Not even gonna say anything.

Wait no.

Barely edited.

K bye.

• • •

"So did you get the items before you got caught up with Jerry's nonsense?" Jess asked.

I nodded. "Do you want them?"

"Please."

I handed her the mushrooms and carrots.

"Thank you." She smiled.

We continued walking through the town. It took me a while to say something. "Are his stories really just stories?"

"Of course!" She said. "He always talks about nonsense. Whether they're about religion, or legends of people, or even about his own past, it's all just lies and myths."

"Oh." That was a bummer. I actually wanted to meet that one guy he was talking about. Harold did seem like a myth, though. He seemed too good to be true.

"But he's harmless." She assured me. "Everyone here is."

"HEY!"

I whipped around to where the voice rang out. Luckily, the female stand owner a few stalls away wasn't talking to me. However, she was talking to a masked person who was robbing her.

The black haired lady was in a tug-of-war battle with a person in a light green hoodie with a creeper head hiding his face. They were both gripping a pumpkin and yanking it back and forth. 

When the creeper guy realized people were about to interfere, he gave one final tug and ripped the pumpkin from her grasp. He slammed his shoulder into a person that was coming to help, knocking him over. The robber ran down the street, cutting a clean line down the center of the crowd, and turned left.

"That was a creeper mask!" Jess exclaimed.

"I thought everyone here was harmless." I said quickly.

As we heard the lady's cries about the bandit taking most of her pumpkin supplies, I stared at where the person ran.

"We should leave." Jess said. She nudged me, and started walking behind me.

Instead, I sprinted the other way.

"Lily!"

I ignored her call and ran down the street. I maneuvered my way through the people, dodging kids and jumping over cats and dogs. I almost ran into an older man, shouted sorry, and continued on my way.

Assuming it was the same way the guy went, I turned to the left. It was a long road with just houses and a few people walking. The thief was running, and turned another left.

I wasn't going to be able to catch up with him. I needed another way.

I looked around for a different route. My eyes trailed upward. Hmm....

I climbed up the stack of hay bales that were against a wall. I jumped up on the roof and started running across it. The roofs were slanted, so it was difficult to run. I headed toward the area where the guy may have been at that moment.

When I got to the end of the roof, I gasped. The guy had placed a TNT down, and was lighting it. He placed a redstone torch down, and noticed me. He waved at me. Then, he ran away.

My eyes widened as the TNT started flashing. There was nothing to do in that time period, so I backed up quickly to avoid the blast.

BOOM!

The TNT made a decent sized crater, destroying the road, and part of the wall of the house I was on.

I looked for the guy. He was gone. I groaned in defeated, and started my way down.

•    •    •

"Lily!"

Jess hugged me. "Why did you do that?! You scared me!"

I was limp. She let me go finally, and I responded, "I thought I could stop him."

She shook her head. "Don't do dangerous things. You can't handle stuff like that."

I wanted to protest, but I knew she was right. I couldn't even ride a horse without needing her to calm me down, let alone stop a criminal.

Instead, I asked a question. "Why were you surprised with the creeper mask?"

Jess opened her mouth, and closed it. She finally answered. "Creeper masks are the signature look of GATU. It stands for Griefers And Trollers United. Pretty bland, am I right? They are a group of trollers and griefers that wreck havoc to towns. They don't kill anyone or destroy a lot of buildings, just pranks and thievery. Sometime blow up a part of a building. It's just fun to them. I never understood why they do it."

"GATU..." I muttered. A group of griefers. "How famous are they? And where do they usually troll?"

"I mean a lot of the 'leaders' are wanted people, with the rest just being maybe a hundred followers that thought it was cool to mess people up. They usually stick around small cities, but never villages like this..." She trailed off in thought.

"Wonder why they came here." I frowned.

"In any case, they're too dangerous to be messed with." She said. "Come. We should leave."

We walked past the woman's stall. She was talking to some people about what happened. I caught her glance, and mouthed, I'm sorry. She shook her head and mouthed back, it's okay. Still, I felt bad. I could've stopped that guy. If I hadn't hesitated, I could've caught up with him and stopped him before he ignited the TNT and vanished.

When we reached the horses, we climbed onto them, and rode to Jess's house.

On our way there, I realized something. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. What was going to happen to me? Was I going to stay with Jess forever? Should I call her house my home now?

I spent the rest of the day getting used to my surroundings. Being in Jess's house, mostly. I walked the beach, went along the outskirts of the forest, and around the pond behind the horse pasture. When it started to rain, I went inside. I passed the time by reading all of her book titles (reserving some for later), and just walked slowly around her house, gazing at all the paintings.

But something bothered me. Jess said that the room I woke up in was the room I could sleep in. I thought it was her room, but she said she had her own. Yet the room seemed like it was occupied before. It just had that certain feeling to it.

At our dinner, I confronted her.

"Jess, did that room I was in belong to someone else before?"

She looked at me for a few seconds. "That's a strange question. No, it's just a guest bedroom. Just in case. Good thing I had it, haha."

I wanted to believe her. I really did. But somewhere deep down, I felt like she wasn't telling me the truth.

• • •

~ Cole ~

I collapsed to my knees. My head was spinning. My hands felt numb. If I had anything in them, I'd probably drop it.

I just killed a man.

He may have killed others, and I may have done a great justice, but it still felt so... wrong. I just ended someone's heartbeat. Their last breath was cut in half because of me. An unnatural death. The finish to their story. Their story stopped because of my doing. They could never do anything ever again. They could've turned into a nice guy at some point and had done good things. And now that would never happen because I destroyed that chance.

"Damn it Cole." I tried to shake myself out of it. "He tried to kill you. He killed others." The way he talked, he was happy with a life of murdering innocent people. But still...

His decapitated head was still on the floor, blocks away. I stumbled to my feet while backing away. I had to get out of that basement.

I practically leapt up the ladder and up to the first floor. I squeezed myself through the small opening and immediately decided to go outside. The door opened, letting me escape the house. It was raining. I didn't care.

I looked all around, not knowing where to go. There was no place to go. Only plains as far as the eye could see.

My eyes squinted in the rain. I hated rain. I hated it with a passion. Yet there I was, just standing in it. That's how shaken up I was.

A clap of thunder. I jolted from the sound.

What was I doing out there? I didn't want to be outside. But I didn't want to be inside that house.

I started punching a dirt block in the ground. Then another. And another. I was under the ground surrounded by dirt. Rain poured down on me. I placed a block above me, closing the hole.

I crouched down and exhaled, my breath shaky. The only sound was the distant splashes of raindrops, and another hit of thunder.

The last time I had hid myself in a hole was the first time I was on my own. I was so clueless and stupid. I just wandered everywhere, thinking that I could handle the night without a shelter. Ha. I immediately hid myself under the ground when I saw a creeper.

I shivered— whether it was from fear or the cold, I didn't know. Actually, I didn't really feel all that cold.

I closed my eyes. The flashbacks of what just happened fogged my brain. Instead of letting them consume me, I tried to think of something else. Of happier times. Like the first time I wielded a sword, or the first time I tried parkour.

I smiled. I remembered my first parkour course.

•    •    •

"Okay Colton." Dad said. "This is it. This is what we've been training for. This is your moment. You can do this."

"You got this baby!" Mom shouted from the side.

"Honey, you're ruining his groove." Dad laughed.

"Woo!"

I crouched down, readying my five-year-old self.

"Ready?" Dad called from the other side of the two block gap. I was on a platform of stone with a single jump only two blocks long.

"Ready!" I answered.

"Ready, set, go!"

I grinned at the thrill of the countdown. I teetered up and ran forward as fast as I could (which wasn't very fast). At the last second, I stopped and hopped over the gap, landing on the other side.

My parents cheered for me, my Dad picking me up and swinging me around. I laughed in victory and giddiness.

"That's my baby boy." Mom kissed my forehead. She tucked her short blonde hair behind her ear.

"Should we try again?" Dad suggested with a smile.

Minutes later, we had a mini parkour course set up. It consisted of four jumps, including climbing up one ladder piece.

"Okay folks, this is the moment." Dad said it like a spokesperson. "Our reigning champ, Cole, is taking a crack at the pro's course. Will he make it? Of course he will! Let's see his success."

Before he could count down, I got anxious and started running. I hopped the one block jump, then the next one, and climbed up the ladder slowly. At the top, I hesitated, and jumped off onto the platform. The last one was a two block jump, the one I only just conquered minutes before. I ran, jumped... and missed. I bumped my elbow on the edge, and fell to the ground.

My parents ran over to me as I cried. Mom picked me up and held me, shushing me and patting my back. Dad was on the other side of her shoulder, wiping away my tears.

"It's okay bud." He said, smiling. "You'll get it next time."

"No I can't." I muttered, sniffing. Which now I feel pretty stupid about saying it, because I literally just did the jump before. Oh well. In my defense I was five.

"What!" He exclaimed, his brown eyes widening dramatically. "Did I just hear the word 'can't'?" Upon seeing my confusion, he continued. "You can do anything you want to as long as you remember the 3 B's: you gotta be Brave, you gotta Believe in yourself, and you gotta have a Big heart."

"Big heart is two words." Mom whispered to him.

"Right." He frowned. "Well, you gotta be bighearted. That's a word, right?"

"Yes."

"Yeah." He grinned at me, and wiped away the final tear. "So Bravery, Believing in yourself, and be a Bighearted person. You got that?"

I nodded. Bighearted seemed like a big word. I felt smart for knowing it.

"That's my smart boy." Dad took me away from Mom and tossed me up in the air. I shrieked with laughter when I was in the air.

"Ready to try again?" He said. "Remember the 3 B's!"

I nodded.

"And now we have the champion returning for more!" Dad said when I was in position. "His last round wasn't his best, but he's going to make up for it now. Because he has a secret weapon."

"The 3 B's!" I sang out.

"The point of a secret is not telling anyone." Mom laughed.

"And he will use them in 3...2...1... Go!"

I ran forward. Instead of stopping right before the jump, I jumped immediately. It gave me enough momentum for the second jump, which I crossed easily. Then, I climbed up the ladder a little faster this time, and jumped off. I stopped for a second, then raced forward. At the last second, I jumped the two blocks. I sailed through the air and landed on the other side.

"I did it!" I screamed in delight.

My parents cheered.

• • •

I jerked my head up. I must've fallen asleep. The sound of rain was gone.

I smiled at the memory. Then, I took a deep breath. Standing up, I broke the top block.

When I got to the surface, I looked around. The sky was getting a big darker.

I looked around. I could build a small shack and go mining in the morning.

My stomach grumbled. I also needed food.

Food... Shelter... Any kind of supplies... I needed it all. And it was all in the house of the man I murdered.

I took a deep breath. You gotta be Brave.

I walked to the house.

• • •

Why is GATU attacking the town now? What even is GATU about?
Will Lily stay or go?
Where are Cole's parents now?

Ight I'm not gonna say anything else.

Rock on, my little rebels.

Update:

Radishologist gave me the idea of a robbery. So thanks