A Cure for the Blind

Chapter 18 - We Collapse

Chapter Eighteen

We Collapse

“Please, Sir! Please, forgive me! Please, I didn’t mean to!” Victor pleaded while trying, with all his might, to be free of the man’s grasp. He was quite literally being dragged through the rocky, muddy grounds of the local market. 

No one aided him. They barely even looked as the stranger dragged the child through the dusty and dirty grounds. Not that Victor was expecting any mercy or help, he was quite used to peoples’ hardened cores and the sight of one of the street kids being violently punished wasn’t anything new.

“Please, Sir! Please, I’m really sorry!”

“Sorry?” The man dragging him stopped in his tracks and lifted him off the ground, still keeping a strong hold on him and almost leaving him in mid-air. He brought Victor close to his face and, to his surprise, the man didn’t appear angry – he looked highly amused, though still quite scary. “You’re just sorry you got caught.” The man laughed and grabbed little Victor by his torso, carrying him by his side as if he was nothing more than luggage.

“No, no please, Sir! I really am sorry! Please, don’t take me to the Guard!” Victor yelled, trying to appeal, in vain, to the man’s compassion, purposely trembling his voice.

“Do you know what I do to little scamps like you who try to steal from me?” the man asked, looking at him again. Victor returned the stare and expected for the man to continue. Nothing could be worse than the Guard.

“I kill them.” He smiled devilishly and Victor’s eyes widened.

Stricken by a whole new sense of panic, Victor fought, kicked, struggled and screamed, doing all he could to escape the horrible man. Death was definitely worse than the Guard!

“Let me go! Let me go, get off! Let me go, you disgusting piece of scum!” He screamed, the farce of the scared, regretful, innocent little boy completely forgotten and his true colors finally emerging.

“The Guard is looking pretty good now, isn’t it?” the man said with a mocking tone. Victor struggled even harder, managing to finally bite the man’s strong arm.

The man yelled in pain and finally let him fall. As soon as he hit the ground, Victor quickly got to his feet, ignoring all the bruises and cuts in his body, from being dragged through the raw ground and from a fight he had earlier, and tried to run away. The man recovered too fast though and caught him by the collar of the oversized jacket he had won the week before. He threw him against a wall with strength and Victor was finally rendered defeated, the impact of his collision with the stone wall leaving him slightly dizzy, out of breath and with an aching head and back.

He looked around, trying to focus his vision and noticed the man had dragged him into a solitary alley.

He was going to kill him!

He couldn’t escape. The man was blocking the only narrow exit. He would have to fight his way out - as usual.

The man approached him slowly, always displaying that wide smile, and Victor prepared for battle. To his surprise though, the man didn’t get near enough for physical confrontation. He simply sat on a nearby bin and casually took a cigar from his pocket, lighting it and looking at Victor with an amused and sympathetic expression.

“You have courage kid,” he said, “and talent. I like that. What’s your name?”

Victor frowned and remained glued to the wall. He didn’t trust him. He didn’t trust anyone.