Short Story Of Boy – Life As I See It
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(Note: Image does not illustrate or has any resemblance with characters depicted in the story)
If I remember it right, I was a mere 3 year old kid when I lost my father. He was a simple man, who worked hard for our living. Though he worked hard all day, cleaning and repairing shoes, we never had enough food at home. His small earning had to feed me, my mother and my two elder sisters, along with himself. But his life was short. He was struck by some disease which we did not know of, and could not afford to get him treated of. He passed away leaving my mother in sheer pain and in a life of helplessness.
My mother was forced to go work at construction sites, as me and my sisters stood begging at the traffic lights. My eldest sister used to carry me around and ask for sympathy from people, who clearly refused to heed to us. We used to collect whatever food we could get from the garbage to feed ourselves. Life was miserable as we became used to sleeping empty stomach.This life carried on till I was seven, from when I could somewhat understand what was going on.
One day,as we sat eating some dumped food at our hut, my uncle came by. He was a tall man with long white beard, looking a little aged and weary.I followed him excitedly, as he took me out to get some biscuits. As I sat munching near the tea stall, he spoke up softly ‘ Do you want to help your mother and your sisters? ‘.
I looked up at him motionless for sometime, trying to understand his words. Then, I nodded, with the biscuits still in my mouth.
‘ If you do what I say, I promise, your family will get to eat good food from now on’,he said after paying the tea seller.
‘What do I have to do chacha?’, I asked.
He replied instantly ‘ You must join my friends camp. They will train you and pay your family. You just have to follow their instructions’.
‘What kind of training chacha?’, I asked.
‘ Do not worry about that son, you will get to know soon’, he said, smiling faintly, as we came back home.
The next morning, I was all ready as my uncle picked me up in his vehicle and drove for more than four hours, right through the forest path.There we met another man, who looked as tall as my uncle but his face expressionless as he asked ‘Is he the boy?’, pointing at me. My uncle nodded. We sat in his jeep as he drove further into the forest and after two hours of ride, we came to a halt near a big camp area. There were tall men all around the place,divided in groups, all wearing the same kind of dress, a brown shirt and pant with square dark green patches all over, similar to the military. Each of them carried a big gun and each group was involved in different training. I was scared badly, as we walked into one of the tents, which looked bigger than the others.
‘As-salaam-alaikum’, my uncle greeted the man who was sitting on a chair, looking at some kind of a map. He looked up and replied ‘Wa-alaikum-salaam’, greeting my uncle back in urdu, but looking straight at me. He examined me for some time before signing all the other people out of the tent, leaving me alone with him. ‘Your uncle has told me all about you’, he said in a deep voice as I stood watching the floor, not daring to look at him.He continued ‘ When I look at you, I remember myself’.
‘Do you know what we do here?’,he asked.I moved my head left to right, now looking slightly up at him.’ We train young people like you to help the poor people, by working against the cruel government’, he said. That was too much for me to understand, but I believed they helped the poor, as they were to help my family.
‘ Do you not want to help the poor?’, he questioned. I nodded.
‘ Welcome to our team son.Remember one thing whatever you do here, is for the better good to the poor’, he said. By then, I was completely convinced, or brainwashed.
I was brought into the training from the very next day. There were many others like me, who believed in these leaders, no matter what they had to do. The years of training went rough on me, but , I believed it was better than the days me and my family had seen.
When I was twelve, I was appointed the leader of my group. ‘ You are now ready to fight ‘, the Chief always told me and I believed that too.
One day, as I sat eating half roasted meat, the Chief came up to me. In a swift, I stood up and bowed low. ‘ Your chance has come son’, he said, smiling brightly.’Tomorrow you are to accompany the team’, he said.
‘Thank you Chief, I will not let you down’, I said bending low once again.
He blessed and asked, ‘You could even lose your life, are you up for it?’.
This was what I had been thought in the years of training.’ Every one of our lives lost, is a hundred poor lives saved’, I said loudly. The Chief was proud at his creation.
The day had come. I was ready to face the evil doers. I was trained to kill the ones who were responsible for the miserable lives , the poor people led. I was not a human who thought before he acted. I was a well trained human robot, who just acted what had already been thought.
Our group of five got down from the jeep, that had been furiously ridden, right through the gate of the high court smashing two of the guards. People ran hither and thither, screaming and afraid. The leader of our group, straight away shot a bullet from his AK-47, which pierced the head of the police, who was firing at us. Rounds of bullet rained around, as I thought of whom to fire at. The leader signed at me and one other partner to go south. As I ran, at the corner of my eye I saw a group of police charging down at our leader. I continued running . One of the guards had appeared out of nowhere and shot a bullet at my partner. He fell right at my feet, motionless. As the guard took time to reload his gun, the bullet from my gun shot right through his heart. I grinned.
As I turned around, I saw my other two companions dead. Only my leader was fighting hard.But, his fight was not to last long. After getting him, the police surrounded me. One of their bullets hit my right palm, dropping my gun.As I stood powerless, the Head of the police shouted ‘ Do not kill him, get him, get him’.
I knew what I had to do. I reached straight for my pockets and got the small tablet right into my mouth. A sense of death zoomed through my body, I fell. As I lay on the ground, I saw him. I saw my father, who shook his head unhappy.
‘ I never thought that my son would turn out to be this. Had I known, I would have killed you the day you were born’, he said, angrily.
‘ But, father, I did this for mother and sisters. I did this for the poor…’,I was yelling, as my mind fell into nothingness.
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