Weapon Society

Standing in front of the corpse was the kid, completely frozen and lost in her tears. Her blood stained hands and the knife on her hand gave me an idea of what happened.

-Hey, kid…-I said while reaching for her shoulder with my hand.

She flinched when she snapped out of the shock, looking at me with a horrified face. The kid's breathing turned harsh once she saw the blood on her hands, but instead of screaming, she plopped into the floor, crying. This was the reason why I wanted to do the work alone without making her watch it.

I stood in silence for a couple of minutes looking at the kid, not knowing what to do. I was never good at talking with people, let alone kids. I wanted to leave, but I also felt like it was my fault that the kid ended up killing her aunt. 

I let out a sigh and opened the door, but instead of leaving by myself, I carried the kid in my arms and got her out of the house.

-You know, it's not your fault… -I said while I put her down on the floor, resting her back on the wall I was hiding in earlier. Her eyes were lost in the horizon, so I assumed she didn't hear me. I sat by her side and sighed again before talking to her- Plus, it was bound to happen someday…

I'm sure that wasn't the best thing to say, but I genuinely did not know what to do in this situation. But then, out of nowhere, she hugged me from my side and started to wipe her tears off on my clothes. I must've been distracted while talking to her, because somehow she got under my cape without me noticing just to hug me. I'll say this again, loud and clear for everyone's knowledge: I hate kids. But even while hating them, I couldn't take this one off of me.

-Jacob… Am I… HIC… a bad person?-the kid mumbled against my clothes.

I put my hand over her head and started caressing it. It was almost like a reflex rather than something I did consciously, so I didn't know if that was the right thing to do. But after feeling her hugging me tighter, I realised I did it right.

-Kid, would you say I'm a bad person?

-No… Sorry…-she hid her face in my body, like she had done something bad to me.

-Hey, hey, don't be like that.-I pinched her cheek and tried to change her mood a little bit- Look, bad people only kill because they feel like it and good people just don't do anything bad.

-So what are we?

-We're just people. Nor bad nor good. Just people. We don't do good stuff, but we don't take joy in other's suffering either, we just do what we have to do…

-So we're like neutral people?-She said while hiding herself entirely under my cape.

-Wowser! I never thought you would have such a complex language, haha…

Once I started laughing, a hand appeared from under my cape and slapped me in the face, followed by a "Shut up!". I didn't expect her to be so calm after such a short period of time, but I didn't want to bring up the topic to avoid making her cry again. It was obvious that she had remorse about what she did, but it also felt like she was trying to force herself to get over it, which was bad, but also good. 

I took my cape off and put it over her as I got up. I patted her head and even though I knew what I was gonna say was a bit harsh, it was something I had to do ASAP.

-Hey, kid… Sorry to say it, but you still owe me something…-I said while walking towards the door. I know it wasn't the moment to say it, but if we got away from her house quickly, then she'd have more time to cope without being close to her aunt's corpse.

Instead of waiting for her response I went inside her house, and after taking my knife out of the woman's corpse and moving it away from the entrance, I quickly inspected her house. The bathroom didn't have anything interesting, instead for hygiene pads and toilet paper, which I took because they would be useful, especially for the kid who'd need them in some time. The living room was just full of crap: Photos, boring books and some board games. At the end, I only took a dusty box with poker cards in them, which I'd probably use to make a card house rather than playing with them. 

I kept inspecting every single aspect of the first floor of the house until it was the kitchen's turn. I only took canned food, flour and all the water I could find with me. I saw the kitchen knife that the woman dropped before and was reminded of the kid. I took my time inspecting her house, which meant a lot of alone time for her. But this could be bad if she spent all that time alone with her thoughts, so after taking some trash bags from a cabinet and putting everything I found (plus some eating utensils and the kitchen knife the kid's aunt dropped) inside of them, I headed outside.

-Huh?-the kid looked at the bags on my hands with a confused stare. Her swollen eyes and her blushed cheeks made it seem like she was crying the whole time I was gone. She quickly wiped her tears with my cape and then made me a question- Didn't you check the attic?

-I didn't find anything interesting on the first floor, so I thought the second floor would have nothing of my interest.-I said while putting the bags on the floor.

-But… I thought you would've liked what was there… -Her eyes watered, threatening to cry again. 

At the sight of that, I quickly made up a cheap excuse and returned inside the house. I ran so fast I tripped on the stairs that lead to the attic, cursing at the air when my calf hit one of the steps. I quickly recomposed and after kicking and cursing at the step that hit my calf, I started running again. I ignored all the rooms on the second floor, only looking for the attic with that thing I'd like.

I spotted a room that had a door that was different from the others. I got in and saw a faint sunray getting through the falsely blocked window (Yes, the one I tried to use for my dramatic entrance before). Once my eyes adapted to the light in the room, I couldn't believe what I saw.

It was perfect. Perfection at its finest. I carefully touched it and inspected it, realizing that it was in perfect condition. The reason why the kid had this in her attic was unknown to me, but I didn't pay much attention to it. So I took it out of the room and quickly rushed to the first floor.

CRASH

The kid snapped out of her crying once she heard the loud crash inside her house, which was caused by me after falling with the "thing I would've liked". I yelled "I'm okay!" to the kid to not make her worry, and after getting up and checking that the "thing" was alright, I got out of the house with a smile.

-Kid!-I yelled while slamming the door open. The kid screamed after getting scared by me-This is so cool!

-Waah!-the kid stopped crying and screamed at the sound of my yelling and the door banging.

The kid took a deep breath while touching the place where her heart was supposed to be. She breathed harshly for a few seconds and then looked at me.

-Did you… Did you like it?-her voice was broken after screaming and crying so much.

-Yeah!-I claimed with excitement-This fucking shopping cart is amazing!

Turns out that "the thing I would've liked" was a shopping cart. I'm not saying this disappointed, I'm saying this with an excited undertone. 

-A guy with a fucking shopping cart after "The Fall"?! Do you know how fucking cool this shit is?!

-Language…-the kid whispered while taking off my cape.

I placed the shopping cart on the street and put the trash bags inside of it. I took a last look at the house and sighed, hoping that would be my last sigh in a long time.

-Here…-The kid said while giving me my cape- Thanks for… You know… -her tears ran down all the way from her eyes to the pavement.

She put the cape inside the shopping cart and waved at me. Why was she doing that?

-Bye Jacob…-She said with even more tears in her eyes while taking some steps back.

-Bye?-I said while putting my cape back on. Before talking, I messed her hair and flicked her forehead-You're coming with me.

-What?

-Just what I said kid.-I reached my hand for hers-You may have killed someone today, but that doesn't make you suitable to survive by yourself. At least not yet.-I laughed while messing her hair even more.

Her eyes started to fall again. She hugged me while crying without containing herself. This scene kinda reminded me of when I hugged my dad's arm, so of course I hugged her back. This was obviously less gross (and less traumatizing) than hugging your dead dad's arm, so deep down I felt a bit relieved and happy about this hug.

I broke the hug and then held her hand tightly. My other hand went to the shopping cart, pushing it to the front as we started walking. I looked at her and sighed, knowing that even if I wanted to make this journey alone, I still had to take care of her until we had to part ways (which I hoped wasn't too soon).

-Alright kid, time to go…-I let out another sigh one last time before walking with her.