Unknown Child

“Hey, you grimy kid, get away from my property!” A merchant yelled as he kicked his trashcan at me. I tried to get out of the way, but a bit of the filth landed on my bare feet. I ran away from the store as fast as I could, hoping no one was chasing me. I hopped over a bridge and found myself hiding under it catching my breath.

Once I was able to breathe normally again I climbed up a slight hill to glance over the bridge to see if anyone had followed and much to my surprise and gratitude no one did. I let out a big sigh as I fell limp against the stone wall of the bridge. What did I do to deserve such treatment? Travelling to every city and it’s all the same – just horrible, crazy merchants thinking I’m off to steal their food. You do it once and it haunts you forever. I learned my lesson!

My face began to get feverish, so I decided to crawl to the middle of the underpass where there was a small current of river water and rinse my face to cool down. The water wasn’t as dirty as it looked from far away – which I was glad for. I turned my attention toward the trees in the distance and saw that the shadows were growing larger. I need to get going, I thought to myself.

I started off into the direction of the end of the city to search for a new city – hopefully one with people in it who don’t mind kids as much as the previous ones have. My mind was flooded with memories of the first city I came across. I remember stumbling into the city limits and then everything going fuzzy.

“Pacho, Tika look at what we have here.” A very thick voice said. He was so close I could feel his breath against my face, but I wasn’t able to open my eyes or move my mouth – I could only lay there and feel them near me.

“The thing’s actually alive.” A deep laugh came from the throat of one as another one of them huffed. “Let’s take ‘im home to Morina.”

My body felt weightless as it was flung into the air, but fell into a hard landing with what I could only assume to be a shoulder – a giant, massive shoulder that felt like it was thirty times the size of my own. My body hung limp as the large man carried me through a very rough ride. If my body had been responsive, I’d probably have puked on his back.

After what seemed like many countless hours of listening to them rattle on about their home lives and what they ate for dinner I was tossed onto a hard concrete floor. As my head hit I heard a very loud crack sound. The pain I felt was even more unimaginable. I wanted to curl up in a ball and hold onto my head like it would help, but nothing would. If my body is so unresponsive how can I feel pain?

“Hey, Morina! Come down ‘ere and give this boy some of your medicine to wake ‘im up.” The large man called in a hefty voice for the woman named Morina.

“What are you hollering for?” Her voice was very calm unlike the three men who brought me to her.

“Does it matter? You got the medicine?” He grumbled under his breath and it almost sounded like a savage dog.

“Yes,” she said softly – probably not to disturb me as she was very close to my face. She gently pried my mouth open with her fingers and poured a very foul smelling liquid into my mouth. Immediately my body reacted to the first thing since I blacked out and I began to gag. She promptly pulled my body up and said, “Spit it out.” I didn’t hesitate.

I opened my eyes to see that I was surrounded by the woman who gave me the medicine and the three men who brought me here – Morina, Pacho, Tika, and one’s name I never caught.

“Welcome back to consciousness kid.” One of the large husky men said to me. “Now, I think you owe someone some gratitude.”

His brisk and harsh tone left me fumbling for my words. “O… yo-you-you’re r-right. Th-thank yo-you.” I gave the woman in front of me a slight nod and a smile.

She pushed her long brown hair out of her face and smiled back. It looked as if she was about to say something but the large man chimed in. “Not to her, to me.” My wide eyed confusion seemed to anger him further, but he didn’t do anything but grumble at me like he did to Morina.

A few days passed and I was in debt to them – I owed them everything for saving me from the point of exhaustion. The large man who I now know as Farumi made it clear to me I had to repay them. Morina has been helping me with the chores I was given behind their backs and I was grateful for her. She reminded me of my mother in that way.

“Hey, Sunshine, would you like some help with the farming?” She asked sweetly.

I looked up and saw her blue eyes shining brightly just as the do every morning. Her eyes were the first ones I'd ever seen to shine so brightly. They were like two jewels shining in a large stack of gold. I don't know what my own eyes really looked like as I've never really seen myself, but I do know that they can't compare to hers. My mom always told me I had eyes like my father, but I've never seen him so I don't know what they look like.

“Yes, please,” I said, quickly adding, “but only if they have gone for their fun.” She smiled and grabbed some gardening tools from beside me and started to help me loosen the soil.

“Morina,” I said her name so softly that I wasn’t even sure if sure she heard me.

“Yes, Sunshine?”

I rubbed the back of my head with my dirty hand and exhaled slightly, feeling the spot where my head had cracked open. The spot was completely fine, almost as if I imagined the entire thing. Nervously I turned my attention back to Morina and said, “I was wondering why you call me Sunshine…”

She looked at me with heart-felt eyes - the same look my mother gave me when she would see me. “When I see you I just see a ball of light like the sun.” Her smile widened and I couldn’t help but smile too.

“What are you doing?” A booming voice rang through our comforting silence. “Get away from that kid now!”

She didn’t listen to his demand but rather stared at him in anger and disbelief. I was so confused and scared that I was almost frozen in place. He was raging from the back doors of their cottage, but it looked as if he was about to charge at her like a raging bull.

His feet stomped and he slugged his weight around hard and fast – coming at her with a speed I didn’t know he was capable of. His hand reared up, “how dare you give me that look.” I stared in disbelief as I watched his hand rush down. My body reacted faster than my mind could.

I heard a loud cry of pain, but to my surprise it wasn’t from Morina – it was from Farumi. I opened my eyes only to meet Morina’s own horrified eyes. I stared into her eyes trying to figure out what had happened – I scared her somehow. Farumi loud cry for help gave my mind a new sense of awareness – my body. I could feel something strange coming out of my back – something I’d never felt before. I looked behind me to see Farumi’s hand penetrated by my own bones.

Horrified at the sight, the bones retracted immediately and his hand was left limp and broken. He screamed in agonizing pain. I ran, ran faster than I’d even ran before. I wanted to look back to see if Morina was okay, but I could hear her cries almost as loud as his yelps of agony so I knew I had to keep running.