Weep for I have come.

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I looked out at the empty gray streets from the balcony, feeling cold snowflakes touch my face.

The sound of coughing sounded throughout the house. “Regis!” Mother bellowed out amidst her coughs. “Get over here!”

I took a deep breath, making my lungs freeze. And walked to Mother who laid on her bed. She had a bruise around her eye, and her body was thinner than it used to be in the past.

“Go make me some tea.” She ordered right as I stepped into the room.

I bolted into the kitchen and grabbed everything necessary, ignoring the dirty pan that I used to make food earlier. After making the tea I quickly took it in my hands, ignoring the burning heat, and brought it to Mother. putting it on a small cupboard next to her.

“Here is the tea mom.” I quietly said and looked at her bruised eye. She got it before she came back home last night. And when I asked her about it she simply waved me off.

For a couple of minutes I stood in the dark room and looked at her without any thought, only listening to her quiet breaths and drowning in the silence of the home.

“Mom?” I called out, the sound of my voice in the dark room made me shiver. “When is dad coming back?” I asked, remembering the last time I saw Dad fighting Mom in front of me.

Mom lifted her gaze towards me and squinted, “that man has abandoned us, he is never. Coming. Back.” She seethed through her teeth, holding my gaze until I looked down at the floor and nodded.

She waved me off the room without looking at me, “go, take something warm to wear and go play outside, I need some quietness in this house.” She crooked.

I nodded again and did as she said, taking a ruined scarf with me and putting on another shirt, riddled with small holes.

The streets were empty and filled with snow and the sun was covered by gray clouds. Every step I took made a quiet crunching noise, and every breath I took made my lungs feel colder.

After walking through the streets without doing anything, I took it upon myself to make steam through my mouth, each and every time swearing to myself that the next steam breath will be bigger.

Right as I was going to turn onto another street section I heard voices.

“I can’t get this stupid crusade out of my head, they waited a year and a half for this? Do they really think that they can take Dresa back?” A voice chided out.

I stopped in my tracks, not daring to take another step in the crunchy snow.

“Truthfully I don’t see any merit in it for us.” Another voice answered back. “Yes they could take back lost ground, and recover a bit of their reputation, but that's not going to help us in any way, definitely not during this winter.”

When the voices stopped, I remained in my place unmoving in the snow. I tried to strain my ears to hear anyone beyond the corner, but I couldn’t hear anything.

I gulped down some spit, and kept walking. Knowing very well how people treat kids when they are without any parents in the streets.

A couple of steps and I moved to the other street section.

Two people frowned down at me, one of them had a hat that covered his eyes and hair, and the other a broken nose. Their sight made the air around me feel colder, my legs felt as if they could buckle if I just moved.

“I swear to Ashur brat, if you try to steal something from us, I will beat you up until you piss blood.” The man with the hat grunted, while the man with the broken nose simply looked down at me with disdain, making his face turn uglier.

I turned back to leave, but my weak legs gave out and I fell on the cold snow.

“Wait,” one of the men ordered. I turned around on the ground and looked up at the man with the hat. “Where did you get that scarf?” He pointed at my ruined scarf.

The ugly man’s eyes widened, “That’s Rebeca’s scarf, just look at the small stars on it, it definitely hers!” His eyes slowly squinted.

“N-no,” I said with a quivering voice, “m-my mom found it and g-gave it to me.” I told the truth as I slowly tried to put power into my arms and legs to get up.

“Liar,” the man with the hat hissed out. “What kind of a mother sends out her son during such a cold day?” He took a step towards me, to which I crawled back.

My heart started pumping as the ugly man reached for my scarf. I slapped his hand away, got up to my feet, and started running.

“Hey wait!” The ugly man shouted. “It doesn’t belong to you! Come back here!”

I ran, I could hear the crunched snow behind me getting closer and closer. As I came upon a dark street corner, I felt my scarf tighten around my neck, choking me.

“Got you!” I heard the ugly man behind me. “I’m going to teach you a lesson!” He huffed out.

The memory of my history teacher hitting me with his ruler blinked in my mind. My entire body burned as I pulled on the scarf with my neck until the sound of it tearing sounded behind me, freeing me away from the man’s grasp.

The sounds of heavy breaths still sounded behind me as I ran through a dark corner to another a dozen times. Even after the sounds of crushed snow and heavy breaths from behind stopped, I kept running until the intense heat that covered my body passed away, leaving me cold and alone on the snowy streets.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I looked up towards the dark skies while taking deep breaths and coughing.

How long was I running? I thought to myself as I looked around at the lit houses.

Without idling too much, I took a minute to calm myself and made my way back home. Only after I passed through a couple of blocks did I feel a sting on my neck from the pulled scarf.

My eyes started to get warmer and my stomach felt empty. Without holding back I started to cry quietly as I slowly made my way home.

By the time I got home, I was shambling, my stomach hurt, and the tears had frozen over my cheeks. I made myself a small sandwich with whatever was left, ate even though it hurt to swallow, and took a look at Mother’s room.

But she wasn’t there, instead, a small letter rested on her organized bed.

Regis the letter was written in her elegant handwriting. I’m going to work and from there I will go and pay the rent, be sure to make yourself something to eat and sleep well. I’ll be back later on in the night.

I blinked a couple of times and massaged my cold cheeks. Why is she going when she is sick? I thought to myself. Shouldn’t she rest? I laid the letter on a cupboard and went to the toilet to wash my face.

When I faced the mirror and took off my scarf. My eyes opened up, my neck was a bit bluish, I felt my eyes warm up again and a lump formed in my throat.

It was my scarf. I gripped the sink tightly. My. Scarf. I repeated in my head.

After washing up and going to bed, I laid and stared at the ceiling of my room. seconds passed into minutes and I still couldn’t let my eyelids close.

I kept on thinking about the streets, when the memory of the ugly man coming towards me replayed in my mind, I would grip at sheets and start to punch the bed, until I had accidentally hit the wooden part of the bed.

I stifled a scream and curled up, feeling both the pain in my hand, and a small recurring stab in my head.

Feeling the headache start to grow, I stopped moving and breathed. And when I started to stare at the ceiling again I got up to the living room and looked at the clock.

I numbly looked at the very late hour, I had known from not being able to sleep seldom, that Mother should have been home hours ago, so without thinking too much in order to not let the headache grow, I went outside into the cold.

The snow was deeper than it was before. I looked around myself and understood that what I did was a bad idea, for Mother had never told me where her new job was.

But when I noticed the faint footprints on the snow, I stopped myself from going inside.

Our home was a two story house, the first floor neighbors had moved away when the rent went up, and no one came to replace them.

I numbly ignored the fact that it was hours since Mother had left, and started to follow the footsteps.

The cold howling air seeped into my bones, and every once in a while I shuddered, until I came upon a dark corner.

The first thing that caught my attention were the glassy eyes of my mother, laying unmoving on the floor, her clothes were almost completely torn off.

My heart stopped, the winds stopped howling, and I looked up to the person who was standing right next to her, he was a familiar man with a very familiar hat.

but he is much taller. I managed to observe, even though I craved to shout at my mother to get up or to ask her if she is alright.

I only managed to look at the man, who was smiling at her until he turned his attention to me.

“Oh.” The man stopped smiling.

My ears suddenly popped and I twitched, the winds were howling again, and my heart started to beat against my chest wildly.

“Boy, you’re not cold?” He lifted his arm towards me and gestured to come over. “Come here, I’ll help you.” He said in a gentle voice, making my feet buckle. “Nothing bad will happen to you.”

I sent another look at Mother, the snow was piling on her face, and on her exposed skin, but her eyes remained open and unmoving, even when a flake landed right on her eye.

Without even noticing it myself, I turned back and started to run, hearing my heart thump in my ears.

“Wait, come back, I only want to help.” The stranger’s voice rang clearly in my ears, even though my heart made the crunching of the snow unhearable.

“Why are you so afraid? Do you even have anywhere else to go?” The voice was less noticeable as I kept running.

I ran and ran until I reached home, only to see the landlord at the entrance.

The moment he laid his eyes on me, he bared his teeth. “You! Brat!” He shouted towards me, while I tried to get my breathing under control.

“Help.” I wheezed out between breaths, “my mother…”

“Where is your whore mother?! She needed to come to my house and…!” The landlord stopped shouting and looked at me once over, “She was supposed to pay the rent.” He said simply, calming himself.

Even with the sound of my heart in my ears, I could still hear what the landlord called her.

Whore. I repeated the word in my mind. Whore?

I looked up at him, my body was cold and shaking, and I felt as if I could fall every moment. But I knew that Mother was still at the alley, that she needed help.

With gritted teeth, I forced myself not to jump on him and claw at him. “S-she n-needs help.” I said with clattering teeth.

“She needs to pay.” The landlord said coldly.

“N-no, s-she can’t move, s-she’s.” I stopped talking, not knowing how to explain what I saw, how she wasn’t moving, at all, even when a flake touched her eye she didn’t move.

I knew it wasn’t normal, but I knew she needed help, so I cried out the only thing that came to my mind.

“P-please, help.”

“Go and tell your mother that the both of you are out, I already searched the house and there was nothing there.” The landlord said without even blinking. “Fucking bitch, thinks she can send her little kid to fool me.” he muttered under his breath as he closed and locked the door to the house, leaving me outside in the cold.

I stood outside looking at the closed door, until a shiver went through my body. I coughed and wheezed, feeling my headache intensify.

Mother, I need to help Mother. I thought and started walking backwards, only to see that the trail was absolutely gone, everything was covered up by the storm’s heavy snow.

I tried to remember where she was even with the pounding headache, but I came up blank, managing only to remember the man with the hat, whose memory also seemed murky.

So I walked back, trying to retrace my steps, but the more I walked, the more I got lost. I walked so much that at one point neither the building or the streets seemed familiar.

My mind tried to push the pain away, farther and farther away, in order to be able to think, up to the point that my mind turned cold, only allowing thoughts to go through it.

The sun was already coming up, and my fingers were bluish, it was hard to breathe, and every breath felt like daggers in my lounges.

When my head felt as if it would split open, I couldn’t keep thinking about where Mother was. I staggered and fell on the snow.

Slowly, my eyesight turned darker and darker.

Right before I lost sight of everything, I saw a blurry figure with a hat, a very familiar hat.

And an even more familiar smile.