[Year 344, The month of Flame, day 22]

Everything was numb. When I woke up a while ago nothing felt quite right. Even though I wasn’t hurt or anything, I couldn’t find a reason to move.

Maybe it had something to do with what happened to mom. Whenever my mind started to wander, which happened a lot since the only thing I could look at was the ceiling above, I would relive her death. But, I felt nothing even as I rewatched the monster smash her head in. I distinctly remember the mix of sadness and anger seeing that had caused me at the time, but now it was like I’d been detached from the entire thing.

It wasn’t just recent memories that felt this way when I tried to recall different events in my life, the same sense of detachment would seep coil around my mind.

Maybe my head was broken?

Not that it mattered all that much. It's not like had anything to worry about. With mom gone I didn’t know what I was gonna do anymore…

I never realized how much she took care of my needs. She grew and cooked must of our food,

“Hay…”

Made sure I bathed and had clean clothes to wear.

“... you listening?”

She would protect me no matter what. And what did I do for her in return?

“What’s your name?”

 Nothing much really. I would occasionally watch her as she completed tasks, move heavy objects or look through books when I was told to, and abandon her when she needed me.

Not that any of that mattered a…

“Haaayyyy!!”

… All of a sudden a girl’s head blocked my view of the ceiling. She’d been saying something for a while now, but it didn’t seem all that important. I probably wouldn’t have paid her any attention had it not been for her assertive behavior, so I guess I had to look at her until she went away.

If it weren’t for the red veins that surrounded her green eyes her high cheekbones would have been her most noticeable feature. Her hair was a bit shorter than how mom usually kept her’s, and her skin was a little pale.

I guess she’d pass for a normal person… but she had this strange habit of sticking wet ragging in my mouth and attempting to move large objects around.

I was getting tired and the girl seemed like she would be talking for a while, might as well get some sleep.

…

..

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[Year 344, The month of Flame, day 24]

She was at it again. The strange girl was making a huge racket as she did her her best to move around something in the room.

“Heaha ugh! Move already!”

Despite being bigger than me she wasn’t all that strong, but it wasn’t out of the ordinary I suppose. If I had to guess, I never met anyone stronger than me, though, I haven’t met that many people though. But, given the way mom reacted to my strength and the things I was capable of doing, it was obvious that I wasn’t normal.

It made me wonder why I was ever scared of anything. If I hadn’t ran away I could have saved her. I’d been afraid.

“Forget it!!”

It seems that she finally gave up, for now anyway. I saw her feet in the corner of my eye, but tshe left my line of sight without a word. I heard her fiddling around with something before she came over to bother me again.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

 “It’s okay you don’t have to cry anymore. I’m here with you.”

The strange girl's voice was softer than normal as she brought a dry towel to my face. I received a clear look at her stressed out expression while she gently dabbed the towel near the area around my eyes.

I didn’t know how long we stayed like that, but the shadows had started to stretch along the ground by the time she took the now damp towel away. Throughout the whole affair, she’d  constantly told me it was okay and that we safe.

Why did she do that?

I knew I was safe already and if anything she was that needed to hear those words, not me. The more time I spent with this girl the stranger her behavior seemed to be, maybe she was wrong in the head too.

“You alright now? I need to get dinner ready. If you need anything just shout for me... Not like you will...”

I’m pretty sure I wasn't supposed to hear that last part, considering the girl had stood up and was walking away when she muttered it.

She was strange, but it wasn't bad having her around.

…

..

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[Year 344, The month of Flame, day 25]

“Ayyhhhaa!”

The strange girl’s sobs forced me awake again. Normally I would have tried to ignore her but tonight was especially bad.

I tried to block her out like before, but it wasn’t working. What if she rolled into the embers and hurt herself, or me?

“Ayyhhhhhaaa!”

Her outbursts weren’t helping things either. If it had been anybody else I probably would have left them alone, but something inside of me refused to do that. The girl may have been weird, but she been taken care of me for the last few days. She could have washed her hands of me on the first day or simply left me in the street she most likely found me she found me in.

But she didn’t.

Mom allows said to never leave allow your debts to linger. Strange, I felt a small pain in my chest when I thought of mom.

“Hugh. Just for a little bit.”

Using my arms for stability, I managed to sit up on the little pallet I’d been laying on. Spending a couple of days laying on my back left me feeling a bit stiff so I crack━

“Aaayyhha!”

“Ugh…”

The stiffness in my body, over-sized shorts, and the bandages were a bit annoying but I managed to stand up. I was a bit unbalanced on my feet and ended up knocking over the clay bowl she collected water in. It was a rather ineffective method, what she needed to do was find a sturdy barrel and some thin fabric to cover it with during rainy days.

I stumbled my way over to the weird girl’s pallet and looked her over. Her shoulder-length hair was matted down by sweat and she constantly tossed and turned in her sleep. She was mumbling about something in between her outbursts.

She must have been having a nightmare. Mom was a bit more━

I tried not to think about her too much. She wasn’t here anymore and I needed to deal with weird girl now.

My mind went back to one of the time she’d first talked at me. She’d been cradling a long object like it was important to her, I think she even showed it to me once, but I hadn’t been paying attention.  It wasn’t hard to find it given how much it stood out from the rest of the items in the room.

“... a dagger?”

I walked over to the half-empty sack on the ground and picked up the dagger that laid beside it. The blade’s edge was cutting into the leather sheath and the engraved wooden hilt had been worn down after years of neglect.

“Aayyiahha!”

“Hold on.”

I went over to my pallet to picked the cloth that weird girl had left beside it before returning to the weird girl. The moment I placed the dagger in her hands her outbursts settled down a little. She would still fidget about every now and again, but it was an improvement at least. I throw the cloth, which was actually a shirt, over her and looked over the room.

Home had been in better condition than this place, the hole there weren’t as large anyway and the furniture was laid out better. It probably looked better before weird girl started to mess with everything, but I could see what she was trying to do. I… think.

After stretching my hands over my head, I grabbed hold of a nearby table and gave it a pull. Only to hear a cracking sound as I fell on my but with bits of splintered wood in my fists.

“...”

I’d put the same amount of force into it as I normally did when moving something. Maybe I was more out of it then I thought.

I stood up and only placed one hand on the table and gently tugged on it. The wood strained beneath my figures but the table jerked along the ground.

“Ugh… This is gonna take a while.”

A few minutes had passed before the table was set in place, but the circle was only half finished. Although, the fact that weird girl slept through that was impressive, I was sure she’d wake up at some point.

I spent the next couple of minutes moving the various items in the room into place, only stopping to eat the bread left at my pallet and place the… now slightly cracked bowl back on the window ledge.

The last thing I remembered was hearing weird girl’s scream as I drifted off to sleep.

…

..

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[Year 344, The month of Flame, day 26]

My eyes snapped open when I felt something poking me in the face. Sunlight was peeking in through the holes and made everything shine. Weird girl’s head was right above and there was this strange smile on her face.

“Good morning.”

Her smile gradually turned into a frown after a while and she seemed disappointed about something as she started to get up.

“Morning.”

“I know you could talk!!”

I don’t know why but seeing her overreaction made me a little happy.