Guardian?

"Huh huh huh huh ...."

On a quiet night in a forest,

A little boy could be seen panting and running like he was escaping from something.

The boy suddenly roared."Arghhhhhhhhhhh...!!!"

He stopped his sprint and leaned near a tree.

The boy was Enayet himself.

He looked at the tree and started punching it. With his size and strength, the punches didn't do anything. It only made his hands bleed.

But he still punched and roared in anguish. "Arghhh...I hate you all! I will kill you all! I...I will..."

He slumped down.

He hugged his knee. He started sobbing and said to himself."I hate myself; I don't want to live. Someone, please, kill me. Kill me, please."

As if granting his request. He started hearing the noises of many beasts and monsters approaching his place.

He didn't escape but waited for them to come. He didn't want to live anymore.

'Live on your own will, my son.'

'Live on..'

'Enayet, live on..'

Suddenly he seems to hear some voices in his head. They were all the things that his mother, uncle Roger, and his sister Mia said.

Hearing those words made him forget to get killed.

His will to live rose....again.

He stood up and ran away with his exhausted body. He felt that his body was giving up, but the sound of beasts nearby made him grit his teeth.

After a couple of minutes of running, he seems to see some light in the distance. He knew that he had arrived in his village.

In a while, he arrived at the village gate. He found that there were no guards. At this close to midnight, there should be some guards but there ain't no one.

He entered the village and saw some people going to the center of the village.

He followed along with them.

Coming to the place people were going, the center of the village, there seemed to be close to three hundred people gathered here. Basically, the whole village has gathered around here.

Enayet heard some shouts and cries coming close to the crowd. He started watching from a distance what was happening.

A voice came from deep in the crowd; the voice was trying to gather everyone's attention. And it did.

"Everyone!! I am sorry for not rescuing everyone. I tried everything I could. Please forgive me."

It was Hik's voice. Enayet recognized it immediately. He wanted to run forward and start spilling everything, but seeing so many people nearby, he somehow felt scared. So he observed from a distance.

He saw Hik seem to be standing on a box for everyone to see him. Hik was bowing, and tears were falling out of his eyes.

He knew this was acting, so he wanted to shout and expose everything, but he couldn't after seeing people gather like this. Also, when people started saying these...

"No, you don't have to apologize for anything."

"Yes, you have tried your best."

"It's our fault, if...if we had enough courage then my girl.."

"My Katie, I am sorry, Father disappointed you."

Enayet's heart couldn't do anything after hearing these words.

Hik came down from the box.

The village elder who was also near Hik came in front of him seeing him coming down and patting his shoulder, he said with a gloomy face."You did your best."

"Thank you," Hik said with a slight smile on his face.

The village elder turned around to everyone and spoke with a loud enough voice so that everyone could hear. "Everyone, I have made a decision after many thoughts. Our village is vulnerable, like a chicken that can be slaughtered at any time. Today is a shame that we could get more at any time in the future. So seeing this shame today, I, as the elder of this village, decided to make Hik the guardian of our village."

"Does anyone have any disagreement you can say it now?"

The elder was expecting someone to question his decision, but no one raised their voice against it.

Everyone had hope in their eyes right now. It looked like Hik, as their village guardian, could now stop the bullying that they would get from the foreigners and the local bandits.

Everyone did agree, but expect one.

"No!!! I don't him as ou village guardian." Enayet shouted in anger from behind.

Hik was shocked to see him again. 'Why is this kid here? Shouldn't he be dead? Did Joppa break our promise?'

Hik was trying hard to make an excuse for the accusation he would get. But he didn't expect he wouldn't need it. The villagers would help him instead.

"Is that the curse?"

"Yes, it is. It's for him that we got this."

"Kick him out of here."

Everyone beat him up."

Everyone started throwing rocks at him.

Enayet puts his hands up to block and started explaining."No, it wasn't my fault. It was Hik's. He invited those bandits here."

"Shut up!! Stop blaming our guardian."

"If we didn't talk and go along with you in these past two years, nothing could have happened."

"Quickly throw him away, Unless he spread his curse again to us."

"Yea, then our village may disappear forever."

Some rushed forward while grabbing the nearby sticks after those words. Enayet started escaping toward the gate. His back was sometimes hit by rocks and stones. But he didn't stop, he ran away without looking or feeling his pain.

He somehow successfully escaped into the forest.

Enayet in the forest wailed in pain. He started having the feeling to die again but he still firmed his will.

He looked at the village and had one single thought in his mind. 'I have to take back the gifted sister Mia had left for me.'

He then walked toward the nearby river to wash away dirt and blood.

While walking, tears and sobbing could be heard coming for Enayet.

His back was telling about a lonely boy being left alone by everyone and the hard path he is and will be taking.