Chapter VI

I do not wish to go into details. The emotional pain is a tad too hard to bear.

In short, I left.

It is amazing that I even had the strength to walk away. It was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done my entire life. After an incident that ended with Elisabeth yelling at me to get out of the house, I simply departed from the place that I’ve called home for years, and told myself never to look back.

But look back, is what I did – countless times. However, the family never found out, as I kept myself unseen, lurking in the shadows like a predator stalking its prey. I never meant them any harm though. All I wanted was to watch the little girls grow up… and of course, to catch a glimpse, no matter how fleeting, of my lovely Princess. I missed them all bitterly, and I wonder if they’d ever thought of me. I wonder if anyone even attempted to look for me.

Anyway, the girls blossomed and Elisabeth seemed happy. That was all that matters.

I made my home in one of the alleyways, and managed to keep myself alive somehow – feeding on scraps from the city dumpsters, stealing food from the streets stalls & relying on the charity of others.

The winters were cold and harsh; the summers wet and unpredictable. Somehow, I kept myself alive. By then, I had already given up hope that I will return to the nice warm house that I spent most of my youth in. Frankly, I have no idea what it is that gave me the will to live. It would have been easy to simply lay down and die… but I guess survival is the basic instinct every man and beast is equipped with the minute they enter this world.

I had help though. I didn’t simply do that all alone. In time, I made a few friends out of my fellow street urchins and they taught me how to survive on the streets – what to do, and what not to do.

Life was hard, but I got by day after day.

And it wasn't till years later before our paths ever crossed again.