“You sure you can remember all the names?” Brandi checked as she led Ai to the door.

“Yeah, I won’t forget anything.”

Ai left the house. She breathed in, she breathed out.

Ever since their conversation yesterday Ai could feel Brandis eyes on her. Eating, sewing, hell, she half expected her to watch her sleep. Tal had been the only break she got from it. To be out the house was a relief.

Ai was, however, nervous. She was pretty sure she remembered everything she was suppose to be going shopping for; that wasn’t what she was worried about. Now was as good an opportunity as any to sort out the Forest Hunter and the rats.

First, she would go shopping. She would then stash the goods somewhere and pick them up on the way back. The rest of the details of her plan were somewhat…fuzzy.

Everything would work out though. Probably.

Shopping first.

The shopping area only really consisted of one stall. Run down old wood with nails poking out everywhere it looked like it could collapse at any moment. On it was vegetables. Many pale vegetables that all looked exactly the same.

Behind it was a man build like a bulldog. An overweight bulldog. Ai was pretty sure that he was the first fat person she had seen so far. General work kept everyone else in shape, which meant that this guy must be swimming in it. He didn’t see her as she approached, and Ai slowed as a young girl approached him.

She was struggling underneath a sack of veg that was at least as big as she was. It took a moment for Ai to place her. It was the girl she had seen when she had first entered the village, the one who ran off. It seemed like an eternity ago.

Before she had her long blonde hair neatly plaited, and while she didn’t look rich she looked put together. Now her hair was short, shorn in uneven chunks around her flushed face. The dress she was wearing was the same colour, but dirtier and torn near the hem.

Odd.

“Hurry up girl.” The man behind the stall snapped at her.

He watched her coldly as she staggered towards him, then unsteadily set the sack down on the ground behind the stall. Things, thought Ai, were beginning to make sense.

“Sorry Papa. That’s the last one.” She shifted from foot to foot waiting for his response.

“Get girl! How am I to put food on the table with you lurking, scaring away all the customers?” The girl didn’t need any more telling, she hurried away, darting out of sight.

Perhaps Ai was jumping to conclusions. It wasn’t like she knew everything. But he seemed like the kind of man who wasn’t above shearing off a girls hair.

She didn’t want to judge by appearances though, so she made the rest of her way to the stall without saying anything. The people around the other stalls certainly hadn’t reacted, the hum of voices never stopping.

“Five courgettes, 10 tubers and a jum please.”

The man nodded, then stopped. A smirk crawled across his thin lips as he looked her up and down.

“Well well well, I heard we had a visitor in our quaint little village. I was wondering when we would bump into each other. I’ve heard a lot about you.” Ai didn’t like the way that he was looking at her.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“I heard your mother fucked an animal, that true?”

Did. Not. Like. Him. At. All. The corners of Ais mouth turned down and her gaze went flat.

“Five courgettes, 10 tubers and a jum.”

He tutted. “Your fire always lit so easily? I bet you’d be a wildcat in bed. All tooth and claw. I’ve always liked a challenge.”

Ai didn’t say anything this time. She was still waiting for her food. Anything else wasn’t worth replying to.

He sighed heavily.

“No reply huh?” Then he gave a crooked grin. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to work hard to get a response out of you.”

The end of Ais tail twitched. She was about five seconds away from saying screw it and not shopping at all.

“Tubers, courgettes and a jum was it? That’ll be 14 coppers. Special discount just for you.” He gave her what he must’ve thought was a ‘come hither’ look. Gross.

Ai passed over the money, dropping it into his palm to make sure that they didn’t touch. She didn’t know where that hand had been.

A minute later she was storming away from the stall, her bag bulging with food. She hoped she never had the misfortune to run into him again. She should judge people by appearances more often.

She had just turned the corner when her clothes snagged on something. She was about to yank them away when she realised it wasn’t a something but a someone. The girl from before had her hand fastened tightly around Ais skirt.

Ai hadn’t realised quite how tiny she was. She only came up to Ais shoulder and Ai could probably fit both the girls arms in one hand. She was so breakable.

“He won’t do it you know.” She said, big eyes looking up into Ais own.

Ais mind stuttered. “Do what?”

“You know. Follow you. Make you do things you don’t want to. He’s a coward really. He only hurts people he knows won’t fight back. You would. I can tell. So can he.” She cocked her head to the side, looking at something past Ai.

“Yes yes. Listen to the girl, listen carefully.” It was none other than Celina, the mad woman bobbing her head comically up and down.

“You’re not suppose to be here Gran! Papa will be angry.” The girl hissed, her head swivelling to make sure nobody was listening. Surprisingly nobody seemed to have noticed the three of them stood together, like paranoid conspiracy theorists.

“Shush shush. He’s always angry.” The old woman waved her granddaughters concerns away. Then she looked at Ai.

“Kitty kitty, why are you here? You’ve been turned off.” She shook her head frantically as Ai backed away. “You need to go where the lost go. Nowhere. Why are you here?”

The girl squeezed between them, pushing her gran back.

“You can’t talk like that gran. Not in front of people.”

“Girly girly, some things need to be said. Bad things happen otherwise. People die. People are already dead. Do you know why?”

The girl hesitated. “Why?”

“Don’t ask stupid questions. You know I hate stupid questions. It’s time for lunch. We need to go.” She spoke rapidly, not leaving time for breath. She began to drag the girl away.

The girl looked back at Ai. She seemed to want to say something but bit her tongue.

Suddenly Celina released her granddaughter, speeding away after some invisible curiosity. The girl stood there and watched her go. Then she turned back to Ai, grabbing her wrist. What was with this family and grabbing her?

“My gran isn’t mad. She’s just not very well. Everything she says makes sense eventually. People just don’t want to admit it because that will mean she’s right about other things. Secrets people don’t want others to know.”

The poor girl seemed convinced. Ai was still reeling.

“She…she’s not mad?”

The girl sighed like Ai hadn’t been listening. “No. She’s just touched. She has a hard time keeping her mind fixed on one thing. It’s because she sees other things. Things nobody else does. That they don’t want to admit.”

“But…” It probably wasn’t the best idea for Ai to tell the girl that her gran was, in fact, mad. Or that she had killed her mother. “It’s none of my business.”

The girl rocked back on her heels.  “You don’t believe me.”

“That’s not-“

“Yes it is. Nobody believes me. Nobody believes her. But she talks about you.” She pulled Ai down towards her. “Just remember what she’s told you. You don’t have to believe, just don’t forget. You’ll see then.”

Releasing her, the girl didn’t even give Ai the chance to say anything else before she had run off, where to Ai didn’t know.

Ai couldn’t imagine growing up the way she must have. Dead mother, abusive father, a mad gran must seem like a blessing in comparison. She was probably the only parental figure the girl had, though it seemed like the parenting might come more from the girl than the gran.

It was none of her business, Ai reminded herself.

Screwed up stuff happened. There were secrets and lies everywhere if she looked close enough. She had enough on her plate as it was.

Shifting the heavy bag on her shoulder Ai turned away. She had a Forest Hunter to hunt, and she needed to sneak out at the guards change over. That was midday. And the sun was getting high.