An Innocent Boy

"A true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."

- G. K. Cheserton

Behind the grey colour passing clouds, in an early morning, pleasant sun reluctantly emerges with the pleasant light. Huge well, situated out of the village, is completely deserted unlike every day. As birds coo and sing, leaves enjoy the rustling hug of the wind.

An abrupt noise of bomb shakes the silence, frightening the birds and the pleasantness of the morning sun. Far away, in the village, a cloud of dust disseminates darkness all over the place. Fire is set ablaze to devastate the village into mere rubble.

"We are moving. We are moving." shouts a commander to his fellow army men.

All soldiers leave the village at his command, except a group of soldiers assigned for finding the remaining survivors and killing them. To accomplish their target, they check in each and every hut, searching for survivors. Thinking themselves as a true patriot, they indiscriminately kill everyone in their way. 

A soldier enters into a hut, searching for any survivors. As the soldier does not find anyone, he sits in a corner of the hut. He crawls into the kitchen in search of water and finds nothing but the broken pots. He puts his gun and knife down on his side.

His heart pants and his eyes feel the pain, looking at the blood on his knife and the wild fire coming out of burning hut. He lights a cigarette and leaves the hut.

Carrying a gun on his shoulder as if carrying true patriotism for his country, he looks around at what he has done.

"Come over, here!!!" shouts his partner from the opposite hut, "I need your help."

He runs into the hut and finds his partner being shot just below his right shoulder. He puts his gun down and helps him lie down comfortably. 

"How did this happen?" yells at his partner.

"That Jackson. He came into the hut, breaking the door and searching for survivors. Little confusion... That's it." explained his partner in pain.

Withstanding the suffering from the pain, his partner tells him, "Take out the bullet with your knife."

As he tries to take it out, his shivering hand does not find the knife. He turns back to the door and realizes that leaving his knife back in the opposite hut.

His partner in pain enquires, "What happened?"

As he is about to reply, there comes a dull voice from outside of the hut, "Sir... Sir..."

Leaving his partner safely in the hut, he hurriedly runs out carrying his gun. He finds a dull-looking small boy, around the age of five, standing in front of him. He points the gun at his head, without thinking of anything.

The small boy takes a knife out of his pocket and shows it to the soldier, saying that, "You left this knife in the opposite hut, sir."

He gazes at the small boy, still pointing the gun at him. Without knowing what to do, he turns back into the hut and looks at his suffering partner and then at the boy.

An Utter Dark Evening

  

The corridor looked deserted when I was walking to my room. It was filled with the light as my eyes with the sleep. I opened my room, intending to have a sound sleep. I switched on the lights that showed the congestion of my room. A small insect ran under the cot and hid itself for living some more days. Looking at the room, I felt like arranging the things properly. But, I fell down on the bed with the intention to sleep.

As soon as I lay down on the bed, the room bcame dark as if the light itself fell asleep. I got up from the bed and realized the power cut everywhere. I was feeling very tired. I sat down on the cot and thought of what to do.

I started walking in the utter dark corridor towards the wash room with my mobile light. I entered  into the washroom and kept the mobile on the washing machine,  facing the mirror for the reflection. Then, I inclined my body down towards the tap and washed my face.  When I leaned back and  looked at the mirror, I was aback looking at a reflection of  woman coming behind towards me. I suddenly turned around and saw nothing but the empty room.

The cool breeze entered into the wash room through the broken glass window to my right. The twinkling of stars mesmerized me and attracted with its glitter.

I started walking to the terrace taking my mobile light. As I was passing each and every floor up to the terrace, my body felt the chillness of the wind. I finally reached the terrace and was looking at the hostel building under construction.

I walked towards the side wall and looked at the glittering lights of the city. It looked as if it were the glittering gems in the jewels box. Then, the siren sound of a train travelled with the wind and reached my ears. In sometime, I could hear the sound of train came towards me as if it was ripping off the silence filled around me in the utter dark terrace.  

I witnessed the fast- moving train as its compartments’ lights disturbed the darkness on its way. Looking at the train, I moved my head from left to right as it was heading towards its destination. The train sound finally faded away towards its destination.

Once again, the silence and the dark gripped the place around me as if they had won the battle with sound and light of the train. As I turned around and looked at the utter darkness of the terrace, my tongue slightly started wetting my lips. I then realized I was shivering a bit.

Without knowing what to do, I looked up at the sky. The clouds, at least to my knowledge, were leisurely assembling to make a large cloud for a heavy rain from different directions. As a rival, stars attractively twinkled to make the walking clouds less noticeable.

I walked on the terrace looking at the international Men’s hostel and found the electricity was back. Looking at the stars and walking clouds, I decided to leave for my room. I not only came to terrace unwillingly but also left the terrace unwillingly.