The 'Outsiders'

         I could be anyone here, but at the same time no one at all. Around me, the village was as crowded as it used to be, overflowing with people like monsoon rivers. Each person moves as if dragged by an invisible yet all-powerful force. All gaunt and serious, hardly with any utterance among the throngs. They were the eyes of invisible, ones easily avoidable.

If it were possible, a part of me would really like to leave everything behind, to leave this village. But our fate has trapped us in this small dome of ours, and no other place exists outside of our imaginations to let us call home. I’d heard from my grandmother, water spanning to the horizons, yellow sand covering vast lands. But it’s all just stories. For we are the children of this great forest, and the creation of our Goddess, we are to never leave this village. Whoever was brave enough to venture the mysterious woods had never returned. Did they get there, where they wanted to go? Or did they just…?

Yet another part of can’t believe in any of this. In this messed up world, can there be anything so beautiful like grandma’s stories. Or are they made up tales of someone like me in the past, someone who yearned to escape from this reality. Imaginations can be cruel too, sometimes.

The people here keep on growing. But the village stays like it is. With each passing year, the air keeps on getting even more suffocating.

There are eyes among the crowd, harsh and deceptive, with a cold bitterness bickering in them. I want to avoid them, but on each step I could sense their presence more and more.

“Isn’t she that girl?”

“How did she burn that face? What did she get herself into?”

“I heard her mom tried to defy the temple or something, the people from the village were all talking about it…”

“Shhh… She will hear you. Maybe you’ll get cursed too then!”

“Is she really a curse for us?”

Unfortunately, their little ritual didn’t go as they had planned. But what part of it went wrong, they didn’t tell it to me. At the end, they shunned for being cursed. My fingers brushed over my face, the burn mark was still stinging.

A horde of children, some around my age, gathered infront of me. “Huh, your face is so ugly! How did it get like that?” Small talks here spread faster than an epidemic.

Their laughter, I remember them. They weren’t any different.

“Hey, say something. I don’t want to keep looking at that face.” Donar, the son of the village chief, and the eldest one among them. “Are you looking down on us, huh?”

I didn’t give and answer. I didn’t have a reason to.

“You’re getting on my nerves.” He picked up a stone from the side of the road, “Guys, let’s chase her away from our village!”

I took a step back, and another, picking up my pace as I ran as fast as I could without looking back. They hurled stones at me, each one of them, as they laughed like it was a child’s play. “Do you think you can run away?”

Blood rolled down from my forehead, through my eyes over my cheeks. I pressed my arm over my face, as it took a pale red shade from the blood. What am I doing. Why is everything like this? What have I even done to deserve this.

I went behind a well and sat down, clinging onto my knees. They stopped throwing the stones.

“Why are you hiding? Are you scared?” They kept on laughing, and laughing…

And laughing…

And it kept ringing in my head. I picked up a stone, and getting back on my feet, I hurled it back at their face. It didn’t hit anyone, flying over through Donar’s shoulder.

“Hey, are you trying to pick up a fight?”

“I’m not ugly…” At first they came out like a mutter, words one after another, before raising up, “And you can come if you want to fight. But I won’t lose!”

They stopped laughing. “Did she hit her head or something? Everyone, lets go. She is just a bore.” Donar turned back, and with him all the others left.

I gripped onto my chest breathing heavily,while falling to my knees. They did hit my head, and it as hurting and bleeding. My eyes were breaking into tears, yet no one looked at me, no one to soothe my tears. “Mom, I really miss you. Please take me away from here.” Like a murmur to ear. But however loud I would yell, she wouldn’t come.

Suddenly, the temple bells started ringing.

Ding.

Ding.

Ding. It won’t stop. Looking around, I could hear the screams and cries coming from a distance. The bells kept on ringing, and the sound of footsteps and screams and yells kept getting louder. Something was going on… and as I kept thinking, I took a detour to the village center. People were running in all directions, without thinking of anything around them.

In front of the village hall, the guards arrived galloping on their horses with the clattering of the mounts, startling the seething mass. The village chief was with them. Climbing up the stairs of the raised platform of the hall building, he looked down at everyone, “Everyone, please calm down, and listen to what I have to say.”

The power of words. At an instance, the seemingly disoriented mass rounded up around him. “Brothers, as you have heard, our village is under attack. Yes, we are under attack. Our long years of peace is over, as the outsiders haven’t come here with any peaceful intentions.”

Outsiders. I’ve heard about them too, but could never wrap my heads around that fact. So there really were people just like us outside. But why could they be attacking us out of nowhere? Are we not anything like them?

“Our brothers have already engaged them at the east. As you all know, time is really precious. And right now, it’s not in our hands. I do not insist you to fight for the village. My soldiers will fight the outsiders till their last breath. But we don’t yet know their numbers, nor do we know what they are capable of…”

Suddenly, a flash engulfed the sky far away from us, following with a thud and a roar, and pillars of smoke running up the sky. Everyone’s eyes were locked at the scene, and frightened. The chief cleared his throat in an attempt to bring in everyone’s attention again, “I will say again, I am not ordering anyone to lay down their lives there…” pointing at the smokes, “But this village is ours, of our brothers, of our parents, and of our grandparents. We can’t let any defiled outsiders trod our village and leave it in ruins! I believe everyone feels the same too!”

The crowd picked up pace with his words, roaring in rage. The crowd broke up, while the guards were on their way. They galloped past the houses and building, and as soon as I lost sight of them, I ran back as fast as I could, towards home. Mona, dad… are they alright?

The same old path back home felt longer than before. It felt like the more the steps I ran, the further I was getting. And each stride pulled out more breath to make me tumble to the ground. Not to mention, the flashes and the explosions, along with the smoke getting frenzier in the sky. The forest is on fire. The mighty forest, it’s burning down. Our house is close to the woods. Did it burn down? Are Mona and dad okay?

At the end my fears had washed away with relief when I finally reached home. The battle hadn’t reached hear yet, and our old shack was still standing there. There was some kind of relief, like a calm melody playing in mind, whenever I am standing in front of this hoary abode. I walked up to the door, and just before I was about to slide the doors open, they opened up from the other side. Dad was standing there facing me, holding a pickaxe. My eyes were drawn to his hands. They were trembling.

“Luna, you’re finally back home. I was worried about you.”

“Dad, where are you going?”

“Oh, this.” He looked at the pickaxe, “I guess you know what’s going outside. The chief told us that the guards weren’t enough on their own, and they might be outnumbered.” He looked pale while saying that, even though forcing a smile, “But don’t worry about me. The chief’s just worrying too much. It’s not like we’ve ever got into this kind of situation before.”

“Lier.” I grabbed him with both my arms, pressing my face over him. “Please don’t go. Stay here with me and Mona!”

“Luna, my girl, you should understand…”

“Understand what?” My voice howled, “What do you want me to understand?”

“Luna.” He dropped to his knees as he took my name. Our eyes were right into each other, and for a moment we stayed like that,while our eyes conveyed our emotions.

Dad was always like that. He would never think about himself, and barge into all sorts of troubles. That one time, and that other time. Those times too… I was crying. And now too, I am crying. Crying at my weaknessness to save anyone dear to me.

“Why are you crying, my angel?” I felt his fingertips slowly brushing over my tears. “Dad is here. He will protect you and the whole village, so wait for me here.”

I was unable to say anything. Once again, my words fell all over from my hands. I couldn’t pick them up. Dad gently pulled himself out from my arms, and without a moment’s wait he left the house, sliding the door shut and locking it from outside. “Take care of Mona, dear.” His footfalls faded amongst the noises outside.

Why are we always drawn to these bright and intense flames, even knowing that the flames will consume us. Why?

I went inside, going through the rooms one by one. The calmness inside resonated my footsteps, like the walls were shivering. But it died down like the stagnant air, filled with the odour of dust and nothing. After mom had died, for the last two months, our house had found it’s own way to succumb to the isolation. Like a paint of nothingness was painted over those warm and happy memories.

“Mona?” The walls shivered again, but nothing followed. I looked around, under tables and furnitures, while I kept calling her name. I found her at last, rolled up at the corner of our bedroom. “Mona, it’s me, your sister is here. Are you alright?”

“I told daddy not to go. But he wouldn’t listen to me.”

It caught me off-guard, what she just said. “Mona, won’t worry. Dad will be alright…” I had the force a smile one my face in front of her too. I’m already sixteen, and she is just half my age. But sometimes I can’t just tell what she is thinking. “Dad will return home after it’s all over.”

I tried to sound a bit riant, but the look on her didn’t change. “Sister, are you going to leave me too?”

“Mona, what are you saying?”

“Mommy left us. Dad left us too. And then…” She started sobbing before she could finish. She pressed her head over her knees, trying not to look at me, while I sat down on the floor right beside her. I don’t remember if we were even together like this, in such a silence sitting beside each other.

“Mona, don’t worry.” I placed my hand over her head, as by fingers brushed over her hair, “Your sister will always be here to protect you.”

She stopped sobbing and looked at me,“Are you saying the truth?”

“Yes. I won’t lie to you. So can you trust me with one thing?”

“What?”

The storm hasn’t passed yet. But I’m sick of living through these violent storms just by enduring them. They say, if you turn back and run away, then you gain one. But after every storm, we are still left with unimaginable scars, which never go away. So I won’t wait here hopelessly for the storms to end one after another. I’ll protect Mona.

“Lets run away from this village, together.”