Chapter 59: Cart 94

-0643, October 17th, Suka-Sector 10, Megashi Train Station-

*Ding*

A small boy with a red coat held his mother's hand tightly as she spoke on the phone.

"Yes, dear, we are boarding Megashi now, cart 89! I have Manny with me right here."

She looked down at her son, holding the phone closer to his face.

"Say hi to daddy Manny!"

"Hi, Daddy"

He said softly as he held onto a small teddy bear tightly in his right arm.

"Hey buddy! You keep mommy safe for me, okay, buddy?"

"Mhm."

The mother pulled the phone back to her ear as the train's cart door opened up in front of them. The two were the only ones at the train stop. The mother lightly guided the boy into their train cart. He looked around as he saw no one really on the cart besides a man who seemed to be sleeping with his hood on. The two sat down as there were a few open seats between the boy and the man. His mother continued talking on the phone as it seemed to be with one of her friends now. He tugged at her shirt impatiently.

"Mommy? How long is the ride to daddy?"

She raised her finger to him as she continued speaking on the phone.

"Mom, how fast is the train?"

"Just a minute, sweetie."

His mother smiled, adjusting her phone to her ear. The boy sighed as he looked up at the roof of the cart.

'There's nothing fun to do on a train?'

"You know they always say the most fun thing to do on a train is to play I Spy."

The boy looked over at the strange man, who seemed to be hiding within his coat.

"What's I spy?"

"Oh my, you don't know I Spy, little boy?"

The man lowered his coat slowly, revealing a sharp yet soft jawline and clear, majestic skin. His dark brown eyes were striking, and his long black hair fell neatly over his shoulders. The boy's mother glanced his way, blushed, and murmured something to her friend on the phone. The man noticed her reaction and, overhearing her words, swallowed back a surge of disgust.

"I Spy is a game of the ages, passes time like no other! Here, let's start easy."

The boy watched the man look around the train cart. His brown eyes caught wind of a target like a hawk seeing an injured baby rabbit.

"Aha! I spy with my little eye something gray. So now you have to tell me, or more so, guess what it is I am seeing, that is, that color."

"Hm, uhh okay."

The boy looked around as there was only one object in the entire cart that was a strong tone of gray.

"Uhh, Mr?"

"Eren, just call me Eren."

Eren interrupted the boy with a soft smile as he waited for the boy's answer.

"Eren…is it the cart door?"

They both looked at the cart door as Eren let out a quiet, friendly laugh.

"Why yes, it is, that didn't take you very long, did it? You're quite smart for your age, aren't you? My, that didn't take you long at all. Maybe I should've picked something harder."

The boy smiled at the compliments.

"Now uh, what was your name again?"

Eren asked the kid with a gentle smile.

"My name is Manny!"

"Well, Manny, it is your turn now, go ahead."

The boy looked around frantically, though he tried to keep calm, searching for something he hoped would be difficult for Eren to find.

"I spy with my little eye something…"

Manny found it; there was no way Eren could guess it.

"Something black."

Eren smiled cheerfully as he began to look around the cart carefully.

"Something black, hm? Could it be…my gloves?"

Eren raised his hands as Manny chuckled.

"How'd you get that so fast?"

"It was the first thing you looked at, your mind was already made up, but you wanted it to seem like you were talking about the pillow rests over there on the seats."

"You guessed all of that just from what I was looking at?"

"I guess I'm rather observant."

"Mister, what do you do for work?"

Eren smiled slightly, hearing the question.

"Most just called it field work, but I guess I'm rather hands-on with what I do?"

Manny thought of the answer.

'Field work doesn't daddy do something like that?'

"Well, I guess now it's my turn! Let's see…"

Eren's eyes wandered the cart until he looked at the boy.

"Oh my, what an adorable teddy bear you have there? Does it have a name?"

"Uh, I guess not, my daddy got it for me recently because he's at work a lot."

"Can I hold it for a second?"

"Uh..sure"

Manny slowly handed Eren the teddy bear. Eren's shaky hands grabbed tightly around the bear's stomach. He raised it to the air, slightly looking at it.

"I used to have one just like this."

"You had a teddy bear too?"

Eren's jaw tightened as he bit down on his tongue.

"Yes…yes, I did, how silly of me to bring it up. Regardless, that bear was always there for me when I was younger."

Eren looked at the boy with a slightly creepy smile as Manny realized Eren's gloves were no longer on.

"Tell me, Manny, would you like to play another game?"

***

*Sigh*

Eren swiped at his face, but his hand only smeared blood across his skin.

"That whore mother of yours should've taught you not to talk to strangers, Manny."

He sat back down as Manny's teddy bear sat next to him.

'I don't even remember why I'm out here in the first place, after that run-in with that disrespectful rat at the siblings' house, everything has seemed out of whack.'

Eren looked over to his side, past Manny's bear, looking at two grotesque replicas of the stuffed bear.

'They look better like that, a lot less noisy for sure.'