Village Savior

Ben Dillard

January 18, 2010

"Darling, could you go and get some water from the well for the day?"

"Yes Papa," a blank look came across her face as she thinks about the day of work ahead of her.

"Oh, and could you pick up your little brother from school after the prayer?"

A look of joy and happiness came upon her face "Yes Papa!" She loved her little brother as if he were her own son. That’s why a question has been in the back of her mind for a while. "Papa?"

"Yes Darling?"

"Shouldn't we be worried about the resent raids of near by villages? I mean, what if we get attacked? What will we do?"

"They know that we are one of the poorest, if not the poorest village, so really we have nothing to worry about. And if they do come, all we can do is hope and pray."

"Ok, Papa." But this feeling inside of her, it was over, whelming. She knows something is going to happen, and it will happen soon.

As they arrived at the temple the prayer began, that same feeling came upon her again. She could feel it, something is pulling her to go, to go and find some one. She turns her head, and she sees a tall dark figure run cross the wide dirt road. The feeling rushed over her again, but this time in different waves. Each one stronger than the last, to the point where she finally stands. The feeling has completely taken over, and its as if she has no control of her body movements. So all she can do is just watch as her body takes her to the place where the dark figure once stood. She looks for any singes of where the figure might be, the heat from the sun slowly warms her face, but with no traces of the mysterious figure she starts to wonders around the village. This small village, this is where she was born, raised and will one day die in. This is her home, and yet she has always wanted to leave, so she could see the world. Her entire life she has always done what others have asked her, and yet she has not gotten her one and only wish, she just wants to see the world.

Then it happened, the one sound that is like the roar of a lion, the scream of death that brings about the cold wave of the reapers hand. The sound of a single gun shot filled the village. She opens her mouth but nothing came out, she ran back to the temple when a whole berage of shots go off. Bright flashes of bright lights and dark red blood cover the windows of the temple. Only one thought goes through her mind, her little brother and the other children at the school. She ran, and ran with a look of calmness and clarity on her face, she was on a mission to save the children.

Before she ran up to the school, she checked to see that no one would see her cross the empty field that the school was built upon. Within three minutes, she was able to gather all of the children and teachers. Now came the challenge of getting them out of the village, quickly they assembled at the back of the school and quickly crept across the field. They silently weaved through the back roads of the village until they finally got out of the village and to the edge of the jungle.

The teachers took the children deeper into the jungle, and Darling was able to finally hold her little brother in her arms. “Yaya, I want you to stay with the teachers no matter what happens. Promise me?”

With a big smile upon his face the words “okay!” came from his mouth with a playful and happy voice. She knew he didn’t understand what was happening, and she knew that one day he would and talk about how brave he was. But right now there was one final task at hand. That is, to save the rest of the village. With one deep breath she ran back into the village, heading for the only radio that the village owned. When she finally got there she flipped the switch and with a calm and quiet voice she began pleading for someone to answer. “ Hello, any one! My village is being raided, many of my people are already dead. The children are safe but there are still people who need help! Please any one! Help us!”

“Hello!”

“Hello, yes, can you help my village?! Please!”

“Calm down, we are sending reinforcements, they should be there in two minuets. Can you estimate how many people are raiding your village?”

Her eyes widen, her breathing stopped, there it was again, that horrible retched feeling that has warned her about all of this. She slowly sets down the radio, and turns around facing the door.

“Hello! Miss? Are you there! Miss!”

She could hear her own heart beat to a constant rhythm, like the quiet yet suttle flow of a river. There he was, the tall dark figure standing in the doorway. This time she knew that he was here for her, as he slowly raised his hand she could see that he held a gun. And just like that he pulled the trigger, that horrible sound yet again came upon her ears. She had always wondered what it was like to die, but to her surprise it was more like simply lying down as if you were to fall into a deep sleep. She lied there, as the warmth slowly left her body, eyes wide, motionless watching the dark figure slowly fade into the darkness that filled her
eyes.


Zine