I did small tasks that were not difficult for my age, but were meant to relieve my mother.
I worked a lot in the fields.
I delivered our harvest, I took care of errands and that mostly in cooperation with other families, because we had no stores.
Therefore, after some time, almost the whole village knew me.
They greeted me when they saw me and I greeted them back.
I thought that it could not get any better.
Not only did I relieve my mother, but I met many new people.
The only catch was that after some time my mother looked worse than before.
I didn't understand why, but instead of asking or thinking about it, I had decided to do even more.
I trained secretly and worked longer in the field and helped more than usual at home.
This was wearing me down not only physically, but mentally as well.
That's why whenever I have time, I go to the giant tree.
Also called the "Tree of Life."
It is a huge tree that is said to have existed since the beginning of time and is so big that you can't even see the leaves.
There is a fairy tale which claims that the stars you see in the sky in the evening are lights from people who live on top of the tree and these lights shine through the blossoms.
But as I said, it's just a fairy tale.
Nevertheless, I really like this tree because my mother always tells us that my father used to come here.
So when I need to rest or think about something, I come here because it is a place that is connected to my father.
I don't know what my father is doing or where he is, but my mother always tells good things about him.
My mother keeps telling us that if she should die, then we should make our way to Luceli because our father might be there.
However, you can't go there as a child, so my mother stays here in the village with us.
Each of us wanted to see and meet our father, since no one can remember him, but our first priority is our mother.
However, she has been feeling very bad lately.
It has been about 1 year since I got permission to work and my mother's situation has gotten drastically worse instead of drastically better.
My mother became so sick that she couldn't get out of bed and spent every day just at home in bed.
She kept wanting to do something, however little, but I would not allow her.
Because of this undesirable situation, I spent my daily life doing all of my mother's chores.
Even if it took some time, I learned to cook a little bit, which was not the tastiest thing either, I took over the complete household, I also took care of the field and of course my mother and siblings.
I became a man for everything.
No matter how exhausted I was, in the presence of my family, I always had the broadest smile, so as not to cause them any worries.
( 6 years later )
I was now 16 years old and in recent years, we have held up well.
My mother has held up well, but has become a less weaker than in previous years.
My siblings got older and I was busy working.
I quickly realized that I was stronger than everyone else in the village and that at 16 years old.
I could lift 5 times my weight and I was all bone and muscle and weighed only 52 kg.
It must also be said that I never ate properly so that my family always had enough and they did not go hungry, which is why it was even more fascinating that I had such strength.
I used this strength to help people and thus earn more to feed my family.
The only thing I could think about was earning money because that would make everyone easier and better.
At least that's what I thought.
One day my mother and I were alone and my siblings were with an old acquaintance of my mother.
His name was Grim and my mother had known him since childhood.
Grim even knew my father, but apart from work, I have nothing to do with the people from the village, which is why I almost never talk to Grim.
There wasn't much to talk about either, since he was a very old man.
You could say he was just waiting for his death day.
I don't wish bad things to anyone, but first and foremost is my family and for a few years now, currently and in the future, my top priority is my family.
When my siblings were with Grim, I was alone with my mother and she asked me to go get water.
Since our water at home was empty, I set out to get some water from the well.
On the way there, I saw that there was an unusually large ship at our small port.
I thought nothing of it and got the water and headed straight home.
Just when I thought all was going well, the fateful day came when my life changed forever.
About 500 meters from our house, I saw our door being destroyed and I dropped the water canister and ran home.
Arriving home, I saw three unknown men grabbing my mother by the neck and holding her in the air.