"Move it all, Move it!" The knights said to the passengers who were passing by on the boat ledge.

He was jolted awake from his sleep when cold water was thrown on him.

"Wake up, King's orders are for you to come to the castle for the boat scutage."

He grumbled in his breath and looked at the two knights watching him closely with their emotionless eyes.

"Aye, will be there in the night" if I be alive. He thought.

"Nay, nay the night time, King orders now!" The young knight spoke with a grimace.

He stood up from his seat and smirked as he towered over the two knights who were now looking at him with disgusting looks.

"Let us move on, shall we?" He said with a bored tone. He just wanted to get this all done with so he can spend his last time with his beloved... flowers.

He had no beloved ones, just flowers and boats he looked after to fulfill his need to eat and exist. Living was not a word he had ever heard of.

"Nay, you are not going anywhere until you don't change out of those. You know Lord Winders doesn't like beggars." The young knight spoke, he had been speaking the whole while, while the other one had been standing there on guard to behead the boat boy who was rather annoying.

"Beggars? Ya head in place? I just wore this-" he looked down at his clothes to find them filthy. There was mud covering his clothes from when he took a dive in the dirty water to fix his boat.

The once yellow color of his coat was now a filthy brown.

"Mine is, is yours? Or is all that poverty disrupting your mind?" The knight who had been standing there on guard snickered beside the young one who cracked the joke.

He clenched his jaw wanting to answer and get their derrieres set on blazing fire but he refrained, knowing he would get in trouble for causing harm to the royal knights.

With those two knights on guard behind him, he started walking in the direction of the castle.

The castle was in the way of a forest which was non-assart and has been that for quite some time now.

Upon passing by the quiet forest they heard a sound. Not like how they would of birds chirping and flowers dancing when he'd pass by every week.

He felt the same gush of wind pass by him whenever he passed by this forest.

He dismissed it as it was normal and kept walking.

Upon arriving the castle, he got in not before passing by the guards who were giving him a look of disgrace and disgust.

He took his scutage and left the castle feeling tired. Not physically but mentally.

He was passing by the same forest he passes by every week and he stopped contemplating whether he should enter to fulfill what he wanted.

No. I have dwelled too much on whether I should do this or not. I have to. The world would be better without me. He thought and entered the forest with one purpose and one purpose only, not realizing how that one purpose will change his life.

He started walking knowing very well where he'd want to go.

He reached the lake and sat beside the log, wallowing in his misery.

He looked around and found a bird sitting on a pebble. He scared the bird away and skipped the stone in the lake.

He looked at the birds and saw them spreading their wings freely in the sky, being independent.

But even the birds fear, even they have nightmares, being hunted down and living and eating on someone else's left over food.

He sighed and looked and the trees standing proudly with their leaves moving with the wind.

The trees, them trees. He found himself in those trees. They were exactly like him. Just standing there, living and existing while providing the world with fresh air and fruits but no one caring for them. Them just standing there emotionless.

Like a tree. He was just like a tree.

He stood up from his position and went towards the tree log, which had an axe beside it for when the logger comes here in the early sunrise.

He took the axe and admired the piece of iron which will soon smear through his skin.

Taking a deep breath, the feller positioned the axe at his neck.

He knew he was committing a sin but what was there for him to live anyways. The people making his fun everyday? the villagers making fun of him whenever he passes by? People telling him to die? him being a loner? him living in poverty?

Nothing. Nothing to live for.

He pressed the sharp axe into his skin and felt a gush of warm liquid oozing from his skin trickling down to his already filthy clothes.

He whimpered but smiled through his pain enjoying his mental pain become physical.

He pressed the axe harder and reeled.

When he felt the axe close to his beating vein he felt a gush of wind pass by him.

The same gush of wind that specifically passes by only when he walks by the forest.

He dropped the axe on the ground making it land straight on it's sharp edge, digging into the dirt.

He was stunned. Stunned by what he was hearing.

An angelic sweet voice. A voice which made him forget his pain, forget his blood, forget the suicidal thoughts. A voice which caused his legs to move on their own accord.

"Do ya miss me, like I do?
Do ya even remember me?"

He followed the voice but the voice didn't get any louder.

"Is this how's death suppose to feel?
For ya to come and meet me?"

He felt at peace. Peace he always wanted. Peace that made him go tree to tree just wanting to find the melodious voice.

"Been going around since foreva'
Searching for your love baby"

He stopped in his track when he saw a shadow moving behind a tree, he ran behind the shadow and...

Nothing. He found nothing.

"So I just wanna know do ya,
Ever regret meeting me?"

His head snapped when he felt the voice behind him, only to hear a giggle.

A giggle which had his heart beating fast.

"Uh... Hail?" He shouted and a bush moved causing him to look at it.

He went to the bush and found two foxes mating.

Disappointed, he looked around.

"Come to me, come back to me.
Cause I still love ya baby."

He looked around and his head hurt. He was tired of this game of run and chase. He just wanted to find the girl who had such melodic voice.

"Just come to me, come back to me."

He felt like the angel's voice was calling him. Calling him to find her.

"Cause I still remember ya, baby"

He froze when he felt the voice whisper him the last line. He felt a hot breath on his neck causing his breath to hitch.

He couldn't take it anymore and turned around only for his mouth to drop and eyes widen.

Beauty. A beauty.

What he found was a literal angelic beauty standing in front of him with a small smile tugging her lips.

"I scared ya, didn't I?" He heard her speak in the same angelic voice which she was singing in and a smile coated his lips.

He nodded but didn't say anything as he wanted to admire the beauty for longer.

He saw her wearing a green coat. Just like the forest leaves.

Her black hair open causing the wind to flow through them making them bounce once in a while.

Her emerald green eyes staring back at him, questioning his miseries, questioning everything he had ever known.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he saw her walk away, sitting on a log where he was just before he heard the beauty's angelic voice.

"Come 'ere" he heard her speak in her southern village tone causing him to smile.

He went to her and dragged a log sitting beside her.

"Ya have a really beautiful voice. I was stunned." He spoke nothing but the truth.

"I do?" She asked him tilting her head in confusion.

"Very" He nodded and she looked down.

Her eyebrows furrowed when she saw blood dripping on the dirty land.

She looked at him with a worried expression.

"Ya have blood on ya. Ya okay?" He smiled at the beautiful stranger's concern and touched his neck. He really forgot his pain.

"Yea, this uh-" he was confused and embarrassed knowing once he tell the beauty about his deepest darkest demons she'll run away.

She smiled at him, "I saw ya. Don't need to worry."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath knowing he had once again proved to be a useless monster.

"It's okay, I understand. But ya didn't need to do that. You should have talked to someone."

Subsiding his pain and guilt he chuckled and said, "Someone? Which someone? The flowers or the boat? Would they have stopped me?"

She nodded and looked down understanding his words.

"Anyway, I don't want ya to hear me speak about my misery with ya." She smiled at him and told him what her heart felt.

"I love hearing ya talk. It's calm. Soothing actually. Talking to someone really feels good."

He smiled at her and forwarded his hand to her.

"Arlen. Arlen North. The boy with pain." He said with a chuckle. But she didn't find it funny. She just shook her head and looked at his hand.

"Emerald." She looked down and spoke in a quiet voice. After hearing his no response she peeked through her eye lashes to see him confused.

"Ya ain't gonna shake my hand, Iam not that dirty." She shook her head smiling.

"It's nay that, I just don't like contact." He nodded his head and lowered his hand thinking. One day.

"Emerald...?" He snapped his head at her realizing she told him her name.

It was beautiful, just like her. It captivated him, just like her eyes. It made his silly heart skip a beat.

"Aye. Emerald." She nodded and looked away. An unreadable expression on her face.

"Nay, I meant-like, Just Emerald?" He was confused as to why she had no surname.

"Aye, Just Emerald" She said while looking at the ducks in the dirty lake water, suddenly finding it more interesting than the boy beside her.

"Nice to meet ya Just Emerald. Arlen h're" he joked causing her to give him the pleasure of hearing her angelic giggle.

For once he felt peace. For once he didn't feel like a burden. For once he felt joy. Joy he never desired to feel.

The little beauty started talking to him about his thoughts causing him to feel more guilty at the fact that the little beauty saw such a horrid sight.

But beside his guilt what he felt was air. Air travelling through his nostrils. He felt better and took the fresh breath of air, for once not feeling like he was a burden on earth.
___________________________________

~Vocabulary
Aye- yes
Nay- no/not
H're/ 'ere- here
Hail- hello/greeting