Elias had been hungry for so long that hunger no longer felt like pain.<\/p>\n
It felt normal.<\/p>\n
The cold alley smelled of rain, garbage, and wet concrete as he sat beneath a flickering streetlight with a warm bag of bread resting in his lap.<\/p>\n
The bakery owner had handed it to him moments earlier.<\/p>\n
“Take it, kid,” the old man had said. “Nobody should sleep hungry.”<\/p>\n
For the first time in days, Elias thought he might actually eat.<\/p>\n
Then he heard a voice.<\/p>\n
“Please…”<\/p>\n
Tiny.<\/p>\n
Weak.<\/p>\n
Desperate.<\/p>\n
Between two dumpsters sat a little girl wrapped in a torn coat.<\/p>\n
Her knees were pulled against her chest.<\/p>\n
Her eyes never left the bread.<\/p>\n
Elias looked down at the food.<\/p>\n
Then back at her.<\/p>\n
“When did you last eat?”<\/p>\n
The girl swallowed.<\/p>\n
“Yesterday morning.”<\/p>\n
His stomach twisted.<\/p>\n
The smell of fresh bread felt almost unbearable.<\/p>\n
But after a long moment, he stood.<\/p>\n
And placed the entire bag into her hands.<\/p>\n
The girl’s eyes widened.<\/p>\n
“But you’re hungry too.”<\/p>\n
Elias forced a smile.<\/p>\n
“I’ll survive.”<\/p>\n
The moment her fingers touched the warm paper bag, tears rolled down her cheeks.<\/p>\n
She clutched it like treasure.<\/p>\n
Elias quickly turned away.<\/p>\n
If he watched her eat, he wasn’t sure he’d stay strong.<\/p>\n
Then\u2014<\/p>\n
Heavy footsteps echoed through the fog.<\/p>\n
Slow.<\/p>\n
Deliberate.<\/p>\n
A man in a dark coat emerged from the shadows.<\/p>\n
Silver streaks ran through his black hair.<\/p>\n
His eyes locked onto Elias instantly.<\/p>\n
“I was wondering what kind of person you’d become.”<\/p>\n
Elias stepped back.<\/p>\n
“Who are you?”<\/p>\n
The stranger reached into his pocket and removed a strange metal disc.<\/p>\n
It glowed with a faint blue light.<\/p>\n
Elias stared.<\/p>\n
The man’s expression softened.<\/p>\n
“Someone your father trusted.”<\/p>\n
The words hit like a punch.<\/p>\n
“My father is dead.”<\/p>\n
The stranger shook his head.<\/p>\n
“No.”<\/p>\n
Elias froze.<\/p>\n
The little girl stopped eating.<\/p>\n
Even the alley seemed to go silent.<\/p>\n
The man looked toward the child.<\/p>\n
“She was never random.”<\/p>\n
“What does that mean?”<\/p>\n
Before the stranger could answer, sirens exploded in the distance.<\/p>\n
Growing louder.<\/p>\n
Closer.<\/p>\n
The man’s face changed instantly.<\/p>\n
“They found you sooner than expected.”<\/p>\n
Elias felt fear rise in his chest.<\/p>\n
“Who found me?”<\/p>\n
The stranger looked directly into his eyes.<\/p>\n
“The people who killed your father.”<\/p>\n
The blood drained from Elias’s face.<\/p>\n
Then the man grabbed his arm.<\/p>\n
“We have less than three minutes.”<\/p>\n
The little girl stood suddenly.<\/p>\n
The glowing disc in the stranger’s hand began flashing rapidly.<\/p>\n
Blue.<\/p>\n
Red.<\/p>\n
Blue.<\/p>\n
Red.<\/p>\n
And for the first time, Elias noticed something carved into its surface.<\/p>\n
Three letters.<\/p>\n
The same initials engraved on the only photograph he had ever owned of his father.<\/p>\n
E.A.V.<\/strong><\/p>\n His breath caught.<\/p>\n Because those initials belonged to a man who was supposed to have died twelve years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Elias had been hungry for so long that hunger no longer felt like pain. It felt normal. The cold alley smelled of rain, garbage, and wet concrete as he sat beneath a flickering streetlight with a warm bag of bread resting in his lap. The bakery owner had handed it to him moments earlier. “Take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimes.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}