You Can't Be Strong All The Time, Sometimes You Just Need To Be Alone And Let Your Tears Out

Eichii POV:

These embroyic oaks lay upon the grass, their brown is a gift to the eyes. I could watch them a while, these acorns, let this moment of bliss extend as much as the light is spreading over the horizon...but the path bends forwards and there was much journeying ahead, much more pain ahead.

I'm not even allowed on a horse, I asked why they are doing this to me...no one will want a broken child as a slave. It didn't matter what shape I was in, I had the gifts of God the people who win me should be considered lucky I'm being sold off in the first place.

After every mountain peak, there's another, yet the climbing is everything. With each stretch I just feel lower and lower; with each stride, I'm weaker, I keep forfeiting a little more, making it even grimmer for me to get through the times of hardship.

Though, despite all of this, I feel the winter wind as a coldness to teach me to stay warm inside. I feel sharp rocks as a whisper to walk lightly.

Those times the clouds shower me with their icy love, I let it remind me of the tears I prevent by walking these ways...and it makes me move all the way faster.

The path doesn't care for the terrain, that's for me to deal with. The path is the path. So whatever comes I keep going. When I get knocked down I have to get back up, or the brutal end of life comes to haunt me further.

After what seemed like an endless day of walk and torture, I arrived at a less than scenic view of a pattern of grass, constructs and hills, looking down from the high position. Dense fog gathered in the centre of the moor. Over a small hill to the south, nestled in a valley, lay an abandoned and desolate village.

It was bitterly cold, I stood looking out across the moor as the fog slowly crept its way towards the village; tendrils, like fingers, clawed its way closer, quickly smothering it from the view. A grey afternoon chill descended upon the surrounding hills, as slowly the sky began to darken.

The sky had darkened as the men and I approached the village from afar; It had only taken a few minutes but my ragged breath protested otherwise.

The village looked relatively small, cradled like a baby in the arms of the surrounding hills. I walked further, shivering until night lay with me and the moon struggled to penetrate the canopy above. The leaves were unyielding, hanging on firm in the sudden chill that that succeeded sunset.

As I entered the village, a wall of overwhelming scent hit me, piles of rubbish resembling rotting animal carcasses onto which thousands of flies were drawn, like a beacon of light, unlike me who had nothing to go to.

The sounds of unseen creatures and the sound of the creeping dead chilled me to the bone as I slowly breathed in the dark mustiness, the earth laden chill filled my nostrils, burning my insides. Darkness had fully set in now, only the waning glimmer of light from the moon illuminated my path out of the village.

Oh, how I wanted to tread that path...my hopes diminishing as the men and I slowly went further and further away from my only hope. I looked at the beggars on the street, they were hunched and ill. You could see their ribs through their slim, battered skin.

They were suffering from the weather and the loss of food. When they looked at me, they gave looks of pity, but from the glares of the bas*ards dragging me, they shrunk away...terrified. The sigh that escaped my lips was slow as if my brain needed time to process just a simple action.

My eyes stayed fixed on the road, on the exact path that leads to my demise. I continue to look upon the entrance of the village where we entered...how I long to be there...to run to my freedom, my only hope...but alas not everything can go your way.

"Oi brat! Get your feet moving if you want to keep them attached!" one of the men shouted at me, I just continue to look at the village entrance...wouldn't it be better if I lost my legs.

*sigh* no...it would only further my pain...I sense something approaching my head but I'm too tired to dodge it. *whack* "You've got some nerve ignoring me kid," can this fly buzz off? I am getting real tired of his sh*t right now. "F*ck off," "What did you just say?" Is he deaf? I said "FU*K OFF!" he stood there looking at me with discord and amusement.

After another brutal beating, I was dragged into a pub, the stairs were damp but sturdy, the door opened with a croak as the man dragging me was signalled by his 'friends' of where they were.

The few other people in the bar looked at me with surprise and pity...I don't need any of that, why pity me...just get on with your day and stop looking at me like that, you aren't helping anyone...you're just making me feel even more alone than I already am.

Through wet and damaged eyes, I only saw a few groups of people and a couple of shady cloaked figures in a far corner. I am lonely but I have me. I am a person too. There are those surrounded by people and yet, because they surrendered their soul, they are truly alone.

The truth is, unless you can connect to your true self, you cannot connect to anyone else. So though I look like the loser; I am closer to winning than most. I am still me. How many can say that?

I sit in the corner of the pub, behind the twenty men who destroyed my village, and the moment I relaxed pain coursed through every pore in my skin, bone in my body. F*CK IT HURTS! IT HURTS SO MUCH!

I slump to the floor riving in pain, my hand touches some overgrown grass on the floor and it slowly starts to grow and go up to my arm, then my leg and then thin strands cover my whole body as my wounds slowly start to heal.

"H-hey look at the kid," one of the men said. They all turned to see my wounds slowly healing as the grass withers away and dies, the crumpled grass falls off my skin as I stand up and am completely healed...but I'm tired, I feel like I'm about to collapse from running too much.

At this point all of the people in the bar look and see the miracle that just happened. "hahahahahaha not only can he grow trees, but grass can also heal him! Wow, kid aren't you a special one!" Before I can think he pushes me to the ground and ties me up with rope. "What did you do kid?" he asked, threateningly. I don't respond...how can I tell an answer I don't even know, that's like asking a man to fly.

Looking at my astounded face he seemed to get the message that I don't know either and just knocked me to the ground. "We've hit a jackpot with this one boys! I guess going to that village was worth it after all!" At that, I look at him, my gaze full of anger. He looked in my eyes and gained an astounded face.

"Hey guys, don't his eyes look like crystals?" "Oh yeah they do," "They do look beautiful don't they?" "Do you think if we rip them out he can heal them like before?" He asked this with a face full of anticipation. "Fuck you...I was never one to believe in monsters until I was proved by you, that they exist!"

Clearly, they didn't like that as a few of them grouped up on me and started hitting me constantly, my body eventually became more purple than white, my vision was becoming blurry and I looked up at them to see two cloaked figures leaving the building, I can catch a glimpse at one of them through their hood, it was only brief, but I could tell it was a man, black hair and some scars covering his face.

When dawn comes I can barely move, and not because I am tied up with rope. Every muscle has seized up. My body is struggling to recover, to repair the damage. Unable to move with any grace my movements are jerky. I edge to the light that flows water-like through the trees.

On each of my arms and legs - my torso as well- are great purple welts that will only deepen over the coming week. I try to heal myself with nature again but it seems the last time was a fluke through my despair. The bruises against my ghostly skin look grotesque, but I know I am lucky not to have any broken bones.

I'm currently on the back of a horse, at an awkward angle with my back slouched over the horses rear-end. and my head dangling above the dirty ground, Having to do a sit-up to sit properly. My body gains a sudden chill as the horse rides through thick snow.

Though over time, when the melt comes to the mountains, it is the evergreens who show the season change first. Their white-winter coats are gaily swapped for deepest green and the ground-snow remains as glacial rivers for a time. A few more weeks and there will be rocks showing from the white, then the earth below.

This is the time when the streams run fully when their life is infused with fresh water, pure and clean. Together with the bird-song, their watery percussion is the music of nature. The hills were decadent with green foilage and new spring buds and the valley was the most friendly place of them all, sunlit and serene.

I look towards the person on the horse to see a new but familiar face, this was the only man who hadn't done anything to me yet...though that doesn't help...he still killed my friends. "Hm? Ah, you're up? You were sleeping for quite some time" he said with a chuckle.

After a while, he said to me "I'm not very good at saying sorry, but I apologize...I can't keep on apologizing for it. I have to begin to forgive myself even if you can't," This piece of shit! Who does he think he is spouting empty words?! "Actions speak louder than words, even if you're not as cruel as those freaks, in my eyes you are no different!" Did he look at me with...sadness?

"Like I said I don't expect you to forgive me. I just wanted you to know that I'm so-" I cut him off before he could finish, "Shut your mouth, if your actions don't live up to your words, you have nothing to say, don't suddenly try to be kind to me, kindness is not about words. It isn't spoken. It is about action.

Kindness is a deed. And I'll prove that and I'll stand for what is right. Even if it means standing alone!" He didn't seem too fazed by my words but just moved his hand towards me. I flinched back expecting him to hit me but all I found was warmth?

He just placed his hand on my head and said "Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to a noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a greater person for yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in." (MARTIN LUTHER KING)

Even if he is a bas*ard (NOT MLK) he sure knows how to talk big. After he said that I just ignored him and looked ahead at what was coming into sight. On the path ahead were trees of all texture and design, people coming to and from the town ahead, nature beneath me crumbling and crunching as the twenty men and I made our way down a small slope towards the city.

A wall stretching outwards giving the sense of an overwhelming eclipse. Guards stationed above and across, checking each person that came by. When the men stopped I was surprised, then they quickly grabbed me and placed me in a large woven basket making sure to tightly obstruct my movement and voice.

The last thing I saw was the slow envelopment of darkness, dread setting in once more.