The Ranch

The Art Of Carrying (1)

Tih has grown the recent habit of swinging his legs when sitting. Dangling on trees, sitting in the cafeteria, or at the edge of his bed. No one knows where he learned it from.

On one particular midday, he stopped playing with his grappling hook to sit on a tree branch. The branch was low enough that when someone walked underneath without you paying attention, they were kicked in the face.

Tih hops down to check on the man. Blood runs down his nose. As usual, Tih picked him up and dropped him off at June's infirmary like a loyal delivery service man.

The diagnosis, a broken nose. Speaking of the infirmary, It's looking to upgrade. It has made a lot of revenue from Tih's "packages". June's coworkers look at their money bag, I mean the child, they look at the child with satisfaction. They've all grown familiar with the boy and know how much he's helping them.

After dropping off the package, Tih heads back to the mountains. He spots a shadow. Curious, he follows it.

~~~~~

"The target is heading in the correct direction." Someone monitors the boy.

"Good." I answer. I look at the screen displaying the hazy image of the boy. The speed is almost too fast to capture him.

"Sigh, so much trouble for just one subject." I hear a coworker say.

I know how they feel, but this is what the others decided on after last month's fiasco. "It can't be helped, it takes too much manpower to sedate him. It's easier to build around him." I remind them once more.

"Who was he put together with?" Someone questions curiously. He spins in the swivel chair.

The one at the monitor complains,"Who thought newbie x veteran was a good idea? The newbies are dropping like flies."

"The higher-ups are putting more pressure on the newer generations. They seem to be in a rush." Someone says their thoughts out loud.

"Stop gossiping and get back to work." I reprimand. They need to be especially attentive right now. This subject is too unpredictable.

Tih eyes are stuck on the shadow. His foot touches grass and sinks it. The grass is a mat. It's hollow underneath. Tih allows himself to slide down the interesting dirt tunnel.

Tih drops down and hit the floor with a light thud. The sound attracts someone's attention. He turns to face the sound. The man's brows are furrowed,"Who?" He looks ill at ease and his eyes aren't focused.

Tih picks up the round glasses on the ground. The glass clinks and it falls out with the movement.

Tih gets closer to the man and hands him the broken glasses. The man leans in," Tih?" He's not too sure. He has to get closer so he carefully reaches out to touch the boy's face to estimate the distance between the two and gets as close as he can without them touching faces. He confirms it's Phillip's friend.

He calms down. At least he won't have to be up against all sides. He's already monitored Tih and determined he has no ill intentions against his student or himself.

If he had to complete this trial without his sight and with someone unfamiliar he'd have to be careful around, he'd be sorely disadvantaged. At least now he has one less thing to worry about.

"Tih, can you look around?" Sinclair stands up. He uses the wall to trace the layout. They're in a small dirt room. Only tall enough to fit him and only wide enough to fit three people. There's two holes. The one Tih came from. The angle is too high to climb back up. The other hole is large. More of a doorway.