[Two chapters in one]
*** music to hear: reflection— Raphael Dubois
*******
Struggling to let go of the hands around her mouth and wrist, Estelle's bright amber eyes burned. She knew the slums were dangerous but the east side of the slum where she lived in are filled with only the people she knows. Instead of balling her hand into a fist she exhaled her breath and stopped moving altogether as though she had lost her consciousness. The person who seems to notice her lack of movements loosened his hands at once, looking startled and started to panic.
"Elle?" The man spoke, taken aback as he saw her her arms were bandaged and there were wounds on her face that made her looked as though she had been beaten up previously. "This isn't how it usually goes—"
Elle's eyes snapped open and with her balled fist, she managed to land a hard hit on the man's shoulder. She stepped away while the man groaned in pain as the moment she moved back, she didn't forget to make sure stepping on the man's foot with her heels. Then her eyes were met with the man's brown ones that were filled with tears, "Oh Elle! That was so unfair!"
Standing in front of Estelle was a man dressed in a dull olive shirt and a brown trouser. His left shoe had the lace undone while his curly hair was unkept as he rarely could brush his own hair without breaking a hair brush. Brown freckles covered under his eyes and nose and his ears were visibly bigger than others. He looked at Elle with a look of pain as she had stepped on his toes, the only place in his body that he had no tolerance of pain of.
Elle huffed at the man who had sneaked behind her and knitted her eyebrows sharply, "That wasn't funny Timothy."
Timothy is one of the young adults living in the slums. Like her, they were probably the same age. Elle only know "probably" as none of them actually know their own ages. Some of them are abandoned just like Timothy or lose their mother in an illness like her. As they both lived in mischief together, Timothy and Estelle were quite a close friend.
"My god! Those are my words," said the startled Timothy. "I thought you really fainted! What the hell is wrong you? What are those wounds around your body?! You look like you have been ran over by cows!"
"Actually horses," Elle said while Timothy's eyes snapped wide, almost about to fall from his sockets.
"What?!"
"I was taking back the gems from the jewelry shop you mentioned before and got chased by one of the church clergies. Then I got hit by a carriage horse. Fortunately they didn't step over me though," Elle pulled a smile to lessen the gravity of her accident.
Pallid, Timothy shook his head, "You're insane! You could have died you know!"
"Of course I know, I have seen victims who died from a carriage accident," Elle rubbed her arms that still feel cold from the earlier shower, "It was raining so I couldn't really pay attention to my surroundings."
Timothy looked at Elle with pity in his eyes. He held his hands together, "I'm sorry, as I thought I should have gone with you. I knew that the jewelry shop would be more difficult to steal."
"No," Elle felt bad seeing her friend's upset face, "Listen, it wasn't your fault. I was the one who asked you to stay behind for Marcie, Lucas, and grandpa John—"
"-Why is my name being brought up here?" An older man walked toward them from behind Elle. His right hand was holding to a brown walking cane, the only object they use that doesn't look tattered like their outfits. The man appeared to be in his late sixties with his white hair and hunched back being the proof of his old age. Staring at Timothy he rolled his eyes and only smiled when meeting Elle, "You're back Elle."
"Grandpa John!" Elle called his name in a chime. There was a smile on his lips that were wide and warm. The gaze of the older man grew warmer as he fondly looked at her like his own granddaughter. Likewise, she also see Grandpa John as her grandfather figure as the man was the only older adult after her mother who had always protected her. He was also the one who had helped her mother give birth to her, thus knowing her since she was just a baby.
Elle looked at the older man who had been sick for days and furrowed his eyebrows, "You shouldn't be standing now, you're still sick. It's better if you could rest plenty instead of moving around! Leave the children in our street to me, I will make sure none of us is starving."
"How can I rest when I know you went out to steal again?" Grandpa John sighed, "You should stop this job Elle. I know I am the one who started thieving around those wealthy nobles but it's not a job that I do so you can follow through."
Elle shook her head as she saw the guilt on Old John's face, "I didn't choose this because I saw you doing it, I just thought that we should get what was stolen from us by those haughty nobles."
Timothy seeing how Elle was being scolded slowly walked away and without looking at him, Grandpa John had used his walking stick handle which had a unique curve and loom it over the young man's neck, dragging him backward in a smooth pull. "Don't think you can miss this Tim. I know you and Elle did it together."
"No no grandpa, you gotta listen. She was the one who roped me in," Timothy said to no avail as grandpa John pushed them stand in front of him side by side as though they were siblings.
"You are older than her Tim, it should have been your job to stop her from doing anything reckless!" Grandpa John sighed heavily upon seeing from the front how wounded Elle appeared. "See, Elle is now covered with wounds, aren't you ashamed as a man and an older friend?"
"But I didn't encourage her..." Timothy shushed his lips seeing Grandpa John's narrowed eyes. The old man is already frightening with the mysterious old scar that he has across his neck and he always look more fearsome when his entire face is married with anger. If he didn't know he was from the slum, they would have believed that Old John comes from an affluent knight family.
Even Elle who wasn't scared of anything only wrung her hands together and dropped her head low. She knew if Grandpa John found out he wouldn't be happy and she managed to hide everything from him the past two weeks, allowing her to steal at three different shop including today because he was ill. But today he seemed to have noticed their absence from their houses and was caught red handed.
"I'm sorry, Timmy didn't do it grandpa. I was the one who exactly had the idea," Elle showed her conscience. "I also wanted to bring back the pendant that Schubuerson stole from Lucas and Marcie's mother."
"Jennifer's pendant you mean," Grandpa John felt even more guilty. He could have scolded Elle and Timothy if those two had stolen simply because they have no money to feed themselves, nagging them so they could find a proper work instead of thieving even though that would be a difficult task as they both live in the slum and not exactly everyone want to let the slum folks to work under them with their negative fame. The kids would have trouble but the old man believe one day they would find a proper work as they are diligent and honest.
But now knowing that Elle had stolen to give back the items taken from them, he couldn't find himself to reproach the young girl.
"Listen, Elle. What have been lost, it's time to move on from it. I understand that you did it with a good heart but Lucas, Marcie, Timmy, me, and the others do not want to lose you. We don't want to see your arms being chop off by those clergymen as they believe thieves need to have their hands severed," Grandpa John exhaled his breaths as Elle had only looked down on the ground.
Timothy seeing the saddened Elle tried to helped, "But grandpa, Elle doesn't hurt anyone when she steal and she only steal back what's ours—"
"Can't you two understand?!" Grandpa John raised his voice that made Elle and Timmy flinch, "Those clergymen from the Church, they don't care the reason behind your actions. All they want to know is the fact that you did steal something. I'm not saying this only to Elle but also you, Timmy. If you got caught, who knows what will happen to you two? I don't want to see both of you harmed over my dead body," the older man pressed.
Elle wanted to try and lessen Grandpa John's anger but she knows well that Grandpa John had scolded them out of worries and concern. Truthfully she wouldn't want to steal either as her dream was to live a peaceful life with a normal job that could help her take care of Marcie and Lucas. But then again no matter how she wish to have work, once she reveal she comes from the slums, no workplace was willing to accept her.
She only steal a few times as in her head there was nothing she could do than to take back what was taken from them. It was almost laughable that the nobles could steal their items without the fear of being punished by the churchmen yet they have to fear their hands being cut for stealing back what was theirs. Then again, grandpa John was someone who had lost his families including children and grandchildren, his panic upon knowing she was wounded from thieving must have brought back his trauma.
Not wanting to make the older man sad when he was still ill, Elle could only reflect back on her action.
"I'm sorry grandpa," she whispered, feeling smaller than her own size.
Grandpa John couldn't get mad anymore seeing Elle's guilty expression. Timmy who saw this side of Elle couldn't help but lower his head, "I'm sorry too, grandpa."
"Can you promise me not to steal again next time?" Grandpa John asked and upon seeing the two of them nodding their heads slowly he exhaled a sigh of relief. "How is your wounds Elle?"
"It's nothing," Elle said, hiding the pain on her back that began to ache terribly now. "I only want to give back the jewelries to the folks around the slums."
"Alright do that but make sure to rest after it. You are too wounded to move around," grandpa John felt somewhat regretful seeing Elle who became silent after being scolded but he couldn't let the two precious grandchildren he had been looking upon to suffer a life worse than that by being tortured for stealing.
"Of course, I'll rest after," Elle pulled a smile, trying to hide the fact that she was sad being scolded as she understood it was her fault. "Don't forget to rest quickly too grandpa. We can't afford to pay for the medicines..."
"Don't worry about it," Grandpa John brushed her worries aside. "I have plenty of money for my own health. Go now before the sky turns even darker."
Elle nodded her head and glanced at Timmy who shooed her off, winking his left eye and whisper, "I'll be okay. Go." With a smile, Elle waved dashed off from the place as when night comes, the nightly creature became more active and none of them want to risk their lives being their food.
Grandpa John looked at Timothy once Elle had left, "You are so silly Timmy. Don't you know you are much older than Elle?"
"By two months grandpa!" Timmy exhaled, "How can I stop her when she comes to me with eyes pleading for help? She even said that this is her last request she'll ask me in her life. Also! In the end I still told you everything about it so don't scold us too much."
"Every time I scold you two, you would goa silent and start to apologize but why won't you do that before doing anything foolish?"
"Elle want to help everyone in the slum and I as her friend want to help that too," Timothy's brown eyes look at the old man's gray ones with determination. "Like Lucas and Marcie, Elle had also helped me and I want to give that kindness back to her no matter what."
"You are too soft to her," Grandpa John sighed.
Timmy drew a small smile, "But you are also too soft and gentle to her. You scold me as if you will kill me but never do that to Elle."
"It's because," the old man trailed off. As he lifted his face to watch the sun that had turned red orange, he recalled the same color on the sky the moment Elle was birthed to the world.
The old man swallowed his words and whispered in a voice that the wind carried away, "Elle doesn't belong to the slum like us... she is, someone who shouldn't have suffered in poverty..."
As the slums drew a close before night appear, a group of knights were gathered together with an old man yelling an order to them, "I have found my daughter! I demand that she is brought back home safe and sound!"
His voice rang all over the luxurious manor with the group of knights hailing their lord and raising their weapons up to the sky as though to show their delight of granting their lord's wish.
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