The Tales of Flesh and Blood

Me And My Empty Words

Ven sighed and signaled for the other two men in the apartment to follow him; the one by the door opened it, and without another word, all four of them left. After waiting for a few moments to see if they would try anything, I reached over to bolt and lock the door, then turned to face Hadi. She was staring down at her hands, which were folded on her lap, a frown plastered on her face.

"Look, Hadi-"

"I don't want to talk about it," she stood abruptly. From the way she refused to meet my eye, I could tell that she was trying not to cry - as she normally would when she got overwhelmingly stressed, especially where I was concerned.

"I came as fast as I could-" I tried again and made to advance, but she raised a hand to stop me. She still would not look up.

"How do you keep finding yourself in these situations?"

I shrugged, making a useless gesture with my hands; one holding the flashdrive and the other holding the envelope Frenice gave me.

"I just went to buy some bread. I didn't know-"

"And what about that man?" Hadi challenged, finally daring to look up at me. Sure enough, her eyes were full of tears. "What did he want?"

"He just wanted to know about my mother," I said, angry now, but I tried to hold some of it back. I didn't like arguing with her. Everything she did, she did for me. Hadi gave me a pained look.

"Your mother?" she repeated, then shook her head. "And where did the two of you go, hmm?"

I glanced off to the side. She would strangle me if she found out where I was.

"You don't need to know," I said softly. She scoffed.

"No - you're right, I don't, because I already do."

"Wh - what?" This caught my attention. Hadi raised a hand to press it to her mouth before continuing.

"Do you even know who you were with?"

"Yeah. He called himself Frenice al Hulder."

"So then you don't know."

I threw my hands up in the air, fed up. At this point, I just wanted to go to bed. It wasn't everyday where I found myself caught in the middle of a robbery and then held at gunpoint after a near hit-and-run incident. It was exhausting, and the close call I had with Hadi didn't help in the slightest.

"To hell with it, then. Who do you think he is?"

The older woman reached behind herself to grab a paper that I didn't realize was resting on the couch until now.

"He's a close friend to Ridge Locman, Tria!" she yelled, tossing the paper at me. I nearly fell back at her words, then stumbled forward to grab the newspaper. It was dated back a good fifteen years, and from a news source that barely anyone reads anymore. Not that anyone normally reads a newspaper, anyway, but still. On the front page was a picture of a man looking over his shoulder, smiling a smile full of teeth.

It was a younger version of Frenice al Hulder.

'Hulder Disappears From Gallin - Dead Or Alive?' the caption read. Then, beneath that was a brief description of the article itself:

'Middle-man Frenice al Hulder escapes from the law, but authorities speculate whether or not he's alive. Some say that the King helped him, but who's to say that he didn't turn on him instead?'

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'," Hadi said sarcastically. "You don't got anything better to say than that?"

"Hadi-"

"No! Three jobs, Tria - three!" She was raising her voice - dammit, she was raising her voice. "Three jobs, back-to-back, for the past eight years, to keep you away from that evil man only for you to be running around with his henchmen."

Ah, fuck. I stepped forward, throwing the paper, envelope and flashdrive to the side. Hadi retreated, shaking her head and warning me to stay back.

"Tria - no, stay back!"

I reached out to take her hands in mine, moving with her movements when she tried yanking them out of my grip. After nearly bringing us both down with her attempt of stumbling backwards, I finally managed to get ourselves upright and nearly had her pinned to the wall that separated the kitchen and living area. I had let go of Hadi's hands, to which she was pressing to her eyes to stop the tears. Little use that did her. I could feel the guilt pounding in my chest as she struggled to keep herself together.

Once upon a time, our situations were switched. I would be the one trying to avoid her at all costs, angry and confused as to why my mother was gone and hating the way I had unknowingly trapped Hadi in a life that she far from deserved. Now, I was taller than her by a few inches with a couple hundred fights' worth of experience over her. She would never admit it, but I knew she loathed herself for the person I was becoming - she wanted better for me, and she blamed herself for not being able to give it.

How the hell do you talk to a person who carried your every problem on their shoulders? Do you tell them to fuck off? Or do you put up with it and hope beyond hope that you have the ability to make their pains worth it?

I pulled the smaller woman into a hug, nearly on the verge of tears myself and very much feeling like the self-absorbed asshole that I often saw in every other loser who had the misfortune of making their home in Gallin.

"I didn't know," I said. "I didn't know - and I didn't mean for this to happen, I swear. I know some people who can help -" If I can trust Landon after this, I thought internally. "Those guys, they're not going to be hanging around here long-"

"No, Tria, don't," Hadi shoved me back. "You sound just like them. Don't do that."

I stared at her, for the moment stunned. I shook myself out of it.

"Then what do you expect me to do, huh? Either I get help now, or I'll end up fighting those guys on my own, sooner or later. People like that don't just leave you alone, you know."

"Then why not go talk to Port? He could straighten things out."

This made me laugh. I hated myself afterwards for the look it made on Hadi's face, but it was funny, all the same.

"That tactic might work in kindergarten, but it doesn't work out here." I shook my head, attempting to grab at my more serious composure so that she wouldn't misinterpret me as taking this situation lightly. "If those guys mess with you again, someone will step in - if not me, then one of those kids that you used to watch a few years ago will. People don't forget their positive figures, believe me. But don't, for the love of life, go to Port to solve this. You'll make people nervous."

"I'm not going to stand back and watch you act like a thug, Tria," Hadi exclaimed. "That is not how we work here - as it is, it was a bad decision to let you go with that man-"

"I'm not objecting to that," I said calmly. "I don't plan on meeting with him again." Although if he's Locman's goon, as you say he is, then I might be seeing him anyway. I didn't say that, though.

There was a giant, tension-filled silence between the two of us, before finally Hadi gave up and slumped her shoulders.

"This shouldn't be your burden," she whispered. I folded my arms across my chest. "You're only a kid."

"I've been dealing with this my entire life," I reminded gently. "You're a people person. People like you because you're selfless. I'm not that way, and everyone else knows it." I reached forward to grab her hand, bending over slightly to meet her eyes. "You've helped me in ways you can't imagine. Let me help you in the ways I know how."

Hadi scoffed, but a small, side smile curled at her lips, nonetheless. She looked up, rubbed her eyes with a closed fist, and squeezed my hand.

"I'm going to get us both out of here, one day," she promised. "You're a good kid - you don't deserve this."

And you're a good mother. "You don't deserve this, either." I returned the smile. "Now, do you want to know how much money I've made today?"