Cowardice

“From now on, this will be your property.” The round man explained to all those who had put up their money for their goods. “Now behave.” He had turned towards those of us who had been recently sold.

The blonde woman was dragged out of the establishment, the person holding the chains didn’t even stop to let her catch up. The violet haired man was gently escorted out, the money bag making sure not to prematurely damage her property. The brother and sister tried to get close to say their goodbyes, but were quickly separated by their masters. Each of them received a beating right there and then for taking an action they were not ordered to do. The laughter from the people beating them and onlookers alike echoed throughout the room.

“Hey, are you ready to go?” The large, muscular man asked me while towering over me.

“U-u-uh, y-y-e-ah.” I responded, unable to meet his eyes.

He quickly escorted me out of the establishment, covering me from those around us. We had finally gotten outside, and the setting sun's rays went shining into my eyes. I attempted to block out the rays with my hands, only to hear the clanging of harsh metal restricting me from moving my hands there. The brief moment of freedom that had started to begin in my mind had just as briefly disappeared at this remembrance.

“I’m gonna take off those chains now.” The large man told me, seeing my discomfort.

He swiftly removed the shackles which had binded me since I had first gotten in this world. However, the invisible shackles still lingered. As long as I was here, I would never truly be free. This realization caused my shoulders to tense up and my head to begin sinking.

“The name’s Flint. What’s yours?” The large man questioned, looking for an easier method of communication.

“Hibiki En--.” I stopped myself. Thoughts of how my name had caused lots of pain to come to me. “Hibiki. Just Hibiki.”

“Hibiki eh? That’s quite an unusual name.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah. I’ve never heard it before.”

That’s strange for me to hear. Where I was from, this name wasn’t all too uncommon. Honestly, something like Flint seems far stranger to me as if it came out of a manga or something. Flint seemed different from everyone else I had met. He was listening to what I was saying, and not strictly ignoring me for whatever reason.

“What’s with your black hair and black eyes? You a demon?” He questioned further about me.

“No. My eyes aren’t black by the way, they’re brown. They just look black in some types of lights.” I explained trying to understand the oddities of his question.

“Hmm, brown eyes are also unusual.”

“Black hair and brown eyes are the more common colours for my people.”

“Oh. And who are your people?”

“They’re a tribe you wouldn’t know about.”

“Huh. I think I’ve heard of it before. Yeah it’s starting to come back to me! To be honest I didn’t even believe you people existed. It was written in an old fairy tale that was read to me as a kid. There was a tribe of people with predominantly black hair and brown eyes. They were said to be descendants of people from another world.” He spoke, letting out a hearty laughter.

“Haha.” I pretended to laugh along with him, surprised that my lie worked out and got me some new information.

My stomach let out a massive grumble, indicating to Flint I was starving. I had previously eaten scraps and the small amount remaining was previously released back on stage. The sudden grumbling had caused my head to start spinning and for me to lose my center of gravity.

“Woah!” He exclaimed, catching me in a sudden rush.

Seeing that something was wrong with my complexion, and remembering the grumbling, he quickly carried me to one of the food stalls which had opened up for business when the sun had set. He quickly bought food, panicking. It had seemed as though he had never been in this type of situation. He sat me down in one of the chairs they had put out for their customers.

“Your Peez is ready.” The stall employee called out to Flint.

The food which he had called a “Peez” had been set in front of me. I looked up at Flint looking for confirmation. After a couple moments of him wondering why I was looking at him, his face lit up remembering something.

“Eat up!” He told me.

I quickly stuffed it into my mouth. I cleared out half of it in a second, almost as if this had been the first time I had real food in a long while. In some regard it was. I had gone quite a few months without being able to eat a real meal. Just scraps of trash which were handed to me, a piece of filth below everyone's boots.

The food item resembled that of what I know to be a pizza. With it’s gooey cheese and crust. There had even been toppings on it. The only difference came from the taste of the bread. The bread had tasted far gooier as well, in a way making me think I was eating pure cheese. After eating half of the Peez I had felt completely full, almost as if I ate a thousand courses of meals. The pure joy on my face in that moment escaped my mask-like face. Realizing this was happening, I quickly looked towards Flint, ready to see the anger on his face. But when I glanced over, I didn’t see any anger, only happiness at the sight of me.

Flint made quick work of the meal I had been unable to finish, completing it in seconds. He took the plate that the Peez was served on and returned it to the stall owner. He thanked them properly, making sure they understood his gratitude. Once he had finished, he walked back over to me.

“I’m sorry for making you spend money on someone like me.” I quickly stood, apologizing to him.

“Stop it. First of all, instead of sorry, you should say thank you. Secondly, I think you should know, I didn’t actually want a slave, but I really needed help in my shop. I don’t plan to treat you like a normal slave, just mostly like a live-in worker. Although I can’t afford to pay you either, just so you know.” He responded, reprimanding me for my behaviour.

“O-o-okay.”

He quietly guided me back to his home which doubled as his shop. As he guided me, I could make out what seemed to be ripped out posters from the wall. The little bits of letters that were left on those abandoned pieces were letters I understood. It would appear the language and writing of this place was similar to that of where I came from, however there could possibly still be some differences. The stone pathway we followed was sharp and prickly, causing me to jump in an attempt to lessen the amount of steps I was taking.

This solution, however, was only causing more pain, as was landing with more force onto the pointy ridges in the path. When we got through the doors, I was met with a darker room and a warm light coming from the back-right of the room. It seemed as though the light was coming from an entirely different room.

The little bit of light coming into the dark room allowed me to see what seemed to be a forge. The stone the forge was built with looked very polished, even reflecting off some of the light.

“Come into this room.” Flint gestured for me to enter the room from which the soft, tawny light was coming from.

He had already reached the door while I was lost in observations. Realizing this, I quickly caught up to where he was and followed him through the door, embarrassed at my mistake. However, from within the embarrassment, a slight relief also settled in. Normally for a mistake like that, I would lose my regrown fingernails, or receive multiple lashings. It would seem amongst the filth and rot of people here, there do exist some who are not that bad.

“You’re home late, honey.” A woman taunted Flint. “Ah, so you did go through with buying one. Well, whatever. We need all the help we can get. The Government keeps draining us dry.”

“Shh.” Flint let out a noise, bringing his fingers to his lips.

This had quickly caused the woman to cover her mouth. She had started to stare daggers at me for a while, after which she began to scan my face. Maybe she thought I was a spy? I tried to quell her fears by returning a smile to her intense stare. This only caused a fearful look to appear on her face.

“Hibiki, this is my wife, Allirea. Allirea, this is Hibiki.” He introduced us.

“Ehhh?” A noise came from the stairs close by. “Is daddy home?” A small child stepped down the stairs, rubbing her eyes.

“Ah, Hibiki. This is my daughter, Cordelia.” Flint pointed towards the small child who was trying to keep her eyes open.

“N-n-nice to me-e-e-et you.” I stammered, trying to smile at Cordelia.

Tears had started to come to her eyes. She quickly hid behind her mother, trying to have her protect her from something. Wait, could it be me?

“Ugh. Hibiki, I think you should go wash your face then go to bed, it must have been a tiresome day for you.” Flint ordered me. “You will be sleeping upstairs in the room at the end of the corridor. The bathroom is to the left of that room.”

Confused, I got up and walked up the stairs, trying to avoid making eye contact with any of the family. I had finally reached the bathroom. It wasn’t very big, more like a closet than a bathroom. It seemed there was no place to take a bath in here either. The bathroom had a mirror, which was crystal clear. It was so clear it seemed no one had ever touched, even when it was first being made. I looked into the mirror, and tried smiling. The sincere smile I was hoping to see on my face instead caused a shiver to carry throughout my body.

“This smile is more creepy than sincere. Well that explains it.” I spoke aloud, trying to confirm my observations with myself.

I quickly washed my face with the water they had stored in the bathroom and dried myself with one of the ragged towels they had left there. I quietly creeped towards my room, trying not to disturb the family further. In the room lit with only moonlight, I made out what seemed to be a small bedding made of hay. There was also a shabby cloth laid out beside it. I guess that was my blanket. I quickly settled into the bedding and covered myself with the blanket.

This was far less comfortable than anything I had slept on in my own world, but compared to recently, this bed felt like heaven. The softness of the hay made me feel as though I was being lifted into the sky and carried away from everything. I had begun imagining the bedding I was on as a flying carpet that was taking me far away. It wasn’t stopping for anything and the winds carried me higher. The kind moon stared down gently at me, embracing me after all the troubles I had gone through. As I turned the carpet to go towards the moon, I had stopped. An invisible bind on me had become visible, and it slowly started to drag me back down to the surface. I struggled hard trying to get it off of me. But it’s unrelenting persistence eventually won, and I was pulled away to a place I didn’t want to be.

I couldn’t resist any further out of fear of the consequences. But by doing nothing it appeared as though things only got worse. I was being dragged in faster, and I could make out faces I never wanted to see again. The man who had stabbed me, the man who had tortured me, the man who dragged me along, and the man who sold me. They were all there waiting for me.

“Wake up Hibiki!” Flint had been shaking me, trying to wake me up. “Seriously, you weren’t waking up. I thought you had died.”

“Oh. Uh, sorry.” I replied, wearily trying to rub the sunlight out of my eyes.

“I need you to run an errand.”

“An errand?”

“Yeah. Remember where we ate yesterday? Around there should be a stall with vegetables. I’ll need you to get everything on this list.” He spoke, handing me a tiny sheet of paper and rags which I could only assume would serve as shoes, after which he escorted me out of the house.

I trudged towards my destination, trying my best to block any sunlight attempting to enter my eyes. The stone of the pathway, which would normally have felt very sharp and thorny, was now no obstacle thanks to the new shoes. I almost forgot what it felt like to have something around one’s feet, to no longer feel every detail of the terrain one was stepping on.

Giving up on the idea of staying half asleep, I stretched my hands and let out a yawn in an attempt to wake myself up. Whilst in the middle of the motion, a conversation from the alley beside me came ringing into my ears.

“Aww. Looks like a stranger seemed to have walked into the wrong part of town.” The man spoke playfully.

“Umm, no I-I-I--.” The victim responded.

“Haha, he’s shaking like a leaf. What’s your name?” The man laughed, prodding him.

I looked over, watching the situation. What a coward, I thought to myself. After a further amount of mocking, the aggressor pulled out a knife. The situation caused flashes of what had happened to me right before I came to this world. An overwhelming anger came over me. I wanted to go over there and punch that coward who so much reminded me of myself.

As I saw the knife enter the pleading man, I instinctively turned my head only down to see a puddle. The small body of water reflected the emotion on my face. It had looked the exact same as the man who had moments ago been pleading for his life. Like I had before.

“Nothing has changed.” I mumbled to myself.

“H-h-hel-p-p m-me.” The bleeding man uttered with the remainder of his strength, reaching his hand out towards me.

I trembled at his plea, looking toward him. The fear and powerlessness of the sight were starting to take a hold of me. My mind was bouncing off the wall, telling me to run, telling me I didn’t want to see this. But I couldn’t move. My legs could only tremble at the sight. This man was a coward, and so was I.

With a thud, the man’s hand had hit the ground, lifelessly. I was shaking like a leaf. I had seen people die, but I had yet to see anyone be murdered. The face of the corpse only displayed an unrelenting agony. Did my face also look like this when I died? The sight became too much for me, and I once again began vomiting all the delicious food I had eaten yesterday. Once I had finished, I realized my legs were no longer stuck, and I began running away as quickly as possible.

As I approached the stall where vegetables were being displayed, I attempted to look the worker in the eyes. Even though my body was screaming at me not to. While holding this uncomfortable eye contact, I asked him politely “Could you get me everything on this list?”