Dirt & Grit

Chapter 2


Thursday 22nd September – 9:00 – Bonfire Village

It had been five days since Autumn's birthday party and only two more days until the Bonfire Festival. What was the Bonfire Festival, you ask? Well, it was the tradition of our little village once a year when summer is near the end and a massive bonfire is lit in the centre of town, right in front of the town hall. From what my mum told me, it's a celebration that has been going on for about eighty years now since the end of the great war where it represents peace and brotherhood against the dark.

"Hey daddy what's this festival about, anyway?" Autumn asked while me, her and dad were in the kitchen sitting at the breakfast table.

Dad had his spoon halfway to his stubbled mouth before he put it back into his bowl of Amazing O's. He currently had his leather armour on which was over his long sleeve white turtleneck along with his black combat trousers and old military boots.

Hey isn't that cereal just for me and Autumn? And isn't he supposed to be at work right now?

My dad leaned forward a bit with a smile on his face and Autumn leaned forward as well as she knew he was about to go into his 'story mode.

Oh, Brothers, here we go again.

"So, you want to know the story of the Bonfire Festival, huh kiddos?" He asked as Autumn nodded her head.

"Actually, you already told me this stor-" I tried to cut in, but it looked as though he would have the last word.

"Very well then, child of mine. Listen closely."


'The story goes that during the war a contingent of Valian knights was lost after a battle against the Mistralian samurai on the Eastern coast of Vale when a freak blizzard had come through. They wandered through the woods, lost for days in the middle of winter, until they had to stop to rest in the middle of a clearing. The soldiers chopped down trees to build a massive fire to keep them warm and the dark away. Before they could ease up for just a moment from among the treeline came a platoon of Mistralian Samurai who too were exhausted from the long journey woods and being far from their home.

The tension in the air was so thick that even the slightest movement could result in bloodshed and death. The two different countrymen were ready to strike but soon realised that a third party had joined, prowling in from the dark. The true enemy of humanity.

The Grimm.

These monsters did not care where the humans had come from. They were drawn in by their negativity and they only wished to feast on their blood and guts. An understanding was unspoken by Knights and Samurai to defend themselves against their ancient enemy. They fought for three days and three nights with the bonfire raging behind them the whole time, never once going out.'


Autumn was on the edge of her seat as she listened intently to his story. Whereas I had just come to the realisation that today was Thursday.

"Hey dad, weren't you supposed to take us to schoo– "I asked before I was cut off again.


'At the end, when the monsters from the dark had been slain, the men and women who remained came to the realisation that at the end of it all, it wasn't about one belief compared to another or what was attached to your body. In the end, it was about us banding together and fighting our true enemy. With that realisation, the Knights and the Samurai came to see each other as brothers bonded by combat and celebrated for three days and three nights around the bonfire, forgiving and forgetting their differences against each other.

Soon after the war ended, those men and women came back to that bonfire to find each other waiting for the other. They build a community around that bonfire, which turned from a couple hundred to a few thousand that you see now.

This place was aptly named Bonfire, and it has stood here for over eighty years. Now once a year we light a massive Bonfire where everyone in the village spends the day around the bonfire drinking, eating and forgiving each other for any grudges or slights made against each other'


I could barely stay focused during that whole story; my dad had a habit of going on long-winded stories that really could be summarised much more efficiently. I mean, it wasn't that I didn't like stories, I just didn't care about some boring old history lesson. I preferred superpowers and giant freaking swords cutting monsters in half.

When I asked my mum why we do it she gave me a much more direct version: 'We party around a bonfire once a year, it's one of my few days off so don't do anything stupid mister or you'll be washing the dishes for a month.' Clean, simple and it gave me a good reason to respect it.

I looked over to my sister who had stars in her eyes with noises of 'ooh' and 'ahh's' coming out of her mouth while my dad had his arms crossed, nodding his head and drowning in the cheers the masses gave him.

Masses; ergo just Autumn, whose bracelet was swishing around her hand as she cheered and whooped.

I could only groan as Autumn begged him to tell another story, which he all too seemed ready to go for until the head honcho came down the stairs, the big cheese, the dictator of brushing your teeth and bedtimes, the uh–well you get the picture.

She came down in a plaid button-up shirt and some dark work jeans and brown stained work boots, looking absolutely exhausted. She yawned as she walked past all of us toward the bread bin. She stopped halfway when she spotted us and our little gathering of clowns including my dad who looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

She blinked once, then twice, then closed her eyes and breathed. She knelt down to her boot, proceeded to take it off and launch it at my dad's head where it promptly bounced off his head.

"What are you still doing here!? You were supposed to drop the kids off at school an hour ago!" She marched over to start yanking on his ears: "And you're supposed to be on the wall right now you bum! 'Captain of the Guard' my ass!" She ignored his shouts of pain before turning her attention to me and Autumn as we both shivered under her gaze.

"And you two!" We immediately stood up straight out of our seats and our knees shaking. "Get upstairs right now and get your bags! I expect you back down here in five minutes!" She shouted as we both stood there in shock, still reeling from how quickly the situation turned south.

I could see a vein protruding out of her forehead as we stood there like a pair of statues. "I said now!" she yelled and our bodies were already halfway up the stairs scrambling to get our stuff ready.

I rushed into my room and started to grab my books, my pens, my coat and something else that I just couldn't remember.

I could hear banging and thumping in the room next door.

"MAMA! WHERE'S MY BAG I CAN'T FIND IT ANY-Never mind, I found it!" I heard Autumn shout from the other room.

Agh! What was it? Oh, right, my chain!

I went over to my desk to grab my chain from the desk quickly flinging it over my head and around my neck. I walked out of my room and bumped into my dad, who was also coming out. He grinned at me which I returned until I noticed the weapon he had on his back: It was a massive chainsword where one side had a metallic back which held the engine inside it and the other side had a row of curved metal teeth going from the top of the handle all the way to the top feeding back into the engine. The handle was long enough for two hands and was wrapped in red cloth that looked worn out from years of use and attached to it was a guard that contained the throttle to power it up.

All in all? It was the most badass and meanest thing I had ever seen! My dude called it his pride and joy; 'The Excuser'. I had no idea what Excuser meant,, but it sounded really cool! And to be honest, I couldn't really imagine my dad using it. I mean, he was probably the nicest person on the planet.

It looked more like a weapon a supervillain would use to kill helpless villages.

Yikes, where did that come from?

Dad ruffled my hair as he passed me and leaned into Autumn's room. "Come on kiddo, we don't want to be late for school!" He called in.

I heard Autumn giggle as a scrunched-up bit of paper was thrown at my dad's head.

"Daaaad! You are the reason why we're late!" She laughed as she hopped out of the room and down the stairs while dad followed her down laughing along with her. I could feel my own grin splitting my face as I followed him.


We made it to the front door where mum was waiting there with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

I wonder if it's ever got stuck there before and dad had to pull it back down?

A giggle left my mouth as I imagined my dad desperately trying it back down with both hands while my mum yelled at him.

She looked at me, confused for a moment, before turning around to open the door.

"WAIT!" Dad shouted. "We haven't measured their heights yet!" Mum turned back around with her mouth open in horror.

"Oh my god, you're right! For once!" she replied as me and Autumn looked at each other with excited looks.

Every time one of our birthdays came, our parents always brought out the wooden plank and a measuring tape to see how much we had grown.

Oh yeah! I must have grown by at least a foot! I'm pretty sure I'm the tallest kid in my class now.

Autumn probably had similar thoughts as she started bouncing up and down on the spot shouting, "Measure me! Measure me! Measure me!" While tugging on my mum and dad's sleeves.

Dad grinned as he headed into the living and went behind the sofa to pull a long plank out while my mum went to the kitchen draw to retrieve the tape and a pen. Dad then walked over to the plain wall in the living room where he pressed the plank up against it and motioned us to come over.

I could see the pen marks that showed our current heights starting from the shortest: Autumn was '124cm', I came in at '155cm', mum at '183cm' and my dad at '201cm'.

I looked enviously at my dad's leading position, which he always bragged about! One day, me or Autumn would catch up and then he would be the shrimpy wimpy!

"Come on, shrimpy wimpy's lets if you got any bigger or if I need to put a cat box in the door," Dad said while trying to hold in his laughter.

Autumn squeaked indignantly at the title but still marched over while my mum chuckled and got her to stand straighter as she marked her height. Autumn stepped forward and turned around excitedly to see her height.

130cm

Autumn shrieked and jumped in the air, "YES, I GREW, I GREW! I'm gonna be as big as you one day mama!" Autumn said while jumping around mum who giggled at the display.

"Well, you might end us as big as your father instead one day instead!" Mum said, cutting through Autumn's whoops and hollers, which caused her to stop jumping around and look up at my dad.

Dad waved, "Hello down there!" As Autumn took in his gigantic height. She crossed her arms in an x and stuck her tongue out.

"Bzzt! No way that's so gross! I want to look like mama instead!" She said while making a buzzing noise causing my mum to start laughing loudly while slapping my dad's back, who looked like he got kicked in his funny bags.

I got him there by accident once. I thought he was going to die from how much he was crying.

I couldn't wait any longer. "My turn! My turn!" I shouted while they were all joking around. I snapped myself against the wall and the plank as my mum came in and drew a line over my head.

Time to see how huge I got! I bet I'm only a few centimetres away from dad now.

"All right, step away snotbag and let's have a measure." Said my mum, gently moving me out of the way as she measured how tall I got.

She was there for a second before she made a *click* sound with her tongue and looked at me sadly. I looked at the plank of wood.

156cm

What?

"What?" I asked dumbly, "Only a centimetre! That's stupid! I ate all my veggies and drank all my milk!" I could feel myself getting hotter and my eyes were stinging.

I couldn't believe it. This was everything I hoped for. I wanted to be tall like my dad, and I wanted people to look at me the way they look at my dad! That's so not fair!

It wasn't fair! How come Autumn got to grow so much and I only had a centimetre? IT'S NOT FAIR! IT'S NOT FAIR!

I could feel my mum putting her hand on my shoulder, "Calm down Grit, it's not that serious. Now get your bag ready for school and–" I shrugged her hand off me roughly as I turned.

"NO! How comes everything goes right for Autumn but I'm the one who doesn't get anything!" I couldn't see anything to hit, so I had to take it out on the floor by stomping my foot.

I could taste salt in my mouth as I took in everyone's faces; Autumn looked confused and scared. My dad looked at me silently disapproving of my outburst with a frown and my mum looked hurt that I had shrugged her off.

I could feel a hole in my tummy when I saw how sad they were.

Stop looking at me like that! I didn't do anything wrong! LEAVE ME ALONE.

I couldn't take it anymore and ran straight to the door, opening it up and then sprinting down the stairs as I heard my mum calling for me.

"-back here right now, Grit Merrick!"

I didn't care to listen as I barged past the people wandering around on the street.

"-Watch it-!"

Shut up!

"-LOOK OUT!"

Go away!

"-What's wrong with- "

I don't care!

I kept my head down and kept running to where I knew nobody would find me.

The grassy hill.

I stumbled up the hill a little over it where I hid and drove my hands into my face to stop the pressure behind my eyes from coming out.

It's just not fair!

My throat began to hiccup as I tried to swallow my tears.

I don't want to be small!

Everybody loved my dad because he was big! And people didn't think I was anything!

I just want to be big…

I could only bury my head in my legs as my eyes continued to sting.


An hour later…

I don't know how long I sat there, but eventually; I became aware of a presence that was coming up behind me due to the small grunts they made coming up the hill. The person came to stand next to me and I was content to ignore them for as long as I could.

It's probably dad coming to tell me off for earlier… well, I don't care if it is! I'm not saying sorry.

"You going to sulk all day? Or are you going to be a big boy and talk about this?" A familiar woman asked.

I shrugged.

A sign came out of her mouth as she sat down next to me, making herself comfortable.

I peeked through my hands to look at my mum; she was wearing the same clothes from earlier with no sign of an apron.

She glanced at me from the corner of my eye and I quickly stopped peeking.

We sat in silence for a moment.

"Have I told you when I first met your dad?" I shook my head. "It was a few years before you were born and I had just inherited the smithy from your late granddad." She said, while shuffling a bit more toward me.

I didn't move.

"I was still sorting out all of his affairs, including the debt he ran up working the place to the ground and knew that if I didn't get the place back on track, I would have been out of work with no Lien to my name." She paused for a moment to take a breath. "So, one day while I'm setting up shop, I hear that this swanky Huntsman had swaggered on into town to take a job but was being a real nuisance to everyone; not paying for his drinks, being rude to everybody and was just—pardon my language—an all-round asshole."

I looked up a bit as she told her story, and we made eye contact as she was looking at me the whole time, smiling.

"So anyway, I just ignored it as I was way too busy to even focus on what was going on in the rest of town when I heard the bell to the shop chime and what do you know?" She raised her hands up. "It was the terror of the town; your dad!" I gasped a little.

Dad was terrorising the town?

She must have seen the look on my face as she nodded her head, "Uh-huh, exactly right!" She stopped for a moment to recollect herself; "I first thought that a local gorilla escaped because he was possibly one of the biggest humans I had ever seen in my life." I giggled at her description as my head was now fully up and paying attention.

"Anyway, he came in with a nasty scowl and demanded I fix his gear as payment for taking care of the local Grimm that was prowling on the outskirts." She shook her head and laughed a little. "Well, all I could think at that moment was 'Who does this hunchback monkey think he's talking to?' and before I could even stop myself, I walked straight up to him and slugged him around the face!" She said proudly.

"Woah, you did that?" I asked, leaning forward toward her, becoming more enraptured in the story.

She smirked at me, "Damn straight! And much more as I gave him the most ear-blistering rant, I think I've ever been on in my life. I said to him 'that he should feel ashamed of himself for taking advantage of the people he was supposed to protect and that he was no better than a no-good bandit.' I still remember the look of shock on his face as he stood there for a moment and just walked straight out of the shop." Mum was now facing forwards as she recalled the next bit.

"I honestly thought he was going to skip town and leave us to fend for ourselves, but the very next day he came marching back into town with cuts, scrapes and bloody wounds all over him dragging himself to the town hall." She started laughing, "As soon as he got his reward, he walked all over the village paying everyone back and apologising for the trouble he had caused to everyone. I always laugh at the image of this half-dead bleeding giant prostrating himself before people begging for their forgiveness while probably scaring the crap out of them." She wiped a tear from her eye as she remembered that day.

"So, what happened next?" I asked, while also giggling from that picture.

"Well, he came back to me where he apologised for how he behaved and that he wanted to take me out on a date."

"What did you say?" I questioned.

"I told him to hop on his bike and get lost!" Mum laughed, "I said I didn't care how he's tried to make up for it, it would take a hundred good deeds before I even thought of dating him." She said while crossing his arms.

I could only stare at her in confusion.

"Well, if you didn't go out with him, then how did I end up even being born?"

She gave me a 'are you serious?' look, "He's your dad. What do you think he did? He nodded his head and walked straight out of the shop and I didn't see him again for another two weeks when he popped back in and showed me a list of all the good deeds he did around the village."

"Haha! That is something dad would do!" I laughed as I imagined dad running around the village helping to get cats out of trees or mowing people's lawns.

She nodded while also laughing, "I know, right? Anyway, a promise was a promise,, so I agreed and eventually we started dating." Mum had a wistful look on her face. "He was still a huntsman by trade and would leave for a month or two, but would come by whenever he could to help me out around the forge or give a hand around town." She looked towards me now, resting her head in her palm. "Soon he would only be gone for weeks, then a few days and eventually he just stuck around and never left. The next thing you know we were married, he was captain of the guard and our smithy was debt free."

She reached her arms out and pulled me into a hug, which I didn't resist. "And then we had our hands full with a little crying turd that came into our life." She said while ruffling up my hair and planting kisses on my face.

I could only sit there and take it, knowing it was better than I deserved at that moment. All I could think about was how sad my mum was earlier.

-Her face flashed a look of hurt at my rejection.

-My stomach somersaulted.

-I only want to cry.

I shook my head as I suddenly found it harder to breathe as how badly I treated my mum came running back into my brain as I hugged her as hard as I could.

I felt myself heaving, "I-I-I'm Sorry mama… I didn't… I didn't…" the tears were coming out again but this time I didn't care as I only wanted to hold my mum tighter and not let her go.

"Shhh it's okay baby, it's okay. Let it all out." She cooed in my ear gently as she stroked my back in circles.

We stayed like that for a few minutes as I wept and she rubbed my back. Eventually, I calmed down enough for her to pull me in front of her.

"Now, do you mind telling me what that was all about earlier?" She asked gently.

The grass was suddenly a very interesting shade of green.

"Grit?"

All I could think about was the respect my dad got from everyone in the village. People looked up to him and always wanted to know what he thought, but nobody ever cared about what I thought.

And now Autumn is catching up to me. She's already smarter than me in maths and common while I'm barely keeping up.

I looked at my mum, who was waiting for me to say something.

"… I just… I just… wanted people to look at me the way they look at dad." I said lamely, "Everybody thinks he's so great because he's big and he's really, really strong and I'm just tiny and really, really weak." I was speaking faster now. "And Autumn is already catching up to me as she's smarter and soon she's going to be bigger than me and-and-and-OW!" I shouted in pain as mum pinched my cheeks.

"Have you got cotton in your ears slug breath? Did you not just hear anything I said?" She growled as I tried to get away before she finally let go.

"The reason why people love your dad isn't because of how big he is." She poked my forehead while I rubbed my cheek. "It's because of how big his heart is."

I looked at her as the realisation came to me.

"Your father could've been a gnome for all I cared. What made me fall in love with him was his huge capacity for kindness and love." She said, standing up where I followed her.

She ran her hands through my hair before cupping my face. "You are only eight, my baby boy. You shouldn't be in such a rush to grow up." She said while bringing my face up to meet her.

"Your little baby sister absolutely worships the ground you walk and would do anything to please you." She said, causing me to look at my toes in guilt. "The reason why she's so smart is that she's studying extra hard to impress you." I could only look back in shock as she said that.

Is that true?

"In fact, it's something you could take a lesson in you lazy bum! I never see you do your homework once!" She said while squeezing my cheeks.

"Ah! I wold bu mub a wob ate id! (Ah! I told you mum a dog ate it)" I mumbled through pressed cheeks.

My mum let out a full belly laugh and at this moment I never thought my mum looked cooler or prettier when her brown eyes shined in the sun.

Woah.

She released her hands and moved them down to mine where she grabbed my hand, which I greedily squeezed back. We started to walk back down the hill where I saw my dad and Autumn waiting at the bottom. I saw him wave while holding my backpack with his other scarred hand and Autumn standing behind his leg like she was scared of something.

Me… She's scared of me because I yelled…

"One day you'll find lots of people that you'll make room in your heart for when you grow up, but until then…" We were nearly at the bottom of the hill. "… Love those that are still around now as much as you can." She said while gently nudging me towards them.

I didn't know what to say as they stood in front of me, with Autumn slowly walking around my dad until she stood in front of me. Her lip trembling.

I found it harder to swallow all of a sudden; "I-Uh-I'm really sorry- "She launched herself into me and wrapped her arms around my stomach. She looked up at me with tears pouring out of her bright silver eyes.

"I'm weally sowwy Gwit…*Hiccup*… I didn't mean to gwow! I pwomise I will stop it! Pwease don't be mad…*Hiccup*… I'm sowwy." Her heaving sobs didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon as she wailed in my arms.

People were walking by looking curiously on in the display but I didn't care.

My baby sister was crying, and it was all my fault. So, I had to make this right!

Any speech I had was ruined by the stinging in my already puffy eyes: "No… I…*Hiccup*… I'm really sorry Autumn I got mad at you… It's not your fault you are getting big and I'm happy you are." I felt like I was going to throw up from how much crying I was doing today, but I didn't care. "You can grow as much as you like and I will-will-will be there for you when you d-do!" I couldn't stop crying at this point as I held my baby sister tightly.

I could vaguely hear my mum's muffled sniffles and I could see that had started hugging my dad and burying her face in his chest. My dad had a look on his face that I couldn't place, but I really didn't care about that right now.

We stayed like that for a while before we broke apart, but Autumn latched onto my hand, scared that I would disappear if she let go.

I looked at my dad, who looked at my mum. They had an unspoken conversation before my mum nodded. My dad broke from my mum before kneeling in front of us, and I could see his face more clearly.

Did he always have these many scars?

"How about we skip school today and you two can hang out with me on the wall?" He asked with a warm smile on his face.

I was stunned and I'm pretty sure Autumn was too. Dad never let us come to the wall with him. He always said it was too dangerous.

Before I could even say anything, Autumn was already jumping around, still holding onto my hand. "Can we?! Can we?! Can we?!" she asked multiple times. Dad let out his booming laugh as he hopped a bit.

"Yes, you can! Yes, you can! And yes, you can!" He said in response, causing all of us to giggle at him.

"Well, come on then!" He said, holding out his hands with Autumn detaching from mine to take his left and me going to hold on to his right.

Warm. Safe.

He swung us both backwards and forwards as we made our way over to the wall. Mum stood where she was before she called out.

"Don't let them stay out too late, you shaggy ape! Make sure to bring them back right before dinner!"

My dad turned his head slightly before calling back. "Yeah, I'll make sure to bring them back the next morning!"

"I bloody well dare you!"

"*Gasp* Mama, that was a swear! You swore!" Autumn called out.

"No, I meant bloody as in-uh-hey look a toad!" She said as she dashed away back to the forge.

Autumn gasped again while still swinging from my dad's hand. "Huh?! Where? I want to see the Toad!" She tried sprinting away from my dad while he tried explaining her to that she was tricked.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed the morning breeze and the rough but warm hand I was holding.

This was suddenly becoming a really good day.


EDIT: Fixed some grammar and punctuation to make it easier to read.