chiral
03-28-2004, 03:24 PM
forgot why i wrote this.
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Lady luck smiled upon me generously today, and her gift was bestowed upon me in a most unexpected manner. It made the day seem almost...bearable. I had stood there in the darkest corner of Martin's Sorrow, teeth clenched so hard that it hurt, just to prevent them from chattering. Freezing rain fell from the apathetic heavens in torrents and its wrath did not go unnoticed by my body, thinly clad in year-old rags scavenged from corpses of previous slum dwellers...their legacies lived on sardonically.
I almost missed it. The rain had silently slipped into my bloodshot eyes and my vision had become strangely blurry. I lacked the incentive to blink.
At first I thought it was an exceptionally large pile of feces, like so many other such piles littered throughout the alleyways.
Then it began to move. I blinked. Quickly, I realized that it was something much better than excrement--it was a rat. By the size of it and the slick black fur that coated to its sides from the running water it was clear that a black rat had invaded my personal space. I have not yet had the previlige to deal with such an evil and vile specimen, and I prayed that my trap would hold.
The rat nosed around and finally found what it came for. The soggy piece of cheese, which would eradicate a human's nose and cause him a few hours of coma, seemed to be pursued by rats almost religiously. Baring its yellowed fangs, the man-sized rat bit down on the repulsive cheese with vigour and then--
And then all hell broke loose.
I don't quite remember what happened. Though I do remember that it happened too fast. The enourmous homemade rat trap had sprung, its sharp steel fangs bit into the vulnerable neck area of the beast and slapped it down onto the ground. The rat had gone mad with pain and rage, and in short it tore apart my lovingly crafted trap in a vicious tantrum. Out of options and cornered, I had then jumped onto the back of the rat and held it in a headlock. It tried to throw me off and clawed and screeched with all its might. I tried to stay on top and teethed and screamed for all I was worth.
In the end I found the rat dead and on top of me, its neck broken in several places. Desperation gave me the strength I needed to defeat the vile beast. I lied in the puddles of rain and blood until morning, using the body of the rat as shelter.
I woke up to the sound of rain. Apparently it had rained all night.
The pain hit me like I knew it would. The adrenaline had left my body and the dreaded hangover was inevitable. I pushed the rat off me with difficulty and struggled to sit up. The rat's mouth opened and a gold sovereign rolled out.
Suddenly the fatigue and pain seemed distant. Seeing a cracked beer mug beside me, I knew what I had to do. The mug slammed into the dirt wall and shattered into oblivion. I took the largest piece of broken glass and started slicing the rat open.
Pushing a crippled wheelbarrow with one wheel missing on the left, I tiredly limped into the alleyway in front of Caspian's Walk. Five newly polished gold sovereigns and their collective weight was comfortably wedged in a hand-sewn pocket at my side. Silently I thanked Lady Luck once more for this unexpected bonus.
The imposing iron gate loomed in front of me menacingly. The studded spikes protruded from the gates, discouraging any attempt to scale the boundary between the rich and the poor. I despised the rich, as I am sure that they despised me. With a trembling hand I grabbed onto the gate for support.
"YOU THERE --" A booming voice yelled, "GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF MY GATE!"
"Yeah, you little bastard," a second voice followed, "before we beat you senseless."
I took my hand back from the iron bars as if electricuted. I wanted no trouble from the soldiers guarding the gate. They were my only source of revenue.
"Look what the boy dragged in." Thomas smirked mightily.
"Pass them through the gate there boy, and make it snappy." Gastov guestured expensively at a cart on their side of the gate.
I smiled politely, my skin stretching unwillingly. I learned their names during their conversations with each other.
The black rat went first.
I learned their faces from the interactions we had each day, and it was etched onto my brain.
The three baby rats went next.
Lastly went the old rat.
"What the hell did you do to these goddamned critters, boy?" Gustov demanded, pointing an accusing finger at me.
"Doesn't matter, Gustov. The ratman will take them in whatever condition, though he will wonder why they were cut open." Thomas hooked the cart onto the mule. "Let's go before it gets too dark. I want to get laid tonight."
"Oh yeah, I loved your ma last night, boy." Gustov bent close to the gate so that his spittle sprayed me in the face.
The smile was becoming much harder to maintain.
I watched them leave, the cart trailing behind them.
I learned everything about them.
So that one day I may find them.
And kill them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lady luck smiled upon me generously today, and her gift was bestowed upon me in a most unexpected manner. It made the day seem almost...bearable. I had stood there in the darkest corner of Martin's Sorrow, teeth clenched so hard that it hurt, just to prevent them from chattering. Freezing rain fell from the apathetic heavens in torrents and its wrath did not go unnoticed by my body, thinly clad in year-old rags scavenged from corpses of previous slum dwellers...their legacies lived on sardonically.
I almost missed it. The rain had silently slipped into my bloodshot eyes and my vision had become strangely blurry. I lacked the incentive to blink.
At first I thought it was an exceptionally large pile of feces, like so many other such piles littered throughout the alleyways.
Then it began to move. I blinked. Quickly, I realized that it was something much better than excrement--it was a rat. By the size of it and the slick black fur that coated to its sides from the running water it was clear that a black rat had invaded my personal space. I have not yet had the previlige to deal with such an evil and vile specimen, and I prayed that my trap would hold.
The rat nosed around and finally found what it came for. The soggy piece of cheese, which would eradicate a human's nose and cause him a few hours of coma, seemed to be pursued by rats almost religiously. Baring its yellowed fangs, the man-sized rat bit down on the repulsive cheese with vigour and then--
And then all hell broke loose.
I don't quite remember what happened. Though I do remember that it happened too fast. The enourmous homemade rat trap had sprung, its sharp steel fangs bit into the vulnerable neck area of the beast and slapped it down onto the ground. The rat had gone mad with pain and rage, and in short it tore apart my lovingly crafted trap in a vicious tantrum. Out of options and cornered, I had then jumped onto the back of the rat and held it in a headlock. It tried to throw me off and clawed and screeched with all its might. I tried to stay on top and teethed and screamed for all I was worth.
In the end I found the rat dead and on top of me, its neck broken in several places. Desperation gave me the strength I needed to defeat the vile beast. I lied in the puddles of rain and blood until morning, using the body of the rat as shelter.
I woke up to the sound of rain. Apparently it had rained all night.
The pain hit me like I knew it would. The adrenaline had left my body and the dreaded hangover was inevitable. I pushed the rat off me with difficulty and struggled to sit up. The rat's mouth opened and a gold sovereign rolled out.
Suddenly the fatigue and pain seemed distant. Seeing a cracked beer mug beside me, I knew what I had to do. The mug slammed into the dirt wall and shattered into oblivion. I took the largest piece of broken glass and started slicing the rat open.
Pushing a crippled wheelbarrow with one wheel missing on the left, I tiredly limped into the alleyway in front of Caspian's Walk. Five newly polished gold sovereigns and their collective weight was comfortably wedged in a hand-sewn pocket at my side. Silently I thanked Lady Luck once more for this unexpected bonus.
The imposing iron gate loomed in front of me menacingly. The studded spikes protruded from the gates, discouraging any attempt to scale the boundary between the rich and the poor. I despised the rich, as I am sure that they despised me. With a trembling hand I grabbed onto the gate for support.
"YOU THERE --" A booming voice yelled, "GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF MY GATE!"
"Yeah, you little bastard," a second voice followed, "before we beat you senseless."
I took my hand back from the iron bars as if electricuted. I wanted no trouble from the soldiers guarding the gate. They were my only source of revenue.
"Look what the boy dragged in." Thomas smirked mightily.
"Pass them through the gate there boy, and make it snappy." Gastov guestured expensively at a cart on their side of the gate.
I smiled politely, my skin stretching unwillingly. I learned their names during their conversations with each other.
The black rat went first.
I learned their faces from the interactions we had each day, and it was etched onto my brain.
The three baby rats went next.
Lastly went the old rat.
"What the hell did you do to these goddamned critters, boy?" Gustov demanded, pointing an accusing finger at me.
"Doesn't matter, Gustov. The ratman will take them in whatever condition, though he will wonder why they were cut open." Thomas hooked the cart onto the mule. "Let's go before it gets too dark. I want to get laid tonight."
"Oh yeah, I loved your ma last night, boy." Gustov bent close to the gate so that his spittle sprayed me in the face.
The smile was becoming much harder to maintain.
I watched them leave, the cart trailing behind them.
I learned everything about them.
So that one day I may find them.
And kill them.