1 Hei Su

"Hei Su! Hei Su! How does it feel to have killed your own mom and dad?"

"Hei Su! Hei Su! Is it fun to live on the streets like a dog?"

Children can be cruel. It was something that Su Wei had to find out early. The nickname they called him was one that stuck to him like glue in recent years, even he himself sometimes forgot that it wasn't his real name but a cruel reminder of how he was the one who had killed his family, one after the other.

They called him the 'black Su', the bringer of misfortune, the only one left.

The other kids kept screaming at him while they danced around in glee but their calls hit on deaf ears.

The gaunt child in their middle was curled up in a ball. It held something in it's hands, resembling meat, too moldy to figure out it's origin. It could be a piece of a dog or maybe a large rat but mostly it was made of maggots that fell down to the ground, wriggling, as the tiny hands squeezed the meat with a death-grip.

Still, the child of about 9 years tore at it with his teeth as if it was the most delicious meal in a long long time. After mere seconds, all of it had been swallowed into that small stomach of his. He stared at his empty hands with a blank expression.

How many days had it been since the last time he ate? How long until the next?

Su Wei stumbled to his feet. He wanted to leave but the children around him didn't like that idea. One of them picked up a rock and hurled it at his head.

The impact brought a pain that almost made him kneel again. But he didn't fall, not this time. He was used to it after all.

Behind him he could hear the other children that wanted to catch up to him but they were reprimanded by their mothers that emerged from a house nearby.

"What are you doing?! I told you not to play with that damned child, didn't I? What do you do if he got you killed as well?"

That was the typical reaction in this small town – a rather grand term for a muddy pit. Too small to be on any map, enveloped by a deep forest, this town's people were especially superstitious. Be it ghosts or demons, they were sighted between the black trunks at least once a month. It wasn't much surprising for them to believe a child like him had been cursed, as well.

When Su Wei walked along the streets, there would always be a wide open space around him. Nobody dared to go near him, but their accusing eyes filled with disgust and fear followed him everywhere he went. Everywhere he hid.

He crossed a few streets and made a turn at a corner and soon reached the entrance to a small, dark alley. It was squeezed between a butcher and a tailor.

It had rained the night before, a torrential downpour of late autumn that turned the alley into a pungent soup of mud and debris. If it didn't freeze tonight, it would be a long time until it dried in this alley that never saw any sunlight.

Not far from the alleyways entrance leaned an old wooden box against the wall of the butchers house. It was once used to carry vegetables and fruit but some of the wooden planks broke and it wasn't worth it to fix it.

Now it had become Su Wei's dearest home. The sparse, moldy hay under the box at last kept him from freezing to death and the wooden planks would keep some of the rain and snow outside. But most importantly, he could call it his own. A measly bit of security for a child who had nothing else.

Su Wei felt a bit thirsty so he looked around him and, much to his pleasure, found a relatively clear puddle. He only had to shoo away one of the street-dogs that lived around here. He knew the animal well, it was weak. He would always win when they fought over food.

When he got near, the dog only growled at him and ran away.

Water would taste the best right after it rained, when it was still fresh and not polluted with all the things the people threw into the streets.

Now that his thirst was quenched and his stomach had something in it, he could go to sleep. There was no sense in wandering outside, if there was no need to.

It was not like he could steal like other street children could, the people around here were way too guarded against him.

So he just crawled under the wooden box he called his home and curled his tiny body up to sleep. It was easy for him to ignore the cold water that had seeped in from outside, he was used to it after all.