Manslayer

Excerpt III - Bloody Accidents

For what felt like weeks I lived off of the shiny mens bodies. I had no choice. I refused to eat my parents. Instead, I buried them both next to the shed. I shoveled them graves with my bare hands, and I laid them there to rest. The knights claimed them thieves, but we were a poor family. Father and mother were only trying to provide for me. I hated the shiny men. For a time I survived just off the bodies of the knights, but one night the thunder was a bit too strong. Lightning struck the shed, and it easily fell apart. The knights graves were the rubble. A constant reminder of the destruction they caused, and the chaotic nature that they each held. From then on, I slept under the large tree for a couple days. No remembrance of how many, but I began to hunt beast with the blade of my father. It was how I survived after the incident, at least until a group of religious peoples found me in the outskirts of their city. I knew escaping them would be impossible, and telling them what happened could be a terrible idea. I hid my blade from them, and I remained mute. They never found out if I could speak or not. They took me to a large church in the city, and had me sit in a pew. After they grouped and planned about what to do with me, one of them gave me a pair of white cloths, and told me to change. That was when I realized that my clothes were stained in blood from various bodies, and I complied after finding a place of privacy. As I changed my clothes and wiped the blood off my face in a mirror, I realized that this was my chance at a new life among society. But... I wasn't sure if that was what I wanted. They eventually sent me to an orphanage across the street, where far too many children resided. Many of which were nothing like me. I spent many days of my childhood there, but that doesn't mean it was a pleasant experience. On the second day of the ninth month, I was ganged on by a few boys who could tell I wasn't from the Capital. I gave the people of the orphanage the same treatment that I gave the church peoples. I pretended I was mute, and the kids treated me differently for it. They beat me in the ground, kicking my body in the alley beside the orphanage. They stopped for a moment to mock me, and on instinct, I jumped up and quickly grabbed my fathers blade from my garb, stabbing one of the boys in the ribs. I looked in his eyes, shocked and sorry that I did it. All of them looked at me the same way, as the boy with the mushroom cut collapsed. My arm shook, blood dripping off the crescent. The other boys ran, calling upon a Nun to get me. I knew if they caught me then I would be taken by the shiny men... I refused that fate, and fled the orphanage. I didn't mean to kill that boy, and I would take it back in a second, but it looks like I am about to share his fate anyway.