"Go away! Why are you still here?"

"He stinks! Does he even know how to take a bath?"

"Grass! What makes you think you can be here!?"

...

These are the words that I have to hear every day.

...

"Come on! Kick him! Burn down his house! Break his legs! Let's see how stubborn you are!"

"You are 'Grass,' right? That means even if I beat you to death, you won't die. So why don't you just stay still and let me have some fun time!"

...

And these are the actions that I have to endure every night.

...

I am Do, and I am a garbage collector.

I have no memory of who I am or what I did, but people in the South City despised me and hated me like a disease.

I came to this city seven years ago. The only memories I had were injuries all over my body and starvation.

Before that, I couldn't remember anything, only my name, Do. It was the only possession that I have.

The day I came to South City, I barely survived, the only hands that reached me were of a young lady of a well-known family, Ly. She treated my wounds and gave me bread. That was the first and only encounter of us.

It was love at first sight. Her caring smile, gentle hands, and kind heart enchanted me at that moment. I decided to stay here just to be able to see her now and then. For whatever reason, the people here have hated me already. They called me 'Grass,' and from the way they say it, I know it doesn't mean anything positive. No one wanted to hire me, so collecting garbage was the only job that I could do.

But even with that much hatred and contempt, I didn't mind enduring it and staying here. Being able to see her again was all I needed.

My routine was repetitive. Every morning, after the usual curses I had to hear, I would wait outside Ly's residence until she would go out with her maid to play around town. I tried my best to hide my presence and follow them.

Eventually, I learned her name, Ly Giai. She was the youngest child in her wealthy family. I wasn't sure what they did to get rich, but they are very respected within South City. The Ly often do charity, giving food and clothes to whoever was in need. Lady Ly Giai participates in these charities often.

I knew it wasn't the right thing to do, following her secretly like a madman, but I couldn't help myself. Her skipping feet, her soothing humming, her bright smile that would outshine the sun, everything about her, uplifted my miserable life. Just being able to see her was my solace. I couldn't dare to wish for more.

After a day of digging through the trash, bearing the harsh smells and disgusting sights, I would check to see how many scraps I had collected and put them in the storage room so that I could sell them all at once on the weekend. I tried to keep the room hidden so that when any of my neighbors decided to burn down my hut, the scraps would still be fine.

Then, I prayed that no one would show up to beat me. My prayers were rarely answered. I would usually end up with bruises and swellings. After those hellish moments, I tried to stay positive by cooking some food and enjoying it with a cheap tea.

That was my life every day for the past seven years until that night.

That night, that fateful night. I waited, prepared mentally to be beaten up again, but none of my neighbors came. Happy that I was safe, I cooked something delicious and ate while gazing at the night sky. But not far into the meal, sudden yells and screams came from the outside. I put down the bowl and moved toward the sound. Peaking through the small crack of the door, I looked to see what was happening.

"Why are people running?" I wondered and came out. Seeing a guy running past me, I grabbed him. "What's happening?"

He spoke in panic, "Grass? Why are you holding me back? Are you trying to kill me? The Ly are attacking right now! I need to get out of here!" He then pushed me away and continued running.

"Wha... We... got attacked?" I couldn't think well. The world felt like it was turning upside down. I was scared, anxious, and worried. "Lady Ly Giai... Is she safe?"

This country, Sa, was at war with another country, Ly. How long have we been at war? Why are we fighting? I knew none of those.

I immediately ran inside, frantically trying to find something I could use to defend myself with. The first thing that caught my eye was the cooking knife, so I grabbed it and ran out. As soon as I stepped outside, a large fireball smashed in front of me. The shock and heat of it knocked me back. "They are launching fireballs already!" I thought, and another came right at my hut and burned it all. "I have to hurry. I need to know if she's safe!" I immediately got up and took down a side of the door as a shield. The Ly's residence was at the center of the city, so I had to go against the crowd. The panic crowd pushed and ran on one another just to get out of the city as fast as possible. I saw corpses of men, women, and young children, not from being killed by the Ly soldiers but because they were crushed under the feet of the panic. One misstep, one fall, was all it needed to end a life.

Eventually, I arrived at the Ly's residence. Seeing how the gates were wide open, my heart raced faster than it already was. I quickly moved close to the gate and cautiously looked inside.

If I could take a scrub and rub it directly against my eyes just to unsee the horror inside, I would not hesitate.

The sight of what I saw made me puke. The huge yards were covered in tenths if not hundredths of bodies. None of them were wearing armor. Every nerve in my body and primal instincts wanted to run away from there as far as possible, but I used all my courage to stay. I won't leave until I know what happened to Lady Ly Giai.

As I cautiously moved inside with my eyes squinted and hands covering my mouth, I could feel and hear the blood splashes on the ground because of my steps. The strong scent of blood violently seeped through my fingers and invaded my nose. At each step, I thought it was my limit. I couldn't take it, but thinking of the young lady, I powered through somehow.

I looked all over the residence, turning every corpse, but couldn't find her. Although it was difficult to see those faces, I was relieved knowing there was a chance she could be alive. "She must be running away out of South City already," I suspected.

Now, my mission was to get out of there, flee, and find her. I turned and walked back to the gate but then heard a strange sound from the outside. The noise, it sounds like...

"Horses! They're here!" I quickly looked around to find somewhere to hide. Not good. I was in the front yard, and it was as open as it can be, there was no place to hide. I was running out of options. Then I noticed an old well being hidden behind a big bush.

With no hesitation, I dropped the door shield and ran to it as fast as I could, praying that the sound of splashing blood from my running would be hidden by the horses' steps. I jumped in and closed my eyes, praying that the well wouldn't be shallow.

Lucky for me, it was full of water. I landed safely after a few seconds of falling. Wiping the water off my face, I was startled to see there was a person alive in there already. It was too dark to see their face, but I quickly covered their mouths because they were about to yell in shock.

"I'm not an enemy," I quickly assured them. Feeling their breathing had stabilized, I relaxed my grip but didn't remove my hand. I couldn't risk them accidentally yelling and revealing our position.

A long silence passed, and I was never more stressed.

"I heard them coming in but not out, so they are still here. But why wasn't there any sound?" Just as I was thinking that, there was a sound of footsteps coming closer and closer to the well. I quickly told the person, "Deep breath," and we both submerged in the water.

I looked up to see a glimpse of light above us. The soldier above didn't move for a while, and our breath was getting dangerously close to the limit. The person next to me started to move around, struggling. They were almost out of air. Afraid that their movement would reveal us, I moved behind them and held both their arms down. After about five seconds, they moved less and less. I knew that wasn't a good sign. We need air quickly, I am at my limit too. I looked up, but the light above us was still there.

"Don't know if this will work," I thought and placed my lips on theirs to transfer some air. It didn't matter right now if the person was a man, a woman, or even if it was my first kiss. Saving their life was more important.

As I was transferring the air, I was running out of breath myself. I planned to only give them a little bit since I was at my limit as well, but as I was about to move my head away, they grabbed my head and wouldn't let me move. They began sucking the air out of me viciously. At this rate, I would be the one to faint first.

Feeling my consciousness about to fade, I pushed them away as hard as I could, causing them to hit their head on the wall. Afraid the sound of it would give us away, I looked up to see if the lantern was still there. Thank god it was gone, otherwise, the soldier would see the violent water movement of us struggling.

I pulled us up. It was the first time in my life that I was grateful to breathe. I checked to see how they were doing. Luckily, they were still conscious and were breathing heavily like me. Remembering that the enemy might still be around. I let out a quiet "shh" to signal them to breathe silently. After a time like an eternity not hearing any sound, we were able to relax.

"I think it's safe now. Let's climb up." I told the person.

"I don't know how to climb," they replied. It was a woman's voice.

"I will climb up first and find something to pull you up," I said.

"Okay," she agreed and nodded.

I put my two hands and feet on the wet stones horizontally and slowly climbed up. The stones were slippery, but I managed to get myself out of there. I quickly found a rope in the storage room and pulled the lady out.

The moment her hands grabbed the well, I grabbed it and pulled her up. We were finally out. Both of us lay down to catch our breath. Only then did I look over to see the face of who I was with, and seeing her stopped my breath.

It was the Lady Ly Giai that I loved. My head blanked out, and my heart felt like it had stopped. A feeling of joy rushed into me. It was the first time since she helped me back then that I was able to be with her this close. But that happiness quickly faded as a thought came to me.

"She's not out of the city."