When Hyenas Scream

II

The air in that place was dirty, the streets stank of urine and feces, a bit of something decomposing accompanied that stench. Breathing was difficult due to little air circulation underground and the city sewage above us was sometimes our only source of water.

My feet were already thick from walking on rocks and gravel since I didn't have shoes to wear or anything to protect my little soles from getting cut around. Between the slender streets of the hill, I could see my house at the end of that dark street.

- Mommy! Mommy! - screams that skinny, disheveled little girl - Look what I found!

Alaide's eyes moved from her stones and pliers to the withered little hands of her only daughter.

- Oh? What is that, Cassie?

- I found this here near the stairs! Can you make me a doll?

Cassandra places some finds on her mother's table: rags, scraps of colored fabric, a button and something that could be used as stuffing. Alaide smiles sweetly, but a gleam of concern hovers over her face.

- Sweetheart, mommy already told you that you shouldn't be walking close to the stairs. It's dangerous there...

She sighs deeply and gathers her daughter's objects, trying to find a way to turn that trash into something that she could distract her innocent head from the horrors of that place. Little by little, the woman began to sew the rags together and the shape of a small body was being created before the big, reddish eyes of that cute child.

- Yeah I know, but I couldn't help it, mom.

- Don't do it again, okay? Promise me that you'll keep yourself away from those stairs.

- I promise.

The little girl nods, her lips curving into a wide smile as she receives the handmade doll from her mother. Without thinking twice, she runs back to the streets, leaving her mother to work on some more objects to earn some money on her trips to the city. Alaide smiles, feeling a pang of pain in her chest knowing that she couldn't afford a better life to her beloved daughter.

- Levi! Look what mommy made me!

- Let me see it.

He sees her running towards him with a new object in her hand. A new toy, something pretty rare around that place.

- Cool... - he says, gently holding the handmade doll in his hands - Where did you find these materials?

- Near the stairs. Mom was mad at me, but now I have something for us to play with!

- Play? I don't have time to play now.

- Of course you have! I know you have, Levi, you're inside your house all day long!

He needed to.

- Maybe another day, Cass.

- Mom asked if you want to have dinner with us today. It's been a few days since you went there.

- And is there enough food by any chance?

- Mhm! Kenny left some bags at the house today, mom will make us some broth.

[...]

- Can you pass me the teapot?

Cass finally manages to snap out of her trance, returning her attention to the present moment and pouring another cup for him. Steam rose from the kettle's spout, bringing a sweet aroma and making her senses a little calmer. He could sense her discomfort, that familiar weight hanging over her shoulders again as she feels her ghosts crawling back to her skin.

- Here, - he grabs the delicate porcelain with trembling hands, the effort to not let it slip from what remained of his hand being pretty clear - Want another cup?

- No. - The bitterness of my memories right now are enough over my tongue - I'm full.

- You sure?

- I am.

He glances at her longer than usual. He could see that, feel that, as he was so accustomed to that cold sensation running through his spine all over these years. The lines under her eyes, the shape of her jaw, the way the muscles of her forearm contracted with every movement of her fingers announced to himself that they were getting old. They were adults now, she was a fully grown woman.

- More for me. - he shrugs, bending a bit closer to the table to take a sip from his tea. The steam caressed his scars in a soothing way, bringing a bit of relief after being working so much on the house chores.

The only reaction Cassandra could manifest was a light sigh and a roll of her eyes as she gets up from the table as walks out of the kitchen. That man and his goddamned tea, she thought about saying it out loud but kept it to herself. She knew that he wasn't the type of person to get a real meaning behind his harsh words, but he was only bad with them. Years side by side taught both of them that it was more than just silly words.

Levi couldn't deny that he immediately missed her company as she left, but he knew that she needed some time alone and given the sound of the wood cracking under the steps of her heavy boots, she was going for it. As the sun shyly peered behind the old curtains of the bedroom, Cass could finally feel that her life was about to start again.

Again. Away from that rot. Away from deaths and kills. Away from the time that life was uncertain behind those damn walls that no longer existed anymore. Again, with him.