11 Luke

Sometimes, it's very hard to determine what kind of impression you've left on somebody. With some, they'll make sure you know right then and there. I knew this kid, few years back by the name of Mini. Emphasis on "knew" and "Mini." He was a small kid, as evident by the name. He stayed out of people's business, but would make a habit of sneaking into people's businesses and stealing what he could. He was 8. Very small for his age. We worked together on a few jobs before. I would find a store, move a few wooden planks, he would crawl in and steal what he could. It kept us fed for a few months.

Maybe somebody made a complaint, or defenses were getting lax, but the Fire Nation started adding stone layers to every building in the slums making the meat shield stronger than before. Before Riu set up shop, the biggest gang was "The Black-Eyes" because they always ended a conversation by giving the other person a black eye or some dumb shit like that. The leader was a very unimaginative 12-year-old named Greeti. Being one of the older people on the streets, he had a lot of power. A few weeks after the Fire Nation repaved the slums, his gang was barely able to steal anything so they turned to Mini. There were two problems: Greeti didn't know that Mini could only break into wooden establishments and that he always did it with a partner. Mini didn't have a choice. If a gang targeted you, you had to do what they wanted, no matter how impossible.

I didn't see him that night. They left Mini with more than a black eye. The next morning, in the slum plaza, hanging from the sign of the store he was supposed to rob, he was hung by the neck, legs, severed at the knees, cutting him even shorter, and on his chest, was a sign nailed to him reading "Failure."

I was angry and I wanted payback, but there wasn't anything I could do. I was 8, just like Mini. Even now I wouldn't be able to do shit. The world doesn't wait until you're ready. The Fire Nation, impressed, I guess, picked of Greeti and anyone close to his age in his gang. That was the end of the black eyes. It wasn't until a year later that Riu would kill a Fire Nation recruiter, gain his fame, and become the leader of the slums.

It was that same leader that I found myself having a harder time that every trying to read.