Young Betrayal: A Memory

As he was walking, a mysterious sparkle caught his eye. It was another sparkling black pebble. This looked a lot like the first pebble of memory. Wait… could it be?

Zeeth walked over in high hopes and grabbed the pebble in anticipation. But nothing happened.

"Damn, what is this god trying to do, messing with me like that!" Zeeth got so angry at his false hope that he yelled out in anger before he could stop himself. He was seriously expecting another memory from his past.

He saw people walking by staring at him strangely while speeding up their pace so he quickly chucked the rock away with as much strength as he could and sped away to where the man had directed him to.

With the strengthening slime covering his body he was able to chuck it very far, but no one else noticed as they were trying to walk away from him and avert their eyes from the strange man.

A few minutes went by with him looking for the alley, a skinny tall vendor with a badly covered, bruised bump on his head sprang out from behind his wooden table covered in a plain red tablecloth and laced with jewelry so fake that they didn't even shine.

In a loud, nearly shouting voice he quickly said, "Good morning, sir! Would you like to buy a mystical stone sent to my head by god? Look at that amazing sparkle under the sun and the exquisite darkness that is the stone! It can increase your affinity with god!"

'Damn, this guy is annoying. Wait, is that the stone that I threw? Huh, it is! Hah, it landed on this guy's head. And he took it as a god pebble.'

"Look at this stone-" The crazy vendor tried to show the stone to him but Zeeth pushed his hand back.

"Listen, I don't want anything right now."

'Also, I'm kinda broke.' Zeeth thought.

"Fine, then would you like to buy any of my jewelry on this table? They are all magical items that are able to do wonders for you! You look like a great magician, and even better looking with these items on you!"

"No, I seriously don't want-" Zeeth was about to walk away when an old book caught his eye. Hmmm. This book looks… familiar? But I've never seen anything like this before. At least not to my knowledge. "Hey, I'm gonna check this book out."

"Yes, yes, please do!" The vendor shouted excitedly since this was the first person this week to even seemed slightly interested in his items.

Zeeth picked up the book and flipped through. What was so familiar about it? He looked through the pages filled with words that he didn't recognize at all. They were all gibberish. Until he saw one line.

"Mother, where is dear brother?" The moment he finished reading this his eyes went blank.

This line was the catalyst for another memory.

This time his mind was sucked into a memory of when he was only five. He was with someone, a rather stout woman in her late forties with short hair. he had the memories of his young self too and instinctively realized this was his adoptive mother, someone who had just taken him in as her own son. they had just gotten home and started putting the groceries away. His adoptive dad was minutes away, about to get home from his job.

He was quietly putting away the eggs in the fridge and heard a loud shriek from behind him followed by the sound of a knife hitting the ground and clattering loudly. His young self turned as his current mind urged his younger self to move faster, the shriek sounded too real and too urgent, the clattering of the knife was no joke either.

He didn't know what was going to happen, but he knew this was important. It was a major part of his life, he could feel it in his bones.

When he turned around, he saw a man wearing a ski mask holding a knife to his mom's neck.

The door swung wide open once again and six more men came in. Four of them held giant trash bags and started throwing their stuff into them.

Zeeth was hidden by the fridge door, but the shock of seeing a knife to his mom's throat caused him to drop the eggs, alarming the burglars.

The one holding his mom yelled to the others, "Grab the boy!"

"NOOO!! Zeeth, RUN!"

The man closest to him dropped his bag and charged at Zeeth. For a minute, his legs were frozen. He couldn't move a single muscle and the world slowed down to a crawl as he tried to take everything in and the thoughts of his five-year-old brain ran through his head like this was the first time. He was reliving the hell from his previous world like it was the first time.

There is a man charging at him. His large body and his speed had scared him frozen earlier, but right now, as he stood there in slow motion, it didn't seem that bad and he could think without fear dragging him back.

There is a man holding his mom. Possibly as a hostage. He isn't killing her yet, so maybe he would let her go later. He hoped that would be the case, but he also wanted to jump kick the guy's face.

She had a bruise on her right wrist which was extended out to him, possibly from when the man smacked her to make her drop the knife she was using to cut some red peppers.

A few others were shoveling his stuff into their bags. These bastards were taking their stuff and had hurt his mom. He felt his rage boil as he imagined kneeing them in the face, hurting them in ways they couldn't imagine, and causing them so much pain they would wish to die.

His eyes grew black as his pupils expanded and his concentration shot up. He turned his body and started running. Everything, even his own movements, was still in slow motion, but he knew he was moving faster than the guy running at him. The thief hadn't even taken a single step while he already turned around and started running.

The moment he started running, his concentration snapped and everything was back to normal, but everything that just happened at that moment took less than a second. In a moment of true danger, his mind went into some kind of hyper thinking, allowing him to take in everything at once and come up with the best possible solution. His young self ran into his room, dove under a bed, and into space under a trap door that his father had installed and opened for situations like this.

He heard the man start pushing the bed and a few low grunts. "Come out, you little shit."

He knew the trap door blended in with the floor almost perfectly, with the edges exactly where the creases would be, but he couldn't help his heart starting to race when he heard a pocket knife being flipped out. From the space under the trapdoor, he could see where the shadows of the men's feet were. The man who had followed him stood right above where the trapdoor was, not knowing where Zeeth was.

"What the hell? Where is he? Boss, the boy is gone!"

"What the hell do you mean?! How could you lose a boy?"

"Well, he dove under the bed and when I went to check, he was gone."

"Useless piece of shit. Hold the lady, and don't lose her this time!"

"Yes, boss! I won't, I swear! Come here, you b*tch!"

Zeeth listened in on the conversation and slowly started to realize something. The voice of the man who had followed him sounded rather familiar. It was raspy and mousy. It was a very distinct voice. It sounded just like… his school counselor! He knew it was him, they had the same slouch and similar body shape. He often strikes up a conversation with Zeeth in the hallways, cracks jokes with him, and offers him candy. The bastard! He has access to his address and personal information, and he knows how much money his family makes! He clenched his fists so hard his hands had his nail imprints dug into them.

Before he could think much more, a foot stomped around near him and in the distance, he could hear his mom struggling to free herself and yell out. It seems they had covered her mouth and pinned her down to the ground.

In his rage, he let out a silent breath through his clenched teeth and silently punched his own hand. He knew he couldn't do anything even if he left, he would just be taken along with his mom.

The foot kept stomping around, looking for some area of the floor that would bend in and sounded hollow. When he stomped on the trap door right above Zeeths head, he paused and stomped a few more times. They all knew he had figured it out. Zeeth heard the "boss" bend down and start feeling around with his finger.