Young Betrayal: A Memory 2

His dad didn't install a handle on the door from the outside, so if they wanted to open it, they would have to pry it open somehow. Unfortunately, he figured this out and started shoving his knife into crevices on the floor. As his knife slowly got closer and closer to the actual edge, Zeeths heart started to pound louder and louder. His eyes searched around the tiny space looking for something that could help him. He scanned the walls over and over again, spinning around to look at everything but couldn't see a thing.

He spun once more, in a panic and noticed a small glint on the lower edge of a wall. He bent down to look closer and noticed an old, rusty kitchen knife. It was still sharp on the edges, but rust had weakened the point between the handle and the blade. His dad must've kept it there for emergencies like this. He looked around for more but found nothing else. However, this was better than nothing. Zeeth looked up at the shadow of the man once again. The man kept on trying to stab around, prying at every floorboard. He couldn't lift anything since he was standing on the trapdoor, but he had gone over several openings a few times.

Zeeth crouched down with the knife held upright, the point of the blade going straight up.

The man kept shoving around, and finally got the blade all the way through. Seeing how far in he got his knife, he knew this was an opening. He tried prying the door open, but before he could do much, Zeeth jumped straight up and shoved the knife through an opening in the trap door. A small slit just wide enough for the knife to go through. A small slit that the man didn't notice since he was standing on it.

Meaning, the knife went straight through the shoe and into the man's foot. Being a five-year-old kid, he didn't have much strength, but the shoe wasn't particularly strong or thick either and he got about an inch of the blade into the arch of the foot. The man jumped up into the air and yelped out in pain. When the knife was pulled out from the sudden jump, a waterfall of blood poured out. Only a little bit got through the crack which landed on his forehead and trickled down his nose.

Zeeth felt the blood run down so he went to wipe it away. To his tiny hands, that amount of blood covered nearly every inch. The sudden sight of so much blood on his hand startled him, to say the least. He silently freaked out and started to hyperventilate as his mind blanked. His entire body started shaking even more and the knife started to tremble uncontrollably.

But he couldn't dwell on the shock of blood for long. Immediately after yelling out in pain, two pairs of feet started to run in his direction.

"Boss! What happened?!"

"The damn kid! He's right under this floor and he's got a knife! The bitch stabbed me straight up my foot!"

He was then shot out of the memory and back to the world where he was staring at the book.

"That damn bastard!" He was so mad that he spoke his mind out loud before realizing and feeling a bit embarrassed. But the embarrassment didn't alleviate the anger at all. He was still livid at his counselor for betraying him like that.

'I put the trust of my whole family on him! My parents gave him their trust and he dares to sell this information for money? To take OUR things?! Oh, if I get my hands on that bastard I will rip his lungs out and watch his terror-filled eyes as they get slowly drained of life.'

He re-read the words in his book and understood many more words. But he only understood the ones that he heard in his memory. It was such a strange feeling. When he was in the memory, he could feel all of those emotions and whenever he heard the words, he knew what they were without any pre-learning like he already knew what it all meant and that it wasn't weird for him to understand him at all. But once he left, none of the words he saw in the book just came to him, only the ones that he heard before did he understand.

He stood there for a bit, still processing what he just saw. The vendor was still rubbing his hands together, waiting for Zeeth to buy something.

"Sir, how much is this book?"

"Ah, 30 styrs."

"Hey! Zeeth!"

Zeeth quickly turned around to look for the voice that had called him. It was from a boy running at him, waving his arms.

'Who is this kid? Is he another one of Kelle and Norman's friends?'

When the boy finally arrived in front of him Zeeth asked, "Who are you?"

He took a few deep breaths to recover from his running and said between breaths, "I am, hoo haaa, Page. haaa. I am the son of Tarud."

"I thought you guys were going to some other kingdom with Eviry?"

"Well, some things changed. I wanted to come here."

"Is Tarud and Eviry here as well?"Zeeth looked around to look for the carriage.

"No, they're not. I came by myself."

"By yourself? How?"

"I ran."

"Oh, sounds reasonable." That wasn't reasonable at all.

"That sounds just like something you would say."

"What do you mean?"

Page gave a heavy sigh and steeled his nerves. He was going to tell Zeeth the truth. "I am about to tell you a very important secret. You must promise not to tell anyone. And give me the chance to prove myself as well because I have proof."

"Oh, okay." Zeeth nodded his head, wondering what this man is about to say.

"Well, how about it, sir?" The vendor was so close to getting this strange book he found on the ground sold for 30 styrs, he didn't want to let it go. "30 styrs?"

Page eyed him a little. "Also, this guy is untrustworthy." He pointed at the vendor with his thumb, "you should try to buy whatever he's seeking at a tenth of the price."

He then turned to the vendor and said, "Sir, you don't even know what this book says. 3 styrs or we're leaving."

"Wait, no! Three is way too little, I would be losing money!"

"You probably found this book on the floor anyway."

"Yes but I still need to pay for my food! Please, just 10, no 8 styrs! Please!"

"5. Last chance."

"Alright, alright, just 5 styrs." he angrily threw his hands up a little but complied. Page was someone he couldn't contend with.

Zeeth took the book and pulled out his card with 30 styrs. He wasn't sure how to pay money, he just kinda looked at the vendor. He was hoping the vendor would take over. Thankfully, he took the card, placed it against a similar card of his own, clicked a 5 on his card, asked Zeeth to click the five on Zeeths card. A light blinked from Zeeths card to the vendor's card and the money was transferred.

He took his card back and turned to Page, asking what he wanted to tell him.

"Wait, we will meet up later. I have to go get something from the general store urgently. Umm, get to where you need to go, I'll meet you there. I just needed to make sure you were still going along your path for now. Alright, see you later! Get to the girl!"

"Oh, alright." It took a few seconds but Zeeth realized, how in the world did he know about the girl he was about to meet?!? What?!

Zeeth was still a little confused by what just happened, but he went back to his book and tried to flip through this brand new book to look for possible known words and phrases. No point thinking too hard about it. He would probably meet him later and ask about it then.

But much more than that, this was his first purchase with his own money! It had excited him greatly to be holding something that he bought all on his own. It made him even more excited when he came upon words that he recognized, like run, or no. They were simple words, but to him, they were words of an otherworldly language. It was fascinating to relearn and remember these words, even if this book was the bringer of all that anger.

He looked at his screen and noticed it was still 4:00, he still had an hour before he was supposed to get to where she wanted him at. He was thinking about dropping somewhere to read the book, but his suspicions made him want to run to the destination to look around. After having gone through that memory, he realized that the girl was definitely trying to seduce him and lure him somewhere to get robbed or something.

That memory placed a great mistrust in him about anyone, especially rat looking bastards like his counselor.