Sapienophobia

Chapter 5

A week passed almost instantly. It didn't take long for me to realize that I would run out of money soon if I didn't have a source of income within the next coming weeks. I dreaded the idea of going to my uncle so I tried to drag my money out for as long as possible. I even went as far as to not pay for other meals; I ate until my body was on the brink of vomiting at breakfast time so that I wouldn't need food for the rest of the day.

On the eighth day, I awoke to bangs at my door.

There was wetness from either tears or drool on my pillow. I blinked several times to unblur my vision. I laid very still waiting for the next knock, to see if it was actually me they wanted.

It came. Louder and harder than its predecessors, rattling the hinges of the door and waggling the flame sitting on the door-side candle.

I didn't want to face whatever party lay on the other side of that door. The fact that they didn't announce themselves told me that they didn't feel the need to, that they held that power.

Good thing I locked it before I went to bed. I need to bounce before they find a master key or break the door down.

Their patience would run out before me.

The room key that I was sleeping with because I had never bothered to put it away dropped to the floor when I got up. I scuttled to the window, playing hopscotch over the older floorboards. Only the first sun had risen over the horizon.

It's too early to be running away again.

I looked down at the drop. Not deadly but certainly not safe for a 10-year-old. I quickly shuffled the contents of my bag so that the clothes would line the inner rims, cushioning my fall and the other items within the bag. I tossed the bag out on the ground below me.

C'mon, jump. At worst, I'll break my ankle.
No, at worst, I'll break my neck.
That's only for idiots who somehow land anywhere but their lower half. Hurry, jump.
Maybe I should've kept the bag with me, using it to break my fall when I hit the ground, rather than having to aim for it to land on now.
Just g-

I felt a jerk on my collar, throwing me back in the room.

Shit! I hesitated too long!

"Suns, kid! What are you doing?!" An Anide woman yelled as she dangled me.

She was tall and burly; the weight of her hand could have snapped my neck. She was middle-aged but it looked like she spent the last two decades building muscle. Even her cheekbones were toned. Her voice was deep and almost hoarse. The woman was wearing a visibly stainable button-up and wide-legged crimson pants. Her shoes looked like they were for more than walking.

The pocket watch suspended from her pocket was treasured; it would only stop ticking and glimmering the day she died.

I could tell she wasn't an Anide descended from these parts by her purplish hue.

At least she's not human. I'd prefer this literal Anide butcher over a devil any day.

"Nothing, I thought you were human. So, um..." I swayed my feet that were brushing the ground as I hung from her hand.

"Oh, my bad!" she dropped me, "They told me a little boy paid for a room here last week so I had to check it out. You know, parental rights and whatnot. Probably scared the lights out of you, though!"

If you know that, then why knock on the door like a psychopath?!

"Are you from District 10? I thought there were no survivors," she turned to the receptionist from yesterday who hastily flips through papers to appease her.