Through the receding waters

A light of hope

Hong'er was a child of misfortune, he had to bear the abuse of his own father because of that.

'Monster'

His father had called him in disgust, as he stared at the man with widened red eyes which resulted in another hit.

Nobody would help him, they say that he was the cause of any problem that came upon them and stayed away from him lest they get cursed as well, like a plague.

Each day was another equal day of hell, Hong'er had realized that covering his red eye (right) with bandages seemed to work, at least be able to not be avoided (or hit) by people who had not known him.

Only his mother loved him, she loved his eyes (she said it reminded her of rubies) and accepted him as her own child, protecting him from her own husband.

'He is our own child!'

She would argue, but that was the limit of what she could do. Hong'er's mother was weak and could barely protect him, normally resulting in being pushed aside, her frail body colliding with the ground with a sickening thud or worse, hit with him as well.

His mother also took the blame for  him, but she didn't seem to mind as she gave him a warm smile despite the hardships they had to face.

Many people supported their father, making loud comments on how unfortunate he was to meet such a curse of a woman which also resulted in giving birth to something much worse, leading their family to be cursed.

He would watch expressionlessly while peeking out from between the walls while they showed his father their condolences, they made every word clear enough to hear on purpose. The only thing he could do was to clench his fist tightly and convinced himself to not do anything rash lest his mother got more harshly scolded for his own mistakes.

Hong'er in his mind had always thought the man and everyone as a monster, way worse than him but he would never dare say it out loud.

<---->

Soon, years went by like that. He had somewhat got used to all the shouting and abuse, Hong'er stayed strong because his mother stayed with him and protected him, her words always seeming to warm his heart.

His mother was a strong woman.

Soon he had turned 10, his mother sneaked in some extra food at night just for him like she would normally do at every day of his birthdate. Hong'er hardly thought that it was something to celebrate but his mother would always insist.

"Cheers to have survived this far, my child"

She would tell him. 

His mother was always like that, trying to be positive in the toughest of times, just for him. 

Hong'er would also wish silently that his mother would live without suffering.

ȉ̴̧̨̼̯͉͉̥̙̗̼ͮ͂ͥ̅̆̀͒̋ͣ̑ͥ̌̐̐̇ͥ̚͜f͖̻̽ ǫ̷̢̛̼̩̗̖̳̥ͧ̂̌̐͑͛͌̕ͅň̥̞͕̜̦̘̫͚͎̳̖̰̠ͭ̓͗ͩ̇̋ͪͦ̋͐̿̊͌̽͂̅̓͆͟͢͡͞͝l̟͚͍̂̒́̒̋y̳͙̣̅͋́̀̍͂̆̂̊̕͜ h̻̺̦̳̝̣͈̻̖̙̳̦͌̆̎ͥ̃̀̃̍́ͮ̏͗͡͠ę̶̪̞͉͔̬́̾̃̎̂͂ͫ̀́̾ͤ̋͗͜͠ͅ w͙͔͐̑̎̀̆͞_͕̬͎̘͙̙̹̔ͥ́́͆̋̽̇̓̽̇͟͝ą̸̨̧̖̝̜̫̞̦̬͇̗ͮͩ͛͋͊ͩͮ́s͇̣̗̥̠̯͈̏ͨͣ̀̾͟͜͠n̷̞̙̜͎̳̅͐̅ͦ̉̉̓_̴̘̯̫͇̾'̺͉͙̥̞͔͚̥ͧ̋͆ͣ̂̐̐͛̀̈́͒̇̓͊ͅt̸̷̸̢̨͍͙̣͕͈͚̦͍̘̞͚͌̌̂ͬ̈̏͌̑ͣͭͩ̕͘͟͟ b̛̛̛̫͓̖͕͖̯̣̖͙͍͒̊ͬͧ̿͆͐ͯ͌̋ͩ̅̃̀̐̽ͥ̉̾ͨ̏͡͞ỏ̸̷̴̡̨͔̤͕̹̜̘̳̮͍̼̻̫̲͙͔͈̜̙͈̄̈́͌̐͑̂̋͂̾̍͂ͣ̃͜͡͝͝ͅŗ͋ͭn̸̸̯̰̥̳̹̙̂ͭͬ͐͐̓̒̒ͦͨ̎͆̇̉ͬ̚_̪̼̒̐̽͒̕_̷̢̦̮̰̣̤͍̓͗͞

But not a week after, his mother died for an unknown cause.

To be expected, everything was blamed on him, and he had suspected that it was. He cried silently in his room (which he was locked in), nobody bothered to tell him why she died.

He wasn't even able to visit her grave, he didn't even know where it was. The only thing he could do was to mourn silently in the corner of the house.

For the first time in his life, he never felt so alone as this without a mother by his side, protecting and loving him.

Once again, he wondered why he even lived in the first place, why he even had to suffer such fate.

After the tragic incident, he mostly lived quietly in the shadows making himself non-existent, not causing trouble and being obedient to his 'father' but that wasn't enough as it seemed.

He was thrown out in the street and was told to never return again.

He realized that he was not abandoned sooner because of his mother, it seems that his father still had attachment to her before.

<---->

Hong'er sat in an abandoned small hut and sighed as his stomach protested in hunger, there was nothing to eat.

It wasn't the first time he had starved but he knew that if he had not gotten something to eat soon, death would be the result.

Maybe dying would allow him to escape from misery.

Faint sounds of footsteps were heard. At first, he had thought it was his own illusion from being dehydrated and shook his head but it only seemed to get closer.

He had a sinking feeling that the hut was not abandoned after all but it was too late.

'Was he going to be beaten again?'

He thought while standing up frantically, staring at the place where the footsteps came from. Soon it became louder and louder.

From the corner he could see a teenager that Hong'er guessed to be around 18.

The boy had flowing, long red hair and expensive clothes that he had only expected from young masters of well-to-do families.

'What was a spoiled young master doing here?'

Was his thought as he lowered his eyes to the ground.

The red haired man noticed him and stared at him, eyes piercing as if scrutinizing him.

"Do you live here?"

The teenager had a bright and youthful voice which also sounded lazy.

Hong'er stayed silent as a statue and looked like he wanted to blend into the walls.

The young man frowned which caused him to panic.

"Are your eyes hurt?" the youth said while looking through his clothes and took out a bottle filled with liquid (which he highly suspected to be poison).

The youth had noticed his bandaged eyes and wanted to help him, as it seems but he just shook his head (he didn't want the other to see him as a monster after looking at his eyes).

Though it was the only kindness he had felt after the passing of his mother.

"I don't live here, I was kicked out from the house (not home, it never was home since his mother died)"

Hong'er blurted out and he was surprised he even told the youth, it must have been because the red haired youth looked trustworthy and was not like others, he had a gentle aura around him.

"Why don't we live together then? I have nowhere else to go either, we can stay together"

"I too don't have a home to go back to"

The red hair explained.

Somehow hearing those words made him excited. The youth standing in front of him seemed to radiate with holy light, he nodded brightly.

It was surprising that someone like the youth in front of him was abandoned as well but he was grateful that they met. 

The kindness and care that the other brought him made the wall that he made collapse.

"I'm Cale"

"Call me Hong'er"

Maybe the world wasn't as bad as he had thought.