Here to There and In Between - PART 4

The months ticked by as we stayed in our boat and wandered further downstream. Anya told me that we had passed through Thailand as aqua coloured water swirled around us and brilliant lanterns filled the night sky every night. We had cut across a channel of tumultuous sea and were now passing through eastern Malaysia with its thick forest jungles with mysterious animals and plants. Large foul-smelling flowers wandered past throwing their wide red faces out towards the rest of the jungle around them as big orange monkeys swung above us between the trees over the river. On occasion we got the rare sight or two of strange looking people wandering amongst the leaves in large groups some with large sticks and poles sticking out their noses.

Ever since Ashmi had left we had to fend on our own; bartering within market places was especially tough as we were only a group of girls. So we now relied on the forest and river around us for our own food and water. We were now an inseparable foursome as our lives followed the same course as the rivers we glided upon. Anya told us stories of a great land that her father had told her about in the south. It was supposed to be the largest island in the world which was filled with accommodating people. He said it was nothing like our old homes as it had lots of those boxes and buildings that touched the clouds. Anya said that he told her once that if she ever wanted to get there, she would need to fly. We all pondered this incredible feat of flight over the water and how it could be possible, filling our days with bizarre imaginings of people with wings and claws much like a bird.

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It wasn’t until several months later that us four had found ourselves within Jakarta, Indonesia. We had long ago abandoned our little canoe as a rip formed in the bottom of it when we crossed the Indian Ocean between the islands. We had adapted ourselves to the life of the bustling city of Jakarta and were living in an abandoned block of huts towards the centre of the city. At first we assumed this was the great southern land that Anya had told us about until we set our eyes on the great metal machines within a large fenced off area; they looked like metal birds.

This was when we came to the conclusion that these were how Anya’s father explained the strange feat of people flying into the mysterious land. We fed ourselves with stolen bowls of Nasi Goreng (fried rice) and drank from dirty rainwater pipes. Every night we huddled together and created a plan of reaching that amazing land. We had so far worked out that if we sneaked onto one of the smaller metal birds, we could get ourselves out of here and into the great southern country.

We implemented that plan the next night. Finding a pair of what they call wire cutters in an abandoned workshop; we made our way to the place of metal birds. Ema and Alina were terrified and so Anya and I had to calm them down every fifteen minutes or so.

When we reached the very back fence of the area we cut open a hole wide enough for us to fit through and ran onto the wide expanse of hardened ground. Dirty and filthy as we were from living in such dirty surroundings, we blended into the black backdrop of night well.

There it is again, that darkness which is always haunting me, always following me.

Whispering together, we planned to jump on the smallest machine closest to us which was a little red metal bird with four wings arranged in pairs, one on top of the other. Creeping closer there were moments of sheer terror of being caught by the giant spotlights. Once, a spotlight passed so close to where we had frozen that the outer edge of the circle had illuminated the tip of my foot for a short amount of time.

Pulling my toes back into darkness, we once again evaded detection. Creeping faster along, we came to the side of the red bird and pried open one of the doors with our wire cutters. We all crept inside and closed that same door behind us while hoping that none would suspect the dent in it that we had made. Inside, the bird had two seats in front of various lights and buttons and then two benches behind those that faced in towards the centre of the area. Down the back of it was a small opening into a compartment filled with crates and other such oddities. Slipping into the darkness of the storage area behind, we made ourselves comfortable but undetectable amongst a large pile of crates waiting for our chance to get out of the country.

After hours of hushed whispering and whimpering in the dark someone else got into the same red bird with us and walked towards the front of it.

We held our breaths as a feminine voice jumped into the machine as well. They were both speaking in tongues that I had not heard before although Anya whispered to me that her father had told her a few words that were English and that she thought this was the language they were now speaking. My nerves did an entire 360 degree flip when I heard the female voice mention the name Nepal and began to panic that this plane would drop us off on Everest.

Yes it would be closer to home but we would not survive on Everest!

Anya and I gave quick glances between each other as the floor beneath us began to wobble and tremble and our stomachs lurched within our bodies. We were about to fly and we had no idea what to do. Suddenly flashbacks of the trapped girls that were with me in that terrible box came back to me as the darkness closed in once more around us.

“We’ll be alright,” mouthed Anya to me as she grabbed and squeezed my hand. I held onto that hand as tight as I could for the majority of that flight until we all became dizzy from the rocking of the machine and fell asleep.

(To Be Continued...)