Chapter 11

Injustice (2)

People grabbed and tugged at her. But the tugging Lia felt in her hand urged her to take a step forward. She cracked her eye open and noticed that she really did move from her original spot.

In front of her, Tamara stood defiantly despite the mob. She placed her hand under her cloak, seeming to grab on to something.

“Leave us! If you don’t want to be blind!” Her voice rang above the yells of the crowd.

“What, you’re going to curse us, you little–”

Tamara pulled out her hand from her cloak, fist tightly closed.

The burly guy hissed and backed away a bit. The rest of the people followed suit, giving them ample breathing room.

Tamara marched forward, tugging Lia behind her. Lia eyed warily around them, ready for the next wave of anger.

When they were near the last row of the crowd, the man bellowed.

“We can’t let her escape!”

People started closing in again. Lia felt her throat constrict as thoughts of what might happen next flashed in her head. She gripped Tamara’s hand tighter.

To her surprise, Tamara gripped her hand too as if in response. But compared to Lia’s tense hold, her mother’s seemed to be reassuring her. She could almost hear Tamara saying ‘It would alright.’

As Tamara gripped Lia’s hand again, she pulled her daughter, propelled them forward and bolted away from the mob and towards the woods. But not before opening her fist and let the fine particles swirled in the air. For a safety measure, she even threw towards the people the bag of powder. People started sneezing nonstop.

But the two did not stop and marvel at what they had done. They fled the town as if preys escaping their predators. There were some townsfolk who managed to get away from the powder and came after them.

Lia could see the woods not so far from them. A few more steps and they would be back to safety, back in their solitude and peace. Even if the people followed them, she was sure they knew more about the woods.

With her last spurt of energy, she willed her legs to move faster. She heaved dry air on her chest but that did not deter her from running.

Once they were sure that no one managed to come after them, the two stopped running and allowed themselves to breathe. Lia slumped to the ground, holding a tree for support.

“That was close,” Tamara said, as she slumped on a tree.

Now that they were in safety, Lia could see scratches and claw marks to just about every exposed of her mother, mainly the face and the arm. Her clothes, that she prepared with care the day before, resembled now to tattered old rags.

Lia crawled towards her mother, reached out to her arms with trembling fingers, and spoke. “You’re bleeding here.”

“It’s fine. I’m fine,” Tamara patted her head and smiled. “You were crying back there, I’m sorry.”

When Lia saw her smile, that ever gentle and caring smile, the anger and injustice she felt came back in full force.

“Why did they have to do that!? We didn’t do anything! We never hurt people! Why why why!”

“I’m sorry.”