Chapter 43:

Steal My Happiness Away

(Outdated) Simular Beings


“Why did you do that?” Bread stood in front of the door to the gym, blocking the way inside. “You hurt that old lady!”

“I’m not answering stupid questions.” She shoved him aside and stepped in. “I’m tired.”

“She was crying!” He pulled at her arm. “You said nobody would get hurt!”

She roughly pulled back. “I never hurt anyone,” she retorted. Then she headed for the bed. All that adrenaline rush was finally starting to taper off. The aches in her muscles were hitting a little harder.

“But she was crying!”

“I’m not a therapist, Bread!” she lashed out. “You want me to console them or something?”

“What happened?” Coach came out of the backroom. A bunch of precision instruments dangled from his tool belt. “Are you both fine?”

“We’re fine.” She held up the diamond embedded bracelet. It sparkled and shined in the light. “Got a decent haul today.”

Bread tried to snatch the bracelet from her hands.

She snapped it back. “What’re you doing?”

He glared. His eyes had a spark in them that wasn’t there before. “I’m taking it back.” He tried to reach for it again.

Not in a million years. “You’re not taking anything back.” She held the bracelet high up in the air this time.

“Why?”

“Why? Because I said so.”

“Wait,” Coach interrupted. “Calm down, both of you.” He stood between them and tried to create some distance.

“Why can’t you go back to boxing?!” Bread yelled over Coach.

“You think I have a choice? You think I’m stealing because I want to?” She shook her head. “I did it because I had to. There’s no other reason why.”

“But you’re hurting people!”

“I don’t care if I’m hurting people! I hurt people when I box too! What? You think everyone’s living like saints? Helping each other out like it’s some kind of charity? Don’t be ridiculous.”

Bread looked visibly distressed; his eyes were red, watery. But she didn’t care about that. Nothing she did was in the wrong. And he had to learn that sooner or later. Nobody in this world was going to hold his hands.

“Val!” Coach interrupted.

“What? I’m just telling the truth!”

“He’s just a—”

“I liked it better when you boxed!” Bread cried. “You were smiling more. You-you looked happier!”

Happier? She scoffed. She hated it. Her mother had said something similar—to pursue her dreams rather than steal. She had mentioned that it was shady, wrong. That she should do something that made her happier. But why didn’t they ever get it? Money was what made the world turn. It wasn’t dreams or goals. How was she supposed to pursue anything without the financial support?

Her parents were a joke. They were broke, a waste of space. Without her, they were scrambling around jobless, lazing away their lives into debt. But they had the audacity to tell her to pursue her dreams? When all they were doing was leeching off of her supposedly shady business?

Every night, she was scrounging around the streets looking for pennies. That outdated form of cash was useful for its copper. Every night, she starved. She stole whatever she could get her hands on, and lived off of others’ mistakes. Life in itself was dehumanizing when you had to survive so close to the edge.

When her baby brother was conceived, she’d made a mental ultimatum—if her parents didn’t realize their responsibilities even after his birth, she would leave. And yet, she was hopeful. Her parents seemed to care. They seemed to have matured. But her brother was born, and within a week, he was essentially abandoned. Left in her care as they went on to gamble and drink their lives away…

She left.

And initially, she hadn’t planned on taking her brother. As terrible a fate as he’d had it, she just didn’t have the resolve to adopt the responsibilities of parenthood. She was just a teenager. What could she even do? But in a split second decision, she took her brother with her. And on the front steps of an orphanage, she’d left him, thinking that it was better than her parents.

That was the greatest mistake of her life.

She had tried to find him again, but he was gone without a trace. There were no records, no information on if he was even alive. And just like that, she had lost another member of her family. The one that actually mattered to her.

Maybe if they had money, none of this would’ve happened. Maybe if, at least, she had money, she could’ve decided against her initial decision and taken him with her. Then they could’ve all been happier, living lives that were fulfilling and satisfying. With money, she could’ve finally appreciated what those at the top had said were the joys of life.

To her, that was what happiness was. An emotion for the privileged. For those who had the money to wipe away their tears and problems. An emotion that could only really be felt by the rich. Nobody else had that choice. Especially not when you were born into a life that never went right. When you were living so close to the edge…

Happiness wasn’t necessary.

“I thought you wanted to do things your way!” Bread exclaimed.

“Shut up!” She’d had enough. He was sounding more and more like her mother. She couldn’t take it. “Happier? I can’t pursue jack shit if I don’t have money! What do you want me to do then? Fight in the ring with a broken eye? You think I could pull that off?”

“I-I do!”

“Well, you’re wrong! You think the world is so simple that following your dreams is the only thing that matters? You think nothing will stand in your way? How bird-brained can you be?! Money is what makes the world turn. Without it, I can’t do shit. I can’t box, I can’t eat, I can’t do anything!”

“But, I thought—”

“You’re all just the same. Every single one of you! All just immature fucking babies who haven’t experienced the real world even once in their lives!” She stepped in closer with every word. “Just a bunch of idiots! You can’t even feed yourself without me, but you’re trying to tell me to stop stealing because I’m hurting someone’s feelings? What do you think those stupid words will do? Make me feel better? Hah! What a fucking joke!”

“Lass,” Coach called out.

“I let you into my life and this is how you repay me? You’re not even my real brother! You’re just a fucking NPC that I stupidly wasted all my money on. What makes you think you have the right to tell me what to do?!”

Bread stood shaking, teary-eyed and sniffling. He tried to wipe it all away.

“Lass, enough!” Coach’s voice echoed through the empty gym. He pulled Bread closer. “It’s alright, lad.”

Bread buried his head into his shoulders.

Coach pointed to the door, his back still turned to her. “Take a walk. And come back when you’re cooled off.”

“I’m not—”

“Take. A. Walk.” He didn’t say it loudly, but it was far from pleasant. It was the first time she had ever heard him so furious… He sounded like he was about to bite her head off.

“Yeah… Okay.” she whispered back. Did she go overboard? “I—” She saw Bread. He cautiously peered over Coach’s shoulders like he was hiding from a monster. “Nevermind.” She turned around and headed for the door.

Maybe she really was the monster here. 

KawaZukiYama
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