I have but one simple use of this ‘protagonist-childhood-friend’ role, and that is to wait for the protagonist to show up and then die.They’ll meet when Lupa --I’m around 5 years old and by then my family situation should be even more of a mess than it already is. Sounds easy enough, but the stretch of waiting and the stir for my family trouble is actually more tedious than it seems.I thought I could simply get away and watch the trouble unfold on my parents by themselves and keep my  distance but it is to my demise that the 7^th has simply brought it upon me instead. It was the reason why I was confident that time well just pass me by in peace as things unfolded on its own until I am of use to the story evading as much harm as I could. But it was too late when I had realized his scheme. I may have all the memory I have but I can’t read minds, let alone predict a god’s every move to absolute perfection. Although I have control over my own fate, I don’t with everything else around me and when he decides to bring up some useless plot point in my environment that I have no choice but to participate in, then I’ll just have to deal with it until I can get rid of it, there’s no other way of escaping it. If I want no part of it then I must have power over it but as of now in this child form, I do not which is why I must obey as I can.

What power do I have against beatings, bruises, slaps and insults? I have no upper-hand yet.

“What the hell is this, huh?!”, the man in front of me complained as he hit my head with the roll of the morning post, he had repeatedly been doing so ever since I got back. He didn’t like what I had gotten him.

He let go of my arm that he had been tightly squeezing.

“If you’re just going to steal, do it properly. You know damn well that I don’t fucking like this brand, piece of shit”, he hit me again but this time it was on my face. I winched when the paper hit my eye.

I stand here silently as he went over to the table and examined the few bottles of the liquor I had gotten him. He nodded and clicking his teeth with his tongue. It’s this early in the morning and a few minutes ago when he caught me walking past the house after I had snuck out of the brothel last night and slept at my hideout, he is already drunk. Did he even sleep at all?

“This taste like prune juice!”, he yelled and suddenly threw at bottle at me. I couldn’t dodge it in time because of how quick it was but luckily it only hit my leg. The bottle didn’t break but the sting it gave me reached deep within my tibia bone. I gritted my teeth in pain.

He didn’t care that I made a reaction, he simply yawned and walked over to the corner where he then proceeded to piss. I closed my eyes shut in disgust until he was finished. I sighed when he didn’t even wipe his hand. He must have noticed that I’ve been judging him so he shot his eyes back at me.

“You…you got your mother’s eyes but it looks fucking creepy with that--”,he burped. “--My black hair”, he finished.

Just my luck that I have to stand here and be an audience of this low life.

“I’m sorry you didn’t like it father, I’ll get you something else”, I suggested as I tried to manage my aching leg.

“It better be rum”, he threatened as he lazily sat down on my old broken crib.

I rolled my eyes and ran outside before he changes his mind. I’m supposed to be back at the entertainment house by now because of him I got stranded. But luckily he hadn’t noticed that I was wearing the uniform otherwise he wouldn’t have been so nice. My escape had been swift or at least I thought but when I got back to the children’s quarters I was met with my mother and the other children. She’s already got an angry look on her face when I entered but it became even more so when she saw me. Some of the children only rolled their eyes at me and proceeded to go about their business.

“You--”, my mother quickly snatched my arm and dragged me out of the room.

“I’ve been looking for you everywhere, where the hell have you been all night! You even skipped your job?!”, she angrily whispered as she kept shaking my arm.

I didn’t say anything and just looked at her. She smells. But she glared back at me as well and looked down on me until she noticed my arm. “You little--You went to see your father again!?”, she quickly got down and examined my arm. I didn’t notice that it was bruised.

“No. He saw me”, I admitted. “I told you not to keep seeing him when you’re working!”, she scolded. In truth, it’s been a few weeks since our last visit to him but the reason why she thinks I regularly visit him is because I use him as an excuse everything I snuck out.

My mother gasped. “Oh my lords! Even on your leg??”,she acted concerned and quickly lifted my leg as she examines it closer.

“How could you be so careless Luka! You are serving the rich guests now, do you think they’d like it when they see a flawed server?!”,my poor eardrums rung when she fucking yelled.

Well, I don’t know ma’am. Perhaps blame your husband?

“Tsk! The madame better not see this. Come with me”, she shook her head and took me away with her to her room.

Thanks to my father, I was berated by her endless nagging again as she covered my bruises with make up. I wasn’t allowed to wet them or reveal them to anyone until it’s healed, I had to keep such promise before she let me off. And indeed I was careful, throughout the day, I avoided helping out in the kitchen from anything that included washing even when it inconvenienced the other chore children. I left them and only did the serving. As promised I was hoisted to serve drinks for the rich guests in their higher end rooms. The entertainment house is fairly sane during the day with mostly just guests coming by to enjoy a couple of drinks with friends or discuss important meetings, the place has got a nice view so it can be relaxing, it’s probably the only decent architecture around here. I later found out that most of the whores and the madame herself doesn’t even live here, this is just a branch of her business but it is the second most popular of her functions, they live in the city below this mountain. There are many towns there and it’s where my mother works sometimes when business isn’t doing so well here. Which explains why I don’t often see her here unless it’s night time.

So, in translation to my latest discovery, my mother is a high selling prostitute that is relatively well-off and my father is flat-out broke. I wonder if she hides her money somewhere then maybe I can find it and steal it.

Sigh. I placed down my tray on the table. The kitchen was as bustling as ever where most of the kids work, the older ones are what were deemed to be servers so I do not know why I am the only exemption when I could simply be washing dishes and not having to walk around the whole day with my poor legs.

“What’re ya lazying around for, coal-head? Need a raise before we can get your pretty ass moving?”,an older girl roughly put down another set of tray in front of me. She almost spilled the expensive tea.

“Hurry up!”, she clapped her hands together as if to wake me before rolling her eyes and going back to her work. Her behaviour had always been a bit aggressive towards me but I don’t mind.

A set of expensive porcelain teapot painted with a stunning floral design on its side with matching tea cups which is filled with an equally pricey variety of tea inside accompanied with some dessert on a platter. And of course, like I usually do, I had to steal some. I am to deliver this to the visiting distinguished gentlemen at the pavilion.

Usually, nothing particular happens around the pavilion. Just some group of men conversing and drinking accompanied by a few courtesans and some musicians with dancers but today of all shifts just seems to have been my misfortune. As I climbed the stairs to the platform, I must have been lost in thought along the way because I had failed to notice the loud glamour of noises in the distance and only when I came to witness them myself did I realized. My eyes widened from bewilderment of such a sight, it’s not a sight a child should see. When the guests and workers had took out the liberty of enjoying their pleasures in privacy publicly. The noises they’re making almost synced in tune with the musicians band as they forced themselves to play under an erotic state, the dancers have now joined the whores in their activities while I shut my eye closed and clenched on the tray until my nails almost feel like they are breaking apart with my grip as the humiliation I felt simmered within me.

What must a child do in this scenario? When, even I with an adult consciousness could not even comprehend it.

* **

“Urgh! Why can’t we just spend one peaceful moment together without you bombarding me with all these questions”,the woman complains as she jolts up from being seated.

“Well, I wouldn’t have to keep asking if only you answer them at once”, her husband argued and got up as he followed his wife who is now pacing around their house.

“Why bother, you won’t believe me anyways”, his wife rolls her eyes and snarly turns her back on him.

“That’s because you keep lying to me”, the man harshly grabs his wife’s arm when she wouldn’t pay attention. She winches under his tight grip as her temper’s beginning to boil. Her thinking he should be grateful that she even forced herself to visit him but it was only to complain on not hitting their child, not for protective reasons but business wise.

“Let go of me”

A few moments ago they were a loving couple discussing how their days had been and complaints about their child but now they’ve gotten into an argument initiated by the husband. The wife had even snuck out of her work for this.

“Just tell me the truth! You’ve been working to the next town over haven’t you?”, he insisted as he tries to pull her closer. Both frowning at each other in distrust. The silence between them deafening as they held unto their pride until finally, the woman gave up.

“Yes, I have! So what? I had to work twice as hard because you don’t have a job!”, she roughly pulled her arm from his grip when he was caught off guard.

“You think it’s easy trying to find a job in this state!?”, he yells back at his wife.

“Well, if you weren’t so careless during the war, you wouldn’t have lost your leg”, she mocks him as she smugly crosses her arms.

“If you hadn’t gambled away all of our money, we wouldn’t have had to run away and hide here from the debt collectors!”, he retaliates and stood his ground.

“And if you hadn’t gotten me pregnant, I wouldn’t have had to marry you!”,when she turned to him her eyes were threatening to cry as she had been doing her best to compose herself all this time. The man stopped, his anger suddenly dispersing at the sight of his wife’s vulnerability.

Seeing her husband’s reaction, she looked away from him and tried her best not to cry. She clenched her fingers in a fist in desperation as she mustered up the courage. The sky were as cloudy as their current thoughts and  moment later it started to rain.

“Ever since I had a child…I’ve been miserable ever since”, she blurted out saying before trying to leave the house.

“No, this isn’t what I wanted to hear. I’m sorry, honey, please”, her husband quickly explained and grabbed her hand but she pulled it right back. The rain started to fall heavily. On one side, the husband is inside the house while his wife is just outside their door, starting to be drenched in the awful rain. When he looked into her eyes, he was only met with her coldness glaring at him and he knew then that there wasn’t anything he could do to convince her. He had never seen his wife in such a state before.

Seeing as how her husband had given up, she leaves without a word not minding the rain that is drenching her and making her cold.

Now, what has he done. He had turned his wife against him.But instead of feeling even more sorry for himself, he turns to his anger to save his pride and resented his wife instead. How could she have insulted his work as a soldier? She had no idea what he had been through, how dare she insult him. He clenched into his fist so tightly that his fingernails dug unto his palm and bleed. He is conflicted between resenting his wife and going after her, the anger he’s feeling and the sadness he’s hiding. The only way he knew how to cope was to drown his sorrows with liquor. Because for some reason when he does, all his problems would simply seize to exist until he gets sober enough and have to face them again. A temporary measure of resilience for a fool who has lost all hope in his pathetic life, his only saving grace his whore of a wife.

The afternoon turned later as the rain stopped and 3 bottles had gone, finally he made up his mind. He groans as he reaches for his crutches so he could stand up, painfully doing so with his amputated leg. Looking at his last bottle of liquor for the day, he wondered if he should ask his daughter to steal for him again. After all, it was the only way for him to keep up with his habit while having no money in his name.

He shook his head and drank from the bottle as he made his way out of the house.

“Tsk! That good for nothing child”, he muttered as he walked.

“This good for nothing village!”, he yelled out in the street not caring whether or not anyone had heard him. No one in the village knew who he was anyway. All they knew of him is that he is a pathetic man.

The memory of the war is what haunted him the most. He hated being alone in his house because then he would be left alone with his thoughts. If he was with his friends then he’d be able to live the moment as happily as he did before when his problems were seldom while he was still in the military.

He walked further until he’s out of breath from walking a mile, he decides to rest on the stair way to catch his breath. He managed  to stray his thoughts from the quarrel. Leaning on the wooden railing as he takes out a cigarette.

“That red head chick was a total nut job, whew!”

“I wasted good money on those tits”

“HAHAHA!”

His attention peaked. Over hearing the two men’s conversation, he stopped midway upon lighting his cigarette. There’s only one red head in town and there’s no other than his woman. He turned around to see complete strangers on their way down the stairs feasting a discussion on his wife.

“She was riding it like she owned it!”

“HAHAHA!”

“I bet she’d let us go for a second round considering how much she was enjoying herself”

“Yeah right, like you still have any money left of you after wasting it on that whore. Your wife’s gonna be pissed”

“I still have a penny left, that’s plenty enough for her right?”

“HAHAHA!”

His ear twitched and his neck itched. He was going to let them be if only their conversation hadn’t turn out exactly as he had predicted. There was no way he would let an insult on his wife slide.

He turned his back facing the men.

“Gentlemen”, he called and the men turned to him.

“Might I have a word?”, he smiled.