I walk into the room. He was so much smaller now that I wasn't 5. The memory was fuzzy, but the more I stared at his face, the clearer it became.
•
Mom tucked me in and I held onto the small rhino. She kissed my forehead and I giggled.
"I love you my little bubble" She says pushing her nose against mine.
"I wove you mommy"
She leaves and I smile to myself. She was happier than usual. I snuggle the rhino and then the door opens again, but instead of Mommy, it was a man.
He looks surprised to see me, but I look at him confused. Mommy didn't like having people over. She usually yelled at them when they came.
He comes to me and I back away from him into the wall. He takes the rhino from my hands and I whimper. He took Stripes.
I start to cry and the man chuckles and picks me up. I wiggle in his grip but he doesn't let go. We leave my room and walk into the main part of our small house
Mommy was being held down by 3 men and there were 7 more that were asleep behind her. She looked hurt.
"Mommy" I whimper.
She tries to stand up but the men push her down. I start to cry harder and the men say something in a language I don't know.
One of the men holding her pulled out a knife and twisted her hand back. I struggle against the man holding me but he's a lot bigger than me.
He starts to cut her and Mommy starts to cry. The man keeps cutting Mommy and she is bleeding a lot. They're pulling her skin off her. That shouldn't happen.
She started screaming and I didn't know what was happening. The men laugh and I try to get to her but the man holding me won't let me. I look up at his face but he's smiling and laughing.
•
As I look at the man in front of me, I know it's the same one. The one who held me.
"What are you going to do kid?" He grunts.
I walk out and walk to Eyes.
"Where did you find him?" I ask surpring myself with the how loud and hard my tone is.
"Um, I didn't. I don't know where my um, my men found him. He's, um, he's a traitor?" Eyes says backing away from me a bit.
"Anyone can hurt him but don't let them kill him." I say walking back to the cell.
I would kill him. I would kill him for killing my Mom. I would kill him for hurting the only person I cared about until Eyes and Ears. I would kill him.
I walk back into it and the man watches me. I stare at him wondering what I should do. Mental torture first right?
"I wonder what I should do first?" I say softly.
The mans eyes widen. Obviously he knew who I was, how I didn't talk. Better yet, he didn't recognize me.
"Maybe I should skin you alive too?" I say barely containing my anger
I see his mind working. The gears turning. Him wondering who I am. Wondering who he's skinned before. But what's better, is I see it when he recognizes me. Or at least who I was. When he recognizes me as the boy he held while his friends skinned my mother.
He pales so fast and he starts stuttering and crying. I walk to him and he starts shaking.
"I'll be back" I whisper in his ear and then I leave.
Everyone is staring at me that I pass. I couldn't care less. I was seething. I just dyed my hair again. I would have to wait 3 weeks until all of it left. Then I could go back and scare him more than before.
And in the meantime, his mind would be churning. I smile to myself and everyone who is staring flinches and backs away from me giving me a 10 foot radius.
I run into Eyes as I leave and he asks me how I know him.
"He's the one Iver. He's the one who held me while they skinned her alive."
I don't know if I told them about that. I don't remember. Either way, it didn't matter anymore.
"I'm not 5 anymore," I whisper more to myself than anyone else. "so I'm gonna make him pay"
I look back up at Eyes and he looks like he's seen a ghost. I get on the motorcycle and drive back to his place. I leave the bike and walk into the forest to the fort.
Eyes and Ears found me the next week.
•
I woke up and saw her in front of me. A bloody, skinless mess. The house was a mess. Completely raided and everything that wasn't missing was broken.
I crawl to the body and roll it over. The same eyes stare up at me. I begin to sob. This was all that was left of my Mother.
She had no hair, she had no nose or ears. She was completely skinned. Her lessons run through my head.
No matter how much you think you know someone they'll always have a secret. Make sure the people you know have secrets because the ones without will become the worst people there are.
Speaking is dangerous. Words are insights into how you feel and feelings are dangerous. Don't let people know how you feel because they'll use it against you
The way someone acts will tell you what they think because even when they pretend to be something or someone they're not, the true intentions can be seen.
•
I shake my head trying to forget it. Forget the things she told me. Forget her because it hurt so much. It hurt so much to even think about her.
•
I run out of the house screaming. Someone chases me. The person that found me crying over my Mother's skinned body.
I run trying to hide from it. Hide from what just happened. I climb a tree and cry for hours. But every time I almost fall asleep the terrifying feeling comes back.
The feeling that someone will hurt me. I slowly walk back to the house. People were working and cleaning out the house. Once it's stripped of everything, they leave.
I walk in and don't see anything. Cement walls is all that is left. They even took the wood beams so that pillagers wouldn't steal them.
They didn't take the roof though. I sit on the floor and sleep. When I wake up I leave and promise to my Mom that I wouldn't talk. Not until I knew the person. Not until I knew every secret but one.
I leave and walk for days climbing trees to sleep in. I hear someone saying how loud it was. I think the boy should get better ears if he thinks it's loud.
Then another one asks the first one what 'that' was. Then they start climbing my tree. I stay where I am but don't want them to come any closer.
One of them sits in front of my while the other dangles from the branch above.
"I'm Iver!" One boy says. The one who saw me. He had good eyes.
"I'm Dario!" The one hanging from the branch says. The one who needed new ears.
I don't answer them. They look at each other. "You're quiet" Dario whisper yells.
"I like your hair" Iver says.
I touch my hair. Mommy said it wasn't a normal color. That most people had black or brown hair. Sometimes it was yellow or red.
Not white like mine. She said it was a family thing. How every generation from my Dad's side had someone with white hair.
I went with them that day. We walk through what they call a city. I don't like it. There were a lot of people and they all stared at us. They all stared at me.
No one had white hair.