The Grounds Keeper

Chapter 10 La Cucina Povera

Eathon entered the bathhouse in an understandably awkward manner. He looked like an amateur butcher with his hand still dripping blood, and he smelled like a body they had pulled out of a river a week ago. The student at the front counter recoiled a little. He could only imagine what this looked like to her. A green class with thrashed up fists, no doubt she thinks I've been beating on innocent red classes all night and have come here to freshen up. Or worse, extort money. She looked at the green robe and backed up at him.

Eathon tried to smile as politely as he could. And shoved his bloody hand into his robe pocket. "Shower entry for one please" it had cost him 35 credits to use the bathhouse, however that was also because he had to buy himself a towel, soap, wooden bucket and with no small shame a new set of underwear and socks. He couldn't imagine how rank his body smelled beneath his clothing, and most likely, he would need to burn his current set for safety's sake.

He entered the change room and began to undress, his robes almost instantly began to un-wrinkle and fold themselves multiple times, he laughed in amazement as he placed them in the bucket, When he entered the bath from the change rooms he felt slightly awkward. As he saw a whole bunch of openly naked men walking about. He had never been to a communal bath before. He didn't want to stare openly, but he wanted to see what the other people were doing. What were the protocols here? From what he could deduce you would go to one of the showers which were located on walls around several large pools of water and first shower using them, it was strange because you had to sit on your bucket like a chair, due to the shower hoses being at hip height. There, you would soap down and clean yourself briskly, and then placing all your items in your bucket would enter the main pools and soak.

He felt uncomfortable showering in front of a bunch of strangers, but everyone kept to themselves, and there was very little chatter. It seemed like this was just a part of everyday life here. No doubt running water wasn't something people here had access to in abundance. When he stepped into the water, he felt like a new man. He breathed out a long breath of relief. He didn't smell like an egg sandwich that was left in the back pocket of a marathon runner anymore. He raised his damaged hand and saw that it had stopped bleeding. It stung as the steam played over the open gauges in his knuckles. And he lost himself in thought as he let his sore muscles relax.

Why was he so upset with himself? Was it because he didn't act soon enough? No, he did stop a terrible person doing an even more terrible thing. Was he hoping to find out more information? No, he was there to talk to the editor he had no interest in that whole encounter, maybe because I caught the man off guard to make the fight easier? No, that bastard deserves all he got. Or maybe... Eathon clenched his damaged hand and examined it with focused scrutiny. Maybe I just wanted to get angrier, maybe I'm a sicko who wants to see people suffer to fuel this wretched anger of mine, so I can release my stress and helplessness on anyone I can, was it just an opportunity for me to finally break someone? Did I really even want to help, or am I just some angry bastard who wants to hurt the world because I feel lost?

Eathon sighed and closed his eyes, breathing in the steam. He hoped that the tears didn't show in the corners of his eyes. He was alone. He was always alone. After soaking for over forty minutes, he finally felt clean enough. He returned to the change room and placed on his robes and felt the beard growth on his face. He would need a razor sooner rather than later. And a haircut. But that wasn't a priority, what was is a place to spend the night. He had no idea where he would go. He walked out of the building carrying his bucket filled with his toiletries. The shower had done much to improve his mood, but he felt lost. This place played havoc with your mind. You had no idea what time it was. It was always dark and gloomy. He decided to make his way to the green class domain. A park bench there at least felt like it would be safer and cleaner than any gutter here.