A little lie

I probably look like a wet cat, I thought, neither being a cat nor wet.

My feet were throwing a hissy fit, my finger nails try to harm anything that is dump enough to get into their way. Not my fault when they think they can handle a caged wolf.

"Can't we kill that bitch right now?", the man is asking his fellow asshole. There are already red marks shining on his face.

"We have to go through the proper process. Otherwise we'll be as lawless as the whore", one of the other idiots said. He smirked. I hated it. "Besides, don't you too want to kill two birds with one stone?"

I knew exactly what he meant. I knew exactly who he meant. I hated it.

An animalistic sound left my throat, the kind a caged wolf makes right before execution by men who think their penis size will multiply once they kill it.

They push me down. I don't know how many of them are there, just that too many hands grab me at once, too many hands who are already exited to execute me. The air tastes like blood lust.

I know that it's not regret or mercy making them stop. It's him. He talks with them. Probably some business talk mixed with some philosophical bullshit, that's how he always handled that kind of shit.

I want to sob. Just like I did as a kid, behind the tree, so nobody was able to see.

But I couldn't. If I cry, maybe he won't go through it, maybe he will try to save me.

And he can't. Saving me only means dooming us both.

"What are you doing to her?", he asks, strategically shifting the conversation closer to the spot I'm lying at.

"What we do to every other whore, sir", one of the man responds truthfully, as far as he's aware.

"Why do you think she's one?"

Outrageous. Scandalous. A guy using his brain. I couldn't help but smirk a little.

"She's a stranger, sir. And she has been running around town without any man by her side. She must be a whore!"

He bid his tongue, I didn't see it but I know it. (That's what he always does when stressed.) He would like to tell the man that it's dump to kill random people based on your assumptions, that even whores had the right to life, the reason why I've been running around without a male the whole day.

But my brother's a smart boy. He knows that fights aren't won by your own ideology alone. First, you have to gave your opponent some sugary water to nip on, so they don't think you're fundamentally biased against them.

And he knows that he can't save me. He knows, that if he tells them that he is the male meant to accompany me, they will not ony kill me for being a whore, they will kill him for letting it happen and they will kill our mother, so she won't be able to create another two disgraces.

The only way to save her would be for him to turn around, putting his hands onto his ears and running away. To save her, he only has to deny me.

Please, Yesh, I begged inside, my last prayer upon death. Please let me go. Save yourself. Save ama. Save everyone but me.

"You still do not have the right to kill her."

Shit. I knew that he would try. A part of me cursed him, cursed him for cursing himself. Another part of me felt relieved, kind of. To know that he at least cared. That has to be enough.

A bunch of dirty laughter exhaled from the other side of the room. They sounded like pigs. For the first time, I was glad to lay on the ground instead of being pressed against these animals.

"For a stranger yourself, you're very intrested into this woman stranger", one of the men mentioning. "You know her?"

I forcibly closed my eyes. It's over. Yesh inability to lie doomed us all. I will die today. So will Yesh. In a few days they will have ama too.

At least we will be united again, I thought.

I will see aba again. A tear ran down my right eye. Finally. I missed his hugs, the sound of his voice, his mere presence would make me feel better again.

We'll be a family again, in death. I braced for the stones.

"I...don't know her", my heart stopped beating. What. This is no part of a plan, this is impossible. I opened my eyes. "No idea, never met her."

Did he just...lie? No, that's ridiculous, Yesh can't lie, morally, physically, he isn't able to do. Everyone knows that. Yesh can't lie.

I stabbed his back with my eyes, slaying him with the questions I would ask him if it would be only the two of us. He didn't even turn around.

"And why are you so invested then?", the guys ask. They're...swallowing it? Believing it?

How is all of that possible? It isn't. But it is happening. This isn't real, it can't be. That had to be some wicked dream or a parallel universe or whatever else. I felt the pebbles picking my skin, smelt sweat and blood. This has to be real. But it can't. My head hurt.

"I just...think everyone should have a second chance", he continued, still being enchanted of the effect the lie had on his body. Surprisment flavored his voice.

"Even whores?"

Yesh took a deep breath. I know what he will say, I told himself at least a thousand times.

"Everyone does mistakes", Yesh said casually chill, as if he came up with the sentiment himself. Poser. "We should be allowed to live long enough to ask for forgiveness, for living through the change."

He walked to me. The men around him are too shunned to speak, as if it's their first time hearing empathy. His shoes are better than before. His feet are dirtier than they used to be. Only seeing my brother's feet tells me everything I know about his future is written down there.

"Are you ok?"

"Perfectly."

"Mhm. Sure thing."

"Maybe a good smack on the backhead, would fix you too."

He allowed himself a little smirk. It's the same smirk that he used to wear whenever I told him the silly stories I made up. This isn't some 'sir', no man. That's the little boy I used to share a room with. Behind his covering body, I returned a smirk but a more mischievous one.

"But sir!", one of the pigs exclaimed. "She has still done her crime! She needs a punishment! Can't we still throw the stones at her, without killing her?"

Yesh turnt his head around, stealing mu kind of smirking. "If you must, then do it."

I flicked his toes. What the fuck, Yesh, they wanna execute me, stop joking around.

"But only", he added as they already positioned themselves. "the people who have never done anything wrong are allowed to. You know, I hate hippocrites."

Silence. I had to stop myself from laughing. The pigs left, one by one, up until none of them were left.

Yesh gave me a hand, helping me up. His smirk (that he stole from me, I want to emphasize) still on his face.

"Do you regret your prostitution, woman?"

"Fuck off, Yesh."