A boy’s tale (Horror One-short) (Halloween Special)

(Based on a Burmese Folktale)

 A boy lived with green people in the land of green. That land was beyond this world and the other side of it. 

 In that land, Everything was green, and green was everything. The other colors were scarce.

 Their green sun rose in the day, and the green stars shone in the night sky.

 The green birds sang ugly greenish music in the morning.  

The green dogs howl while gazing at the green moon in the night. 

The water they drank was green as seaweed.

  The people of that world wore green colors clothes.  Their skin was also green. 

 You may think the people of that land would consider the rare things of other colors as treasures. But the truth was the opposite. The people of the green land hated things of another color. They would paint them green. If they could not, they would destroy it or dump it. They hated other colors that much.
 

Their living standards weren’t high. They lived on trees and slept on branches. Yet, they claimed themselves as the greatest of all beings with the highest standards.  

 “Why were they great?” You might ask. And they will answer that their own existence itself is solely for greatness. 

 The boy, I have mentioned, was different from others. His fangs were not as long as others. His skin was a bit yellowish, and the color stood as Yellow-green. His body was not as hairy as others. Other children of his age in the geen Land were covered in furs. But a good runner, he was. No other children could chase him. In this way, he dealt with bullies. 

 He lived with his mother, the ordinary hairy green lady with fangs. He asked her what differed him from the rest. His mother never gave direct and clear answers and tried to avoid the topic. And when he asked her directly, she claimed that he was abnormal. 

 Sometimes, his mother brought him strange moist things. “Meat,” as she called them, and fed them to him. And the little boy noticed its different color and similarity with the blood of his own body.  He asked her from where the meat came, and she answered that it came from creatures. He asked her what creature, and she avoided answering, claiming he asked “unnecessary questions,” 

 Deep in his heart laid many questions. And the boy could not find the answer. The deeper he thought, the more questions he met. And he still could not find the source of the meat. He spent most of his day searching for the answers. 

 One day, the grown-ups of the green land marched deep into the thick green woods. They did it once a month and they always came back after a day. And they always brought the meat after the marching. 

 The boy desired to witness the source of the meat, so he decided to track them from afar. They marched quickly, even for the fast boy. They crossed the greenish lakes and giant greenish trees. Tracking was no easy task. Sometimes, he could not see them. 

 At once, he lost track of all the adults. 

He thought his eyes were lying. How could the legion of green people disappear without a trace? 
 But, within half an hour, he witnessed the truth. 

 At the edge of the thick forest, the legion of green people appeared suddenly as if they appeared from mid-air. The boy quickly climbed a tree and hid among its leaves. 

The legion carried the creatures from which the thing called “meat” was obtained. And the boy was disheartened upon seeing them. 

 They were similar to him except for having no trace of greenness on their skin. They had less hair like him. They had the same face as him. Some of them had the same age as him. 

 The green people, including his mother, slaughtered these creatures with ease. They cut them, ripped them apart, and mut!lated them alive. The green people were committing these atrocities while smiling, talking to each other, and singing. For them, these creatures were nothing more than ants. These creatures' lives were nothing more than food for the green people. 

 The boy had witnessed his life-long community as barbaric slaughterers. They call themselves the greatest. Yet, the boy could see no greatness in them. 

 Unable to bear no more, he climbed upon branches and planned to run away. But the branch broke, and he fell before the green ones. He was in a tight spot then. 

 His mother was appalled. She realized that none of her words could answer the wide eyes of her little boy. 

 “My son…”
 “You, Wh0re!!” “Your half-human child has now known our secret!” “He will be up for no good!!!” “He will be against our race!!!” 

 The other green people yelled. The poor boy could think no more and ran away. He knew they were behind him, chasing. He could feel the green earth shaking due to their stomps. He could hear them yelling and cursing at him. But he did not look back. He ran to the edge of the forest. 

 He did not know how long he had run. The stomping got quiet. At one place, he felt himself levitating. He could see his surroundings changing. He could then see the variety of colors. At last, he rested upon a place before the green grass and piled brown woods. 

…
 “Mae (Mrs) Kae, is this child muted? He responds not a single word we asked?” 

 “Nga Myint, hubby, what is wrong with you?! This child slept on our hut! We must adopt him! We, ourselves, could bore no child! This is the gift from Heavans for us!” 

 “Mae Kae, dear, please calm down. I, too, want a son. But this boy’s skin is greenish. His footprint was more than a Taung! (Traditional Burmese measurement, 1 Taung= 1.5 feet) Is he pure a human?”

“Pure or not! I want a child!”

“What shall I offend, then? We couldn’t ask him. We don’t know his birthday! Ugh, forget it! Let us give him a new name. We met him on Thursday. So how about Min Khaung?” 

 “Good, Good,”(According to the Burmese traditional naming system, children born on Thursday are given names starting with Pa, Pha, Ba, Bha, and Ma syllables) 

 The boy could not understand what the two male and female creatures before him saying. But he knew their similarities with him and his belonging towards them. So he kept calm. 

 He was later known as Min Khaung, the one Taung foot. 
......
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