“Sign it!” One man stated, kneeling down and putting a quill into Cid’s hand.

  It was blurry, Cid couldn’t even read it!

  “Sign it!” They impatiently repeated.

  Cid slowly looked up and then…All he could think was to pretend to faint…

  When he fell to the floor, Cid stayed there so easily that he was starting to worry if he really will faint! The pain was actually quite acute and he really hoped that it would lesson very soon!

  “Dammit! Master will get upset if the papers aren’t signed!”

  “What do we do?”

  “…Wreck the shop!”

  “Won’t he know it’ll be us?”

  “So what? Where would be his evidence? There’s no one here watching us, and we could say that we went to get something to eat and get witnesses.”

  “Alright! But…”

  “Come on, seeing his shop look wrecked he has to sign it!”

  “But won’t Master Steven get upset to see his shop wrecked?”

  “…Oh, right…But what do we do?”

  Cid heard other footsteps and tried to focus, if this other person is anyone else besides Steven, perhaps he could get help!

  “…Two better…What are you doing here? I told you that I did not ask for you to work he…Cid!” Cid heard Ben and was gd that he had come back from whatever it was that he left for. He had already thought that his Uncle had left, not to return…

  “Ah, he…He hit his head!” One of the other men stated. “We were just going to…Get help…”

  Cid opened his eyes, putting a hand to his head and cleared his throat, “I didn’t. They punched me and then I hit my head, falling to the floor.”

  Their master wasn’t here right now, so Cid didn’t hold back, wanting these two to get into trouble…That wasn’t the only reason either as he wasn’t able to think straight and keep up his ‘dumb’ look and behavior.

  Was he perhaps floating right now? Something wasn’t right…

  Blinking a few times, to clear his vision, Cid found his uncle in a fist fight with the two others.

  This was one great thing about his uncle…He was big and hard! He had to be after all, having to travel he had to make sure he could look after himself and his family to the best of his capability.

  He took the two on by himself and Cid tried to watch Ben take them out of the shop, to what Cid thought would be the officers just down the dirt road…But he wasn’t able to think more into it as not only blood was near his eyes, but his head hurt so badly…

  Unable to get up at that moment, Cid just sat there, hoping he doesn’t go to sleep. He wiped the blood away from his eyes, finding out that he needed to be gentle, as his head seemed to hurt more, the more it moved.

  When the fighting was happening, it had been easier but as the moments go by and he is currently all by himself, Cid found it harder and harder to stay awake.

  He had a doctor once state that a hit on the head was not a good thing and that he shouldn’t go to sleep.

  Well, if he remembers correctly that is…

  As it was, he had a headache and he was bleeding and he was having trouble focusing, so…He just worked hard on just not falling asleep.

  “Cid, d, you…”

  Ben’s voice helped him pay attention, “I’m alright, Uncle.”

  “I went to see the two that used to work here but they didn’t want to come back! They must have gone through a lot yesterday! So…I was…Going to close the shop.”

  Cid smiled and slightly nodded, “Good…You did good Uncle.”

  Feeling hands gently going over his head, Cid felt a sudden urge to sleep.

  “Cid, come on, stand up. Let’s go see a doctor.”

  Cid couldn’t open his eyes, now he was all defted. His hands were limp down by his sides and he completely relied on his uncle holding his body off the ground.

  “Cid…Cid!”

  Benjamin hurriedly put the boy on his back and ran like the wind towards the closest doctor.

  “Doc…Doc! Hurry, he got hit in the head.”

  Quickly putting Cid down on a low bed on the ground, he watched the doctor look at the boy and started to get impatient. “Doc, is he alright?”

  The doctor put his utensil down and shook the boy on the bed, “Hey, wake up!”

  Seeing the doctor act this way, Benjamin got down on his knees, and he too shook Cid. “Cid!”

  “…Tired…”

  “Keep him awake!”

  Benjamin made Cid sit up, then hit him on the arm, seeing him act all lethargic, “Oi, Cid!”

  Cid could only follow the urgency in his uncle’s voice and tried to do as he was told but…

  It was strange all of a sudden, he felt like everything was fine…Until he woke up…

  Now he was hurt and annoyed, tired and groggy.

  Luckily though, Cid found that he felt a lot better after the pain had subsided.

  He was able to open his eyes then and see Ben…Feeling bad when that worried look was on his face.

  “I’m fine, Uncle…I’m fine.”

  “Don’t scare me like that, d! Your father would kill me if you died!”

  “My father…Is…Not able to touch you…” Cid said, not understanding what his uncle said.

  Putting a hand to his head, he felt groggier. “What did you give me, doctor?”

  “Pain relief.”

  Cid suddenly ughed and nodded, “Right…”

  It seemed that the doctor wanted him to stay awake to not only take the medication as early as possible but needed to find out how alert he was.

  Having been able to focus better, now that the pain had dissipated, and that Cid could even respond and have a conversation, the doctor stated that Cid should be fine after some rest.

  The problem was, Cid felt a strange, light headedness come over him.

  “I was bleeding.” Cid mumbled, sitting back and feeling zy. “It was red…Red blood…Falling down my face…”

  “Cid?”

  “I believe the pain relief is already working…”

  More mumbling followed…

  ***

  A blur went by, and Cid can’t remember what had happened, but he suddenly became aware that he was on a carriage.

  “Uncle?”

  He watched as his uncle looked at him with searching eyes, “Are you back to normal now?”

  Cid frowned and nodded, feeling slight pain. “Mmm.”

  “You went a bit funny there, d.”

  Cid sighed and put his head back, “What happened?”

  “I closed the shop, but the two senseless men were let free.”

  It took a while for the news to settle in and Cid nodded, “Thank you, Uncle. It probably will work better if you shut down the shop instead of me.”

  In no way did Cid mean that as to tell Ben what to do, it was that he felt inadequate to do that kind of job at this particur point in time…

  Benjamin put a hand to Cid’s head, “How are you feeling, d?”

  Cid closed his eyes, and said, “I’m alright.”“The doc said for us to watch you for a while, so you’re staying with us!”

  “Leonard won’t allow it.” Cid said.

  “Tough, I’ll just tell him who beat you up then!” Benjamin growled out in anger.

  “He will deny it, just like Steven will.” Cid said, resting his head on the side of the carriage.

  If only it wasn’t so bumpy…

  “…Then…I’ll just…”

  “It’s alright Uncle, if he won’t relent, I’ll go back with him. I would go back now, to stop you from getting into trouble, but I just don’t have the energy and I’m sure you won’t just drop me off.”

  “You’re right!” Benjamin stated firmly.

  Cid smiled, just like he had thought. It was nice to be among people who cared for you once in a while…