Reap What You Sow / A BNHA Story

Chapter 16

"Mumma! She's waking up!" 

The young raspy voice awoke me from my deep slumber, a state of sleep I can't even remember falling into. Though there was little light surrounding me, I struggled to open my eyes, the side effects of whatever had consumed me still lingering as my joints ached, numb and sore.

"Step back Ina, let me help her." A matured voice, belonging to who I suppose is the mother of the child at my side. 

A warm arm wraps itself under my back, elevating me so I'm in a sitting position. A cold metallic object pushes its way past my closed lips, forcing them open as a hot liquid slides down my throat. I gag at the foul taste coating my tongue, but continue to drink it nonetheless, my hollow stomach taking in every last drop. The woman dabs a cloth around my mouth, cleaning the scabs at my eyes simultaneously. 

"Ina, fetch Chiyo for me will you." She beckons to the child, and I hear footsteps rushing off towards what sounds to be a gutter or alley. 

My stomach rolls, the first snuff of bile gathering at the back of my throat the only indication to the nausea about to unfurl all over this poor woman's clothes. Just as I'm about to hurl, she rolls me over so she's holding me by stomach, and I vomit all over the concrete floor instead. After I'm emptier than I was before drinking the liquid, the woman brings me to her lap, so my back is resting against her chest. 

"Grandma's here!" The little girl, Ina, comes running back. A slower beat of steps following behind her. 

Though I was well awake, I still hadn't opened my eyes. The hunger that enveloped me, as well as the prominent fatigue and confusion much too straining on my fragile body. 

"Sana dear, give the child to me." The grandmother slouches beside the woman, who I can guess is her daughter, Sana.

Sana lifts me by my waist, transferring me to the older woman's lap instead. The first thing I feel is her bones protruding from her hip, her slim figure giving me the impression of a skeleton come to life. 

"Open your eyes young one." As if enchanted, my eyes flutter open. I blink a few times to wash away the haze still enrapturing me, but as my vision clears, I make out the setting in front of me. 

Dirty, unkempt, lowly; are the first three words that come to mind when describing this place. It's not a house, more like a cabin made of twigs and broken walls, the roof a mix between the night sky and old cardboard boxes. The ground is hidden underneath used pieces of furniture and debris, piles and piles of unwashed clothes scattered over knives, spears and boxes harboring useless material items. 

Underwhelming, a place of scum. Why were these people here? Who are they? Most importantly, how did I end up in their hands?

Chiyo, if I remember her daughter referring to her as, turns me around so I'm facing her, my legs scrunched up in her lap. I look up at the old woman's face, immediately enraptured by her features. Her eyes are what grasps me first, for despite her sunken face, they shine bright and big, an alarming shade of violet, matching her long purple hair, strands of white framing her face and covering most of her scalp. A long scar etches across her hollow cheek, bringing a ferocity to her otherwise soft demeanor. And her skin, though wrinkled and dulled with age, a stark shade of caramel brown  that mesmerized me; as I had never before seen a person with such a rich colour. Looking at the two figures behind Chiyo, I realise that they all bear the same features. Tan skin, purple eyes and hair, and all clad with bruises and scars, measly rags covering their dirtied skin. 

"Where's my mother?" It was the first thing I'd said in hours, though I'm not entirely sure why I had chosen to ask that out of the many questions that overwhelmed my mind. I didn't even realise she was gone until I had noticed the family in front of me. Perhaps it ignited a need to see my own.