Chapter 7: Nightmare
Ezra had fallen asleep about three hours ago. It had been just a few days since he was forcibly put under the watch and care of the Minister of Lothal, Maketh Tua. So far the Minister had not made any progress with getting personal information on him.
He was peacefully sleeping until his dream changed into one of his worse memories.
Ezra had just turned eleven years old a few days ago. He was walking down the side of the street when he made the mistake of turning into the wrong alleyway.
"Hey, what does this kid think he's doing on our turf?" a human man asked. He had a very evil glint in his eyes.
He realized he had accidently stumbled upon a gang's ground. Ezra tried to back away but a large Mirialan had blocked his way.
"Um, I'm sorry. I made a wrong turn." Ezra stuttered.
"You got that right kid." the human said, coming closer to Ezra.
Ezra tried to run for it, but the Mirialan had grabbed him around the middle—an easy feat with how skinny the child was—keeping him from running as the rest of the gang closed in.
"No, please, I'm sorry." Ezra begged. "It won't happen again, I swear!"
"You damn right it won't." the man said. He took out a vibroknife and held it to Ezra's leg. "Cause after this, you won't be walking."
He jabbed the knife into Ezra's right shin. The child screamed out in pain. He tried to get away from the offending weapon, but only succeeded in making the gang member drag the knife down his shin.
The Mirialan dropped Ezra, who collapsed to the ground. The child was gasping for breath and sobbing in pain.
"Well we won't be having any more problems with him." the Mirialan laughed. The other members of the gang walked out of the alley, leaving Ezra to bleed all over the ground.
Ezra woke up gasping and screaming, his arms were pinned to his side as he was held to someone's chest. This inadvertently made his panic worse. Suddenly he was back in the alleyway, his arms pinned as his leg was getting sliced. In fact he was getting phantom pains at that moment.
"No, no please." Ezra begged. "I'm sorry. Please no!"
"Ezra, calm down." the person who was holding him said.
"Please, I'm sorry." Ezra pleaded. "Let me go."
"It's alright, it was just a nightmare." the person soothed. "Just take deep breaths, you're alright."
Ezra took deep breaths and took in his surroundings. He was in a bed, in a room in a house. The Minister's house. It was Minister's arms that were wrapped around him.
"That's it." Tua soothed. "You're alright."
"Sorry," Ezra muttered.
"It's alright," Tua said gently, she moved to run a hand through his hair. As much as Ezra enjoyed it, he didn't want it from her, so he shirked away from her hand.
Tua sighed and released him from her hold.
"That must have been a really bad nightmare." Tua mentioned.
"Yeah," Ezra sighed.
"Are you going to be able to fall back asleep alright?" Tua asked.
Ezra shrugged.
Tua gave a light sigh, "Come on, let's get you a warm drink."
"I don't want to be a bother." Ezra declined.
"It's no problem. Come on, it will help the both of us get back to sleep." Tua said.
Ezra followed her to the kitchen where Tua made some warm milk.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Tua asked, handing Ezra his mug.
Ezra bit his lip for a moment, before sighing.
"It was a bad memory." Ezra started. "I was eleven, and had stumbled upon the wrong alleyway." He let the warmth of the mug seep into his hands, offering some comfort. "The local gang called that alleyway part of their turf, so I wasn't welcomed. One of them pinned me down, while the other took a vibroknife and sliced my shin up pretty bad."
Tua gasped.
"That's why I was freaking out when you were pinning me when you woke me up. It reminded me of the time in the alley." Ezra explained. "After they did that they left me for dead. I was able to crawl away after an hour. I did my best to stop the bleed in dress the cut, but it's hard to find that stuff on the street." Ezra took a sip of his milk. "After a day or two Jym found me. You remember Jym from a few days ago?"
"Yes," Tua replied.
"Well, he saw I was in bad shape. The cut was inflamed had puss and I had a fever. He took me to a doctor who would occasionally take pity on the less fortunate in extreme cases." Ezra expounded. "He looked at my leg and declared it to be infected beyond healing."
"So what did they do?" Tua asked. "You obviously recovered."
"He amputated my leg." Ezra replied. He lifted the offending leg setting the foot on the edge of his chair and rolled up the pant leg, showing the cybernetic limb. "He amputated it right above the knee. He was nice enough to modify it several times to lengthen it as I grew."
Tua's face was covered with shock. The stuff the teen in front of her had been through was something that no one should have to go through. "Does it still hurt?"
"I get phantom pains along the shin where I was cut. Then it's a bit uncomfortable when the metal meets the skin. There wasn't much the doctor could do to make it a great cybernetic because I couldn't pay for it." Ezra answered. "But it was functional, and that's all that matters on the streets."
Tua sighed. "We're going to have to get you a better one."
"This one is fine for now," Ezra protested. "But thanks."
"Okay, here's the deal." Tua said. "You'll keep that one until you out grow it. Then I'm getting you a new one that is better made."
"Alright," Ezra conceded. He took another drink of his milk. "I'm sorry I woke you up."
"It's not your fault Ezra." Tua comforted. "It's not like you can help having a nightmare."
Ezra gave a small smile before finishing off his drink. "Thank you for the milk."
"Are you going to be alright for the rest of this night?" Tua asked.
"Yeah, I should be fine." Ezra said. "Thanks,"
"I'll see you in the morning." Tua replied.
"Yeah, see ya." Ezra bid the Minister good night, as he headed back to his room to get back to bed.
As he laid in bed, he subconsciously rubbed the point where the skin meet metal.
"Congratulations Minster." Ezra muttered to himself. "Welcome to tier two."
