บท 353: Something She Lost

“Why do we stay here?”

“Because our business is here.”

Alice looked out the window with a heavy sigh. Below she saw a group of men gathering in front of a small store. They laughed and drank from the bottles in their hands. They patted each other’s shoulders and made jokes as they encircled a small man between them.

The man looked scared. He hunched in on himself and kept his eyes down as the men surrounding him laughed and pointed. Then, finally, one of the laughing men took a step forward. He got close to the small man and seemed to whisper something.

The small man’s eyes widened.

Alice recognized the look. Her jaw tightened. Her hands curled into fists, and her eyes darkened as she saw the other men laugh. The one that had stepped forward gave the small man an eerie smile.

The small man cried, begged, and pleaded, and when the whispering man turned toward the store, he fell to his knees and grabbed at the whispering man’s legs.