Trauma (2)

I pass through the gate and look around at the stone buildings. They're surprisingly well-made. Given the size of the town, one would expect the houses to be much more shoddily constructed. Even the road is paved with cobblestones. I walk toward the center of the town while observing the sights.

One thing that strikes me is how closely the houses are built together yet many seem to be empty. Why would someone invest so many resources in a town that feels largely abandoned? What the hell happened here?

More question marks rise above my head as I reach the sprawling town square. A fountain at the center sprays crystal-clear water into a small pool at its base. Such a feature can only exist if there's some type of central plumbing to move the water to and from the fountain which only raises more questions.

I approach the fountain and run my finger along the finely crafted designs along its base when I hear a high-pitched voice shouting nearby. Just a few meters away, the girl from the kid's memories is standing at a stall selling her fruits.

"Fresh fruit from the Argon Forest! Come get some fresh fruit! They're ripest just at the beginning of fall so now's the best time to get some sweet and juicy fruit!"

No time like the present.

I walk toward the stand but the kid tries to stop me.

There's no use in waiting. You wanted to talk to her so let's do it. This is another step towards changing yourself; you need to do things that are uncomfortable.

"Hi, what kind of fruit are you selling?" I say with a bright smile.

"These fruits, obviously." Her voice drops several octaves as she looks at me derisively. I ignore the change in her demeanor and keep talking.

"Wow, they look delicious. What's this one called?" I ask as I point to something that looks like a cross between a watermelon and a cantaloupe.

"What are you stupid or something? That's the Wool Wool fruit from a Mammoth Tree. How do you not know that?"

"Wool Wool fruit... Do you happen to have a Gum Gum fruit?"

"What the hell is that? If you're not going to buy anything then leave." she sneers.

"Okay, how much is that Wool Wool fruit?"

"It's twenty Denarii. These are the most expensive fruits because they're the hardest to get. Adventurers have to climb up the sides of those giant trees in the forest to get them."

"Let me see." I dig through my pockets and pull out two copper-colored coins. "Is this enough?"

She looks at the coins in my hand and pulls back with a look of disgust.

"You really are stupid, aren't you? That's only two Denarii."

"Oh, what can I get with these?"

"You can get the hell out of my face, that's what." Clearly finished with our conversation, the girl turns back to the front of her stand and begins shouting about fruit again.

Well, it was worth a shot. She seems kind of rude though.

[Of course she was rude. You asked her a bunch of stupid questions.]

That doesn't give her the right to be rude to me about it, also I was genuinely asking. Plus, she was acting like that as soon as I approached. We did nothing wrong. It wasn't like we were causing her problems or insulting her. Why is it that she reacts to our approach with such vitriol?

Honestly, I'm not too surprised by her reaction. I've met many people like this when I worked retail. There's a tendency for some to look down on those below themselves on the social hierarchy and suck up to those above. I haven't seen how she interacts with someone of a higher position but I'm sure it would be completely different than what we went through.

How about we sit here for a few minutes and see the way she interacts with other people?

I get no complaints so I sit down at the fountain and watch her from the corner of my eye. Over the course of the next several minutes, The fruit stand girl interacts with five people, four of whom are much older than us. As I expected, she's cordial with the adults even when they ask questions similar to mine.

The last person that comes to the stand is a young woman wearing ragged clothes. The fruit stand girl doesn't even spare her a word and quickly shoos the young woman away.

[I guess she's just mean.]

The kid sighs. I can hear the resignation in his voice.

You shouldn't judge her too much for this. I'm sure she's had a difficult life and this is how she's learned to cope. It's important that she separates herself from those she feels are below her in order to justify the effort she puts into her work. 'I need to work hard so I don't end up like those people,' and 'If I work hard enough then maybe I'll be able to move up in the world,' are likely thoughts she has all the time.

[She could work hard without being mean.]

Of course, but not everyone is strong enough to do that. Many people only have enough strength to care for themselves.

'And some people don't even have the strength to care for themselves.' These words I leave unsaid.

The kid doesn't respond so I figure he's still thinking about my words.

"Look who finally left his house." I hear a snide voice approaching me from behind. A small boy with black hair is walking confidently in my direction. His arrogant smile is betrayed by the gang of taller boys following close behind him.

"Do I know you?" I ask.

"What?! How can you forget me? I'm Kyle Armstrong! My father collects all the taxes for the town!"

He's really leaning on his father's authority. I'm sure these thugs he's surrounded himself with are mere hangers-on.

A surge of adrenaline fills my veins as the kid starts to panic. It seems he's been the target of Kyle's bullying.

"That sounds very important," I reply flatly.

"It is!" He shouts. An awkward silence fills the air as I've forced the conversation to a dead end. I notice one of the older boys behind Kyle smirks a bit at the tension. Several moments pass before I speak again.

"Well, bye."

"Wait just a second." Kyle lunges forward as he desperately tries to regain control of the conversation. "You can't just insult me like that without apologizing."

"I'm sorry."

"You need to make it up to me." Kyle grins.

"I just did."

"What?"

"You said I needed to apologize and I did; I said I was sorry. I can do it again if you want." I take a step forward with a hand on my chest to feign sincerity.

"No, that's not good enough."

"So you don't want an apology?"

"No, I do!"

"I'm sorry. Okay, bye." I turn to leave but Kyle jumps in front of me. His face is beat red and several of the thugs behind him are struggling to contain their laughter.

"You think you're so funny, don't you."

"I'm sorry, I'll try to be less funny in the future."

"You..." Kyle shakes with rage but he can't think of an excuse to openly attack me. I patiently wait for him to make something up. "Why were you harassing the girl that's working the fruit stand?"

"I was just asking about her wears, if I offended her then I'm more than happy to-"

"Shut up!" Kyle shouts as he pulls a wooden sword from his side. It seems well made, he'll have to be careful if he wants to avoid breaking any bones. "Scum like you deserve to be punished."

I can feel the kid screaming at me to run but I stay rooted in place, my eyes bore into the small boy now threatening me.

"Seize him!" Kyle shouts. Much to his dismay, his goons seem reluctant to make a move.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, boss." A particularly fat boy steps forward to try and de-escalate the situation. He fiddles with his fingers as he searches for the right words. "People are looking at us and we might get in trouble if we hurt him for no reason."

"How dare you disobey me; I said seize him!" The fat boy loosely grabs one of my arms and another boy stands at my side. If I remember correctly, he's the one who was smirking at my earlier remarks. Strangely, he doesn't bother grabbing me and instead calmly stands next to me without looking in my direction.

"Now, taste justice!" Kyle swings the sword down and strikes my chest. I do my best to ignore the pain but I'm not used to the frailty of our body.

Kyle, seemingly enraged by my lack of response, raises the sword again.

[Run!]

We must force our opponent to overplay their hand when we don't have any cards to play ourselves. With this, he will come across as the villain in the situation and it will be much more difficult for him to make a move against us in the future. Just bear with it for now.

I reassure the kid and prepare for the next blow.

Wham!

The wooden blade hits my shoulder and causes me to stumble, but I quickly right myself.

"Had enough?" Kyle shouts between labored breaths. I bite my lips to hold back a laugh. If I keep silent then he'll have to keep attacking me or else he'll look weak. The plan is going swimmingly.

Whap! Slap! Slam!

The last strike fractures my clavicle and my left arm hangs limply to the side.

"Boss, he's really hurt; maybe you should stop." The fat boy says again. A sliver of reason returns to Kyle's bloodshot eyes as he looks at my terrible condition. I feel emboldened by the thugs comment as he likely wouldn't have cautioned Kyle if there were any chance of them avoiding punishment. I'd prefer if this bullying incident was a one-time thing, so I add a little fuel to the waning fire in Kyle's heart.

"Children learn the most from observing their parents. Generally, if a child acts violently against others, it's because they've learned that it's an acceptable behavior. So, is it your mom or your dad that has the anger issues?"

"Shut up! You don't know anything!" Kyle screams.

"Looks like I hit the nail on the head. If I was wrong then you would have disagreed with me. The fact that you're just yelling at me means I was right. Is it your dad? It's always the dad."

"I said, SHUT UP!" I clench my jaw as the wooden sword strikes the side of my face and I fall to the ground. The irony taste of blood fills my mouth.

"Is that what your father does when you disobey him? He hits you in the face?" I continue while lying on the cobblestone street. "No, he's more careful than that. How many bruises are hidden beneath those robes you're wearing?"

I've read a few books about abuse and trauma which I try to channel while I'm speaking. I'm not sure how truthful my words are but that's less important than their impact.

Kyle's eyes quickly fill with tears. The rage and exhaustion have left him vulnerable, and I just pressed on his biggest insecurity.

"It's not your fault, you know?" I wipe the blood from my lips as I get back on my feet. "He's the adult in the situation. He should be protecting you, not hurting you."

"Shut up!" Kyle takes another swing and hits my side. I lose my balance and tumble backward onto the ground again. Everything hurts now. The intense pain makes me smile at the absurdity of my situation.

"Hey! What's going on here?" Two guards walk up to us and all the kids freeze in fear. It looks like the situation is about to draw to an end. My vision fades as I begin to lose consciousness.

"Kyle." I look him dead in the eye and squeeze out a few words with the last of my strength. "Remember what I said when your father punishes you tonight. How strange is it that he would do to you what he says not to do to others? It's all twisted up, huh?"

The last thought I have before passing out is of Carroll and her tender hug.