"Si, are you awake?"
Simon blinked awake to see Hans' worried face above him.
"Wasn't Hans at home?" He thought in his frazzled state before he whispered, "What are you doing here?"
"I couldn't go far. I swear I thought they would mow you down when I got to the road and saw the tractor. I couldn't leave but then I..."
"Couldn't come back," Simon completed in his mind as he finally remembered where he was. He was still stretched out on the hard ground with the rock still digging into his back.
He turned his head and pain shot through his heart at the massacre in front of him.
He needed to keep his Ma far away from this place until he had replanted it. He would have to tell her later, but then it would be better to do it when there was at least something in the soil again.
He tried to get up, but nausea rolled through him, and he groaned at the slightest movement.
Hans quickly helped him up while apologising that he couldn't carry him when he was out.
"You must hate me for running away like a coward," Hans said with chagrin.
Simon didn't have the strength to respond, as he was concentrating on getting off the ground first.
When Hans' hands fell away and he tried to stand alone, he staggered forward, and Hans quickly grabbed him.
"You are badly hurt. Let's go to the clinic," Hans said quickly.
"No, my parents will learn of it somehow and that will make them worry more," he croaked out.
What money would he use in the clinic anyway?
The soon-to-be-harvested potatoes were supposed to bring some money after his Ma had used the last money they had to prepare a special meal for his sister, who was coming back home from school that day.
Now Theo and his bastards had ruined everything.
If Simon couldn't find a way to earn money quickly, they might as well starve in the days to come.
That thought made Simon grit his teeth against the pain he was feeling all over his body and stand straighter.
He needed to do something.
According to Theo's style, he would not bother them again for a while.
He would expect that his warning had been well passed, and they would crawl to him now to accept his filthy money.
But then if his parents still didn't sell their land to him as he had asked, he would be back.
Simon needed to go home first, as he had promised his Ma to be back in time for lunch with his sister.
She would be worried sick if he didn't get home on time.
"I am sorry, man. These men are animals. They murdered all the crops. Maybe I should have stayed and..."
"And they would have beaten the two of us," Simon tried to joke as he sucked in his breath. "Help me with something, okay?"
"What? Anything I..."
"Give me your shirt."
"Uhn?" Hans gaped at him then looked down at the shirt his cousin had sent to him from the city. "Oh, of course, I...why?" he asked suddenly.
"Because I can't go home like this, genius," Simon said as he waved at his torn and bloodied clothes. "It would kill my Ma before she learns about this mess."
"That's true. Aunt will..."
"So, are you giving me, or do I have to wrestle you for it?" Simon said as lightly as his painful ribs would allow.
"Just... be careful with it," Hans said as he reluctantly removed the shirt.
Simon knew that the guilt Hans was still feeling was what made him give in easily.
So, he took advantage of it and quickly put on the high-quality shirt.
He cleaned off the blood on the exposed part of his body as best as he could with his own ruined shirt and pointedly looked away from the ruined farm as he left.
Theo was going to get his Karma one of these days. He would make sure of it.
Simon soon reached the small bungalow where he lived with his parents.
Though it had some flowers planted in front of it, one could easily see that the house was really old and not in very good shape.
The paint was peeling, and the wooden front porch made sounds as Simon walked over it.
Though he was panting by the time he got home, and he badly needed to sit, Simon knew he must not look suspicious.
He sucked in his breath to make his usual "I-am-home" call when he heard a crash from inside.
Theo's men? He forgot his pain for a moment as he rushed in.
"What right do you have to question me about that?! Whose fault is it that I get low grades?! It's all your fault! I couldn't even wear the graduation gown with the others!"
Simon paused in the open-floor living room as he recognised Mandy's yelling voice.
That was when he noticed the pink suitcase set to one side too.
"But why was Mandy shouting like that?" he wondered as his gaze went towards the window where his father used to sit for most of the day, since he got paralysed by a snake bite.
Gabriel Mathew sat slouched in the cane chair with the cushion their neighbour had gotten them and a grey scarf over his body to keep him warm.
His father's eyes moved from him to the kitchen and Simon got the message.
"Do you know how much I suffered just because of you?! Do you know how other students look down on me because of my useless background? Who among them do you think has parents who are poor farmers, ehn? I told you not to go with me on the first day of school, but you refused! Since that day, you have made my life hell in school, and you think you could scold me because I got low grades. Who wouldn't get low grades after you've homeschooled me for most of my life when others went to good schools? Everybody knew somebody there, and I was just the only ignorant one! And it was all because of you!"
Simon got to the kitchen doorway to see his mother with her head bowed.
A look of regret was on her face while Mandy had in front of her the half-eaten casserole that their mother had woken up very early to start preparing.
"And so what if I get low grades? I have abilities and I will make good money, so you don't have to worry that I would depend on your farm money now."
"Mandy, how can you talk to Ma like that?!" Simon snapped at her.
Mandy turned to him with a look of disgust on her pixie-like face. She flicked back her current blonde hair and sneered at him, "And who do you think you are to interfere in a mother and daughter discussion? I see you have gotten too comfortable when I went to school. Just shut your mouth like the stray you are and never interrupt me when I am talking again!"
"Mandy, how can you say that to your brother?!"
"He is not my brother! He can never be my brother and don't you even call him that!" Mandy shouted before jerking up from the stool where she sat.
"You know what?!" She swept the half-eaten food from the counter, and it crashed to the floor with a loud sound. The plate did an acrobatic dance before stopping close to Simon, "You can bend down, like the dog, you are to eat this! You have always taken my scrap anyway, so why stop now?!"
With that, she stormed out of the kitchen, bumping her shoulder against Simon's.