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.

****

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...)

Here to There and In Between - PART 2

“Jyoti! Jyoti!” shouted a tired looking Anya, “Where are the others?” She had swum up to the two little ones I had thrown out and helped them up onto the bank of the river. All three of them were sitting and shuddering on the bank as I drifted further away from them. I took one look at the girl that had jumped out with me. Within that one look we both silently decided to swim our way back up to them.

As soon as we had arrived, Anya was hugging and fussing all over me and the other girl so that our clothes could dry out as quickly as possible. We had a debrief between the three of us in which I found out that the girl that pulled me out was named Sunita and the two little ones were Alina and Ema whereas they found out about what had happened to the other girls. After a good bout of crying, we all sat on the bank and rested. The two little girls and Anya had fallen asleep in the sun and Sunita was glaring at something opposite the river.

“What are you looking at?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s just there’s a sign over there,” she replied as she pointed her finger to a wooden board with incomprehensible scribbling on it. “I have no idea what it means.”

“Neither do I. What is that scribbling?”

“Oh, I understand the words but not what they mean.”

“You can read?”

“Yes, my mama taught me. I come from Kathmandu.”

“Really? What does it say?”

“It says Mymensingh Tea Tree Fields, Bangladesh. I don’t know what they mean.”

“Did someone say Bangladesh?” Anya asked with a yawn as she sat up.

“Yes, Sunita said it.”

“But that’s a whole other country to Nepal.”

“You mean we’re not in Nepal?” a horror struck Sunita asked.

“Yep we are a long way from home.”

****

That afternoon, we decided that we would follow the river south in the hope of finding another person to talk to. Taking care not to walk on the box path, we walked until sunset dipping our feet in the water to cool them down along the way. Within the later hours of the day, Anya and I carried poor Alina and Ema on our backs as we trudged along. It wasn’t until the first star came out that we came upon a boy. He was about 15 years old and had dark hair to match his deeply tanned skin. He did not come along by foot but rather by water, he glided along within a canvas weaved boat singing a song to himself and did not see us as he glided along past.

“Hello! H-hello?” I called as he went past. The others joined in with me as we collectively tried to get his attention. After about half a minute of calling, he snapped back around to face us within his boat.

“Oh! Hi, I didn’t see ya there! What are you ladies doing here? My name is Ashmi by the way.”

“You speak Nepalese? Oh thank goodness!” sighed an exhausted Sunita.

“Well yes and no. I used to live in Nepal when I was younger but now I just roam where I want to.”

“Oh, well can you help us? We were stolen from our home and escaped earlier today. My name is Jyoti and this is Sunita, Anya, Ema and Alina.” I explained as I struggled to keep my tears at bay.

“Tik aache! Oh wait, in Bangladesh that means no worries. What can I do for you?” he asked with a glint in his eye.

“We want to get back to Nepal.” Anya blurted out.

“Back to Nepal? That’s crazy! You know they have strict borders. You can’t even get out easily these days.”

“But we want to go home! Where are you going anyway?” I asked with exasperation evident in my voice.

“Well I want to get out of Asia. I want to be free and live somewhere different. You can come if you want.”

With no other option than continue walking or go with Ashmi, we all decided to go with him. We thought that if we got to a village we could find another way back to Nepal. So as soon as we got into the boat with him, we all collapsed into a deep slumber that he could not wake us from. We just trusted him to guide us along the river.

****

As the weeks went by, we stayed with Ashmi in his boat and glided lazily along the river. We had long since given up on returning to Nepal as every village we went through said that it was impossible. No matter how hard I pushed, no one would take us back. Ashmi provided us Ilish Macher Paturi (steamed fish inside banana leaves) as we glided past villages, tea tree fields and banana plantations. We were sad to say goodbye Sunita when she decided to start up a business in one of the villages we stopped in with her new-found love who she knew as a child. She did teach us all to read and write though before she left so as we did not need to worry about illiteracy.

Soon enough weeks had passed by and we had all gotten to know each other. Anya had two older brothers which worked with her father in Kathmandu selling maps of various assortments. She had learnt the geography of the nearby land back-to-front and could remember every country within the Asia and Oceania region. Ema and Alina were best friends and were sleeping over at Ema’s house when they were stolen. They lived in a small village at the base of Everest and their fathers were Sherpa’s who led foreigners up and down the treacherous mountain. Ashmi was another story, he was abandoned by his parents in Nepal and was found and brought up by an elderly woman who, on his 14^th birthday passed away from starvation. It turned out she was giving him all of her food so that he could develop properly and in doing so, she had neglected her own health.

Ashmi was a rather mysterious boy who showed me new things. He told me about the places he had seen and all about the constellations above us. Together the 5 of us had developed a family. Ema, Alina and Anya were the sisters I had never had and Ashmi, well he was the brother I always wished for. But every night like a dark foreboding cloud, the faces of those other girls haunted me. Where were they now? How are they now? I thought to myself every night as I fell asleep.

(To Be Continued... )

Here to There and In Between - PART 1

My name is Jyoti Lama, I am now 18 years old and I have a story to tell you. Some say it is a brave one; others think it was an adventure, while others yet believe I made it up. But I say it was hell. Let me tell you about my story of here to there and in between.

My feet were sore as the ice-flecked pebbles beneath them attempted to pierce the skin as I walked back to my hut.

 The wood forest nearby had nearly died out, but there was nothing we could have done as our cooking fire within our hut needed to be fuelled somehow. The solution to this problem was... well I don’t know. We would probably have had to move our house to live somewhere else than the small plateau on the majestically snow capped mountain.

With the splinter filled wood in my hands and the sun setting behind me, I crunched my way back to the gaping hole that was our door and walked inside. Mama was sleeping in the nearby corner as I stoked the central fire and adjusted her woven blankets. Our house may have been one roomed and had a dirt floor; but to me, it was home. The smoke began to curl out the holes in the roof as I heard the unmistakeable footsteps of my father coming home from the hunt. He told me from outside that he had luck that day finding several rabbits and began to skin them. I eagerly waited for my first meal of the day.

After we had eaten, I laid down and gazed at the stars that peeped through our thatched roof and thought of how magnificent Nepal was and how just a few kilometres away from our nearby village of Kodari was the magnificent Everest. ‘The stars are so beautiful tonight. I may have an empty stomach most of the time but to me that doesn’t matter. Life is life and though I have not travelled out of the village, I live with a peaceful life.’ This last thought floated through my consciousness as I drifted off to sleep.

That night was what started it all. I have no idea who they were or why they did what they did but they changed my life forever. While I was asleep, bandits of a foreign tongue crept up outside the hut. Their crunching footsteps woke me from my slumber as I sat bolt upright and looked at our door. Darkness had enveloped my home and I instantly knew something was not right. Usually you could see around you from the holes in the walls and roof and the moonlight that came through the door. But on that night all I saw was complete and utter darkness that leered at me with four harrowing globes. Eyes – that’s what they were and as soon as I had taken my first gulp of air to alert my parents, they covered my mouth with some sort of fragrant fabric. The next thing I knew I was breathing in copious amounts of fumes and struggling to keep my eyes open. Before I knew it, all was as dark as the insides of a black heart that was struggling under the influence of guilty actions to beat its pulse.

I woke up in the back of a moving platform. Juggling and bumping and jigging as the light coming from the slits in the walls flashed and sputtered. At first I thought I had fallen into the book Mama once read me and was on a flying carpet soaring through the night sky but soon the drug wore off and my mind once again came into sharp focus. As I peered around me I saw other girls around my age group either waking up or huddling in corners of the box. Swaying, I worked my way over to a girl with striking eyes and dark hair. If it wasn’t for the horror in her eyes, I would have said she was remarkably beautiful.

“E-excuse me? Where are we?” I asked with hesitation at the way her eyes were darting between me and the walls around her.

“We... we.... we are on our way to be sold.” She shakily replied as the box juddered over a large rock.

“S-s-old? What for?”

“To be slaves. We must honour our buyers- I mean husbands.”

“Husbands? I am only 15. I’m too young to marry anyone! What are we in?”

“Well you’ve got no choice, we’ve all been stolen you see. There’s no way out of it.” A sob escaped the girl as she admitted their fate. “And we are in what those filthy foreign men call an au-auto-tomo-moh-beele.” A large pot hole in the unsealed road beneath us caused the entire group of girls to be thrown into the roof and slammed back down again. Crying erupted around me as many of the younger-looking girls broke their resolve.

“Well we have to get out of here.” I said to her as we picked ourselves up. “My name is Jyoti by the way.”

“Mine’s Anya and it’s impossible to escape from this tomb!”

“Nothing is impossible,” I snappily replied as I got up shakily and placed my hands on the wall. They were made of wood which is what I was hoping for. I pried my hands in between the cracks in the walls and saw the slit of light become enlarged. “Alright,” I turned around and said to the girls, “we are all in this together. Now to get out, we all need to pull our own weight.”

“We can’t escape! They’ll find us and track us down!” screamed a terrified little girl at me. God, they’ve stolen eight year olds as well? What is this nightmare? I thought to myself as I suppress my own fear and summed up the courage to continue.

“We can at least try. Oh and my name is Jyoti. I’ll get to know yours once we get out of this hell box.” With that, I began to explain the plan that had formed in my head.

Everyone was to get their fingers in the slits of light within one wall between the wooden boards. On the count of three, I told them that they would have to pry the boards apart as best they could until the boards (hopefully) snapped off. After my little speech everyone tentatively and with a lot of swaying, took up their spots around one wall in the black box. I was in the middle and began the chant. “Ok everyone, ONE... TWO... THREE!” and with that, the wall gave an almighty creak before the girls and I ripped a large hole in the centre of it.

Light poured into the box as we saw a vast field of strange bright green leafy plants. Just before this field and running next to the box was a wide river slowly making its way South. I did not know where we were but a plan instantly came to mind. They are not going to like this. Glancing at Anya, I saw that she knew the same thought I was thinking and with a quick nod, we both made a decision. Hope had come into the eyes of all of the beaten girls as they looked at me standing in front of them.

“Alright,” I said, “I have an idea but you are not going to like it. We have to jump out of that hole and fall into the water. That way, we’ll escape and land safely as well.” There were different reactions between the girls. The younger ones looked mortified and the older ones looked fierce and confident. Although I appeared to be younger than a few of the older girls, it seemed that I had taken leadership of this group.

“It’s the only way,” Anya said beside me, “we can escape and we WILL escape girls!” Suddenly, with a stroke of sudden confidence, Anya turned to me and declared that she would go first so as to demonstrate it was safe. A worried look must have passed my face for she soon scowled at me. “I am going; you can’t stop me. I will never forgive myself if I don’t do this now.” Then with a fierce look of determination at me and a wandering look of reassurance at the rest of the girls; Anya jumped.

It was like watching a graceful fish jump and dive back into the aquamarine depths it came from as Anya jumped from the hole and landed in a perfect dive within the water. Screams came from the girls behind me as I sat in awe of her escape. I turned and saw the angry face of a driver peering into the back of the box through a previously hidden window. With a foreign tongue he screamed at us. The foreigners had seen Anya escape.

The box began to swerve and tilt as the men tried to veer away from the river. The girls in the back fell the floor with the violent tilting of the machine. An oncoming box or whatever-they-were-called forced ours to dart closer to the river. I took the chance and picked up the two unsuspecting eight year olds and threw them out the hole and into the river. At least their safe now, I thought to myself as the box once again moved away from the river.

“EVERYONE MOVE TO THE HOLE-SIDE OF THE BOX!” I screamed as the floor threw us up against the roof again, “when we next go to the river, JUMP!” The girls then scrambled over to the left-hand side of the floor causing it to tilt that way. As the path the box was travelling on became thinner, the river wound itself closer. The girl behind me panicked and ran back to the other side of the box as the one in front jumped with a scream. She had grabbed onto me in her delirium and pulled me out with her. Two SLAP!s against the water told me that we had both made it but that no others had. 

As soon as I got my water-wings I looked up and saw that our box had travelled a little further down the river and had suddenly turned an abrupt right down a side path. A sickening feeling filled my stomach as I realised that the rest of the girls had no longer any soft landing to place their hopes of escape on. They were headed for the markets and there was nothing I could do about them. They would have to fend for themselves.

(To Be Continued...)

The Cell of Ice

PRELUDE

Day ??? Month ??? 1788,

The cold seeps in through the walls of this cell like living tendrils of death that stroke my insides with icicles. Stone. That's all I can see around me. The cold life-sucking stone stealing my happiness and life. The scratches upon the walls around me count the days I've been stuck in here, however the dull blue glow of the cell has reduced my eyesight to nothing more than 10 centimetres forward and so those pitiful scratches mean nothing to me. My only current measurement of time here is the strange new short beard that clings to my face and is clumped together in spikes of icicles. It's just another reminder of my separation from society and my life before the arrest. I fear that I look like some nightmarish vision of Jack Frost waiting to come out from my lair. But alas - will I come out? I believe not as the guards have left long ago. For weeks I believe I have been the only one here, surviving on licking the water of icicles and killing the rats that run through. This predicament in which I am in is all for nought as I did not even commit a crime. All I did was write - of course I underestimated the power of my words but it was not me that turned them into what they are today. I now understand that the written word is to be used far more carefully than any other weapon in the world for though one word may lead you down the path of happiness and prosperity - another may lead you here. Here being the eternal prison of Hell - only cold and harsher upon the vitals. So as anoth--

Sounds, I hear something. Is it that I have finally gone mad? For I thin--

Voices, whispered voices. Coming closer, nearing the bars of my cell. They mus--

Chains rattling, clinking moving closer, closer, closer--

They're upon me like the plague, is this the end? They--

The Diary of Henry Walker ended here before several pages of a series of hurried symbols and scribbles. There is suspect of a second diary under a different name. Only time will tell whether his story will arise...