alone," klaus said, much to andie's surprise. "sissy wouldn't be like this."
"i don't want my son to grow up thinking wearing those girls clothes is okay. it is not."
the realization hit her that the man was klaus' own father. how could a man treat his son who wasn't even ten years old yet with such cruelty?
"fine, you want to be a girl then go do it somewhere else," klaus' father snapped. klaus soon burst out into tears, both he and andie were thankful the kids in the crowd had gone off to do their own thing.
it was understandable on why people acted this way. this was the medieval times period, people believed random things that other people said — an example would be that, being misogynistic is the right way to treat society.
andie rushed to klaus side once the man left, "klaus? are you okay, buddy?" she asked, checking his arm for any possible bruises or scrapes. the little brunette boy shook his head.
andie made eye contact with him, noticing he held more anger than sadness in his eyes. he didn't look or seem sad, he looked as if he was going to rip someone's heart out.
"was that your dad?" she asked him, using her thumb to wipe his tears. he nodded, "he got mad at me wearing a dress."
to andie, she didn't think the dress was the problem, she thinks the father is afraid of the boy becoming anything but straight.
she found this ridiculous however, no kid that age would know what sexualities are. or even what love is for that matter.
"well, i think your dress is lovely," andie told him. she finally took into account what the dress actually looked like — it was pastel yellow with puff shoulder sleeves and white lace around the waist. on the very bottom of the dress, there were tiny pink flowers embroidering the yellow fabric. "hey, klaus, come with me. i have something to show you."
