Legends of Lightning

CH12 Mistakes

~A few days ago~

"Stop following me!" The old man yelled without turning around or slowing down his pace.

The old man hobbled over a particularly large set of tree roots, but his foot caught on it and he tripped. The little boy following closely behind him, quickly rushed to help him, as his parents had properly taught him. The old man turned, the moment the child reached for his arm and slapped the boy. He fell over and with his little hand on his face began to cry.

The child wasn't crying from the sting of the slap but from the fact that that the kind old man would do this, especially when he did nothing wrong. The elder placed his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyes shut. The wails of his people, amplified by his guilt, echoed in his head and nothing he did would make it stop. He had heard them, heard the end of them and he knew that he could've at least saved some of them.

But I didn't. I didn't save a single one of them.

The child gazed at the elder and knew that he needed help, that this is only the shell of a man. He had a vague idea that something horrible had happened but had no idea what, so the child did the only thing he could do and unleashed one of the most powerful weapons a child has. The ability to question.

"Why, El- El? Why?" his tiny voice wavered.

The elder was shocked and let his arms fall back down on the ground.

Why was he yelling at a mere child? Why were they the only two traveling through the woods? Why did he let everyone die so that he alone could escape? The old man was stuck.

"Why?" The child asked again.

The old man started to pant and covered his ears again. He could see them. He could picture the way their eyes widened at the the exact moment that a sword cut into their backs the same time they realize that their lives are over. Bile rose in his throat and he vomited all over the forest floor.

"Why?" The child asked again, slowly making his way to the side of the elder.

The elder broke. Tears poured from his bloodshot eyes and cascaded down his wrinkly face. Snot bubbled from his large nose and just like the child had been doing earlier, wailed.

"Why you ask?" His voice raised in pitch, "I watched my grandson get his spine ripped out of his body! I was frozen with fear and did nothing to stop the man who massacred the entire village! I am the reason why you mother and your father are dead! So cry, yell, scream, curse me, ask me why, but nothing I say will change what I did!"

He sobbed even harder. His lungs struggled for breath and his tears wet the ground beneath him.

"I should've died. It should've been me!"

He opened his now swollen eyes to look into the boys eyes. To see the hatred in them and take his punishment like he deserved, but the boy was gone. The elder pounded his fist into the dirt and cursed his own life. He lay in the dirt and self pity, praying that death would come swiftly and that the boy find his way to a better future. After what felt like a few hours, but was only thirty minuets, he felt a tap on his shoulder. The kid held a handful of tease nuts in his filthy hands and motioned to share with the elder. His hands was stained with the juices that come from pealing the hull of the nut. The hulls of the nuts are as big as a grown man's fist but the nut itself is the size of the thumb, hence the name tease.

The child popped a few in his mouth and then motioned as a sign of good will.

"El-El, It's going to be okay. I knew you were sad because you were hungry. I get that way too. Mommy always said to be nice and share, so that's what I'm doing."