Chapter 7

The light of a new day began to fall upon the rooftops and across the streets of Xidi. It didn't take long for the town to come to life with the sounds of carpenters at work and blacksmiths hammering away at their creations. The trees around Xidi rustled to life as flocks of birds flew out to hunt for their food while others stayed on the branches to chirp their peaceful songs. In the farmlands, the fieldworkers began their chores and set bulls to pull plows to make space for more crops while the growing ones were being tended to. While the fields were taken care of, the herders took the livestock to the edge of the forest for their early grazing. Near the river, a group of fishermen cast their lines from a comfortable spot under some trees, and nearby were a group of women filling buckets with water, sharing gossip and laughter while they did so. One of them heard a couple of voices getting closer to where they were and decided to look for the source of the noise. That's when she saw three men who looked like they had spent the whole night drinking as they stumbled their way down the path.

"Looks like it's time to get going."

The other women stopped their conversations and looked in the direction of the drunken men, silently agreed, and attached their buckets to their carrying poles. The women then took a small uphill path back to town in order to avoid any chance of the drunken men catching up to them.

Around noon, the marketplace was bustling with people talking with their familiar vendors and others trying to haggle their way to save a bit of money. One figure stood out as a new young soldier dressed in flawless armor walked around and asked a few villagers for directions to a location that was on a piece of paper he showed them. A loud commotion nearby distracted the soldier and the people around from what they were doing. As haggling and conversations stopped, a crowd formed around the site of the commotion. In the center of the action was a shopkeeper on the back of a messy-looking bald man in stained clothes.

"I've got you now, thief! There's nowhere to run!"

Despite his situation, the bald man tried his best to break free and escape as he struggled under the weight of the shopkeeper on his back and clawed at the ground. The crowd of onlookers laughed at the man's futile attempts, mocking his lingering hope of getting away and his current situation. As the scene continued, a caravan of seven wagons pulled by strong-looking warhorses entered the town and made their way towards the main street. The cargo of these wagons were squads of armed men and some supplies piled high against the walls of the wagons. The new recruit stopped looking at the shopkeeper and bald man and made his way through the crowd to get in front of the wagons, shouting, "Move aside! Make way for the wagons!"

***

Jin found himself in an unfamiliar place, a blinding light bathed him then it was broken by a series of flickers. As Jin squinted up at the light to see what was causing the flickers, he saw some dark ropes growing out of the light and heading towards him. As they got closer, the ends of the ropes became more and more frayed and each strand grew in size and morphed into tall shadow beings with dark tendril-like appendages growing out of their backs. They spoke no words, the only noise they made were bone-chilling shrieks that stabbed fear through one's heart like a knife through paper. The shadow creatures lunged at JIn but before they got to him, he awoke from his nightmare in a cold sweat and was extremely pale. His eyes refused to focus in the light that was coming in from the window, but after a few minutes of blinking and rubbing his eyes, Jin saw that he was back home. Jin tried to make sense of the dream he just witnessed, but the longer he tried to think about the details, the more he forgot and eventually he decided to stop thinking about it all together. After a while, Jin got up to make himself some breakfast and sat in silence as he ate. Flashes of the previous night haunted Jin as he cleaned his plate. His head began to ache from the intensity of emotions he felt revisiting the other night's events. After he wiped the cold sweat off his head, Jin figured it'd be best to get out of the house for a while and that he not be around whenever his father came back. 

As Jin got back into town, he thought about a lot of things: What should he do? How's his mother doing? What was that dream he had about? How did he get home last night? He couldn't wrap his mind around the answer to any of these questions, so he decided that he should take some time to calm down before he tries to talk with his mom or think about his dream. Jin bought himself some food from a street vendor and went down to his spot away from the village to have some peace and quiet. As he saw the tree that marked his secluded spot, he walked straight towards it at a quicker pace. Shade, the sound of just the water running and the tall grass rustling in the gentle breeze, and food were just what he needed to take his mind off of the previous night and feel the closest he's been to serene in years. A few minutes after he sat down, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and focused on the calm around him until he heard a noise. The noise came from behind him in the tall grass, it sounded like the grass was being parted by a pair of legs rather than the rustling of a simple breeze. Jin opened his eyes and peeked around the tree to see who it was approaching him. What Jin saw was a familiar face of a young boy slightly younger than he was. 

"Bao? What are you doing here?" Jin asked.

"That's funny, I was about to ask you the same question," replied Bao.

"I always come here whenever I need to take my mind off of things, it's really nice here, no noise, no shouting, just the river and the grass. Now then, why did you come out here?"

"That's easy, I followed you."

"Yeah that's obvious, but how come you followed me?"

"Eh, beats getting chased by the guards, plus it's a nice change of pace. Usually it's just steal, lose the guards, and go home. But here it's steal, relax while the heat dies down, and then go home, makes things easier."

Jin then noticed the bag full of bread and fruit that Bao was carrying and then a question hit him, "Wait a minute, why do you steal if you've got a home? Wouldn't the guards look for you there if they lose track of you?"

Bao looked at Jin confused and wondered what he meant then he understood, " Maybe I should be clearer, I don't have a traditional family like a mom and a dad and all that, I live with a bunch of other orphans. We help each other and look out for each other, the younger ones clean around the house while the older ones go out and beg, steal, or work for money or food. Our house might not be as fancy as yours but it's good for keeping the rain out, the sun off our heads, and keeps us safe at night so it works just fine."

"Hang on, were you the one that brought me home last night? How did you even know where I lived?"

"Yeah, it was me and I didn't know at first. I found you passed out near the river in the forest and I took you to your doctor friend. He said you weren't physically hurt but you were really tense so he gave you something to calm you down. He didn't have any free beds at his place so he told me where you lived and I carried you there."

"Well, that answers that question, nothing left to do now but to eat."

"Can I get some of your food? I'll share a loaf of bread."

"Sure, we'll split the food."

"Thanks. After helping me with the guards and now with the food, you're pretty alright, I'll have to introduce you to other kids sometime."

"That sounds good, it'll be nice to meet the other kids that you live with."

The two boys sat under the tree, sharing their small banquet, quietly watching the river current pass by. The silence was finally broken when Bao decided to ask something that he had been curious about, "Hey so how come you were passed out by the river last night? DIdn't seem like you got into a fight and you don't look like the kind of kid to sneak around and drink til he's black out drunk." 

Jin stopped munching on a piece of bread and froze looking at the river as the events of the previous night played in his mind. Every scene replayed so vividly and his father's words rang so clearly as he had to sit through their tormentous sting once again. Recalling all of this made Jin break out into a cold sweat and he felt dizzy once again until Bao called out to him to shake him from his thousand yard stare. 

"Are you alright? You went really quiet and still, then you got all pale and sweaty, seems like someone was drinking last night and now you've got a hangover, and you didn't share."

"N-no, that's not it," Jin said as he closed his eyes and tried to steady himself from the dizziness.

"Just messing, I know you don't have a hangover, you had way too much energy in town and on the walk over, but it still seems like you had a crazy night yesterday."

Jin chuckled dryly, "Yup, that's a nice way to put it."

"Then it's probably best if we change the subject to something better to think about, " Bao said as he turned away to hide the expression on his face that pretty much meant "Yikes" The boys started chatting more about the other kids Bao lives with and the things they get up to. When they wrapped up the last of the food, Jin and Bao walked back to town and went their separate ways. Now that he felt a little more calm and collected, he thought it was time to go visit his mother and see how she's doing. Jin entered the healer's hut and went into his mother's room where he found her sitting up, looking out the window until she heard Jin walk in. She turned to face him and greeted him with a smile. Jin looked at her and was glad to see how much her condition had improved since the other day. 

"Hey mom, how are you feeling today?"

"A lot better than before, but it'll still be a little while until I can go home. The doctor gave me something to help with the pain, so I'm a little weak at the moment."

"I'm glad to hear that you're doing well."

"Yes I can't wait to go home. How have things been? How's your father?"

Upon hearing this, Jin's face soured and his smile was replaced by a spiteful scowl, "Don't know, and I really don't care how he's doing."

Sagaki's warmhearted expression turned to one of shock at Jin's comment, "Jin, how could you say such things about your father? He's kept us sheltered and clothed all this time, the least we can do is show him a little respect."

"Respect!? How can you even say that, after all he's done to us? After all he's done to you?"

"Jin, calm down, I know what kind of man he actually is, he only lashes out because he's frustrated."

"All he ever does is complain about how terrible our house is, how disgusting the food you make is, and how much of a disappointment of a son I am, and when he feels like it, he just beats us to his heart's content."

"Your father loves you so much, you know that."

"He does, does he? Then you should try explaining that to him, because the other night he told me how he wishes I was never born and how he regrets being my father."

Sagaki froze at the horrific thing she just heard and the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. It took a while for Sagaki to regain her ability to speak after hearing such a shaking confession from her husband's mind.

"That can't be. Your father would never say something like that, especially towards his own family."

"It's the truth! He told me with his own words when I found him in the woods last night. He only felt hatred and anger towards me, he didn't even express a single shred of remorse for hurting you to the point you have to be sent to the doctor."

"..."

"Do you even care that he'll continue to treat us this way? If you do, then why don't we leave him by himself, that's what he prefers anyway. Why do you keep defending him?"

"Of course I care, but I also care about him. I'm sure that if you give him some patience-"

"Patience!!!!!? If we do nothing else and just let him have his way, we won't be alive to give him any patience."

"Jin, please-"

"No, I don't want to hear what you have to say, it'll just be more pleas to defend him. It's pretty clear that you can accept him like this, but I can't. I thought I could come here and talk some sense into you, but it seems my words fall on deaf ears."

Jin storms out of the hut in a hurry, wanting to get away from there as fast as possible. Sagaki tried to get out of bed and go after him, but forgot how weak she still felt from the treatments. She took one step before her legs gave out from beneath her and collapsed to the floor. All she could do now was try to yell out, "Jin, wait" with a cracking voice as tears streamed down her face, as she started to witness her family finally fall apart.