Cursed Comprehension

Ato woke up even earlier the next day, courtesy of the same. Fucking. Chicken!

Where the fuck is my machete?

He grabbed the machete and stormed out the house, and one shrill cluck later, he returned, grabbing a now headless chicken by it feet.

Kweku was now aswake staring at him strangely.

"What?"

"..."

"What?"

"..."

"Look- The chicken was pissing me off, okay?"

Kweku did not respond, staring intently at the headless fowl.

"So are we gonna cook it?"

They decided it was best to cook the chicken.

'Nom.'

'Nom, Nom.'

'Chomp.'

"Could you stop eating so loudly?"

Ato stopped and looked at his roommate, his mouth stuffed with chicken meat.

He licked his greasy fingers.

"Ugh-!"

They soon left the house at the behest of the messenger, who told them to gather at the farm.

Ato stood before a vast plain, gold topped stalks of maize stretching as far as the eye could see, hunched over within the tall stalks were people armed with cutlasses, busy cutting away at the stalks of maize before them.

Kweku walked into the field and began chopping, and so did Ato.

Albeit a little less gracefully.

'Swish!'

'Swish!'

'Swish!'

The sounds of multiple cutlasses waving through the stalks resonated with each other beautifully, creating what could only be described as a natural melody.

And weaving in and out of these sounds, like a drunk tapeworm in the digestive system... Was the sound pf Ato's own cutlass.

'Swish!'

'Swish!'

'Sw- Clang!'

"Oh damn, I hit a stone..."

It was strange, it was finnicky, it was unskillful in every sense of the word...

Yet it was his, and he loved it dearly.

Others... Not so much.

But the opinions of others did not matter to Ato.

The ones of the supervisor though...

They mattered a whole lot more.

"What the hell is this?!"

The supervisor hurled a pile of bisected maize heads at the feet of a farm worker, who seemed on the verge of tears.

Scratch that, the poor guy actually started bawling his eyes out.

"Shut up!"

The supervisor slammed his fist into the worker's gut sending him flying back.

A sickening crack could be heard as the Worker landed on his arm, bendind it unnaturally.

"GAAAH!"

Each person in the room cringed involuntarily at the shocking display of brutality, while the culprit himself stmply scoffed, uncaring about the fact that he had just injured another human being.

The guy was carried away by two other men, tears streaming down his face.

The supervisor turned to the girl standing in front of Ato.

A girl he recognised: Esi.

She began to shiver as the supervisor approached her in a slow deliberate walk.

She presented her basket, her fingers shivering out of fear.

The supervisor glanced within and scoffed, waving his hands in dismissal.

Esi immediately ran from there, relief paining her face.

The supervisor then turned to Ato.

"What about you?"

Ato stared at the man, his hazel eyes gazing inquisitively at the man's left hand: the same one he used to hit the worker before.

"Well?" asked he. "Where is your basket?"

Ato brought out a relatively large yellow object from his house; a maize head.

"This is all i could get. I wasn't provided with a basket, sir."

The supervisor's eyes narrowed, his fist clenching tightly.

Ato never kept his eyes of that fist.

Then, it came, his fist shot out like a bullet aiming towards Ato's head.

'Swoosh!'

Ato felt all the hairs on his body stand on edge as he ducked under the punch, narrowly avoiding a possibly debilitating injury.

He kept his eyes fixed on the supervisor's body, scanning it for even the tiniest movement.

Even in this situation, caused exactly by his own incompetence, Ato's lips drew back, curing into and unmistakeable grin.

This set off the Supervisor.

His leg shot out next, a blow which Ato yet again avoided.

The supervisor then suddenly halted, causing a slight frow to appear on Ato's face.

He threw the Maize head into Esi's basket as he walked away.

Tch... Ruined all my fun.

The Supervisor watched him walk away, a look contemplating look in his eyes.