Clocktower Adventure

I RETURNED WITH no copper coins and two candy apples. To my surprise, the boy was still standing where I’d left him, twirling his wooden sword absent-mindedly.

“Here!” I say, handing him the treat. He eyes it before shaking his head.

“No, thank you.” He rejects my offer.

It surprised me, and there was a moment of silence between us. I took the opportunity to bite into my caramel apple. The familiar savory taste fills my heart with satisfaction.

“Are you sure you don’t want to try it? It’s really good!” I coax him, holding up the candy apple I had bought for him.

“Yes,” Fox Boy repeats, but I shove it towards his face anyway.

Just a lick will surely change his mind! I reason with myself.

The candy apple hits his lips, and he moves away from it. Fox Boy puts his hand up and pushes my hand away with a creased frown.

“I really don’t want to try it!” He says firmly. At that, I give up.

“You don’t eat sweets?” I ask, my cheeks full after another bite.

“Not often.”

“Me too. I only get sweets if someone gives them to me.”

I walk over to the fountain and take a seat. To my astonishment, he follows me.

“Did you come with your friends?” I asked Fox Boy.

“I’ve come alone,” The boy replies. “I took a carriage.”

“Really? Your parents aren’t here?”

“I don’t have parents.”

“Oh, me neither.”

We’re silent for a moment before he speaks up again.

“My family won’t realize I’m gone anyway.” The fox boy mumbles. He seemed a little saddened by the thought.

I struggle to think of what to say. It seems he came by himself because he had no one else to come with.

The boy points at the two apples in my hands.

“Now you haven’t any coins left. Because you bought two candy apples.” The fox boy tells me.

I shrug it off.

“It’s okay! I already got my prizes.” I tell him, holding up my bunny precariously with one tiny hand. “Her name is Wilhelmina.”

“Wil…helmina?” He repeats. I nod eagerly.

“She’s very beautiful, isn’t she?” I coo, holding it up to him. “She’s my first toy ever. That's why I went after those thieves earlier.”

Fox Boy was silent for a moment, digesting my words.

“I don't have many toys either,” he responded.

“Aren’t you a noble? Nobles have so many toys; they keep them in chests this big,” I say, spreading my arms wide. At the palace, I recalled there was a toy box in my room that was practically a treasure chest. It was usually empty, of course, but I would always dream of what kind of things I would fill it up with.

“I don’t play with toys usually.” Fox Boy confesses.

“What do you like to do, then?”

“I usually play outside. Or climb trees.” He says. “I like climbing.”

I take a bite out of my treat.

“Why?” I ask. I’d never thought of climbing as a hobby, as I never had time for things like that. Even at the palace, they would punish me if I got my dress and shoes dirty.

“I like to see everything below.” He replies earnestly.

“Like a bird?” I asked. I imagined that if I were older, I would be fascinated by looking down at the landscape, seeing little details I wouldn’t have before if I were on the ground.

“No,” he responds simply. Fox Boy grows quieter. “Like…a giant.”

My gaze lands on Miss Berraultier, who is taking a break by chewing on a roasted stuffed pork meal from one of the vendors. The host has declared her an undefeated champion, and people are becoming less and less inclined to go against her. She stands victorious, with shining silver eyes and a smirk of satisfaction.

“There are going to be fireworks tonight,” Fox Boy tells me. “I’m going to go to the clock tower and watch it from up there.”

“The clock tower?” I repeat. I look over in the distance and find the city’s clock tower looming over the buildings, far from the festivities. I could barely see where the arms had landed now, as it was nighttime, but the floating lanterns that drifted nearby illuminated the face of it. It stood out against the plainer buildings, an architectural marvel with fantastical swirls on the clock face.

“That’s really high. You must not be afraid of heights.” I gulp nervously.

“There’s a space at the top that you can stand and watch from. You’ll be able to see the whole city from up there.” Fox Boy ignores me. He sounded more wistful, as though it was a challenge he had been looking forward to all night.

I imagine sitting in that little open area above the clock face, looking out into the city and watching the sky light up with colors and sparkles.

“That sounds really beautiful,” I reply.

Fox Boy only gazes over at the tower. I wish he would remove the mask, so I could see his expression as he looked so intently at it.

“Do you want to come with me?” He offered suddenly.

Those words made me stop eating my candy apple. I turn to him, blinking as I digest his words.

“You’ll let me come too?” I ask. He seemed like he wanted nothing to do with me, but now he was inviting me to the tower.

He nods from behind his mask, his eyes now glowing with sincerity.

“Okay!” I agree immediately, my heart racing from excitement of exploring a new area. “I’ll have to ask Miss Berraultier first.”

I pull him to his feet, urging him to come with me.

“Miss Berraultier!” I called to her, approaching the stage with Fox Boy behind me. After a dramatic swig, she sees me by the stage stairs and waves at me.

“Yes, my dear?” She says, wiping her mouth as the man next to her groans. It looked like he was going to throw up, but my seamstress only had a flush to her face and even more empty cups of beer than he did.

“He helped me get my toy back from the kids that took it from me. Can I go with him to the clock tower?” I ask. Fox Boy had his mask over his eyes, his gaze looking elsewhere.

“Hmmm… what’s your name?”

Fox Boy lifts his head slightly.

“Ralphim, ma’am.” He says quietly.

“Ralphim, if she’s not back here in the square by midnight, I’ll kill you, and toss your body in the river where no one will ever find you again. Understand?”

Fox Boy—Ralphim—nods quickly.

“Yay!” I squeal, happy that she let me go. The crowd cheers as the host declares her the winner yet again, and she takes another swig of beer just for good measure before snatching the winning sum off the table.

***

We walked together away from the town square and towards the clock tower. It was a ways away from the town square, and we would end up at the outskirts of the city, along the road to the palace and near the surrounding forest.

One of the dancers had told me it was built by the Imperial family as a monument to their commitment to the city, or something historical like that. Now, it stands basically abandoned, only ever visited by the maintenance worker and as a secret meet-up spot.

“Was that your aunt?” He asked me.

I shook my head, biting off the last area of my candy apple before tossing it in the grass on someone else’s property, letting it rot and feed the soil. I had wrapped the second candy apple in paper and put it in my apron pocket.

“That’s Miss Berraultier. I do errands for her sometimes. She’s looking after me tonight.”

“She’s a little scary.”

“She’s just like that because she had lots of drinks. Adults are different when they have alcohol.” I told him. “She’s usually very nice, and always gives me seeds to feed the geese around her shop.”

He doesn’t reply, but I’ve gotten used to it by now.

I pull out the candy apple from my pocket. Luckily, it’s still crisp with caramel and lint hadn’t penetrated the paper it was wrapped in.

Maybe another snack won't hurt…! I think, already licking my lips as the caramel glows in my eyes.

I was about to take a bite, but for some reason my eyes flicked over to Ralphim.

He was eyeing my treat from behind his mask, but hadn’t said a word. But he looked away fast enough to make me feel as though I had imagined it.

I glance down at the sweet-and-tart goodness in my hands. My heart wanted nothing more than to consume it, but he deserved at least a little taste, even though he was too shy to admit it.

“Do you want to try it?” I ask him once more.

“…Yeah,” he replies quietly.

Darn! I think, but obediently hand it over to him.

Ralphim takes it from my hands and looks closely at it. He flipped up his mask onto his head, and for the first time I was able to see his face.

The bruise was on the flesh of his cheek and his chin, like he’d fallen and hit his face. Ralphim’s black hair was a little messy from the mask, and his bangs were overgrown enough to almost cover his eyes. His cheeks were pink, flushed from fighting the boys earlier and the sweat from wearing the mask for too long.

The eyes I’d only gotten a shadowed glimpse of were now on full display, large and shining like firelit amber in the darkness surrounding us, framed by wisps of his hair and dark eyelashes.

His appearance and demeanor reminded me of the black night cats that would roam the streets, meowing in front of my window as they searched for mice to hunt and ate the small cans of food I left out for them occasionally.

Ralphim carefully takes a bite out of the candy apple I had saved for us. He chews for a moment, thinking about the taste. He swallows and examines the treat closely.

“What do you think?” I ask, too impatient to wait for a response.

“It’s good,” he replies with a subtle nod.

“I told you you’d like it!” I replied with pride. He avoids my gaze, but takes a small lick of the caramel coating the apple.

By the time we reach the base of the tower, the candy apple has been completely devoured by Ralphim. I let him use the paper to wipe his sticky hands, and I just wiped mine on my already dirty dress.

I strain my neck to look up at the lone tower. I couldn’t even see the clock face from the bottom. I’ve never visited this part of the city, and it felt abandoned as everyone was at the town square for the festival.

Ralphim frowns when he approaches the clock tower door. I would have expected him to swing it open, but he just stares at the handle.

“What is it?” I ask him, approaching from behind and peering around him. We were both so excited to enter, so it intrigued me as to why he was hesitating now.

Ralphim points at the handles, his dark eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

“The clocktower door…it’s locked shut.”