*WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAIN DEPICTIONS OF GORE, BODILY HORROR, AND BULLYING, STRONG LANGUAGE, AND REFERENCES TO CHILD ABUSE*
His whole life, the boy was considered nothing but a mistake, an accident, the son of an addict and the son of a wh*re. He wasn't even given a name at birth. He was either called "Boy" by his father or "useless sh*t" by his mother. The boy's father was an alcohol addict, who regularly started fights at the local tavern, and would rarely return home. He would disappear for weeks or even months on end, then he would suddenly show up disheveled and drunk. And when the man would come home, he would regularly beat the son for even the simplest of things. The boy's mother was a prostitute. She would go around alleyways or near taverns, and would let men have their way with her for money. She would either use the money she earned on drugs or use it for other luxury items such as dresses and shoes. The woman rarely came home either. When she would come home, she would immediately fall asleep on her bed, or just get high on the drugs she bought. This made it hard for the son during his early years.
As the son got older, he began to be able to take care of himself. He would wake up early in the morning to make breakfast for either of his parents, if they came home, and he would walk 2 miles to school, by himself. School was not any better for the boy. He was often bullied by his classmates for his shabby clothes or how his hair is always disheveled.
Look at his hair...gross!
Look at his clothes...did he get in a fight with a wolf?
The boy was used to the insults, he was even used to the pain of being beaten by his father. The boy no longer felt any pain. He wouldn't even flinch if his father would hit him or if his mother would slap him. He didn't such much as cry when his father drove a knife into the center of his hand when he was in a drunken rage.
After school, the boy was walking when one of his classmates bumped into him.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" She apologized.
The girl was blonde and was wearing a fairly nice dress, considering that their whole town was in poverty.
"I-I'm Cindy! I live just right there." The girl said as she pointed down the street.
The boy nodded and continued walking. The girl ran to catch up with the boy. "C-Can we walk together?"
The boy hesitated, then nodded. The girl jumped in excitement.
***
They arrived at the Cindy's house. The house was fairly nice compared to the boy's house. It had pink walls and a brown roof which made it stick out compared to the surrounding houses.
"My dad painted it himself," Cindy explained. "It's pretty right?"
They walked up to the front door and Cindy knocked.
Cindy leaned over and kissed the boy on the cheek.
"See you at school tomorrow!" Cindy said as she walked inside.
***
On the way home, the boy was walking through an alleyway when suddenly, he was ambushed by three boys from school.
"Well well well, look who we have here." Said the tall boy with blonde hair.
"Well if it isn't the son of the wh*re." Said the short fat boy with messy brown hair.
"I saw your mom's boobies." Said the dumb black haired boy.
"Shut the hell up, Tony!" Said tall and fat boys together in unison.
The tall blonde boy grabbed shabby boy's collar and lifted him in the air and threw him into the wall. The three boys surrounded the shabby boy and began to kick him and throw rocks at him. But the shabby boy didn't so much as flinch. The fat boy grabbed the shabby boy's collar and struck him with his right fist. The boy's nose bled as the blows continued while the other boys cheered on for the fat boy.
Beat his ass!
Knock some sense into him!
Suddenly the blows stopped. The shabby boy looked to see the silhouette of a man standing at the entrance of the alleyway.
"Hello there!" Said the man as he waved.
"Who the f*ck is he?" Asked the tall boy.
"No clue." Replied the fat boy as he let go of the shabby boy's collar.
The man was taller than the average male, he was wearing a faded green shirt with long brown pants that matched with his brown shoes. Through his clothes, you could clearly see that the man was fairly built. He looked like he could take on multiple men at the same time.
The man walked into the alleyway with a large smile on his face. The smile was not quite friendly, it was more menacing than welcoming.
The tall blonde boy pulled out a small knife and pointed it at the man. "You better get out of here!" He yelled.
"Listen here," The man said. "I don't want no trouble. I just think it's cruel to beat up a poor, defenseless kid. And, you're three guys, and he's only one guy. I just think it's unfair."
The fat boy laughed as he walked in front of the man. "Just what are you going to do about tha-"
Without hesitation, the man kneed the fat boy in the face. The impact from the blow shattered the boy's nose and knocked him unconscious. The boy fell to the floor as his nose began to bleed. The tall boy and Tony stood there stunned.
'You're f*cking crazy, man!" The tall boy said.
"Yea, what he said!" The boy named Tony said.
The boys picked up the unconscious fat boy and ran out of the alleyway.
The man stared into the shabby boy's empty eyes as the boy stood up from the wall. The boy stumbled to the ground and the man offered his hand to the boy.
***
"Are you going to eat your sherbet?" The man asked.
The shabby boy stared at the sherbet, then at the man. The man had a taste for sugar foods. Sherbet was his favorite among others. You could say he had a sweet tooth.
The boy held the sherbet towards the man, who was visibly drooling at the sight of it.
"No, I couldn't possibly have it," The man refused "it's a treat for you. I just felt bad for how those boys treated you."
The shabby looked around. The happy families enjoying their sherbets. All of them smiling. All of them happy.
The man pat the boy on the head. "Don't look so down," The man said as he stared at the crowd. "life will get better. Just you wait."
The man stood up from the bench they were sitting at. "Looks like its time to get you home." He yawned. "But, you haven't even touched your sherbet," He pointed out. "Are you not going to eat it?"
The shabby boy handed the man the sherbet. The man hesitated before devouring the sherbet in one go.
***
The boy opened the front door. His dad and mom we're sitting at the table. His dad was clearly drunk, and his mom was clearly ignoring the boy.
"Where the f*ck were you?" The boy's dad said as he struggled to get out of his chair.
The boy's dad pointed a finger at the man. "And who are you?" Dad said as he poked the man in the chest. The man smiled. "I'm just a passerby. No need to worry, sir." He replied.
The dad looked at the man in the eyes. "I know what you are," He said as he began to slur his words. "you're one of those...weirdos....who like...kids, right?"
"No, sir. I just came to make sure your son comes home safe." The man reassured.
"You can have him. He's just a useless f*ck," The dad explained. "he can't do anything right. You have to just whack him to make him do it right." The boy's dad made a whacking motion towards the boy.
"No, no. I'm fine. And, i'm sure he's a good kid." The man assured.
The man turned to leave, but the boy's father grabbed him by the shoulder to keep him from leaving. "Wait...I know you..." The drunken man said. "you're one of those knights who work for the king!" The drunk father turns to the kitchen and brings out a sharp kitchen knife. The drunken man burps loudly. "Why don't we duel...You must be good if you're a knight." The drunken man said as he began to walk towards the man. The drunken man tried to strike the man with the knife, but the man knocked the knife out of the drunken man's hand. The knife fell to the ground. The man tightly grabbed the wrist of the drunken man. CRACK! The drunken man fell to the ground in pain.
The man turned to leave but the boy held onto the man's pants.
"Thank you for saving me." The boy's voice was soft. Soft enough to be mistaken to be a girl's. The man smiled. "Anytime." The man said as he walked away.
***
It was night. The boy was asleep on the floor when the smell of smoke filled the air. The boy jolted awake. The room was filled with flames. The boy ran out of the room to see the burnt corpses of his parents.
This was the first time he had ever seen a dead body, he had seen the corpses of dead animals, but this was much worse. He tried to scream, but no sound came out. Tears flowed down his face. He rushed out of his house to see that the entire town was on fire. People were screaming and yelling for help, while the children cried, yelling for their parents. He started walking around when he saw a house that looked familiar. The house with the pink walls had collapsed inwards and the fire had completely engulfed the right side of the house.
The boy opened the unlocked door to see 5 corpses of the people who lived there, including Cindy's burnt corpse.
See you at school tomorrow!
The boy began to tear up as the house started to collapse. The boy ran out of the house as it began to crumble. The pink walls were now painted black color as the brown roof no longer had any color to it.
The boy started running around the town in panic. The whole town was engulfed in flames. Corpses everywhere. In the distance he saw 5 men on horses, holding torches. He ran towards the men. One of the men took notice and unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the boy. The boy froze in his place.
The men were all wearing shiny sets of armor. Each with an insignia of a moon and a cross embedded into it.
"Look at this now," One of the men said with a sick grin. "a kid playing as a hero!"
The man pointed the sword towards the boy's neck.
"Stop playing around and kill him." Another said.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll do it when I want to. Let me have some fun first." The first man said.
The first man slowly lifted his sword to the boy's cheek and cut it. The boy fell to the ground in fear. The man lifted the sword to his mouth, and licked the boy's blood off it, all while maintaining eye contact with the boy.
"Do you know who we are?" The man laughed.
The men began to laugh hysterically. "We are the royal knights, sent by the King, to gain control of this backwater town." The man explained.
The man placed his hand over his armor's marking. "My name is Edward Saints the Second. Son of Edward Saints, leader of the Saints. You know? The people who literally control everything, like the distribution of food, and where almost 90% of the King's funds come from." The man explained as he drew closer to the boy. "I'm one of the Royal Knights."
The man grabbed the boy by the collar. The boy tried to move, but his body was frozen in fear. He tried to resist but nothing stuck. The boy has never felt this before. This feeling was almost foreign to the boy. He was experiencing true fear for the first time.
***
The men rode into the town until they one of the men caught sight of a well. The man stopped and Edward held the boy above the opening of the well.
The boy looked down to see a sea of flames. The flames were rising as if they were climbing up the stone walls of the well.
"P-Please let me go!" The boy cried.
"You want me to let you go?" Edward asked.
"Let me go, asshole!" The boy yelled.
Edward slapped the boy on the cheek with such force, it left the mark of his hand on the cheek of the boy. The boy winced.
"You oughta learn some manners, you little sh*t." Edward said as he grit his teeth.
"I'm going to kill you." The boy said as he tried to reach for Edward's neck.
Suddenly, Edward let go of the boy's collar. Leaving him unsupported, and caused the boy to fall inside the well.
***
The boy grabbed onto the stone walls of the inside of the well, just mere inches away from the rising fire below. "Help me!" The boy cried.
From outside of the well, he could hear the sound of the laughter of Edward as he climbed back on his horse and rode away. The laughter made the boy's blood boil. The boy began to slowly climb up the stone wall. Using the little openings between each stone brick to boost himself up, against the rising fire below.
The boy's hands began to bleed, but he continued to climb. His arms began to grow weak. While climbing up, he led his left arm up and he slipped and fell down. He used his right arm to catch the wall and continued to climb up.
The boy gritted his teeth. The sound of Edward's laughter growing faint, gave him the strength to keep climbing the well.
Those men did it...
They set the town on fire...
They killed my parents...
They killed Cindy...
The boy grit his teeth as he reached the ledge of the well.
I'm going to kill him...
I'm going to kill him....
I'M GOING TO KILL HIM...!
***
10 Years Later...
A man ran through the crowded alleyway in a hurry. Pushing people while saying "Get out of the way!" A man wearing a cloak quickly pursued the man.
After running for what felt like hours, the man met a dead end.
"Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!" The man panicked.
The cloaked man's silhouette grew nearer. The man slumped down to the ground in fear.
The cloaked man was quite small. He was a bit larger than the fearful man, but the cloaked man seemed to be more fit than the man. The cloaked figure wore a dirtied chestplate and a large black cape. He also wore knee pads that had residue of what seemed to be blood on it. On the man's back, he had a large sword that seemed way to big to be held such a small figure.
The man began to bawl as he crawled on all fours toward the cloaked man. Tears fell down his face as began to beg for his life.
"No, no...We can talk about this right?" The man pleaded.
The cloaked man removed his hood. It was the shabby boy. The shabby boy raised the great sword over his head and in one fell swoop....
SLICE!
He had cut the man in half in one clean slice. The man's lifeless body fell to the ground as blood sprayed everywhere.
The shabby boy returned the great sword to its sheath as he stared at the man's lifeless body. The man's eyes began to grow empty as time ran on. The shabby boy took a moment to pray for the man, to let the man's soul rest in peace.
The shabby boy turned the corner and returned to the crowded area, leaving nothing but the lifeless corpses of the man and the stench of blood.