The mysterious man brandishes his dagger-like weapon in the air threateningly. The expression he wears is difficult to discern under the long hair covering his facial features.

“You know what I want lady, just give me that purse and I’ll be on my way…”

Thankfully, he’s only here for material gain. It will be a loss, but letting go of that purse will yield a much better result than refusing to do so. We can always replace what is inside it but there is no way to replace our lives. I stare at my mother, but from her expression, I feel as if we are not on the same wavelength. Her eyes are fixed onto the purse and she appears to be deep in thought. A moment passes, and she looks back up towards the man.

“...Listen, I can give you everything inside the purse, even the purse itself, but I need to keep one of the items inside…”

I’m appalled at her answer. She is always the one telling me that if I ever come upon this situation, I should just do what the other person asks for. However, she has decided that she wants to bargain with someone who does not look like they can be bargained with. I cannot imagine what could be so important in that purse that she would try to make such an offer.

In response, the thief tilts his head and chuckles.

“I don’t think you get the situation you’re in lady, you’re going to give me what I’m asking for.”

“... And what if I refuse?”

She reaches into her back pocket. I know that she carries a strong irritating spray with her that can even force large animals to think twice about attacking. Before she can fully reach it , however, the man’s dagger levitates above his palm.

‘An [enlightened]...!!’

“Don’t even bother getting that out. At most, it will tickle a little. Just do as I say and let’s both go on about our days.”

I clutch my mother’s arm and aggressively whisper into her ear.

“Just give him the damn purse mom!”

That phrase was not meant to be audible to our attacker, but he hears it nonetheless. A smile creeps up his face and he takes a few steps closer as he extends his arm towards us.

“Yeah, listen to the brat, hand it over.”

My mother closes her eyes, gripping the handle of her purse even tighter. The assailant is slowly drawing closer, expecting her to hand the purse over to him without further resistance. Unexpectedly, my mother swiftly reaches for her back pocket. In an instant, she brings the bottle to the man’s face and sprays nearly everything. Even though it was not directed towards me, I feel a slight tingle in my eyes and nose. A cloud of irritating mist spreads around the man. My mother grabs my arm and drags me as she attempts to get away. However, before we can take more than a step for two, a figure emerges from the cloud.

“See? I told you it wouldn’t do anything. My patience is running thin, woman. Should I kill the kid first to motivate you?”

The man takes a step towards me, but his advance is quickly interrupted by my mother who stands between us.

“Wait! I…just can’t give you the whole thing, It contains something that I really, really need. Can’t we arrange something else?”

‘Is it because of the check…?’

I let out another whisper.

“Mom! That thing doesn’t matter, we can always just get another!!”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

She whispers back. “Stay quiet Alden, let me handle this.”

The thief frowns, or at least I think he does, it is hard to tell behind all of that hair. Tired of being told no, he simply grabs her purse, but not with a lack of resistance from my mother. She desperately struggles to not let it go as if her hands were glued to it. They struggle for a moment until another eerie smile creeps up his face.

“You think you can stop me from taking it?”

My mother answers, trying to squeeze in a few words in between her grunts.

“Why are you even doing this to me! There’s plenty of other people you can rob. I need this purse!!”

The man isn’t even trying to use his dagger to shake her off. It bothers me and makes it seem as though he’s only here to play around. It’s something I have sensed every since the beginning of the counter, he isn’t willing to kill her at all

.

I attempt to join in on the struggle but I am quickly stopped by a powerful shout.

“STOP RIGHT THERE ALDEN, DON’T COME ANY CLOSER!”

I freeze, unable to disobey her. Somewhere deep within me, I feel a sense of relief that I do not have to join the fight. That feeling elicits another, one of disgust in myself, but I do not have much time to contemplate it. My mother is promptly pushed back by the man and she falls to the ground, still firmly holding onto the purse. The man looks at her with playful malice in his eyes.

“Looks like I’ll need to teach you a lesson first!”

Pebbles on the ground and multiple objects around us start floating. My mother is now back on her feet and a clearly worried look covers her face. I still fail to understand why she would be so adamant about keeping her purse. Was the check that substantial? Can she not have it replaced? A myriad of questions fill my mind, I simply cannot comprehend this ridiculous situation.

With a resolute expression, she reaches for something in her handbag. I imagine that she must have a weapon in there but I do not see how it could help. The reason is simple, even if she does have a weapon, nothing short of a plasma cannon would cause the man any type of significant damage and that is not something anyone can simply possess. More worried than ever and still a few meters away from the confrontation, I shout.

“Mom! Just give him the damn purse! It’s not worth it! We don’t need the money that bad!”

She ignores my plea and keeps reaching into the bag. A second passes and she takes out her hand with nothing in it. My confusion only grows. The man, however, seems to have understood something. His eyes expand and quickly fill with immolating rage.

“YOU!! WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!”

The levitating objects fly more furiously around us. Noticing the emerging tornado, my mother turns in my direction and runs towards me. As she attempts to cover me with her body, the world slows down. I notice the man open his mouth, trying to say something to us. He extends his arm as if to stop my mother. In the next instant, when I am nearly fully in her embrace, an ordinary, mundane flower pot strikes her temple and shatters. When time has regained its regular flow, what I see is my mother laying on the ground while she profusely bleeds from her head.

“Mom…?”

The man scratches the back of his head.

“Ahhh!! Damn it woman! Why would you move like that! I wasn’t even supposed to kill you!”

He passes his hand over his face and looks towards me.

“Oh well, whatever. I suppose I’ll bring the brat back with me instead. That oughta count for something right?”

My entire body freezes when I hear him utter those words. I do not even have the strength to check on my mother’s conditions. The entire situation has sent me into a state of shock, leaving me paralyzed. Multiple emotions are swirling through my head: worry, sadness, panic. However, the most dominant one is fear. A fear so potent that I cannot even scream or cry. All I can do is stand without moving a muscle. All my bodily functions have shut down, abandoning me in the face of danger.

The haggard man takes a few steps in my direction. I cannot back away or defend myself as my mother did. I simply await my inevitable fate. He arrives within arm’s length in no more than a second. He taps me on the forehead.

“What? Cat got your tongue? Why don’t you scream or something?”

He circles around me.

“Haha! You’re taking the meaning of frozen in fear to a whole new level! To think such a brave woman would have this wimp for a son.”

A minute or so passes like this where he berates me for being a coward while I remain Idle, overcome by fear. Eventually, I regain some of my movement. When that happens, the first thing that my body instinctively does is to run away. I do not bother to check on my mother’s lifeless body or attempt to get revenge. Instead, I flee. Shamefully, I turn tail and attempt to leave the scene.

‘Damn it! Damn it! This can’t be real! This is a dream! It has to be!! It has to!!!’

I run into a hard surface and I am knocked down to the ground. I look up and the man is standing in front of me. He wears a mocking grin.

“To think you’d even try to escape and leave her behind, don’t you feel a tiny bit of shame? You’re so… pathetic!”

He chuckles and upon some sort of signal, his expressions turn to annoyance.

“Urgh, I know, you don’t need to tell me that.”

His eyes meet mine.

“Alright, you’re coming with me. Enough playing around.”

He tries to grab my collar, but before he can, something that I cannot understand happens. He stares at me for a moment, or maybe something beyond me. His jaw drops and starts trembling,

he lets out a series of incomprehensible words and flees as fast as his body allows it.

‘What… What just happened?’

I fail to understand what just occurred but I decide to not dwell on it. I return to my mother’s location. There I fall to my knees and turn her over so that I can look at her face. It does not take long for me to realize that she is… gone, but I refuse to acknowledge it. I check her pulse at least a 100 times. I perform compressions on her chest 100 more times. I call out to her name 1000 times, and when nothing works, I fall to the ground, my back against the cement and let out a loud, long, and powerful wail. All of my emotions erupt at once. Tears fall from my eyes, snot falls from my nose and I cry with more intensity than I’ve ever cried before.

I spend a few hours like this, until passerbys find us and call the emergency services.

****3 years ago****