Raima was leaning against the living room's wall, unable to stand on her legs she fell on her knees.
Keith was still on the ground, his lips and eyes were dry and he was breathing with a slow cadence.
His mother exited the house, leaving the front door open, she didn't say a word, the sound of her foot hitting the ground was as if she was ready to fall, stumbling on each step.
Without paying attention to his environment, he crawled toward next room. He was in pain, any effort under his pelvis was a challenge. An ounce of hatred appeared on his face, mixed with sadness and fear of his mother's return.
'I'm surrounded by monsters.'
After entering the room, he put the mattress against the window, and pulled the bed sheet over his whole body, he spend his night against the door, hidden from sights. The coldness from his new friend kept his mind aware that he had a guard able to wake him up at night.
'What should I do?'
He was shuddering, tasting his warm tears and snorting time to time. An headache came after he sustained a crisped expression for too long. He relaxed his face to not suffer from more spots. He fell asleep while he was focused on his reasoning, he could ignore little by little, the physical trauma he was suffering.
This very night, there was someone, running between fields, able to distinguish shapes thanks to moonlight. Running straight in front of him, the person was despairing, he accelerated and began to sprint despite the lack of light.
The fast and dark form was caught by the vigilant eye of a night patrol. But the thing was too quick to be distinguished, it was mistook as a night bird.
Plants and branches of young trees were scratching his skin.
After a few hundred meters, the person stopped and began to dig the ground, the soft dirt was soft and easy to move. With as much strength as possible, the person dug, bare handed, small gravel got under his fingernails. His hand's tendons began to weaken. The hole began to deepen.
The person dead tired, that was a burnout of all of his remaining energy. It fell unconscious in its hole.
When morning came, the person was discovered, covered in dust and soil by a villager, who ran to the village's chief.
"Wake."
Keith heard the low voice coming from under his chin. He heard repetitive knocking on his front door.
"Keith! Keith? Are you here? It's your mother! She was found passed out this morning! Can I enter? I'm entering!"
That was Domi's voice, he was very agitated this morning. He still had thoughts about his nightmare.
He saw the unfinished dinner on the table, small brown stains on the floor and one chair down to his feet.
"I'm next door, don't kick in it. Let me get next to it first."
His voice was raspy but audible. Domi was impatient to know what happened. He was really worried. He slowly pushed the door and stared at the little boy, with dry residuals all over his face, his hands on his lower belly.
"What the hell happened? Is it the monster? Did he attack you two?"
"Of course not. It's my mother, she is the culprit, she went all out on me last night after I asked her about my father."
Keith pointed at the hand whip, Domi couldn't understand all the grief he was on.
"Then who tried to bury her?"
"Mother died? Ho-"
"No no, no! She is fine, just passed out, she's at my house. My mom is taking care of her."
Keith was relieved, but not for long.
"My mother is insane, she changed her behaviour in just a second, she was nice and talking about making me clothes, then she snapped and directed her anger on me. After that she apologized and ran away from the house."
At this moment, Picco, the chief's assistant busted in from the open door. He saw the same things as Domi, excepted Keith's recluse state and a swarm of question flowed out of his mouth.
"The hermit came back? Did he attack you? You saw him, right? Are you okay?"
"No, I am not okay. I can't even stand up, could you help me sit on this chair?"
Picco saw Keith's naked lower body, it stank urine, and there was a lot of brownish matter all over his legs. He hurriedly lifted the boy from the floor and sat him next to Domi.
"What in the world happened here?"
"It was the hermit. He knows where we live and he attacked us once more because we are easy preys."
Domi gulped down his saliva, he was confused.
"He used next room's window to enter and after he attached my mother, he used this tool to do... Awful things to me, then he detached my mother and run after her. I hid in the room. No one came back here after."
Picco gave Keith his jacket.
"I wonder why the gods dislike you this much boy. Can you walk?"
"I can't walk. I could try with someone's help."
Picco took a deep breath.
"I am going to inform Leton of the condition you are in. Your mother is next house, she's alive."
After Picco's depart, Domi turned toward Keith, furious.
"Have you lied to me as well? What are you planning?"
"I did not lie to you, I just don't trust adults... But I want to protect my mother. I know she has a head problem, but she is my only family. Can you help me protect her?"
Domi's eyes scanned Keith's whole body, from the dirt under his toes nail, to his numerous scars covering his arms. There was no way his mother had always been sane. Why should he protect her? Domi's mother had never hit him. He couldn't even imagine her leaving a wound on his flesh.
He accepted because of one thing. He knew how a family can treasure one.
"If she does anything to you one more time, as tiny as it can be, I'll tell everything to Picco."
Keith nodded and tried to stand up. His moans grew louder and louder, he had to stop.
"I'll go ask my mom to take care of you. I'll be right back."
On his way, Picco went to the dug hole where villagers found Raima the same morning. He spoke to himself.
"The foetus must be here."
Using his hands as a shovel, he meticulously searched for a small carcass. He had to abandon this idea, he spent as much time as it needs to notice the shadows moving, yet he found nothing, not even a smell.
Alma carefully walked to see Keith. She gave him dried leaves with pain killer virtues, and checked his fever. She stitched his anus and gave him instructions.
"I'll ask my son to come to see you a few times a day, in case you need help or entertainment. I want you to not move too much around, your body need to recover. I think your mother will be able to water your crops daily after just a night and a good meal. I'll explain her your need of rest once she wakes up."
She was about to close the entrance door when she remembered something. She peeked inside.
"If it itches, don't scratch. I'll get rid of the stitches once your forehead is healed as well."
Keith's belly became noisy, tried his best to reach the white bags. After a few minutes he arrived a few meters farther. He put five dried fruits in his mouth, they did not have any sweetness nor sourness. He felt his shirt moving toward the room.
This place was the least luminous, the mattress hadn't budged an inch. Once in, he asked.
"You got another lizard for me? You've let me alone this night to hunt?"
"Found."
"You found food? What is it?"
Out of the shadow, what seemed to be a white round stone came out. It was slightly bigger than an eyeball and very pale. Surrounding it were very long nails slightly incurvated adorning skeleton-like fingertips.
"That's an egg! You found a bird nest?"
"Heal."
The moment Mister Show spoke, he shoved the egg inside Keith's mouth, preventing him to refuse nor breath correctly. The eggshell quickly cracked under Keith's teeth. The monster's hand grabbed Keith's jaw and he raised his chin so he could forcibly make him swallow.
There was no eggy taste at all. Instead there was a warm fluid entering his mouth, and solid forms as well. Warm felt good. The stone-like texture of the shell was resembling dried bread.
Keith did not chew it, he panicked a little and ate it whole. He understood only seconds later the egg could have been a chick.