I hope it's not confusing. If it is, tell me and I'll try to explain it to you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'

"These children are getting out of control," A little boy heard one of the shop owners tell someone else. He didn't bother looking around to see who was talking. If he moved someone would see him and he didn't want that to happen.

"I agree. Every day I get something stolen from my store," The second man said. "I watch carefully and closely and I guard but still nothing works. I always find things missing."

"We can ask the police to get rid of the children for us," The child hid farther back in the corner trying to become as small as he could.

"That's an excellent idea," The people walked away and the young child couldn't hear any more of what they said. Nobody noticed the youth as he laid down and eventually fell asleep.

He wasn't sure how long he was asleep but he sat up to the sound of children crying. Carefully peeking over the edge of where he lay he saw police officers with the children that were on the streets. Being as quiet as he could the young person laid down and covered himself as much as he could. Luckily he wasn't one of the kids that always ran around. People wouldn't recognize him as they did with some of the others.

"Is this all?" He heard a gruff voice.

"I found another one," The frightened child froze thinking they found him.

"Quick grab him before he gets away," The voices ran towards him.

'Oh no. Nononono,' The minor thought to himself. He was starting to panic and didn't notice the alleyway slowly getting darker. The two police ran towards the alley still chasing one of the young escapees.

Both the escapee and police stopped right before they got to the alley.

"Chief. I've got the child," The boy in the alleyway stopped, he listened to see if they would come any closer.

"Good, bring him with the others," He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He was safe. For now.

Over the course of the next few weeks, he's managed to get around. He would walk during the day across town and take what food he needed at night. As long as he didn't do the same store of any right next to each other he'd be able to continue without being caught.

He has had some close calls as sometimes the employees would work late. Thankfully for him, most of them were nice and gave him something and some just sent him away.

The boy walked along the street. It was getting dark and he was almost to his destination. A small store that sold only fruits and vegetables. He looked in and saw someone cleaning up. There appeared to be no one else in there. The child walked into the store to look around.

"What are you doing here?" He looked cautiously at the employee.

"I..uh...I just..." He couldn't form sentences. They stood there for a moment before the employee started talking again.

"We are closing. So unless you are going to buy something right now then I'll have to ask you to leave." The dirty boy stared at the older guy for a moment before finally giving up and leaving.

"Oh well, I'll just have to find a different one," He mumbled to himself walking away.

The young boy found what he was searching for not too far from his original destination. Another store with the front window missing. It was under construction or remodeling, he didn't know which. And the front had plastic taped up in place of the window. Something easy to take off and put back on. Smiling despite being tired he sat in the alley across the street from his treasure and waited for it to get dark.

As soon as there was no one on the street and the boy was sure it was clear he got up and took off. Being careful as to not make too much noise; he removed the plastic on the corner and slid inside of the building.

The shelf has fruits and vegetables, along with other things he didn't know the name of. The thief quickly looked around and grabbed a couple small apples, bananas, and oranges.

He was about to leave with his prize when a noise from a back room made him freeze.

"What are you doing!" The youth jumped, dropping his findings on the floor. The guy in the back was coming closer.

'Fight or Flight' The boy thought to himself. "Fight or flight. Now or never. Do something,' His mind screamed at him, but he did nothing. His body suddenly forgot how to function.

'Nonononono,' The older man grabbed the young boys arm.

"You are going to come with me," He remarked dragging the male behind him. The boy had a hard time keeping up with the employee's pace, but he didn't slow. Not long after they were at a police station.

"Here!" The guy shoved the boy forward towards the police. "Deal with him before I do." He stormed out. Leaving the scared boy alone.

"I thought we took care of all the homeless children," One police officer stated. Another one shrugged. The child started curling into himself, not sure what to do. He fell to the ground and put his hands over his ears.

"Hey," An officer knelt down next to the minor. "You're okay, we're going to take care of you."

"Look," Another police stated. Everyone looked around the room as it slowly got darker. The shadows becoming twisted and deformed.

"What's happening?" Someone else shouted.

A police officer tried calming the boy down. Slowly the shadows went away and not long after that everything was back to normal.

"Can you sit up?" A police said gently. The boy slowly sat up still shaking slightly.

"Where are your parents?" The boy just shrugged. "What about your age? How old are you?" He shrugged again. "Where do you live?" Another shrug. "We'll file a missing person report to let anyone know we found this child. Until then he needs to stay at the orphanage. I'll contact them and let them know." He turned back towards the boy. "Until then you will stay here with us. Okay?" No reply. He just watched everything going on around him. He slightly ducked his head so a part of his hair was covering his face. The police left him alone and he left them alone. But there was always someone a couple feet from where he was sitting. During the night different police came and the ones from earlier left. But the boy still didn't move, even if they tried to talk to him. He just ignored him.

The young boy didn't know how long he was sitting, but after awhile some of the police originally helping him, came back.

"Was he like this all night?" He didn't bother looking up. One of the officers that came later in the night nodded his head.

"I've contacted Maria. We can take him around 9," At that the boy's eyes widened. But he still didn't move. If he tried to move or even talk he might go into another panic attack and he didn't want to risk that. He was scared, scared of the police, scared of going to where ever they took him and scared of the shadows. The shadows that came whenever he was frightened, scared or panicked. He knew he was the one causing the shadows, but he didn't know how.

"Come on, let's go," The police grabbed his arm standing him up. They helped him into one of their vehicles.

"Ready?" The boy didn't even know why they tried talking to him. He didn't respond, instead, he just stared out the window; watching the scenery pass by. The rest of the ride was in silence.

About 45 minutes from the town they arrived at a worn out building.

"Let's go," The officer turned off the car. Children gathered at the gate wondering what was happening.

"Hello," A woman walked out. "Children go inside for a minute." All the children walked into the building. The young boy stood back and looked at the ground, putting his hands in his jacket pockets.

"He was brought to us after being caught stealing from a store," The child listened to them talk. "We are trying to gain information to find relative, but so far nothing has come up. He won't talk to us so we know nothing about him."

"Alright. How long do you think he'll stay with us?" The woman asked.

"I'm not sure, we are trying to find his parents or relatives. If we find anything we'll let you know." The woman nodded and the police officer walked back to his car. The boy started to panic. He was being left here alone. There were too many children for him to count and this woman. He gripped his hair. The police car drove away.

"Hey, it's okay," The woman smiled at him. He didn't hear her. She started walking towards him.

Before she got to him black clouds surrounded him. Maria stared at what was happening.

She watched until the clouds disappeared, leaving the boy laying on the ground, unconscious. She ran to him and picked him up, bringing him into the orphanage.