Laughter filled the orphanage. At dinner, Marc and his fat neighbor mocked the late kid's appearance. Unlike his usual self, Mikhael was muddy. He had to force himself to come for food. With no energy left, he stared at his comrades, bitter. Glee in their eyes, there was no point. Lucy's cheek rose a bit, she, like the other felt better seeing his state. They slurped noisier their soup as he passed behind them to reach the bathroom. His feet lost balance, he grimaced, his broken ribs hit the ground. Carrot hair slammed the table with his fist, imitating the one he crooked. Only the matron ignored his accident. Did it matter. Long ago, he stopped expecting anything from her.
Unperturbed, Mikhael stood up. His cold stare froze the culprit. Nervously, Marc laughed off. He tried to hide his fear with awkward movements imitating the other orphans. He didn't know what to do. Sweat pearled his back. Didn't he gave that guy the lesson of his life. Looked at him now, all tattered. Nowhere was his arrogant attitude. Couldn't he stop it. Those dark orbs gave him the creep. His agitation was saved when the matron recalled Mikhael to not dirty the room.
Not even removing his clothes, the orphan appreciated the water contact on his face. Sitting under the stream, he let it washed away his blood and dirt. He waited. Breathing eased up. He focused and recalled Marc and the three villager kid faces from school. They got him. He was tricked. The cold liquid appeased his bruises. They were there instead of Miss Martin, how. Someone told them or. He was never chorred with repairing the barrier. He would ask the matron later. He felt familiar warmth flowing through his body, repairing it, slowly. Where was that freakishness when he needed it, when he fought, when he was hungry, when Daniel never got up, when Olivia blew up in pieces. No tears would bring them back.
Feeling better, Mikhael inspected his body in morning light. The orphanage freed of mirror presence, forced him to go outside, to the north pond, along the forest border. The pond's clear water reflected his thin but healthy body. Its features were better shown than the building windows. Soon school would start again. He would see the three idiots and Marc together. They would pay, each of them. He wasn't a freak.
He needed time to prepare, time to rest.
Mikhael jogged into the forest, a huge grin plastered on his face. Luck was with him, he almost recovered fully but foremost, he got the biggest bread portion out of all the kids. Ace would love it. Slipping through the trees, he reached the familiar place where he always played with his dog but found nothing. Where was the useless animal. He waited, an hour, two hours, to noon, the whole day. He searched for the brown friend, near the pond where they swam when it was too hot. At the forest clearing, he found most of the mature and edible berry eaten. The fir where Ace used to scrub itself, Mikhael saw a squirrel devouring a nut. If Ace saw this, the animal would go frenzy and tried to climb the tree. It would be a hilarious sight. In the end, he returned to his original place.
Ace was nowhere. Playing with half his breakfast between his fingers, the boy snapped it in half. He put it in his pocket. Where did this damned dog go. Hands in pocket, head down, Mikhael dragged himself to the orphanage. He missed his dog. Maybe, while searching for a specific place, Ace was waiting for him at another one, and they just failed to meet at the same time. The orphan found this explanation the most reassuring. Crows raucous voices told him he was close to the village graveyard. Choosing to not cross the village, he walked along the dead last residences.
Leaving behind the graveyard, he would reach th destination in few meters. As he glimpsed the orphanage building, he heard a familiar barking. Getting closer, he hid himself and sat down. He didn't move. He felt crushed. He didn't want to see it. He held his head between his knees, counting from zero to a thousand. He still listened. He waited. He reached a thousand for the third time. They were gone. He brought up the half of half bread in his pocket. His mouth opened. He couldn't bring himself to eat it.
At school, the teacher didn't notice the hostile glare the orphans and village kids exchanged. It was the norm for years. As long as it didn't degenerate in the class, it was okay. The kid little arguments never end up with heavy injuries. The teacher wasn't paid enough to do more than his job. So, he didn't bother when he didn't see Charles and Frederic Smith nor one of the orphan kids with black hair missing his class.
Mikhael had waited for the two villagers outside the school road. Charles and Frederic Smith, sons of a farmer living on the other side of the village, the brother duo always took the same shortcut to go to school. None of them expected to fall on their knees when a hidden rope met their ankles. Not wasting a second, the orphan rose his thick stick and impacted the kids' heads. They didn't blackout as he wasn't a specialist, he compensated it with plenty of other attempts. He held back, to not kill them.
His back hurt, and he didn't feel his legs. Charles and Frederic's unconscious bodies laid on the ground in undergarments. Mikhael used their pants and shirts to bind and blind them. He breathed out, the hardest part was done. He visualized a flame over his hand. He hated using his freakishness. It was his brother's personal memory. The fire floated from his hand and licked the farmer's sons' feet. The burnt was effective to wake them up.
They screamed. He stopped his fire. Clothe knots resisted their attempts to free themselves. Those pathetic beings called their mother for help. The boy shut them up with his stick. Charles asked what his kidnapper wanted. Nothing they could do except their current predicament. Mikhael stayed silent and beat them up. Frederic cried, he and his brother would leave with broken ribs, nose and multiple dark blue spots. They deserved it. When the villagers weren't the one ambushing, they weren't so proud. Mikhael kick them in the gut one last time. The farmer's sons kept trembling as the orphan removed the binding on their feet. They didn't stand up. Crying on the dirt, they wait for him to left them.
The brother might accuse him later, but they had no evidence. Mikhael often skipped school, no one saw him with them. If they went home, it would be in broken spirits. The orphan half-suppressed a laugh. Only if they found their way back. The village mayor would organize a search soon. After all, those two kids were part of the village so they would spend at most one or two days alone in the forest. At least, they weren't alone. Their brotherhood was something he would never have with his brother. Who cared about him anyway. Missing school first day was worth it.
Two down, two left.
The last villager boy Mikhael targeted, had the habit to smoke in the graveyard at night. He knew it, the orphan spied on him for days after the mayor and other villagers found Mikhael's two previous victims. The Smith brothers didn't mention him, they couldn't. Instead, they related how they were abducted by a forest spirit. They saw its red fire eyes eating their foot before being trashed, for what they felt was an eternity like. The orphan stayed low to not be suspected but their story gave him ideas.
Fully covered in mud and leaves, the hunter fell down on the smoking villager. The story repeated itself and the villagers visited even more the church. They prayed a god who ignored him for years. Still, the lonely child kept his cross, his mother gave it to him long ago. Now, the object was hidden beneath layers of clothes in his chest storage. The orphan kept it, but didn't bear nor use it. Each time he threw it away, he ended up later, searching it. He couldn't bring himself to lose it, even if he hated it.
Marc felt unease, was he cursed with his friend. His three friends were beaten black and blue by a forest spirit. Mikhael enjoyed dinner as carrot head cast furtive stares behind his back every four soup slips. Soon it would be his time. The black eyes orphan needed an excuse to do it, he had to make it differently. He couldn't allow others to link this revenge with the other victims. Mikhael wouldn't just be expelled from the orphanage, prison would await him at best and a beating to death by the parent at worst.
When they were going to bed, Mikhael fell intentionally on Marc, cursing him for his fault. The unclean orphan pushed him down. Scarred that it was the spirit, the carrot head became relieved and angry that someone disrespected him like this. Both came to hands. The other orphans made a circle around them. Samael bet his next breakfast on Marc to Lucy, but she refused the bet. She saw the matron coming and the fight couldn't possibly finish here.
Thrown outside for the night, Mikhael had all the time he needed.
" Carrot head couldn't see where he walked because he is as stupid as he looks, don't you think, carrot head ? ", Mikhael wasn't tired, he stirred up his last opponent. He faced him but didn't show any intention to continue the previous fight.
" What ? WHAT ? You... ", Marc Roger couldn't finish his phrase when a fist knocked him in the chin.
Mikhael didn't need to think twice, this opportunity, he rushed on Marc. They fell and rolled on the ground. Marc put his arms before his face in guard but Mikhael's fist went through, punching Marc's face. His nose was broken, to Mikhael it wasn't enough. Marc rose his head, trying to get up, but Mikhael weighed him down. The dark hair child jabbed at the unprotected cheek, his knuckles hurt but it didn't matter. The bloody face pumped up.
" CRY bastard ! CRY ! ", Mikhael voice resonated through the orphanage surrounding.
It was followed by heavy sobbing.
At breakfast, Mikhael's hands were numbed. They still trembled, he almost killed someone. It could have been so easy. If he kept going for a few more minutes. He gulped down. The fatty didn't dare to look at him. Marc wasn't in sight. Mikhael cut his bread in half per habit. Ace might like it. He had so much to tell it. He would forgive him. It didn't bother him anymore if Ace played a bit with other kids. He went to the forest.
Again, he couldn't see the tail nor the fur of Ace. He wanted to apologize for not meeting after so long.
He tried the next day. Was the dog dodging him.
For a week he continued.
Mikhael sat down, feet in the pond water. He didn't know how much he stayed like that. No fishes came near him. The sunset didn't bother him. He heard a familiar bark coming. Ace was jogging while its tail waved back and forth. He missed this furred animal but he remembered all the time he saw this dog playing with Lucy.
" Go back to your new mistress Lucy, BASTARD ! I don't care at ALL ! GET AWAY !!! ", he screamed, stopping the animal in its track. It stopped a few feet from him.
" I told you to get LOST ! ", tears fell down on his face. The dog barked. " Weren't you HAPPY enough, this morning with her ? ", it tried to get close, only to be shouted again.
Mikhael watched as his only friend ran away tail between its legs. When he couldn't saw the dog features, he fell down, " I lied. ", he whispered. " I care about you, Ace... come back, please... "
The crying boy picked up a half bread breakfast that has fallen from his pocket. He still kept a portion for Ace. He stared at it before pocketing. He washed away his tears and ran in the direction Ace went. It followed a trail in the forest, going to the forest clearing. There he saw Marc, crouching.
He stepped closer with stealth. He didn't know why carrot head was there. The orphan redhead was too coward to go this far in the forest. Carrot head was too absorbed in his task to notice Mikhael, looking above his shoulder. What the newcomer saw freeze him in place. At first, he didn't recognize those brown fur as blood covered it.
He didn't scream. He didn't move. Red fire enveloped the hungry orphan. His hair and clothes first turn to ashes before his flesh and bones melted and evaporated. At his previous place were ashes and a bloody carcass half consummated.
He didn't know how long he stood there.
He watched as his body moved on its own.
He didn't felt the warmth from his friend.
" Who are you ? ", the crying orphan didn't bother to look up. Her blood like hair reaching pale feet strangely soothed his heart. Only weirdos walked barefoot in the wood. Like he did today. What was her intention, mocking him. At least she wasn't standing on the mud grave, Ace grave.
Cold hands grabbed his face, forcing him to confront deep blue sapphires. " Abigael Obbs, one who has control over magic. Nice to meet you. "