I am Reborn through Revenge

Brady's root

I woke up on the floor of my room. I found my head relaxing on top of a pillow and my bedsheet scattered to another corner. I couldn’t remember how I got to sleep on the floor. I thought I had slept on the bed the previous night. I tried to remember exactly where I slept but my head was spinning around like I was going crazy. What a horrible nightmare I had. What happened to me on my way to Livinas was the same thing that happened in the dream— the exact experience I had that day.

It was one of those bad nights I hate so much— that night when I am so scared to sleep— yet couldn’t avoid it. You can’t cheat nature or can you? And all these were because of one woman; Veronica. She had inflicted injury into my memory that had refused to go away. I have taken different medicines, tonics and even done some required therapies I read in some books but yet it doesn’t want to go away. I couldn't quite remember what happened the previous night.

Maybe when my head cools down, then I will try my luck, so my fickle mind thought. I managed to stand up and walked up to my desk, flipped open the jug, and drank from it directly without even bothering to use a cup. I sagged into the armchair close to me, my legs stretched out and crossed. My head was fixed at the back and my eyes were closed. I wanted to sleep more but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t afford to do so, not because I didn’t want to but because my body wouldn’t allow me to.

I perceived some delicious aroma. I wondered where it came from. I wanted to ignore it but it was so strong. I opened my eyes, I focused my sense of smell on my cupboard where I had kept my mirror, I saw a tray with two finely decorated ceramic plates kept on top of it. Who had kept those? I asked myself.

I looked out through the window, I reckoned that it was morning— very early. A dull light shone through my cotton which then passes through to my room in dim-lit. My mind moved to the food. There was only but one possibility that I thought might have happened and that was “Valerie was here.”

I moved my brain to work, thinking. Does that mean she met me lying down on the floor like a dead rat? I asked in between thoughts. But wait! Does it mean she was also the one that brought down the pillow I found underneath my head and the bedsheet?

Valerie must have met me sleeping on the floor, instead of waking me up, she just hurled up my bed sheet and covered me with it. And she didn’t even stop there. She also brought a pillow and placed it underneath my head which invariably gave me a little support. Amazing. Good girl.

At the very least, now I was sure I slept on the bed but for some reason or the other, I managed to find myself rolling on the floor. But I was bewildered for a moment. Why would someone like Valerie bother to show me some element of kindness? How does my comfort be of relevance to her? I needed to shift mental gears and put it into something that would be more profitable than spending the whole day thinking about what might or might not have happened, so I thought.

I needed to find Brady and know how far he had gone with the task I gave him to do, though I knew it was early but I had to take my chances. I hurled myself up to the bathroom and did what I expected to do: brushed my teeth, took my bath, wore my clothes and put on my shoes, discard the food she had brought then off I went. When I was done, I shut close my door and made my way to who-knows-where-Brady-could be.

When I made it outside my quarters, I was a little bit confused about where I needed to start from. Shame Anon. Shame. Someone like me doesn’t know where I would find my servant, my friend.

Luckily, a thought flickered up— though I wasn’t thinking straight, my head was still burning a little. I remembered Brady’s home. Yes, it’s true. I haven’t been there for a long long time ago. But I still have some memories of it. I knew exactly which side he lived on with his family.

I now got a clue, brilliant Anon. The environment was bright, and the weather was super cool. I forgot to wear extra clothing that would give my body an additional cover and it showed in my body (all my hair was standing—except the one on my head and the one underneath my two feet). My head still had that ponderous effect from last night so I carefully placed my legs smoothly on the floor to avoid that clanging sound I was hearing inside my head. One of the worst things about living in the capital was the continuous influx of people coming from different places. Even some of those who haven’t been to Zahrin, I mean some who don’t even have anyone, family, or friends in the capital all came here to try out their luck, leading to overpopulation of the city. There was this belief amongst our people, which is: if you really want to hustle in life and do it the right way and fast then you need to come to the capital and everything will be okay.

Imagine that!

Overpopulation leading to noises around was now starting to have a deleterious effect on my head. I can’t seem to control the noise that was coming from different angles of the city so my head began to spin faster. Women selling dresses to some selling jades, purses, bracelets, and necklaces. I saw men selling both men and female sandals, butchers butchering meats, hanging the pieces on their shops, and shouting at passersby to come to buy from them. Did I even overlook the sound coming from some old wheelbarrows carrying logs of wood from place to place? When I got to the carpentry section of the market, I thought of walking back to my room—the disturbance was too much here. Clanging, hammering, clubbing, hisssh! It was too much. Initially, I thought that since it was early, I wasn’t going to find many people on the streets but the reverse was totally the case. As I said, everyone(in most cases, commoners) comes to the capital to hustle so nobody wanted to take chances. At a point, I closed my ears with my hands and hurried up. I fastened my paces just to get off from all the noises. It paid off though. Now, I was in Brady’s street, so I thought (and I hope I was correct because I was aware I wasn’t thinking straight)

The street wasn’t like I met it a few years ago. Things had really changed. It was more like a forgotten slump than a once residential district I played on. Some holes had been dug deeply on the concrete road by water, presumably. In fact, if you would like to experiment to know how deep the holes could be then look no further. Fill some of these holes with water while I am inside, the water will get to my knee level. Bungalows were both on the right and left-hand side of the street but most of them weren’t exactly appealing. Some of the rooftops had been torn to shreds like what thunderstorms had wrecked. I was marveled when I saw some children playing around in these places happily and most of them weren’t even putting on their clothes; some were only putting on their shorts while some of them weren’t putting on anything at all. It goes to show that most of the residents here were so poor. But the children cared less about their predicament.

Well, for a moment, I missed my childhood— a stage where nothing but happiness mattered. Now I wanted to focus on why I was there. I began fighting with my memories, trying as hard as I could to remember the exact place Brady’s family lived. But the colours of the houses lining there weren’t much different anyway. I knew that it was caused by the continuous wear and tear from rainwater, making the paints erode. What I couldn’t understand was why there was total neglect of the whole structure by the people living here. Wait, why the neglect by the rulers? There were torn pieces of rubbish there and there were so many broken brick walls.

Since I was already aware that my smartness wouldn’t get me anywhere close to Brady, I needed to ask around. I needed to ask someone for direction, I thought. I got to a gray house, with a tall rooftop, and a very sharp horizon. At the front of the house, an old woman was sitting under a big tree that casted dark shadows beneath its branches. She seemed to be sitting on a reclinable wooden chair and she kind of titled it in a position that made her rest her head at the back of the chair which I guessed gave her some needed comfort. At first, I felt like I shouldn’t disturb her since she seemed to be having a great moment under the tree but since I didn’t see many grownups around, I decided to take my chances.

I approached her, I could almost hear her snort. “He…looo!” I said, calmly.

She opened her eyes. She had beautiful eyes set of eyes, the colour of rain clouds. She twisted her head like she was searching where the voice came from. “Who are you?” she asked, with a broken and slow voice.

“Good day mama! Sorry for the intrusion,” I said and bowed. “My name is Anon and I am looking for someone that used to leave around here.”

She squinted her eyes, looked up, and surprisingly gave me a grin. I thought she would be uncomfortable with a stranger. I looked at her hair, the grey-white colour on her hair was evenly distributed; they looked beautiful.

“You talk like a man but look like a woman. Which one are you?” she asked, smiling.

I giggled, no wonder why she grinned at me.

“I am a man,” I replied softly.

“Oh?” she raised a brow. “Then I suppose you are looking for a woman? I am sorry but you won’t find one here.”

She adjusted her milky-white dress just at her right hand. She had rough skin, small wrinkles on her face that didn’t quite match what I was expecting after seeing her white hair. She had dry bow-lips that looked somewhat black-red. Maybe the redness of her lips faded with age, I thought.

“No. I am looking for a man,” I told her. “I am a year older but we sure looked like we are of the same age.”

“What’s his name?”

“His name is Brady.” She looked at me, her face still expressionless. “Oliver Brady,” I told her.

She frowned. “Did you just say, Oliver?”

I arched my brows. I didn’t know what to say to her. I didn’t understand why she suddenly frowned at my question meanwhile she was smiling just a few moments ago. “Y-yes.” I stuttered. I decided to take my chances.

“Who are you?”

“Sorry! What?"