Against the World II: Transgression
Chapter 41: Trust and Betrayal, part 2
With this week's paychecks ludes, life for the days ahead will be tough. Nueva had no choice but to use some of the spare money— which he allocated for the treatment of the mother— to meet the needs. He just hopes his mother's condition does not deteriorate suddenly— as it happened four months ago.
Early in the morning, before any sign of the sun was about to dawn, Nueva had already woken up and cleaned herself up. Then he went to the kitchen to prepare the fireplace, cooking wheat porridge and mushroom soup for their breakfast. Then he entered the mother's room to wake her up. Every day is always like that.
Then he brought a bucket of water to help his mother clean up. Due to her severe burns, it was impossible for the mother to clean herself without hitting the burn. Nueva helped her mother clean herself painstakingly. He was very careful not to hit the mother's burn which would definitely make him grimace.
“Sorry because I'm a burden to you, son.”
Nueva's hands reflexively stopped from washing the mother's back. Although her mother had often said those words, Nueva was still not used to hearing them. He's not happy to hear it. He has repeatedly said that his mother is not a burden, but that his mother is too stubborn.
Nueva sighed and went back to repeating the words she always said when her mother said those words, then continued to wash her back and help her get dressed.
Only then did Nueva take the mother out so they could eat together. Even though it is just food, but more important is togetherness. Even if the dishes of the kings were in front of Nueva, it would be tasteless if there was no mother by her side.
Although yesterday she had to lose money, Nueva could see the good in today. He will go buy necessities after cleaning. Coming home from shopping he would look for mushrooms and firewood. If lucky, he can get a rabbit or a partridge. Before noon he would go home and prepare lunch. Then it beris—
Nueva's path of thought collapsed instantly as her mother coughed and bled. Not just from the mouth. Blood started seeping out of her nose as Nueva helped wipe the blood in her mouth.
The boy brought his mother to a place to lie down. The mother said she was okay, but Nueva couldn't believe it.
Putting two glasses of water and a piece of cloth next to her mother, Nueva took the money and ran outside the house. The destination was the village healer's house. He had to make sure his mother's condition did not get worse. Only the physician could make him relieved.
It was still early morning when Nueva knocked on the door and called out to the physician. It is natural that the owner of the house is angry and upset. However, Nueva managed to convince him after a long story. Unfortunately, they can't hurry. Besides because the healer was old, he also needed to prepare the necessary potions.
They had only left the physician's residence nearly thirty minutes later, and it took them a few more minutes to reach the Nueva residence and the mother.
“Come, Physician, quickly sign in and heal i—”
Nueva's voice was held back. Breath choked. His eyes widened in disbelief and began to glaze over. Shock dyed himself quickly.
“What's up, Nak Nueva? Why did you terdi—”
The doctor also fell silent. He was as surprised as Nueva, but not to the point of shock. He had lived long enough to be swallowed up in shock.
“Oh, New! Thankfully you're home! Do you know what your mother thought to hang herself like this?”
“We came to offer her used clothes, but we were greeted by what you see now.”
“Is there anything strange about your mother's attitude lately?”
“Did you say something that made your mother hurt so much that she killed herself like this?”
The four adults—three women and one man—it put on a worried and concerned face, looking at Nueva iba.
Nueva recognized the four of them. The woman on the far left is the most active saying her mother's disease is contagious. The woman next to him once had a fight with her mother over allegations of infidelity. The last woman was the victim of her own father's bullshit. And that man is the one whose father brought here many times when he was alive and his mother was still healthy.
More important than that, one of them was holding the exact same rope that hung his mother's neck. One of the women was holding a pair of scissors; her mother's long hair had been cut into pieces roughly—both of her mother's ears were even nearly severed. The other woman held an iron skewer— and Nueva found both her hands and her mother's stomach filled with puncture. And the man was wearing only shorts.
“Then we go first. We will report this to the village chief. If this is someone, we have to pay him back. You're patient, yes, Nueva. And you, Doctor, let's help us meet the village chief.”
They just left. The physician who wanted to protest they forcibly withdrew. In less than a minute, only Nueva herself was left behind. He was still unmoved from looking at his mother who was killed in suffering— was forced and tortured until her breath was gone.
For almost half an hour Nueva remained motionless. His eyes that had been spitting out water had darkened. Both of his hands were clenched tightly. Her teeth are grinding violently. His body trembled in an intense rage that was no longer unbearable. If anyone could peek at his head contents at this moment, whoever it was would definitely look in horror at Nueva.
“Four people it...” Nueva muttered softly, standing up slowly. “...even a god would not be able to protect themselves from me.”
There was nothing Nueva wanted more at the moment than to torture the four people alive. He will pay people to heal them, and he will torture them again. Then they were healed again, and he tortured again. Nueva will never stop, not until he himself feels tired in torturing.
Nueva stepped like a dead man towards the back of the house. He dug a hole and in it he stacked the remaining wood as a place of burning. Then he removed his mother from the hanging rope and he took it for later he put it on a wooden structure. Then he covered the mother's body with clothes and cloths, and all the things that could be burned. Then Nueva filled the very top with embers.
Nueva, who was not even eleven years old, stood still with empty eyes looking at the burning flames.
Three hours later, Nueva stepped out of the house. There's a lot of people there. News “mother killed herself” has spread to all over the village. But Nueva ignored them all. He continued to step and step, and continued to go far from the village. Nueva walked towards the place where her path of darkness would begin.
“Your offer yesterday, I want to accept it. Take me to your boss, or sell me to your boss' sister. Whatever. I need money in bulk.”