The Forgotten Hero

Nowhere to go

“Get the hell out of here right now!” the angry old man threw dry straw at Luke again. “Don't ever show up in this place again! An asshole like you doesn't deserve to be a part of this place anymore!”

His anger grew, not letting up even though he saw that Luke was in a wheelchair.

Meanwhile, Sam, who didn't want anything to happen to Luke, tried to get in the way by pulling the old man away. “Stop it! Stop it or I'll report your actions as assault!” he slammed into him with considerable force.

The man was pushed away as the threat seemed to react to him. Making his previous actions stop, but the bitter snort on the face that stared at Luke fiercely said otherwise. “Then I shall report it as well.” The flashing eyes met Luke's gaze, who seemed to be taking it all in stride.

“I will report you for murder.” The gaze didn't move from Luke.

Sam's gaze widened, and he was surprised by the man's accusation of Luke. He then turned back with doubt in his eyes.

“You murderer! Because you're a poor old man gone! After what he did to you! How could you do that to him!” The old man jumped back at Luke with a roar.

But this time, instead of moving to save Luke. Sam just stayed where he was, staring at Luke in disbelief, while the other villagers hurriedly tried to stop the old man's attack.

Luke recalled the incident that the man was talking about. He remembered the blood that flowed down his hands so profusely as he tried to move Jak's body-- the old man who had taken care of him since he was ten years old.

The memory suddenly made him choke up, re-triggering the trauma that had never healed but rather he had ignored by going far away from that place and never returning until today.

His vision darkened.

He lost his focus on what was happening in front of his eyes; the chaos that was happening right in front of him was not visible, nor was the noise that became faint. The only thing that swirled in his head was the events of that day, the blood that was pouring out, and Jake's face that was holding in pain, then slowly his eyes closed.

No matter how hard he tried to shake the body, calling out to him with a strangled scream, Jake no longer responded. The man died that day, and everything in Luke's world changed with his death.

The body shook, the fear of that day coming back to him. For the umpteenth time, Luke faced the tense moment of Jake's death replaying in his mind.

“...Luke! ...Luke, come to your senses!” The scream of a woman's voice was heard among the crowd.

Then she turned her gaze to Sam and pointed at him.

“What are you doing?” the woman named Edith turned to Sam, when Luke still hadn't responded.

But not much different from Luke, Sam also seemed to look surprised by the situation and just stood there confused.

“What's wrong with you! Hurry up and bring Luke inside!” Edith shouted back in annoyance.

Her shout managed to catch Sam's attention, who then pushed Luke's chair away from there.

He moved quickly without looking back, entering the yard of the house. Just as she stopped in front of the door, trying to turn the knob of the door that she thought was unlocked.

A hand reached out from behind and handed him the key.

Sam saw that Edith was standing behind them, with an impatient look on her face signaling him to open the door.

Once the door was open, Edith took over pushing Luke's chair inside.

Luke saw that everything was still the same there, except that a thick layer of dust had coated everything, and some things looked time-worn.

“What happened to you?”

Before Luke could take stock of everything, Edith had shifted position.

She was right in front of him, kneeling with her hands on the arms of his chair.

Luke lowered his gaze, looking at Edith's face full of worry.

“Are you still here?” Instead of replying to her question, he confirmed something else.

Edith nodded. “Of course. I was worried you'd come back,” she answered firmly, as if it was a foregone conclusion. “Now tell me, what's wrong with you? Why are you....”

She lowered her gaze, looking at Luke's paralyzed legs with confusion and deep sympathy.

While Sam watched the two in silence, occasionally checking on the now quieter outside.

“Didn't I tell you to never come back to this place again?” She sighed heavily, as if faced with a stressful situation. “This place is not safe for you, They still hold grudges. No matter how much I say it's not your fault-”

“It was my fault.” Luke cut her off.

Their eyes met again, as Luke looked at her guiltily, Edith seemed unable to look at him.

“Stop punishing yourself, Luke.” She gripped his hand tightly. “We both know what happened that day, you didn't kill Uncle Jake.”

Luke shook his head slowly. “If he had handed me over to them that day, he wouldn't have died.”

“He did it to protect you! You're the only family he has.” Her patience running out, Edith stood up.

She moved away and sat in one place without wanting to continue their conversation.

As they passed by, both Sam and Luke saw her wiping her tears. She seemed to be hiding her sadness from them.

Edith and Luke had been friends since Jake brought Luke to live with him. They were friends for eight years, always together until the tragedy that took Jake's life occurred.

For Jake's death, the whole village blamed Luke. It didn't matter that Edith, who also knew what happened that day, spoke the truth; they still accused Luke of killing Jake.

Jake, the kind-hearted old man, was so loved by the locals. So his tragic and unjust death became an outrage that they could not accept even to this day.

But Edith felt that it was all very unfair to Luke. She looked out the window, confirming the situation outside for Luke. “You should leave right now.”

She controlled her tone of voice, remaining standing in front of the window without turning away.

“Right sir, we should leave now.” Realizing Luke's situation after hearing and seeing what happened, Sam immediately agreed with Edith's order.

But Luke, who was staring at Edith's back, was thinking about something different. “I'll stay here.”

Luke's words made Edit turn around angrily. “Don't you see what's happening, Luke Parker?!” She snapped at him fiercely. “What do you think you're doing?”

At least she wouldn't let Luke act stupidly by ignoring his safety and staying there. It wasn't for nothing that she hadn't left the village even after all these years; all she had done was to make sure that Luke would never return to it again.

But now Luke was making her years of effort seem like a foolish thing that she had done in vain.

“You don't know what you're doing. Now listen to me and get the hell out of here.” Edith stood before him, looking nothing like she had ten years ago.

Without hesitation, she turned to Sam and commanded, “Take him away from this place immediately, and never bring him back.”

“He's not taking me anywhere.”

Sam's steps that were ready to push Luke's chair quickly stopped as soon as he heard Luke's heavy, cold tone of voice. That sentence was a direct order for him to move, making it impossible for Sam to ignore it and obey Edith's words.

“There's nowhere else I can go but this place, so I won't leave even if you kick me out.”

Edith's forehead bent. Her face looked astonished. “How can there be no place you can go?” Although she didn't witness it in person, she occasionally heard about Luke.

There wasn't much Edith knew, but about Luke becoming a soldier after he left the village was the last thing she knew and made her feel quite calm.

But seeing Luke who couldn't walk with both legs, and saying that he had nowhere to go but the village, made her whole head scramble with questions about what kind of situation Luke was actually in.

“Why?” Her voice weakened. “Why don't you have anywhere to go?” Those eyes stared almost blankly at Luke.