519 Compassion- Part 2

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The sky was bright in colour with only a few clouds that hovered up in the sky. When a rush of air passed by her, she caught sight of a dark-haired girl, who was young and who held a basket in her hand. 

"Beth, wait!" called her mother, who looked much younger than how she appeared in the present time along with her father. Beth's eyes went back to look at her younger self, who was small, and she followed her younger self. 

Beth didn't know what exactly Jennine wanted to show her, but if she had brought her here into her memories, this only meant that Jennine wanted to show something. 

The little girl hopped and ran, and Beth remembered how much she enjoyed doing it until she was scolded by her grandmother for it, telling how girls were not supposed to jump and play around. Her little self went to the market, chirping happily as she asked the vendor for a fruit in exchange for a nickel that was given to her by her mother. 

Her mother was going to buy some things from the market. Therefore, the little girl decided to look around the shops to see the new things brought from other places to this village to sell. While she was still looking, she heard a small commotion. Walking towards a back alley, she noticed a girl of her age being beaten by a man. 

Little Beth held the fruit close to her chest while watching the girl on the ground being beaten by the man with a stick. Unable to look at it, little Beth quickly went to where they were.

"What are you doing, Mister?" asked little Beth. "Stop hitting her! She's hurting."

The man stared at the girl who had come and interfered in his business, "This little rat tried to steal things from my shop! She has to be punished, or her hands need to be chopped for it." 

The girl who was being beaten, she continued to lay on the ground, and she didn't utter a word. 

"Stop! I will tell the magistrate that you are trying to kill her!" said the courageous girl, and the man glared at Beth. 

"How dare you, an impudent child try to threaten me!" the man swung his hand at Beth, and she was ready to bolt away from there. At the same moment, the shabby girl on the ground caught hold of the man's leg and bit into it. "AHHH! You little-!" he kicked the girl from the ground. 

Little Beth caught hold of the other girl's hand, and pulled her up before they ran away from the place as quickly as they could, while the man tried to chase them until half of the alley before he gave up. The two small girls continued to run with Beth holding the other girl's hand before finally letting it go. 

"Are you okay?" asked little Beth to the girl with a frown on her face. Being brought up with love and care, Beth had never seen another child being beaten so brutally before. 

The girl even though was beaten and had bruises on her face and arms, she looked calm and stared back at Beth. She then nodded her head. 

"Well, I don't think you are okay. Why did you try to steal?" asked Beth to the girl, "Don't you know it is wrong to steal?" The girl barely spoke, but it didn't stop Beth from staring at the girl with a questionable look in her eyes. 

"I was hungry," said the girl, and Beth didn't know what to say as she had never felt the need to steal things when she was hungry. She scratched the back of her neck. Her eyebrows subtly rose, and she stretched her hand towards the girl that had the fruit that she had brought minutes ago in the market. 

"Take this," offered Beth, before pushing it in the girl's hand, "What is your name? My name is Beth, actually Elizabeth, but then everyone calls me Beth." 

"Jennine, I think," the other girl muttered the last two words that went unheard by little Beth. 

Little Beth nodded her head, "Jennine, where are your parents?" When the girl didn't say anything but started to eat the fruit, Beth didn't know what else to say. "Why don't you stay here, and I will be back. Stay," said Beth after taking a few steps forward to make sure Jennine didn't run away. At the same time, she noticed how the fruit she had given had disappeared. 

Did she eat it all?!

Little Beth caught the front of her dress, and she went back to the market place to look for her mother, who was with her father buying something from the shop. 

"Mama! Mama!" She went running to her mother. 

"Beth, where were you? You always run away when we arrive at the market, you should stop doing that," her mother placed her hand on the top of Beth's head. 

"But Mama, there's a hungry girl," said Beth as if it was something important. 

She looked up at her mother with an anxious expression on her face. "Do you think we can feed her?" 

"Who is this girl?" asked her mother.

"Let me show you," Beth pulled her mother's hand, but when they reached the alley where Beth had left the girl, the girl had disappeared from there. "She was right here, Mama." 

"There's no one here, dear, and you shouldn't go looking for trouble. Always leaving our side and trying to explore things around. The world is not safe, Beth," her mother spoke to her gently. "Come now. Your father is waiting at the front. He has to go to the forest soon to collect the log of woods. For the next few months, the sun is going to set down soon."