21 Provocation

A few months after leaving the hospital, Ray found himself in one of the public houses, which was another name for a fancy place for homeless people. 

"Aargh…why is this room so stuffy," someone complained.

"Who moved my bed? I can swear someone shifted my bed a little," another complained in a loud enough tone that made Ray want to break someone's head and his own for thinking he could take a break and lie down for a few minutes before going back to the job he was assigned to for the night shift.

"Who the hell took part of the bucket of clean water I painstakingly fetched? I know it's you Dario and don't you dare to deny it," someone yelled from another corner of the rectangular room with only two doors on each side

"You call that clean water. Even pigs would flee if you tossed it on them," another replied and by then Ray had accepted his fate, since he could already sense a fight brewing all the way from the opposite side, three beds away from the wall where he laid on his bed, with a few of the things he had left surrounding him.

Flipping the flimsy and long piece of cloth he had wrapped around himself as a cover to the side, he got up, picked up his bag, and just walked straight in the direction of the door closest to him.

There were four such big, rectangular-like rooms on each floor of the building he lived in, on the second sector of Red street which was where the poorest set of people in the city lived.

This was why as he descended from the second floor where his room and space were, Ray was glad not to meet anyone.

He had been living there for more than a month and somehow instead of his health getting better, it kept getting worse. His hair had turned completely white. His skin became deathly pale, and his bones could be seen even under his clothes if the people around him looked hard enough, which they didn't.

His new appearance made people avoid him like a plague and throughout all the time he had spent on Red street, he hadn't grown closer to even a single person.

It was when he began living there that he realized the difference between not having money because you were poor and not having enough money to ensure your survival until the next day.

Even Ray had considered begging when he left the hospital and saw the devastated state of his house, which he was getting no compensation for.

He had asked and he was told that it had been added to his hospital bills, which made it so that he had no grounds to complain.

Only for one of his former neighbors there who had been lucky enough to not lose his entire house to see him and give him some money and advice on where he could stay, bidding the time when he would be able to get a better place.

Walking as fast as he could, Ray made his way back to the restaurant he was working at through the back door, wobbling in, a little thankful that it was just past six which was rush hour when it came to dinner time for the citizens of the city of levigne, which meant that the plates he was in charge of washing wouldn't be considerably greater than what he could bear.

"Didn't you say you were taking a break to go rest? It's almost like you left, crossed the road, and entered the public houses before coming right back," Luntro, the kitchen manager of the place instantly asked the moment he spotted Ray as he slowly entered, unavoidably creating additional noise with the door.

Ray had no powers and he also wasn't dumb nor was he self-destructive enough to pick a fight with anyone regardless of what they said or did to him. He barely had enough to eat and he was saving as much money as he could to get a better place to live.

"Sleep didn't come. Figured I might as well earn money with every minute of my waking moment," Ray replied with a small smile at the edge of his lips, considering Luntro to be one of the few people there who treated him somewhat like a normal person, ignoring his ghostly appearance.

Ray kept on walking until he got to his workstation at the very back of the kitchen, seeing his work partner sitting on a stool at the big sink while fiddling with a screen pad in front of him.

His actions didn't in any way bother Ray, however, it was what he saw on the sink that made him temporarily lose his vision, grinding his teeth against the edge of his cheeks until he tasted blood.

On Gorren's side were a few plates that could be counted on one hand, while Ray's side of the sink was practically overflowing with plates that seemed on the brink of tipping over.

Still, Ray wordlessly shuffled forward, conscious of the weakness in his bones, and slowly settled into his stool, as he began washing, finishing, and drying the plates one after the other with a single thought in his head.

"I will not do anything rash…I will not do anything rash…," he uttered in his mind over and over again as he focused his entire attention on the work in front of him, since he was being paid by the hour, which was why he was completely unprepared to suddenly hear Gorren speak from beside him.

"I was going to help you with these few plates but since you're here, you might as well do it yourself," Gorren said with an arrogant smile on his face not at all hiding the delight he felt at not having to do anything and still be paid simply for being there, as he slowly dropped all the plates on his side on the sink on Ray's side, expecting Ray to banter, refuse and reject and drawing unnecessary attention to them which the kitchen manager would hate.

But he wasn't at all surprised when with all the time it took for him to return to his game, and plug his ears back, waiting for a few seconds for Ray's reply, only to as always get nothing from who Ray didn't even turn to his side to look at him.

""I will not do anything rash…I will not do anything rash…," Ray kept muttering wordlessly as he moved his lips, squeezing the fork he suddenly discovered he had in his hand as hard as he could, as he tried to convince himself to continue to mechanically wash the plates in front of him.

When out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gorren wait a few more seconds tapping away at his screen before lowering himself back on the stool he had been sitting on.

Ray could have sworn that it wasn't him that moved his body, only to watch with a smirk on his face as his legs shot out, shifting the stool sideways with enough noise to have gotten anyone else's attention but Gorren whose sole attention was already on his game.

It all happened very slowly in Ray's eyes but Gorren couldn't even understand what happened until he felt his butt hit the floor, jarring him to the side in shock. His screen pad, hitting the floor the moment he tried using his hands to balance his fall and ease the pain in his bum.

"NOW…I will not do anything rash," Ray told himself as he continued to silently wash the plates in front of him, while waiting for Gorren to explode, spit and all.

He no longer cared for the consequences of what his action would be.