The speech went on and on for some time before they finally wrapped it up and left. The people also began leaving, but I stood there gazing at the decapitated heads of my parents. I would never be able to see, talk, or hear them ever again. The very thought made me feel like crying again.

Unable to be there any longer, I turned around and walked quickly away. As I walked, I never once glanced over my shoulders again at the heads attached on spears in a row on the platform.

From there, I kept walking continuously for I don’t know how long. Finally, my feet starting aching, and I realised that I had walked all the way to the dumpyard. I briefly searched for a soft spot to sit on and, after finding one, I lowered myself and sat there surrounded by complete silence.

I was alone, and I felt empty inside as if a bright light in me had been extinguished. All my life, I lived happily with my parents. We were poor, but we lived day by day with minimal expenditure and saving money as much as possible because, without that money, there would be no food on our plates.

My head was blank, and I didn’t know what to do. So, I sat there silently for a long time. I didn’t even react when my stomach starting growling, indicating that it’s hungry. It was not until that I started feeling pain in my belly that I realised that I was feeling hungry.

“Food,” I muttered, the item that I needed to satisfy my appetite. “I need food.”

So, with my tummy rumbling, I rose to my feet and walked towards the market.

[ ======= ]

There was a large crowd of people on the streets buying things and going about their daily business. They were smiling happily, cheerfully talk to one another, showing no sign of shock or the horror they had felt about the night raid.

I didn’t understand why the people were behaving like that, but I was hungry and didn't mind them. I headed to a nearby store selling bread.

“Two bread, please,” I asked the store owner.

“That’s two silver,” the man on the other side of the counter told me.

I quickly rummaged through my pockets to find the small change my mother gave me yesterday. It was my pocket money to buy something I liked to eat, and she said she's giving it to me because I’ve been a good boy.

I took out the two silver coins and held them in front of me, feeling as though I was looking at the last reminder of my parents. These were the last objects that I have to remember them by.

In that instant, I felt a great surge of feelings, making me think that cannot just give them away for food. But my stomach did not seem to care as it growled and again caused me a slight pain from the hunger.

“You want to buy or not?” The owner asked, looking a little irritated at my indecision.

To give away and eat, or to not eat and keep the coins but starve in the end. I was split between the two choices, with both seemingly difficult choices to make.

Finally, my instincts told me that I must live, and that’s what my parents would have wanted me to do. So, I gave the coins to the shop owner in exchange for the two bread.

Clutching them in my hand, I smiled happily and began to walk away when I suddenly felt something obstruct my legs. In an instant, I tripped and fell, releasing my hold over the bread and falling face down on the ground.

“Ow!”

I cried out in pain from falling on the hard road. Tilting sideways, I saw that the bread was situated a few centimetres away from me. As I tried to reach out with my hand, someone suddenly stopped down and picked up both loafs of bread. Shocked, I looked up to see who it was and a kid, around the same age as me, holding onto my bread and shown me a glowing smile before he began running away with it.

“Stop!” I shouted, quickly pushed myself to my feet and chasing after him.

I felt my heart beat faster as my food was taken away from me as I chased after him through the crowd.

“Thief! Thief!” I shouted as loudly as I could.

I was hoping that someone would stop that thief from making away with my food, but noone came. Everyone simple watched him run by and then glance at me without the least bit of looking shocked. Instead, they gave me looks as if I was stupid for crying for help. I couldn’t understand why they were giving me such looks, but I didn’t care as I chased after the thief.

The thief ran for several meters in a straight line and then took a sharp right into an alleyway. Without hesitation, I ran after him, my speed increasing as I was desperately trying to get him.

He ran intersection in the alleyway, and as I reached it, someone stuck their foot out and made me trip over it. Once again, I flew through the air and fell flat on my face, with the wind knocked out of me.

As I was struggling to get back to my feet, a few people suddenly appeared out of nowhere from their hiding spots and rushed at me. From there, all I could experience was a world of pain as they kicked my sides from all around me. I kept crying in pain and tried to move while I was beaten to a pulp by their legs.

“Alright! Alright!” Said one of them, stopping the group of people from kicking me. “I think that should do.”

The unknown people stepped away while he walked around me and knelt where my head lay. I was out of breath, wheezing and whimpering from the pain while tears streamed down my face.

Suddenly, I felt my face being gripped by someone with a strong hand, and they forcefully lifted me up. My vision was clouded because of my tears, but from what I could make out of the man, I could guess that he was a little older than me, bald head and looked very mean.

“Man. You sure are a mess,” he commented about my face, which must look terrible from his perspective. Then he leaned closer to my face and asked, “Do you have anything to say in this situation?”

I was out of breath and weakened from all the beating, but I still managed to mutter, “Give me back my bread.”

The mean looking person simply laughed at my words as he found them funny. Suddenly, there was a loud slapping sound followed by a dull thud. The reason to that was because he slapped me across the face, and my head hit the ground with a thud.

“Agh!” I groaned in pain while having breathing weakly.

“It’s not yours, fool. It’s ours! Finders keepers!” He growled. “You dropped it, we picked it up, making it ours. You’re weak to get it back and that makes it ours! Get it straight, fool!”

He stood up and placed his foot on top of my head, attempting to push my head into the ground. I winced while gasping for breath while it lasted for several seconds before he finally lifted his foot off my head, and I could breathe again.

“See you around, kid, if you survive long enough.”

After saying that, he and the others began laughing as they withdrew from that place, leaving only me there. I remained lying there, coughing and groaning from the pain I felt all over my body.

I was hoping somebody would come and help me, hoping somebody would come and rescue me, even wishing that all of this was just a bad dream, and that when I wake up, I’ll find that it was just a nightmare, and I can see my parents again.

The next time I opened my eyes, I found that it was already dark, and I was still the only person there. My body still hurt from all the injuries I sustained because of their sudden attack, but now I was able to move.

Slowly pushing myself up and then even more slowly to my feet, I staggered away from that place. I wasn’t headed for the market or the main street, I was going back to the dump yard with the hope that I wouldn’t run into anyone.

While going through the different alleyways, I saw a group of men surrounding a small guy, who was probably the same as me. The group of men were demanding money from him, but when he refused, they used violence on him by punching and kicking. When I saw that scene, I wanted to help the guy fight the bullies.

However, instead of going forward, my body turned the next corner and began heading in that direction. I was shocked at my own self, why I had instinctively turned away as if to avoid any confrontation against those bullies. In that instant, I finally understood why no one helped me.

“No one wanted to be the target of bullying.”

That was the thought I had and it perfectly made sense with what I had experienced on that day. During the thievery, I cried for help, but all the people did was stare at me like I was crazy. Now it made sense, and now I finally understood now that I instinctively wanted to avoid getting involved in things like that.

“Who wants to help a bullied person when the same thing could happen to them?”

I concluded my thoughts in that fashion and chuckled, not because I found it funny, but because of how crazy it seemed. No one will support you, no one will help you, no one will rescue you, no one you can trust, meaning that you are alone to the very end.

With thoughts like that, I continued walking until I reached my destination several minutes later. I was able to find the spot I sat on earlier and sat down while letting out a sight contentedly. There was nothing to be pleased about in my life, but I felt relief from the fact that I could quietly sit down there without any disturbance.

Something was shining its light from the sky, and I looked up to see the moon hovering high above. It was pretty to look at, but it made me wonder what the moon thinks as it looked down at us fighting amongst each other, hurting one another, and eventually killing one another.

As I continued to stare up at the moon, tears began to form in my eyes as I was reminded of my childhood with my parents. During the nights, I would sit in between my parents as we enjoyed the beautiful night created by the moon hovering in the background. My mum often fed me under the moonlit night and told me great many stories that were both fun and interesting to listen to.

Now, I can no longer listen to her stories again, and now, I am looking at the moon all alone.

“Why?” I muttered, turning down to look at my shaking hands with tears in my eyes. “Why did things become like this? Why were my parents killed? What did we do to deserve this? Why us?!”

I suddenly got very angry, and I took a deep breath before yelling, “Tell me!”

My voice echoed in the darkness for a few seconds before it dimmed and was no longer heard. I remained sitting there, feeling angrier than I had ever been in my entire life.

“All of this happened because of them!”

I spoke in a voice filled with a deep-seated anger. At first, I was confused at whom I was referring to, but when my thoughts caught up, I understood who it was; the government.

“They are the reason this happened to me! They are the reason mum and dad are dead! They are the reason the people are like this! It’s all because of the… The… The Empire! It’s all their fault!”

I roared the words as loudly as I possibly could, letting out all the anguish I felt inside.

My mother always told me to be gentle, humble to others, and be respectful. However, in this case, I could no longer keep up my attitude that she had raised me with because of what had happened to me. My humble spirit was no longer here, and was replaced by a spirit seeking vengeance against my attackers.

“I won’t forgive you for this! I won’t forget what you’ve done to me! I will destroy you! I will destroy all of you until there’s nothing left! Yes! No matter what it takes, I will destroy you!”

And I took a deep breath before screaming into the moonlit night, which contained all the sadness I felt, all the anger I had towards them, and the hatred that was boiling inside me.

On that day, I swore to get revenge against all the people who did this to me and destroy the empire completely.