The doctor takes the door knob to her room and gestures to Jaffy, showing as much of the room to him as she could so it didn’t look menacing. The room permeated with a warm, cozy glow, and various objects and items were inside. The furniture of the room consisted of soft chairs and one couch for the good doctor’s patients, and the lighting was akin to that of a sunset. There were no windows, and books were all over the place; it was most likely that Dr. Jones’ hobby was to read. A lamp glowed softly on a cabinet with a cheap coffee machine, packs of instant coffee and tea nearby.
“Please, come in and take a seat,” Dr. Jones says to Jaffy. “It’s not much, but I hope you’ll feel comfortable.” She chuckles softly at seeing a curious light grow in the boy’s eyes, grateful for the fact she had cleaned up its messiness the day prior; although, it wasn’t like she would’ve kept the mess there the whole day. That would’ve been terrible by her standards.
The change in nerve-wracking emotions being replaced by curiosity and fascination were shown clearly on Jaffy’s face, who indulged in the beauty of the room. Before he could look further though, he remembered the Doctor’s words.
‘Ah, that’s right. I was supposed to sit down.’ Jaffy thought to himself, a slight panic showing on himself for a short moment. His eyes darted around the room, searching for some of the furniture he had seen prior to entering the room.
Jaffy immediately chose a soft throne-like chair, because to him, it appeared to be the most comfy. His suspicions were confirmed when a nice small “pomf” noise sounded out as he sat on it. Although only kings sat on thrones, the one sitting on one certainly did not have the dignity of a king, his right leg bouncing up and down.
The door to the room closed, and the two people were now alone with each other: one patient, and one doctor. Said doctor chooses her own chair, but not without talking to Jaffy.
“So,” Dr. Jones asks. “What do you currently know about me?”
Jaffy replies, “My friend told me you helped a lot of people, and that you can help me too. He said that all I have to do is tell you my story…and listen to the words you have to say.”
According to Nata, the doctor was a kind person who had saved many people, both from themselves and others, but she didn’t do it using strength. She saved them by talking to them–something that Jaffy couldn’t wrap his head around. However, he trusted Nata’s words.
“Well, tell him later that I appreciate the comment.” She smiles.
“Mmn. I will.”
“Now, before we truly get started…” She gets in a more comfortable position, and asks Jaffy. “Can you introduce yourself?”
“Ah–” Slight amounts of shock appear on Jaffy’s face, but he quickly recovers in a few seconds. “Okay…”
“My name is…Jaffy. I don’t have a last name, and I think I’m…sixteen winters old. I don’t really like anything, but I do like playing with warm water. I don’t like talking about what goes on with me, but…my friend says it’ll be fine if it’s you. Is–is that not okay?”
“Of course it is! I’m happy to be of assistance to you. What’s been on your mind lately, Jaffy?” The doctor replies back with enthusiasm.
“...Well, there’s quite a few bad things. I never wanted to worry my friend, so I never told him about the things that happened to me as a child.” He fidgets with his hands, avoiding eye contact with the doctor.
An understanding look appears on her face. “Thank you for your honesty, Jaffy. I know it can be hard to revisit something painful from your past, and I really appreciate you telling me about it. Now, please continue. Take your time if you have to, Jaffy.”
“Yes, so…” Jaffy breathed in deeply. “I was born inside a village, but my arrival there was seen…as misfortune. My mother died when she gave birth to me, and my father died two winters afterwards, eaten by the beasts of the forest surrounding the village. People saw me as a cursed child. Whenever I came out of my empty home, looking for food or water, villagers screamed at me and threw stones from distances far away, angered at my presence. I never understood why…”
-O-O-O-
In a certain person’s distant memories…
Somewhere in the world of Mier Gande, a small region the imperial civilizations had not yet reached was undergoing its “Winter Festival”. Contrary to its innocent name, the Winter Festival was not a time about celebration. It was in fact about sacrifice and offering, where the villagers would pray to some unknown deity to get rid of the season and move onto spring.
With giant piles of wood in a circle of stones and rocks lit up, the villagers chanted long and hard, day and night for a month on what would be January on Earth. The villagers rotated positions with other villagers four times–twice in the night, twice in the day–breaking their throats as they prayed for the cold harsh winter to end.
The children could do whatever they wanted as the adults chanted, for they weren’t allowed to participate until they were ripe enough. One of them, however, wasn’t just allowed to participate; he wasn’t allowed to go near the warm bonfire itself. As one could have guessed, this boy was Jaffy.
Although he didn’t know how to speak or think, his thoughts would have surely consisted of ‘I’m so hungry…’ or ‘I’m so cold…’ The villagers didn’t spare any effort in making him comfy, but they kept him alive for fear his “curse” would spread to others as he died. He was given the bare minimum to live, and as nobody taught him how to act human, the only thing saving him was his instincts.
Jaffy’s stomach grumbled with deep emptiness.
Now, his instincts screamed at him. He needed to find food immediately.
Outside the small trusty hut Jaffy lived in, a villager cautiously walks over to it, but stops at a large distance away, carrying a plate filled with small amounts of food. She pales when she sees the drooling child, etching his gaze solely on the bits of dry bread inside. He didn’t have permission to eat meat, so this was the only type of meal he ever ate–not that he knew what meat was in the first place.
When the boy ran to grab the food, the woman dropped the plate in fear. She immediately ran back for her life without looking back, muttering curses to herself.
‘Eat! I need to eat it!’ The boy lunged at the plate with difficulty. He wanted to eat it immediately, but it was too cold for him to eat it outside. With what little remaining energy he had left, he carried the crudely carved wooden plate to the hut, panting hard. Jaffy couldn’t feel his feet anymore, and his lungs burned, despite the weather. His eyes watered from the pain, and he constantly shivered.
When he managed to reach the inside of the hut, he sat down and covered himself in the straw blanket he was given, warming himself. The cold wind outside had a limited effect on the insides of the house, and after enough time, he dashes for the near frozen bread and chomps. It’s hard to bite…but he eats it anyway, doing his best to indulge in the food.
When he finishes with the bread, his stomach greedily absorbing what little nutrients it had, he looks back outside.
There was some bread that had fallen off when he ran back, grasped in the snow’s cold hands. Jaffy’s stomach rumbled. It wanted more, but the mind of the child didn’t know what to do. Should he go back to the snow and get it, or should he stay in the warmth of the hut?
The child made his decision.
He lunged at the bread on the snow, but it was too far away for him to reach with one jump. Jaffy ran, trying to grasp the bread, but–
The boy’s head immediately flies backwards, and something red flows down his face. Something hard was thrown at him. He looked out with a mixture of anger and pain, and noticed the woman from before staring at him. Her eyebrows curve down with a rock in her hand, and she puts on an expression of fearful hatred. She notices the cursed child move slightly.
“S-Stay the hell away from me!” The woman shouts with disgust, throwing the rock she had towards it at high speeds. Luckily for the kid, she missed.
In confusion however, the boy notices something. The bread from before disappeared! He ignored the rock and started thrashing around in the snow, desperate to find that small piece of bread. However, this only alarms the woman even more.
By this time, some of the children had gathered from the noise, curious and cautious. Some of them, taught to hate the “cursed” child, went away to do something else after seeing what the ruckus was about. Those who remained laughed at the way he tried searching for something hidden, but soon, they would regret it.
“All of you!” A rough, old voice calls out. “What are you doing here? Get out!”
Most of the older children flinch at his voice, and some of the younger ones immediately scatter. The woman who was there prior had now left, but not without scoffing at Jaffy. The elderly man enters the area, with stern and strict eyes. From the looks of it, he had just gotten done with his praying.
This man was the village chief, and had heard a lot of noise near this area, despite the chanting of the villagers; hence why he had come to see what was going on. He glared at the rest of the children who stayed, intending on lecturing them on the skirmish they had made, only to find Jaffy staring straight at him. He turns his attention onto him, forgetting what he was about to say to the children around the area.
With a frown, the chief shouts at Jaffy, “What are you looking at?!”
In response, Jaffy snarls at the chief’s angry tone, ignoring the cold wind of winter and the blood that flowed down his cheek. He just wanted more food, and he was already in a bad mood with the disappearance of the bread he longed for. As he remembered that, he immediately went back to searching.
The cold had already made his body numb, so now he could search with little issue, is what he believed. He dug his claws around into the snow, wondering just where it could be. As he did that, the village chief didn’t see his actions in such a kind light. Grabbing a rock, he shouts once more.
“Stop scaring the children!” he shouted, knowing full well that it was a lie. The children clearly found the clumsy actions of the boy funny. “You kids, help me fight it. That thing doesn’t belong here! It needs to stay in its territory!” With effort, the old man then gives the rock he had to a yellow-haired child near him. With affection, he says to him, “Throw it at that beast. All of you, protect our village!”
A shining light glows in both of the kid’s eyes, and his dreams of being a great warrior in the village showed through. He shouts and throws the rock as hard as he can at the cursed child, feeling adrenaline as it hits the foul creature’s eye. The beast cries out in pain, and it clutches its eye.
The kid didn’t see another human child just like him suffering; all he saw was glory for himself, and the big, bad monster he was going to slay.
“You guys, come on! We have to protect the village!” he commands.
The rest of the children stepped out of their laughter and shock…
…and picked up pebbles and rocks.
They waited for the leading one to start.
As they readied themselves, the painful wails of a child could be heard at a distance; however, it was ignored by the horde of newly founded archer children.
The yellow-haired kid picks up a rock for himself, and shouts, “Everybody!”
The children got ready to throw as hard as they could, aiming straight at what they believed to be cursed. The elder watched with a smile.
“Shoot!” The leader commanded, shooting his own.
A series of grunts and “Haa!” sounded out, and the air blasted with rocks.
Jaffy was confused. Why was this pain happening to him? He wasn't intimidating, and he only showed signs of aggression to the old man who shouted at him. His left eye cried tears of blood and water, and in his pain, he was not prepared at all for the second surprise attack thrown at him…nor the rain of pebbles that would hit him right after the first.
He just wanted to be full.
He just wanted some food.
He just wanted to live.
And he couldn’t even have that.
The snow was decorated with red and white flakes of skin that scraped off of his wounds, and his tears had already become ice in the snow. Their sparkle was beautiful, but depressing in the dark sunlight.
A hit straight to the gut makes Jaffy cough wildly, but no spit flies out. The last time he had drank water was a while ago, and the dryness of the bread he had eaten only minutes prior didn’t help with his thirst.
The next pellet hit his sides. The one afterwards missed. A rock hit his arm, making him grimace. A group of small rubble then pounded his chest, the ragged shirt not protecting him at all from the damage.
Jaffy screamed in pain, panting with every breath. Though he did not bleed, the bluntness of the strikes had certainly bruised his young skin, and with every second a new record of pain was being set for his body. It was clear at this moment that he needed to run from this situation, no matter what. His instincts told him to flee.
However, trying to find the piece of food had already depleted most of his energy. Walking in itself became difficult, and the cold made it so he had no choice but to crawl.
As Jaffy turned his back, a small boulder was thrown at his spine. “GAAAH! Haah…haah…haah…” In desperation, he looked for the only thing he knew as home with one blurry eye. The cold started hurting again, and this time, his lungs felt frozen. He hacked with pain, inching closer and closer to the liberation of the attacks he faced. He couldn’t feel his hands anymore.
In the distance, he heard someone speak behind him.
“GET HIM! HE’S GETTING AWAY!”
The angry tone of the voice only made him hurry faster, but not without injury. His hands were numb from the freezing temperatures, and he was continuously being pummeled by thrown stones with every second. His painful screams accompanied by his sobbing were temporarily cut off by his determination to live, and he was only a few steps away to protection…
The continuous rain of small rocks stopped, and at that moment, he felt unprecedented relief; however, in his emotions, he had forgotten that he still wasn’t completely safe.
The air was then suddenly confronted with a burst of energy, and a huge rock, big enough to be called a small boulder, flew through the sky–
“GYAHHHHH! Hic…Haah–AHHHHHHuhhhuhhhunng…”
–and landed straight at Jaffy’s leg, shattering it instantly.
The flesh and bone were exposed, and the nerves sent concentrated signals of pain to his head. The rest of his wounds started to be ignored as every single one of his pain receptors focused on the leg. He continued to scream, and his throat grew more and more sore from the usage.
“That’ll teach it a lesson.” A true warrior of the village said, clutching his throwing arm and smirking. His rock hit the cursed child’s leg perfectly, something to be expected with his aim. He never understood why the village let it live in the first place, so he was overjoyed dealing a shot of pain against it.
The village chief chuckled at the warrior’s enthusiasm, snickering at the pathetic way Jaffy squirmed at the shot. “Getting revenge for your father, I see.”
“Yes.” He squinted his eyes, grinding his teeth. “ I’ll never forgive it…”
The children watching idolized the power inside his throw, some of them mimicking the way he had thrown it, some of them looking at him with awe, but no matter who it was…
“Look at the way it’s moving!”
“It looks just like a squashed bug!”
“Hehehe, that’s because it is one!”
“”“...”””
“””BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”””
…They all laughed at the pitiful way Jaffy crawled, who had barely managed to flee from their torture. There were no thoughts of mercy in any of their heads, and for both them and Jaffy…
…this was normal.
Shivering from both the cold and the pain, the boy sobbed quietly. He clutched his injuries, and covered himself in the straw blanket inside his hut. It was a long five minutes for him outside, and he didn’t even get what he was looking for.
He cried, sniffing every few seconds. As someone from Doctor Jones’ world would normally say, a six year old child should never have to go through this much pain. The frostbite was starting to get to him. The blood had already started to freeze, and the agony of fractured shards of bone stabbing the insides of his leg still bit him.
Under the roof of the hut’s safety, he wept, the clutches of Death grasping him; however, before they could, the power of an unknown deity took pity on him and purple light mended the shattered bone inside his leg, as well as the injury that nearly broke his spine. Jaffy was nearly killed in this interaction, and with a stroke of luck, he was saved. Death frowned at the interference, but it turned its attention away from the now healing boy to the sacrifices of the village.
Jaffy covered his left eye, the bleeding going away. He looked outside, looking to see if the bread was real or not, but the only thing he saw were the malicious smiles of the children pointing at him as if his pain was the most entertaining thing in the world. He would never ever forget their ecstatic smiles full of glee. Then, as the stress of the event weighed on him, he blacked out, wondering why his wounds felt a little bit better…
-O-O-O-
The psychologist looked at Jaffy with sadness. Understanding the significance behind his words, she spoke with a caring tone.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
“I can only imagine what it must have been like to spend your entire childhood being viewed as an outcast. And to be blamed for your own parents' deaths constantly being told with physical reminders...that's a really terrible trauma to have to live through.”
“Yeah…” Jaffy responded, repressing his buried memories of pain and cold. “I barely managed to survive for a long time…that is, by myself. The villagers had tolerated me long enough after the eighth winter I went through, and were going to–they were going to kill me.” He shuddered uncomfortably at the thought.
Dr. K. Jones kept listening, letting the boy take his time, as long as he needed. With each word he said though, a burning emotion swept inside her heart. She was angry at what they had done to him, the permanent scars, the painful memories of his past, and his fears. However, that was why she was here in the first place. To help him move on. The very thought rationalized her, and she focused on Jaffy.
Touching his damaged eye, the boy kept speaking, although with hesitation.
“...Obviously, however, I didn’t die. Before they could have sacrificed my body to the gods…my caretaker stepped in. He was the one who took care of me as a baby, and stopped after being persuaded to. He apparently told them that he would “take the fall” and keep me inside his house, but in an insulting language only those villagers would understand. I felt really grateful and happy, because to me, who didn’t understand words, the sight of him protecting me was the most caring one I had ever seen at that time.”
For the first time, she saw Jaffy smile. Her first impression on this man was with a good light, but when she looked again and saw his expression only droop further…she had some doubts about his nature.
“What happened to this man who protected you? Was he nice?” The doctor softly pried, careful not to sound interrogating. However, there was no need for worry: to Jaffy, only the worries of the elderly were seen.
“I can’t remember what they said to him because I didn’t know how to speak, but they left him alone after he talked to them for a while. He cared for me afterwards and brought me to his house where he lived with his wife.” The boy gazed up into the ceiling at an angle, a reminiscent expression on his face.
“I was…happy, for a time. I learned how to speak, and with what little knowledge they had, I was taught how to read. They told me stories about my parents, and the meaning behind the name they gave me. They taught me…how to be human. However, a lesson they didn’t teach me in time…” Jaffy took in a shaky breath.
“…was that happiness never lasts forever.”
-O-O-O-
In Mier Gande, a certain village was found by a superpower of the continent; the country of Emia had scouted the surrounding area and had noticed them, and as a show of kindness they traded goods with them. They weren’t forced to submit to the religion of the country, and the village most certainly denied their belief in it. They had been following this tradition for generations, after all.
They didn’t have anything good to trade except for the certain white-petaled herbs they had all around the area. These herbs, if properly handled with care by an alchemist, would make a potion causing a sleeping effect; otherwise, if the herb was consumed directly, the victim would undergo nightmares. Now although it wasn’t the most powerful thing on the battlefield, it was a wonder for people who couldn’t sleep at night. The amount of people who were kept awake at night from the things that they had done or the things that had happened to them was a startling amount in this tragic world.
Fortunately for the villagers, Emia was a kind country. Certainly not naive, but kind. When they discovered their existence, they weren’t invaded for those herbs, and there weren’t any particularly bad interactions the two had with each other since.
Inside a home, three people lived peacefully. The child of the house never went outside as he wasn’t supposed to, and the uncle and aunt of the house took care of him. The uncle, named Agan, loved his wife greatly. However, the aunt, named Mala, was affected by a terminally ill disease.
Agan asked for a doctor, a healer, a magician, anybody with the power to save his wife. The words he spoke fell on deaf ears, however. He was told that she couldn’t be saved, even by royal doctors. In his grief, he became unmotivated to do any work, always spending time with his wife.
Although the village let him stay home at rest without working for the time being, some of the friends he had were starting to get worried for him.
Knocking on the door ensued, and a worried voice called out from his neighbor.
“Agan!” He knocked on the primitive wooden door some more, in case he couldn’t hear. The man would have gone inside the house, but as he feared that he would be affected by the cursed child, he had no choice but to knock once more and hope Agan would answer.
The results came slowly, but surely. “...No use again, huh. He blocked his door…Damn!”
The neighbor, Dmishi, had grown up alongside his friend, Agan. Seeing the way he had crumbled down over time practically broke Dmishi’s heart. He angrily muttered to himself, not intending for anyone to hear his words.
“Dammit, he should’ve listened to me…why did he have to get involved with that freak! Now his woman has been cursed too…” Dmichi shaked his head, walking back to his home with a grimace. The village had ignored it for a while, but it was growing closer to its limit. Agan was going to have to go out one way or another.
He was one of the only people who knew how to bargain with the Emians, as Agan had learned their language with the help of a tutor who stayed in the village. As such, his current state left the village in an awkward state. The other singular person with the knowledge to speak their language didn’t have even half the experience he did, so the villagers worried.
As the neighbor spoke, Agan eavesdropped from behind the door with a dark face. He was ashamed to admit it, but he did have some doubts. Was it really Jaffy who had given his wife her illness? He kept trying to convince himself that it wasn’t the case, but it was useless. Agan’s mind was completely set on the possibility, with the short memories he and his wife had made with the child hiding themselves from his gaze.
Jaffy himself was currently sleeping at the moment, clueless as to the thoughts that lay inside Agan’s head.
The man slid down the door slowly and sat down, shaking as remembered his wife’s state.
All of her previous beauty was gone, and she looked paler than a statue. Her veins were clearly shown on her body, the blue tone etching itself onto his memory. The raspy voice of hers replaced the clear one inside his happy thoughts of the past. He still loved her…but only in mind. He denied it, but he hated her current appearance. Agan longed for that precious smile of hers…not the frail one of a corpse.
Jaffy had offered his soft hay bed to her so she could rest alone, and she accepted the offer, thanking him in the process. Jaffy didn’t mind sleeping on the floor as he had done so for most of his childhood. Unfortunately for the woman, her illness only grew worse over time, and the child’s soft bed didn’t do much to help. Agad, in his fatherly love, told him he should at least sleep in a bed, and took him to his own…and then, he had come to a horrifying realization.
‘Mala’s illness…her illness suddenly got worse when she slept on Jaffy’s bed…!’ Agad immediately thought over what he thought again. ‘No…No! It couldn’t be!’
-O-O-O-
“His wife grew sick, and she died. She was so nice, too…”
Jaffy shifted around in his seat uncomfortably. The doctor listened intently, allowing the space for him to talk. Jaffy waited a bit longer to talk again.
“After that day, the village chief argued to him about something important. I don’t know what it was about, but it was very loud…then, it became quiet, and they started talking business. I overheard them, and after they argued, they started speaking to each other about something. I was scared, but I was curious, so I listened intently…”
The doctor queried. “What were they talking about?
“Well, you see…”
-O-O-O-
It was a hot day, but the atmosphere of the room was chilly.
Spring had passed by as Mala’s illness grew, and her death forced Agan to move forward. The village, let alone its chief, had tolerated Agan’s weakness long enough.
A terribly old voice spoke, and a caned elder walked towards Agan, who was currently sitting, his head down. “You.”
He didn’t look up.
The chief lectured him, with far more harshness.
“What the hell do you think you're doing!?! Get a grip! Move on! You’re scaring the children with that lousy attitude of yers! Get rid of that cursed child if ye have to! Screw yer pride and screw yer family’s honor! At this rate you’ll die too, and the village needs ya!” He shouted harshly at the griever.
Agad shook, and he grimaced under the dark shadows of the light.
“See? Look at cha.” He started circling the man and his table, the click and clack of his cane echoing inside the poorly insulated walls. “Ye know you’re doing bad, ye know yer doing absolutely terrible, and ya KNOW that ye can get up and fix it. So MAN UP–”
“WELL WHAT THE FUCK WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO!?!!?”
Startled, the elder takes a few steps away. The stone table had cracks in it, and Agan had stood up with great force, breathing and shaking heavily, staring dead ahead at him.
“TELL ME! WHY DON’T YOU TELL MEEE!?!”
The village chief huddles up to the wall unconsciously at his tone, the slightest spike of fear stabbing his heart. In a desperate attempt to regain control of the situation, he replaced his emotions with anger and spoke, scolding Agan.
“Well obviously ye should have–”
“NO! No, no, you HEARTLESS MONSTER MY WIFE IS DEAD, MY BROTHER IS DEAD, HIS WIFE IS DEAD, AND IN THEIR HONOR I TOOK CARE OF THEIR CURSED CHILD. THAT BOY IS MY RESPONSIBILITY, BUT BEFORE I TAKE CARE OF HIM ONCE MORE LET ME GRIEVE FOR MY WIFE!”
A scared Jaffy shut his ears closed at the decibels of his anger, going ever closer to the fetus position on the cold hay-stone bed he lay on. He shivered at Agan’s words, even though he couldn’t understand them through the walls of the room he was in. Even then, he didn’t want to understand.
Ignorance was truly bliss in this world.
Agan, out of breath, angrily sat down; it seemed that another crack had formed on the stone table, the furniture about to fall apart by itself. Drops of liquid hit the table, and his deflated muscles shivered in rage and grief. He looked down.
“...Leave me alone, old man.”
“...”
With an angry sigh, a wave of sympathy washed over the village chief, despite the impossibility.
“Agan.”
“...”
“...Don’t call me old man. Call me Lonyu.”
Shocked, Agan’s eyes widened. Almost nobody in the village got to know the chief’s name unless they were family.
“I apologize.”
With the clack of the cane stopping and resting, Lonyu sat down, opposite to Agan, and spoke with a far less harsh tone. Unnoticeably, a boy gathered the courage to eavesdrop from behind his door.
“It’s just…” Lonyu took a deep breath. “This village isn’t going to last much longer. Yer the only one who can prevent its downfall. You certainly can’t take care of that child if the bandits around this area invade us, now can ye?”
“...What?”
“Yes, bandits–”
“No, no, it’s just–what are bandits?”
“...”
The village chief sighed for the second time. “This is why I wanted ye to get out of that sadness of yours. Ye don’t even know what's happened in the past season, do ya?” He glanced at the other across the table.
At his tone, Agan immediately straightened his back, wiping out the small bits of water that formed in his eyes. His face practically radiated ‘What’s going on here?’, and his eyes questioned the elder.
Staring with equal ferocity, Lonyu started to speak. Jaffy slowly crawled to his door, listening to their words even though he only understood a few of them.
“It happened a while back. Since Emia discovered us, these weirdos they call “bandits'' have made home in some of the mountains near us. Apparently they’re all criminals who escaped Emia for one reason or another. Now they haven’t done anything too crazy yet, but I’ve been hearin’ mad rumors about these guys. Some of our women, and crazily, one of our children and men…”
Lonyu squinted his eyes hard with annoyance.
“...They’ve taken them for ‘personal use’. Not that I know what that means, though. That’s jus’ what they say. No idea who in their right mind would take a child. They aren’t effective at all for work. Hmph! I would know.”
Agan looked down with a thoughtful expression, his mind thinking about the implications these bandits brought. Before he could do anything, he needed to know their strength, however. He looked smaller than he did before at the moment, but he used to be captain of the warriors in the village.
“If yer wondering about their strength, I’d say they could beat us.”
“What?”
“It’s just the truth. They’re from Emia, and you’ve seen how powerful they are, right? They may be thieves and criminals…but I don’t think we can take them on just yet–oh right, I didn’t tell ye why we needed ya yet, right?” He twisted his cane.
Agan nodded, bracing himself for the next burst of information.
“Well, they’re probably going to invade us. We need ya to talk it out with them. Sacrifice some resources or villagers if we have to. Whatever it takes…to keep the children of our village safe. They speak Emian, and since yer basically the only one who can–or at least, one I can trust to have a chance at coming back alive–I need you to do this for me. I’ll give you warriors if you want them–though I can’t say much about their strength.” He scoffed. “That yellow-haired brat is nowhere near as good as you…well, he’s young, so it’s fine.”
“...Just one.”
The elder raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“If they are as powerful as you say, then I won’t be able to do anything. I just need someone good at running who can alert the village before they invade.” He thought of Jaffy and his father, mulling over the child’s curse. His eyes darkened. “...Ha. To protect the children, right? That’s what you said.”
“Ye. Do we have a deal?”
He put his left hand up to his face and sighed tiredly.
“...Just tell me where the damn bandits are.”
…As they spoke, a shocked, panicky Jaffy folded himself behind the door.
‘Where is he going?’ He thought.
The sweat poured from Jaffy’s skin. His skin crawled and his mind was all focused on that one possibility. With his limited understanding of vocabulary, his thoughts filled in the dots for him.
His right eye couldn’t focus, the left one being obsolete due to a certain previous injury. Both eyes started to blur and water.
‘Is he…’
The despair of the cold winter touched his scarred skin, and unconsciously he shivered in the warm air of the room. He remembered the days of thirst, the weeks of starvation. His voice shook as he slowly laughed quietly…but anybody could see that it was clear as a sunny summer day: the fact he was laughing due to sadness.
A massive weight of despair hung over him, the rope holding it up about to snap.
“Ha…ha…ha…”
‘Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it.’
It was no use trying to keep the fragile dam of emotions from breaking for Jaffy, however.
‘...’
‘There’s no possible way, right?’ Jaffy thought to himself.
He laughed a little more, that shaky smile of his turning upside down. Suddenly, the sunlight passing through the glassless window didn’t seem so bright anymore.
‘He wouldn’t…’
He folded himself further, hugging his legs for emotional support at the very thought. His heart beat faster and faster, and his skin tingled. Jaffy’s eyes couldn’t stand the pressure anymore, and tears sadly stroked his face.
‘He wouldn’t…he wouldn’t abandon me, would he?’
-O-O-O-
Jaffy avoided speaking for a short moment, his heart trying its best not to be hurt by the memory of the event. This was fine for Doctor Jones, however. She understood that this must have been a hard time in his life for him, judging by his silence. She waited patiently.
Jaffy’s right leg was no longer bouncing anymore. He deflated as he sighed.
“...I was so scared when I realized just what they were talking about.”
The doctor slowly readjusted her glasses and asked with gentleness, “What made you so scared? Does it still scare you now?”
With a small shake of his head, he responds, “No…but back then, it was my biggest nightmare.” Jaffy shuddered at the traumatic memory. “I thought that he was…going to abandon me. That I would have to go back to that lonely home of mine in the winter…” He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “...It stressed me greatly.”
“Oh, Jaffy…” The pitying eyes of Dr. K. Jones stared at him with sloped eyebrows about to continue speaking, only to be interrupted by Jaffy's growing anxiety.
“...And I was right to be stressed.”
Jaffy balled his fists powerlessly.
“After that day, I never heard from him again, and I was all alone. Nobody came to check on me. Nobody came to care for me, and nobody–nobody came to love me. Nobody…” He said that particular word with shakiness.
Jaffy’s face darkened with the palette of depression.
“...But him. That’s when he came to me.”
The psychologist braced herself for what may come next in his story.
“What happened to this ‘he’ who came to you? Was he someone who cared for you? Or…did he hurt you?” A glint in her eye sparkled with light.
“…Haha. He cared for me…he did. It had been a season since my caretaker had disappeared, and I was getting very–” Jaffy held back his mouth and breathed harshly. “Let’s just say I was desperate. For food, for water, for safety, and for…love. Anything. And because of that, I…I accepted his offer. To come live with him peacefully. Haha…ha.”
He laughed, with a self-deprecating edge.
“What a terrible mistake that was.” Jaffy continued, a blank look on his face. His eyes were both empty, and his behavior glowed with monochrome.
“It makes a lot of sense that you would place hope in anyone who could offer you safety and love after the way you'd been treated by your village.” Each word was spoken with understanding and care.
Continuing, the doctor spoke with softness and small hidden anger.
“I understand why that could have ended up being a terrible mistake–it would be very easy for someone in your position to be manipulated, and very hard for you to leave when you've been treated with kindness. Not only so, the longer that they've manipulated you…”
Doctor K. Jones closed her eyes slowly with sadness.
“…The more it would have hurt for you to find out the truth.”
Jaffy stayed silent, mouth closed with an eerie calmness.
“What happened next?”
He turned his half-closed eyes around, looking at something else in the room.
“...Well…I started to have nightmares when I stayed at his home. Nightmares that this man would also abandon me. I was never able to get sleep at night. Because of that, I had to start taking sleep potions. As one would expect from their name, they helped me sleep. However, like the idiot I was, I didn’t realize that anything that could be used to help others…”
Jaffy tilted his head down, a bitter expression on his face. Shaking, the boy hugged himself, his two feeble hands clutching his sleeves tightly.
“...could also be used to hurt others.”
-O-O-O-
A stone oven burned with heat, and the sizzling of beast meat could be heard. The village had learned some new techniques and architecture from the Emians, and had grown a bit in terms of technology. Their sleeping herbs were quite popular, and Emia’s laws made it so nobody could trespass on the village’s business.
A certain man named Dmishi went outside his home and opened his neighbor’s house, his eyes growing more dead as the dust inside was never swept.
Jaffy waited with anticipation and gratitude, looking at a man’s back as he cooked; however, the smallest tinge of caution and doubt still existed in his heart. He had lived with him for a few weeks, and had grown to trust this new man. Oddly, it seemed that the man was trying his best to hide what he was cooking.
Perhaps he just wanted to surprise Jaffy?
He plucked off white petals from a certain plant, and cut them up into small pieces, putting them all inside the food.
This man, named Nolua, was one of the main herb merchants of the village. He didn’t know how to speak Emian of course, but he learned how to communicate effectively with them. It was even better if he had the translator kid nearby, too.
“Today’s the day,” he whispered to himself with ecstatic emotion. “I’ve planned it for weeks…” He hid his gleeful smile from the child inside the other room.
Nolua smiled differently as he looked at his work, holding back the laugh inside him. He brought the food onto stone plates, and he was careful not to drop it as he walked over to the table Jaffy eagerly waited at.
The boy drooled at the meal. An understandable action, considering he had only eaten a few good ones in his entire life. Even Agan only cooked bread–Mala only had the opportunity to cook meat on the occasion the retired hunter went to hunt.
Rubbing his tired eyes, Jaffy thanked him with a small smile and proceeded to devour the dish without manners. Nolua was still smiling, but he chuckled softly to himself seeing Jaffy gobble his meal up.
Satisfied at the sight, he walked towards the back closet, where he grabbed a wooden bottle. It was quite light, but one could faintly hear liquid sloshing inside as he opened the top. Noula looked inside to check just how much content was inside, and grimaced.
With a sigh, his face darkened. He muttered to himself with annoyance.
“...Hopefully, this is enough for him to sleep peacefully for the night.”
Nolua would have gotten more, but he had forgotten to. A terrible blunder…the next day, he would most definitely trade for at least five more bottles. The gray liquid inside sparkled.
He walked back to Jaffy’s table with the bottle in his right hand.
Jaffy was still eating, and the plate’s food was almost finished entirely. His stomach was full, but he always enjoyed the feeling of overeating. It reminded him that he was no longer inside his past.
It was only when he had finished the meal did he notice Nolua standing at the spot opposite to his seat on the table. Nolua put the bottle of sleeping potion onto the table, and kept it away from him as he tried to grab it. He reminded Jaffy.
“Wait until all your food goes down, Jaffy. Then drink the sleeping potion.”
With a yawn, Jaffy’s eyes grew more tired, even though he wasn’t sleepy. He responds with a low-effort grin. “Got it…” He gulped.
After about ten seconds of waiting, the child grew impatient.
“Can I have it now…?” Jaffy pleaded. “Look!” He opened his mouth wide for the man to see, pointing to it. Closing it, he stated with glee, “There’s nothing inside!”
…Nolua covered his mouth with his left hand while turning his eyes away, passing the bottle to him.
“…Yeah, go ahead. Sorry to keep you waiting.” He spoke into his hand.
With confusion, Jaffy wondered why he covered his face like that, but only for a few seconds did he think. He immediately grabbed the wooden bottle and chugged it, already feeling the effects in seconds as his body felt heavier to move.
“...I’ll be…going to sleep then…thank you…” Jaffy smiled once more, walking towards a makeshift bed made using grass and hay in his room.
He fell onto its comforting arms, and Jaffy wrapped himself around the tangles of a poorly made blanket, quickly closing his eyes…and falling asleep.
‘…’
‘...’
‘...’
‘...Why am I not falling asleep yet?’
It was a confusing matter for Jaffy. In an attempt to change his sleeping position, believing that to be the cause, he found out something alarming.
‘I…I can’t move my body?’
In a vain effort, Jaffy immediately tried to move every square inch of his body. His eyelids stayed closed, and his arms and legs were stiff. It was very odd…he could still feel everything around him, but he couldn’t do anything with his body except breathe.
That’s when, very quietly, a door was opened. As Jaffy couldn’t use his eyes, his ears twitched slightly at the noise. He tried thinking about just what the noise could be, and succeeded.
‘Is that…Nolua? Why would he be coming inside this room?’ Jaffy questioned inside his thoughts. He didn’t feel any danger knowing he was in the room, but Jaffy was still a bit worried.
Footsteps roused slowly, and nervous breathing sounded out. Nolua muttered to himself with a shaky sigh, not believing Jaffy to be awake.
“Let’s not get too excited here…”
It seemed like he knelt down. Jaffy paid close attention to what he did next. Some shuffling noises made their way into his ears, and then there was silence.
‘…’
‘…’
‘…Is he still here? I wonder…’ Jaffy thought to himself, his body still unresponsive.
‘…’
A few minutes had passed without anything happening. Jaffy thought he was gone, but…
“…Seems like he’s sleeping. Hahaha…”
Quietly, Nolua laughed harder, still cautious as to not “wake” the sleeping child. As he laughed, Jaffy felt something crawl on his spine. The tinge of caution he had inside his heart suddenly grew, but it was too late for him to do anything about it now.
Nolua’s hand caressed the scars on Jaffy’s neck, and slowly, he took off the blanket Jaffy had with great care. On his shoulder, he put a cloth on Jaffy’s eyes and tied it to his head.
Then…
Nolua spoke again with care as Jaffy questioned his actions within his head.
“Oh, Jaffy…”
Jaffy’s heart wavered with his soft tone…
…though he became confused when the man slowly took off the shirt Jaffy wore, wondering what he was doing. Nolua spoke again, leaving Jaffy waiting in anticipation for what he would say.
His voice shook.
“Thank you…”
‘…What are you thanking me for?’ Jaffy wondered, an out of place fear inside his mind. His instincts were telling him to stop the man, but he couldn’t move even if he tried.
Although Jaffy couldn’t see it, Nolua was smiling.
“Thank you…”
It was a sinister smile.
‘E-eek! Wh-What are you—’
Jaffy’s hips were suddenly groped with two hands, and he did his very best to escape their grasp, blood pressure rising—but it was useless trying to resist, for he was paralyzed. Nolua licked his dry lips, breathing hard at the adorable sight of Jaffy’s “clueless” sleeping face.
“…for allowing me to use your body!”
-O-O-O-