Cain counted his teeth in the reflection cast by the water surface. Most of them were still in place, the ones he cared about at least.
"Really thought that fucker knocked my fangs out for a moment there."
He was having hamburgers for dinner tonight, not having teeth would make that harder. They usually grew back, anyway but it took a lot of time or a lot of blood.
His thoughts were interrupted by a ball hitting the water and causing a distortion in his reflection. He calmly turned to see a pair of children running happily.
One of them was clearly older, but neither of them were more than ten years old. The younger one wore a baseball cap, while the older had a very characteristic band-aid on his forehead.
The children stopped their running when they saw Cain standing there. The younger one hid behind the other's back.
Just then Cain remembered his forehead was still bloody. He quickly covered his forehead with his hand and waved the kids off.
"It's just a scratch, I fell over."
"Are you a bad man?"
The band-aid kid bravely stood in defense of his friend. He asked a question only a child could.
"Maybe."
Cain answered half-heartedly and kicked the ball back in the kids' direction. The older one whispered something to the kid and after picking up the ball they ran off in a different direction.
"Kids are weird."
He took the steps leading into the small side street, leaving the small creek he was standing in.
The sky was practically orange. It was a full blown autumn evening. The light tainted nearby gray buildings with its warm color. The atmosphere was borderline unreal, like some kind of impressionist painting.
"Hey!"
A voice echoed in Cain's mind.
"Cain!"
He opened his eyes and turned towards Abel, who was yelling and waving vigorously. They were both born on the same day, yet his brother was much shorter, he practically had to jump to be seen above the tall flowers and plants of their parent's garden.
"What's up?"
He stopped fruitlessly trying to pull out a really nasty weed from the ground and stood up to meet Abel.
His brother, who was a practicing shepherd, was completely out of breath and was using gesticulating and half-words to explain what happened.
"Hey, hey, relax. What the hell has gotten you in such a frenzy?"
Cain gently shook Abel. He stopped gesticulating and took a few deep breaths.
"There's a bad man! He's trying to take away the sheep!"
The way he worded it was childish, but Cain believed his brother and without a word picked up a hefty stick off the ground and ran towards the field where sheep were being herd. Abel followed closely behind, panting wildy.
"What about this one? It's pretty plump looking, probably has good fat."
A group of men gathered around the scared sheep. The man clearly in charge was a tall, dark haired hunter who was relatively well known in the nearby area. His eyepatch made him instantly recognisable.
"I like it, cut it up."
"Yes, boss!"
One of the hunter's underlings was about to jump at the sheep with a sharp knife when an angry voice echoed through the field.
"Hey jackass!"
A stick flew and hit the underling directly in the forehead, knocking him out in a comical fashion.
"If it isn't the farming boy, Cain."
The eyepatch wearing man clapped his hands. The rest of his underlings giggled among themselves while they tried to help their comrade get up off the ground.
"Shut up, asshole. Leave the sheep alone before I make you."
"Oooh, look at this kid, he's a feisty one."
The men bursted into a laugh. Cain clenched his fists and in a moment of rage he charged full ahead and tackled the hunter. Their bodies tumbled down the field before a rock stopped them both.
Cain managed to quickly roll back onto his feet and wipe a bit of blood from a busted lip.
His opponent stumbled a bit before smirking.
"You've got a real nasty spirit, bitch."
"You're the one preying on the weak."
This made the man break into a wild laugh.
"That's it… this kid is simply possessed. Someone go and tell Eve she spat out a hellspawn."
The entire group of men, who have now caught up to them, laughed alongside him.
Cain felt his eyes watering, but he clenched his teeth and ignored it. He needed to stay strong for the sheep. He needed to stay strong for Abel.
"I... I'm not…"
He could barely contain his anger, words were slipping in-between his clenched teeth.
"I'm not a demon."
He threw himself once again on the man, ripping into him with his finger nails. He used every dirty trick he knew, punching the man's throat, using dirt to blind him, anything went.
soon found himself punching the man repeatedly in the face.
"I'll make sure you don't see in that other eye too, you understand?"
He said, trying to sound menacing. A few tears rolled down his face.
"I'm not a bad guy… I'm not…"
An angry driver slammed his car horn loudly.
"How much longer will you stand there! Fucking druggies these days, get off the road!"
Cain realized he was standing in the middle of a crosswalk, he quickly composed himself and jogged toward the other side and flopped down onto a bench.
"What the hell is wrong with me… spacing out like that, you're getting senile, Cain."
He mumbled to himself in a dry tone.
As he was preparing to set off, when a ball rolled across his vision and onto the street.
"I'll get it!"
A kid's voice was heard and the baseball cap wearing kid ran out onto the street.
Right into a red light. The unaware kid was getting approached by a fast moving car. The driver hit the brakes but it was too late. There wasn't enough space between them and the child to slow down. The baseball cap flew into the air as the child froze in fear.
.
.
.
But the car missed, it instead hit a pole at the other side of the street.
The older child ran after his friend in a panicked manner.
"Bro! Are you alright?"
He quickly picked up the ball and pulled his brother back onto the sidewalk.
The driver got out of his vehicle, he wasn't hurt at all. The same couldn't be said for the car.
"Ah, you stupid kids and your stupid ball games!"
Scared, the kids ran off into an alley. When they were relatively away. They exhaled and sat down in the shade of a convenience store wall.
"It was him… the scary looking man."
"Huh, what are you talking about?"
"He kicked the car!"
"Kicked? Are you sure you didn't hit your head?"
"I'm sure… wait, my cap!"
"Ah shit, we're not getting that back…"
Their conversation was interrupted by a tall, dark haired man who wore an eyepatch throwing the baseball cap at the ground.
"Next time, play safer, kids."
And with only that, he walked off.