Shonan ran along the damp streets of Donya village, flying drops of water emerged from under his
feet with each of his steps, he felt free, he felt important. Dodging people left and right, the humid
air made his fair hair float carelessly, as his arms swung haphazardly in the air. Nothing could stop
him, or at least that’s what he thought, for he was definitely slower than the average kid of his age.
The gate of the tower stood proudly, setting up the transition from the poorly built village cottages
to the tall marble made tower with its intricate bowl like shape at the top. As soon as he caught his
breath, a voice yelled from behind, “he’s not there!”, the girl was at most two years older than him,
and her face matched perfectly with her voice, an arrogant smirk on her face that meant, ‘I know
more than you do, I’m better than you’. What a shame he thought, for the girl was gorgeous, but
Shonan had already _and rightly so_ predicted that she was full of arrogance and self-love.
“What do you mean?”, he asked awkwardly, brushing his hair carelessly.
“The master is not at home, he’s in the forests. He went this morning. He told me”. After a pause and
the absence of a reaction from her interlocutor she managed to speak with even more arrogance and
malice, “I can lead you to him if you want.”
He sighed to himself, he wasn’t prepared for this. The headman ordered him to give an envelope to
the master and come back to receive a two rilings award. He was too weak for this; he knew that
something was coming. The girl approached him, Shonan involuntarily stepped back, but the girl
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swiftly leapt and whispered something to his left ear. “But in one condition… you let me read that
envelope.”
There he was, in a though position again, the headman as always whenever he sent him on some
errand, ordered him confidentiality, to not tell anyone about the errands, and to not show it to
anyone except the receiver. But he hadn’t instructed him about this situation. As the girl
straightened up, a clear blush was on Shonan’s face which didn’t go unnoticed by the girl who smiled
meaningfully at him. As she stood closer to him now, Shonan could sense something odd about her
hair, as if it was a wig.
‘What a mess, if don’t give her the envelope I won’t get to the master, and I won’t get my two rilings .
But if I give it to her, the headman will give me a hiding. Aaah fuck it, he has no way of knowing it
after all’.
“Okay”, he finally answered passively after a moment’s silence and the smile widened on the face of
the malicious girl.
The way it was, what would the headman instruct him is to come back until the master’s home, but
Shonan wasn’t exactly the brightest one, and he was under the claws of a girl; and not any normal
one at that.
He handed her the envelope hesitantly after taking it from under his blouse. “Come on now, let’s
go”, she told him, the smirk never leaving her. That same smirk made him so uneasy. It was after so
much.
As they got entangled deep inside the forest, Shonan caught a glimpse of red from the hair of the girl. He gave it no importance.