“Soot”
“Soot? Your name is Soot?”
The girl nodded, that’s not a proper name.
“‘Cause my hair is covered in soot, target is money”
Straight to the point.
“Why do you need money?”
“It was an order”
Ooh? Now this is getting interesting.
“By whom? and what for?”
“By Miguel. Says I have to bring money”
This girl seems to be a slave of this “Miguel”.
Kidnapped when she was young, made to do all kinds of crime, and hand over the money.
“You never questioned the way you lived until now?”
A life of theft and burglary.
I shouldn’t be saying anything about how others live their lives.
But the girl said “It was an order so there’s no helping it”, which rubs me the wrong way.
I was maybe seeing my younger self in her.
“If I don’t bring back money I don’t get food. I get beaten”
Using the money the girl earns for herself.
Or maybe choosing a different lifestyle.
Neither of those probably ever crossed her mind.
People won’t think they can choose for themselves unless someone taught them to.
“Do you believe you’re living a good life now? Have you ever want to eat something better than you are, or do something you like?”
“I don’t know, but I can’t do that…”
“You can, you just think you can’t. Use your head and think. It’s not about can or can’t. It’s about want or don’t want”
“Is there any other way to live for me?”
“There is. There are infinite ways to live. You just couldn’t see them”
“……”
The girl fell silent.
“Do you want me to rape you here now?”
“No. Don’t want”
“Good. Then push me away. If you can’t then try to talk me out of it. You can also scream.”
“…….. You’re telling me to fight?”
“If you want to”
As I got up from the bed the girl jumped and rolled towards the window.
I threw a steel knife and it stuck a few centimeters from her head.
Unlike the one the girl took out earlier, it was 30 cm long, a knife for killing people.
“I’m giving you that. Think and choose for yourself, will you come at me again with it, will you sell it off for money, or will you use it to break the chains that bind you”
The girl held the knife in silence for a while, but she then left through the window just like how she came.
Doesn’t look like she chose to come at me again.
If I were to be careless now I’d be done for if she picked up the courage to come here again.
While I thought that I closed my eyes.
…… that girl probably never took a bath, ever.
The bed stank where I pushed her down.
When I was about to fall asleep, the window opened again with a creak.
I was surprised that she’d come again, but unlike before, she made no attempt to hide herself, her footsteps loud and clear.
Otherwise, I who had totally let my guard down probably wouldn’t have noticed.
“What’s wrong….. I see, you chose that, did you…”
The girl looked just like before, she was holding the knife I gave her drawn.
The difference is that she was covered from head to toe in blood, the knife was also bloody.
“You cut the chains?”
“The chains…. crumblier than I thought”
She cut away the chains that bound her.
But there’s just one problem.
“Why did you come back to me?”
“I don’t know anyone else. So I want to ask”
“Ask what?”