Free All Things Eternal (Book 2) by Alex Villavasso

confessed his plans with a torn heart.
    “Good! I thought you forgot about him.”
    “How could I?” Omari said as his gaze slipped from his sister and landed on the ground that rested between his worn boots. He remembered every blow that night. The hate the old man felt for him as well as the apathy he felt for himself. Enduring beatings for food wasn’t the life he had in mind, and if he let it, dwelling on his misfortune would only lead to more heartache. “Alright,” Omari said as he brushed the dirt from his tattered pants. “Let’s get a move on. Pack your things.”
    As Skye scrambled to secure her belongings, Omari grabbed their cup of coins before he stood to his feet. As he studied the cup, his eyes stared blankly at its contents as he jolted his wrist swiftly into the air. “Hmm.” His wrist fell down with the returning energy of the collective metal hitting the bottom of the container. Good. Looks like we have enough, and then some. “Any preference on what we eat today?” Omari asked Skye as she put the remnants of their belongings into the tan sack she would soon wear on her back.
    “No, not really. Just as long as we have enough for ourselves and for that man we stole from yesterday, I’ll be good.”
    “Right…don’t worry about that. Just leave it to me. But no preferences whatsoever?”
    “Nope. You know I’m not picky.”
    “Okay then. Come on.” Omari extended his hand to Skye and together they ventured out of their makeshift home and onto the city streets.
    As they traversed through the slums, Omari kept a wandering eye as he ventured out into the open. There were stares from all around, few of concern and a majority of disgust. To the outside world they were just two dirty kids walking the streets unattended. Another problem that was failed to be addressed by a failing system. Skye seemed to be oblivious to the glares, but Omari couldn’t shake the feeling that protruded from their piercing eyes. It was the feeling of being worthless that hurt him the most. Like a weight shackled to his feet, it plagued him ever since his parents abandoned him and his sister. In the years of hardship that followed, the chains only grew stronger, solidifying themselves to his persona.
    Driven by instinct alone, Omari began to walk faster as he felt a slow, smoldering hate begin to blossom in pit of his gut. In his mind, he began to walk a path he had long since ventured. How could they have left us in this shit hole? Fuck them. As he looked ahead, Omari no longer saw the incessant void that was the slums, but instead, a vision birthed by hate, guilt, and shame. A mirage of their parents the day they left them to fend for themselves. I don’t need them. I don’t need anybody! As the illusion faded, Omari was once again reunited with the judging faces that watched from afar. Let them watch. His passive expression sank downwards as he returned the very glare that offended him, all the while quickening his pace.
    “ Oww, you’re hurting me!” Omari stopped and looked to Skye as she pulled her hand away from his. She massaged the lining of her palm as she studied him with questioning eyes. Omari said nothing but only because Skye already knew. In that moment, she felt what he felt and saw the storm that hovered over her brother’s heart.
    “I’m…sorry.”
    “It’s okay. I don’t like it when they stare, either,” Skye said as she reattached her hand to his. The rising storm that brewed left as quickly as it came, leaving only a singe of guilt as an afterthought.
    “Yeah…you too, huh?” Skye was a perceptive child. Just from reading Omari’s emotions, she was able to address what she thought was the root of her brother’s problems. It was a good guess, but the lingering pain was not from the bystanders but from his own resentment for not telling Skye that they were abandoned. In all of his years, Omari never had the heart to confront the demon that taunted him in the night and let it