Peresvet watched as one of the taller boys from the group came running up to him. His fists clenched from pure habit, ready to defend himself. However, when the kid came up to him, he gave him a big smile. Peresvet’s fists unclenched. He looked up at the boy with not a single emotion on his face, but inside he was terrified.

“Can we have our ball?”

Peresvet’s eyes flickered and he looked down at the ball below him. He crouched down and picked it up, handing it to the taller boy, who was still smiling at him. When he took it, he didn’t seem to want to leave.

“Are you from around here? I’ve never seen you before… And the suit! Why are you so fancy?”

Peresvet kept his mouth shut. He rarely spoke to anyone, but all these questions were bombarding him. Not only that, but he looked past the taller boy and saw the rest of the group coming towards him. He took a step backwards. There were eight of them in total, and all of them appeared to be older than him. They all immediately seemed to notice his suit and bombard him with even more questions about it. He could barely hear these questions, he was too nervous to comprehend them.

“Enough! Can’t you see he’s scared? Back off. I’ll talk to him.”

It was the tallest one again who spoke. He seemed to be either the oldest or the ‘leader’ of this troupe. The others followed his order and backed off, but stayed close enough for them to hear their conversation.

“Okay… one question at a time. Are you from around here?”

Peresvet nodded.

“What’s your name?”

“Peresvet…” He was taught to never give out his last name. It was too well known.  

“How old are you?”

“Ten.”

“Do you want to play with us?”

Play with them? Why would they offer that? He tilted his head and looked confused at the older boy.

“Ah… You don’t want to?”

“What are you playing?”

He gave him another big smile. “I’ll teach you. It’s simple. Wanna come play?”

Peresvet thought for a second, then gave him a small nod. The boy grabbed his wrist and pulled him along to where they had been playing before. He looked back to the door, remembering where it was so he didn’t get lost when finding his way back. He let himself be basically dragged by this over excited boy to a spot in front of a large sign that read ‘Private Property’… a sign that his own father had nailed to the wall.

He was pushed gently backwards until his feet met a chalk line, then he looked up at the sign once more. He was beyond confused.

“Okay, Peresvet. All you have to do to play the game is throw the ball at the sign. There’s… not really any rules… just hit as close to the centre as possible.”

Peresvet looked down as the ball was handed to him. He took it, felt its weight in his hand, then looked at the older boy. “What’s your name?”

“Kir.” He smiled and put a gentle hand on Peresvet’s shoulder. “I’ll introduce everyone after you have a go.”

Peresvet nodded and took a breath in from his nose. Theoretically he knew that this wasn’t one of his usual life or death circumstances, but his chest tightened as if it was. He could feel all of the older children’s eyes on him, watching to see if he would mess up the throw. Those eyes burned into him. With another breath, he threw the ball.

It hit the sign with a large metallic clang just above the middle and the ball dropped to the ground. Behind him were cheers and he felt hands on his body, shaking him. His body stiffened and he stepped away from them, shrinking in fear. He was not used to being touched. He shied away from the crowd, who seemed sensible enough to stay away from him.

Kir once again came up to him with a kind expression on his face. He didn’t make an effort to touch Peresvet.

“We’re just impressed, is that okay?”

Peresvet still didn’t speak. His guards were up again. He looked to the others who were grouped around each other behind Kir, some looking at him with a tilted head or worried eyes. They were concerned for him. He hated when people pitied him… But this was different. Kir took his attention once again.

“Right- I need to tell you who they are…”

As Kir introduced each of them, he pulled them forward then playfully shoved them back into the group. Kir was the tallest of the group, and the oldest. He had bright red, curly hair and vibrant blue eyes. He was almost identical to Yulian, who he introduced next. He too had red curly hair and vibrant eyes, but he was shorter, had shorter hair which was almost buzzcut, and was two years younger than Kir. Next was Misha, an eleven year old boy like Yulian, with chin length blonde hair and the same shade of chocolate brown eyes that Peresvet had. Gervasii and Borislav were both twelve and both had light brown hair. Gervasii had short, unruly brown hair and his eyes were a vibrant green that reminded Peresvet of the few plants he owned in his room. Borislav had jaw length straight brown hair and deep dark brown eyes.

There were only three girls in the group, and they seemed to stick close together. Alma was the youngest, with long blonde hair that reached to her lower back and deep blue eyes. Kir told Peresvet to watch out for her. Despite how pretty she was, he explained, she was someone he was afraid of because of her attitude. This elicited a playful shove from Alma. Next was Manya. She was twelve with a blonde bob cut and light green eyes. Praskoviya seemed to be the leader of this girl group. With vibrant green eyes and shoulder-blade length jet black hair.

All through the introduction, Peresvet stayed silent. Remembering their names and associating them with their looks was frying his brain already. He half wanted to leave, but half wanted to stay. Though he was scared, this was a feeling of freedom that he had never felt before. He looked around once again, taking particular interest in the end of the alleyway where bright yellow light was leaking in and burning his eyes.

He turned his body and made his way towards that light.