Chapter 3: Snooty Princes and Being Worthless
We were about to take a bite, when I noticed that something had Al's attention. I looked over to where he was gazing and saw three little kids digging in the trash ahead of us. They caught us looking and the oldest girl dropped what she was holding and they tried to hide. Al and I looked at each other and nodded. Then our gazes fell upon Abu, who haughtily took a bite out of his bread. Al sighed and stood and I rolled my eyes at Abu and stood up too.
We took our bread and handed it over to the children. Al handed his to the oldest girl.
"Here, go on-take it." He said reassuringly to the girl. She hesitated a moment then smiled and took the bread. I held out mine to the little girl in front of me. She looked slightly frightened.
"It's ok. You can have it." I said gently and she took it carefully.
"My mommy is in heaven. Do you think she is an angel?" she whispered to me. I smiled at her.
"Of course, I'll bet she's watching over you now." I said sincerely. The little girl hugged me then and I felt tears well up in my eyes. "Do you really think so?" I pulled back then slightly embarrassed then I recovered.
"Yes, I do." She grinned and then I rubbed her head. She giggled as I stood. Al walked past me and I followed him and looked over my shoulder at Abu who I saw had finally gotten up. I watched as he gave the little boy his bread and then the little boy rubbed his head. Abu swatted the hand away playfully saying, 'aw don't' he finally noticed we were gone and I turned back around as he jumped onto my shoulder.
Being slightly shorter than everyone else, I crawled down through the people's legs until I could see. I watched as a fancy clothed man rode by on a white horse. I then went back to Al and we listened to a conversation in front of us.
"On the way to the palace I suppose." The first man said.
"Another suitor for the princess." His companion agreed. Al and I just exchanged a look. That was the third this week! Then I suddenly noticed the three little kids from earlier running right out into the middle of the street.
"Al!" I shouted and not waiting to see if he heard me dived into the throng of people hoping to get there in time. I saw them in front of the prince's horse holding on to each other. The horse reared up and I ran and stood in front of the kids.
"Out of my way you filthy brats!" the prince raised a whip, his expression a snooty one.
"Go." I whispered at the children and they ran off to safety. I glared at him, with my arms rose in defense and braced myself and just as he was about to hit me with the whip, Al grabbed it. I opened my eyes then and watched him toss it back into the prince's face.
"Hey, if I were as rich as you, I could afford some manners!" Al shouted and I stuck my tongue out at the stuck up prince.
"I'll teach you some manners!" the prince snarled and then he kicked us into the mud, riding towards the palace gates. I landed next to him and he looked over at me a sly look in his eye.
"Look, Abu, Alaric, it's not every day you see a horse with two rear ends!" I roared with laughter and the prince whirled around in his seat.
"You are worthless street rats! You were born a street rat and you will die a street rat and only your fleas will mourn you!" he hissed and then Al attempted to go after him, but the palace gates slammed shut in his face. The slam echoed in my head and I looked down at my lap, the prince's harsh words circling in my head. You are a worthless street rat! All I could think about was the village I had come from.
PWT
"Get out, you freak!" the man shouted throwing a stone at the seven-year-old. The boy ducked and whimpered as he ran from the store. "And don't come back you, jinx! I don't need your back luck in my store!"
The boy ran and ran until he found a place to hide. But it soon wasn't good enough.
"There he is! Get him!"Alaric screamed as people from everywhere came to throw things at him. He got up and ran again, pelted by words and objects.
"Stupid!"
"Jinx!"
"Freak!"
"Get out of here!"
PWT
"We are not worthless and we don't have fleas!" I heard Al say snapping me out of my thoughts, but not my mood. I looked up to see him scratching his head and then frown at his hand when he realized what he had done. He looked at me then and I hid the hurt feelings from him. I gave him a shaky smile instead and he sighed.
"C'mon, Alaric, Abu, let's go home." The monkey ran and sat on Al's shoulder and I walked glumly behind him still feeling the sting of those long forgotten words. As we walked home I heard Al start to sing softly.
"Riff raff…
Street rat…
I don't buy that. If only they'd look closer."
After that one verse, Aladdin seemed to stop. I just stayed quiet for a time. When we got home, he started again.
"Would they see a poor boy?
No sir-ee."
Abu hopped up onto his bed and slid off his hat. I went to sit on my bed and lay down on my side, watching as Aladdin tucked him in and leaned out our window, looking at the beauty of the palace.
"They'd find out...
There's so much more...
to me."
He sighed and then turned to look at me. "Someday, Abu, Alaric, we'll be rich live in a palace and never have any problems at all." I then decided to just forget the feelings and ignore them.
"Sure, sure Al." I said and I must have had a look of disbelief on my face, because he suddenly looked at me funny.
He frowned. "No, really. I promise to not let anybody hut you again." I blinked back tears then and Al came over to me. I turned away so he wouldn't see.
"Rick? What is it?" I shook my head and Al made me look at him. He saw the look on my face and he grew concerned. "What's wrong?"
"I-I..." He seemed to know what I was thinking, he always did.
"Don't mind what that stuck-up prince thought. You're not worthless." He hugged me to him then. "I mean it. I don't want you to think things like that anymore. You're not a jinx, okay?" I nodded and he tucked me back into bed. I tried to stay awake as sleep started to sink in. He brushed my hair back from my forehead.
"Now get some sleep." I suddenly felt very tired and yawned. "And don't worry Alaric, I'll see to it that you'll never have to live like street rat ever again and you'll always be taken care of."
"Sounds incredibly boring." I slurred sleepily. I soon started to drift off and the last thing I heard was:
"You'll see."
That night I had a nightmare. I was walking with Al in the marketplace when one of the villagers showed up. He stabbed Al and laughing, the man left. I ran over to Al and flipped him over.
"Aladdin!" I shook him and then his eyes flew open.
"It's your fault! You never should've come here." Al said, but the voice was someone else's it was the man who often haunted my nightmares. It was the man from the village that I had run away from, Hakim, the one who gave me scars on my back and arms. I shivered at the sound of the voice.
"Now you will lose everything, because you are a jinx! You have put a curse upon Aladdin and soon he and all you care about will die! You have doomed them all!" then the Al lying on the ground leapt up into my face.
I gasped and sat up, sweat drenching my forehead. Looking around I saw that Al was still asleep. I sighed with relief and lay back down. Abu mumbled something in his sleep and I smiled at him and then gently drifted back off to sleep, hoping that I wouldn't dream that again.
Unfortunately I did, several times in fact. At one point my constant waking up got on my nerves, so I lay there awake waiting for the sun to rise.
Genies and Jinxes by PirateWizardThief