SRθ: Grim Inquiries (2023-2024)

Sit.40: The Burning of Woes

And that brought me back to it, to that bog in what was now the middle of the night, where a man who looked like he could be my whiter family was bleeding in a heap on the ground. I blinked, unaware of my surroundings. The people were listless, but satisfied – although some of them were still stabbing him.
"SON OF A BITCH, MANCHILD OF A WHORE-"
"TAKE THAT, you DIRTY HEDON!"
"AVAST YE FUCKIN' SCOUNDREL, TASTE MY STEEL AND I'LL TAKE UPON YOUR BLOOD IN TONGUE-"
I sensed this was getting out of hand by the low amount of sense that last one was making, and shouted, "O-KAAAY! He's DEAD guys, let's have a moment here, aight? Some peace and silence!"
A stabber growled, "Why should we?" and pointed his knife at me.
I put my hands up. "Oh, wow. You guys are, uh, pretty stirred-up, aren't you? That's understandable, but let's remember: he was one of OURS-"
"You're not from here," said a woman.
"Yeah, you're just a MOOR!" said a man.
I took off my mask. "Christ, just LISTEN! With enough harm and rape, or drink and sickness, any ONE of us could have turned out like-"
One of the stabbers screamed, "I SAY HE'S NEXT! OR SHE, WHATEVER THE HELL YOU ARE! WE'LL GUT YOU FINELY, REAPER!"
I backed up. "Are you guys serious?! I just HELPED you KILL HIM! I even dealt you the first blow MYSELF! I've been trying to STOP him this ENTIRE TIME!"
"So why hadn't you?!" shouted a younger boy. His father stood by him with pride. "You don't scare us, you SPOOK!"
"Yeah, where were you?!"
"Why'd you wait so DAMN long?!"
"I literally just explained-" I grabbed my forehead, and gripped my nose as hard as I could. I was going to lose it. And then I did. Anger rushed to my veins, and I began to shout, "BECAUSE NONE OF YOU DRUNKEN, STUPID FUCKS WOULD LET ME!!" After I said it, I covered my mouth.
But it was too late. The crowd felt the blow of my words, and let them sink in. All at once, they looked as though they'd lost heart, some of them even angry with me for it. It was those words that made them realize, to their horror, that their revenge wasn't truly against The Heathen, whom they'd been satisfied to stab through as the solution to all their woes – it was against themselves, for letting him have them, all along. By sinking their coin into his enterprise, and feeding spoils and grain to a bird who became so fat and heavy that it couldn't be moved anymore unless it wanted to be. Not even when it started marching its way into their homes, and pecking them in their sleep. It was something I tried to think silently, but ended up yelling at them anyway.
"It's all our fucking fault," I cried, "but MOSTLY YOURS!! WHO let him into town and WELCOMED his UNcharming antics with OPEN ARMS?! WHO laughed at his jokes and PAID for his comedy dinners?! WHO drank themselves so STUPID he could WALTZ right into your homes, MOLEST your WHOLE FAMILIES, and WADDLE RIGHT BACK OUT as if NOTHING was ever amiss?! Had not ONE of you all a PITCHFORK back then?! A torch, or a KNIFE?! A MILD THREAT?! Meanwhile, -I- KNEW of his danger, and TRIED to pin him on the VERY FIRST NIGHT that he struck, and WHAT SOLD YOU? Was it the desperate pleas of our women, our men, and our children? Or was it a FUCKING BARREL of MEAD?!"
I panted, afraid of my anger, but fearing more for its effect on them, the townsfolk surrounding me. I watched them start to whimper, and cry, and swear to themselves "I'll never drink again!" Saying sorry to each other, and hold one another's arms in sorrow. I didn't want them to stop having fun, I just didn't want it to come at so many people's expense! I felt anguished to see it, all these ornerous strangers suddenly turned to blubbering babes before me, and felt it was only a matter of time before I felt their pitchforks too. I held myself tight, and prepared myself for a long, deadly run into night's nothingness. But to my surprise, this was not the end of our communal bond. This would not be a reversal from O Rosto, in which I was to become dead to an entire town. Miraculously, unlike the children of my hometown whom I'd hurt with my words so badly that they never returned, the townies were listening to me. Really, actually hearing me, and finding my words true! It took a while, that night, but eventually they all came around, and even seemed to respect that I'd stood up for them, but also against them when it truly mattered. Suddenly, all at once I was swarmed by people's outstretched arms, dropping their sharper implements and coming close to hug me, instead. And when they were already quiet, I was the one who was crying out loud – for I'd suffered just as much as any of them, all the rest – but FINALLY, someone could recognize it. For just this once, the people around me treated my pain as if it were their own, too.