Nineteenth Century England Victorian Era <br />"Hello birdy, hurt your wing? Poor fella"

says a thirteen year old Leofric spotting an injured bird laying on the dirt in the orangery

.<br /> Disregarding his attire, he kneels on the ground to take a closer look at the bird. The bird's left wing was bent at an odd angle. "Ouch, that must hurt a lot, let me take care of you" Leofric says and then take the bird into his hands.<br /> A shadow suddenly looms over him shocking him, he quickly turns and sees who's behind him and his stunned reaction jostles the injured bird who lets out a small "chirp".

Leofric turns and finds his father glaring at him

.<br />"Um..fa...father" he stutters. "What do you think you're doing, running away in the middle of your history lesson?! and what's that in your hands!"

Booms Leofric's father

.<br /> "He's injured...." Leofric tries to explain but he's interrupted by his father snatching the bird from his hands. "This creature doesn't need your compassion" snarls his father gradually squeezing the life force out of the bird. "Father no" he whispers quietly. 'SNAP'! The sound of the birds neck snapping rings through the garden. Leofric's father then releases his fist, the lifeless body of the bird hitting the ground. "Emotions are for the weak, man up! take him inside" his father commands someone behind him.

Leofric, still staring at the dead bird feels hands on his shoulder guiding him inside the manor

He turns and sees one of the maids leading him into the manor, once Leofric was sure he was out of view from his father, he ducks out of her hands and dashes to his room, locking the door. 'Knock knock'

the maid knocks on the door

"young Lord, open the door, you need to wash up" the maid says. Feeling angered Leofric yells "I can wash myself, I don't need your stupid help!!!". After a moment of silence the maid mutters, "Spoilt brat, its no wonder his father hates him" as her footsteps retreat from the door. Feeling overwhelmed by the emotions coursing through his body as a result of today's event. He breaks down and starts crying "why did you have to leave mum? I miss you" He sobs out.

He sits on the floor for hours before getting frantic. "I..I need to leave, I can't... won't stay here anymore"

says a frantic young Leofric who strides to his balcony, throws open his door and gauges the distance from the balcony to the ground below

. "I can make it" he says determined. Getting an idea Leofric walks to his bed, grabbing the sheets off it and tying a knot at the leg of the bed. He then takes the remaining part and walks back to the balcony and throws it over the edge, it lands just shy of the ground. "Perfect" he thinks. He takes hold of the sheets in his scrawny hands then crosses one leg over the edge and looks down. &quot;eep" he yelps, realising how far the ground looked. &quot;deep breaths, you can do this" says Leofric to himself trying to calm his raging heart. He carefully crosses his other leg to join the first and starts his descent. He&quot;s halfway there before he hears a crash and his father&quot;s voice following, &quot;how dare he miss dinner?! Such insolence cannot be let go!&quot;

Leofric stares ahead and finds himself directly in front of the ceiling to ground wide window situated in the dinning room, his father knocking plates and cutleries off the table and stalking off to the staircase leading to his room, the maids scurrying behind him

. <br />This moment of distraction causes Leofric to loose his grip on the sheets causing him to plummet to the ground. &quot;ooof" Leofric let&quot;s out as he lands on his back, getting his wind knocked out off him. Ouch, that hurts, this was a bad idea" he mutters as he tries to stand up. &quot;Leofric!! What do you think you&quot;re doing?! You&quot;re in a lot of trouble mister, get your scrawny ass up here now!&quot; yells his father. Leofric then scurries off the floor and starts running through the garden towards the orangery.<br />He finds a safe spot and waits for the voices to fade before peeping to see if anyone was there before heading towards the edge of the garden where he then quietly slips out of the palace. Leofric trudges on through the meadows into the woods and stops at a small stream where he rinses the injuries he had sustained while trying to escape through his room window. &quot;why did I do that?&quot; thinks Leofric while scrubbing at the dirt littering his clothes. He then hears footsteps drawing closer and the sound of twigs snapping which prompts him to quickly take cover in the foliage of the trees.<br />The footsteps draw closer and Leofric waits in anticipation. The owner of the footsteps makes an entrance and Leofric is shocked to discover that its just a girl, around his age or one or two years younger than him. This girl was fair in complexion and had waist length raven black hair in natural beach waves. &quot;Wow" says Leofric captivated but in his endeavour to get a better look puts his weight on a loose branch and it snaps sending him sprawling into the opening cutting his hand in the process. <br />They both stare dumbstruck at each other before the girl starts giggling, Leofric gets flustered, blushing all the way to the roots of his hair. &quot;um... I&quot;m just... going to go" he says getting up and brushing leaves off himself. &quot;you don&quot;t have to go" the girl starts &quot;I&quot;m sorry for laughing, I just didn&quot;t expect find anybody here and you made such a marvellous entrance". &quot;Okay" Leofric says finally cracking a shy smile. She takes her dress in both hands and lifts it up to ease movement and walks towards him. <br />Leofic seeing the skin of her ankle averts his gaze blushing. &quot;calm down, its not like I&quot;m naked or anything&quot; the girl says. &quot;still it&quot;s inappropriate &quot; replies Leofic. She finally reaches his front and stretches her hand for a handshake, &quot;hi, my name&quot;s Freya, Freya Fernsby"<br />Leofic shyly nods in acknowledgement &quot;my name&quot;s Leofric...&quot;, Freya raises an eyebrow, &quot;are you just going to hang my hand?&quot; she asks, &quot;um... I&quot;m bleeding" Leofric responds.<br />&quot;Oh okay then Leofric? No last name?". Leofic remains silent. Freya then sighs &quot;Okay, you&quot;re disturbingly quiet but that&quot;s alright, what brings you to these woods?&quot;.<br />&quot;I ran away from home" Leofric replies. Freya stares in shock, &quot;you ran away from home? Where do you intend to go now? Wait.. why did you run away?&quot; Leofric then gets flustered &quot;you&quot;re awfully nosy aren&quot;t ya? Mind your business&quot; he says angrily. &quot;ugh, I was just trying to be nice&quot; Freya scoffs.<br />&quot;I&quot;m sorry, its just that today has just not been my day, everything&quot;s just going wrong&quot; he replies sliding down the tree and sitting on the ground, holding his head in his hands.<br />&quot;Hey, it&quot;s OK, we all have those days" she then whips out a handkerchief, heads to the stream to wet it before coming back to gently dab at the injury on his wrist then gently ties it around to slow the bleeding. <br />&quot;Thank you&quot; He mumbles, head still resting on his knee. &quot;It&quot;s my pleasure&quot; Freya replies before sitting beside him. <br />They sit in silence for a while before Leofric mumbles something, &quot;sorry, didn&quot;t catch that&quot; Freya says. &quot;I asked what you&quot;re doing in the woods" Leofric asks while raising his head.<br />&quot;Oh, I come here to think, I also love the animals... ooh I have a friend, want to meet him?&quot; Freya asks excitedly.<br />&quot;Uh sure?&quot; he says. &quot;Okay, off we go&quot; says Freya standing up and yanking Leofric to his feet. He stumbles losing his balance, placing his hands on her waist to right himself. &quot;eep" Freya squeaks, blushing.<br />He quickly wrenches his hands away from her person, completely red. &quot;ah.., um.. I&quot;m sorry" he apologises. &quot;It&quot;s okay, mistakes happen" she replies blushing before taking hold of his hands and dragging him towards another path.<br />They walk down the stream when Freya suddenly stops and starts whistling, &quot;What are you doing....?&quot; Leofric starts but stops as he sees a dog happily heading towards their direction. &quot;Hiiii" Freya says happily crouching down to take the dog in her arms.<br />&lsquo;woof woof&quot; the dog barks, licking her face. &quot;Leofric meet my friend, go on, he won&quot;t bite" Freya says taking his hand and resting it on the dogs head<br />&quot;Hello boy&quot;, Leofic says stroking his fur. The dog starts licking his hands. &quot;I think he likes you" Freya says. Leofric smiles &quot;what&quot;s his name?&quot; he asks. &quot;well I haven&quot;t had the chance to name him yet, any suggestions?&quot;. &quot;happy?&quot; Leofric suggests, Freya then burns out laughing &quot;no that&quot;s cringy, what about Momo".<br />&quot;ahh, that&quot;s even worse" Leofric laughs. He and Freya bring up different names before settling on Max. &quot;From now on you are Max, got it?&quot; says Freya to the dog. &lsquo;Woof' Max says.<br />Freya and Leofric spend more time making small talk and getting to know each other.<br />&quot;It&quot;s late, I&quot;m gonna start heading back, let&quot;s meet here again tomorrow?&quot; Freya asks &quot;sure" Leofric says, mood dampening as he starts untying the handkerchief around his wrist.<br />&quot;Oh, don&quot;t worry, you can keep it" she says, &quot;thank you" Freya replies. You do know that you&quot;re still gonna have to go home right, you&quot;re what twelve? thirteen? You can&quot;t survive on your own yet, you just have to face whatever it is happening at home" Freya tells Leofric. <br />&quot;Yeah, I guess you&quot;re right. I was being childish, I&quot;ll go home but promise you&quot;ll be here tomorrow....., let&quot;s pinky promise&quot; Leofic says stretching out his pinky.<br />&quot;pfft, pinky promise? What are you, five?&quot; Freya says laughing till she notices the serious expression on Leofric&quot;s face, &quot;Oh okay then" Freya says locking her pinky with his.