I was putting my 4th year stuff onto my external hard drive when I came across a short story I wrote when I was in grade 11.
I think I want to write again. It's another way to express myself - the same way this blog is a form of expression and self- exploration.
A new storyline? or a more elaborate venture into the plot and setting I wrote 6 years ago? Who knows.
I've copied and pasted it below so feel free to read it if you have the time and let me know what you think.
The Empty Canteen
By: Stella Au
The sunlight was fading into a soft evening glow as the men sat around outside their tents exchanging crude jokes and stories; some sharpened their knives as they talked, others shined their guns. The air was heavy with the smoke from their cigars; laughter, yelling and the shouting of foul language could be heard throughout the Tai Jaed camp.
Trivari, a young man of 21 with a muscular build and dark complexion, and his best friend, Kyan who was lankier with a tanned complexion sat with three other men, eating the evening meal. The two had met when they were only boys and had joined the Tai Jaed together, one right after the other.
At the moment, the Tai Jaed were in hiding from the government who were pestering them to stop their recruitment of children. So far, they had been able to keep a low profile; the group hadn’t been in any military action for weeks. Trivari was getting edgy but he knew how important it was for them to avoid the government’s accusations. The fact that the Tai Jaed had children in their ranks made them advanced over other terrorist groups. The younger they were, the easier it was for them to be persuaded into becoming suicide bombers, not to mention how intimidating an ambush of about 500 children could be.
“Triv,” Kyan called, “Triv!” he waved a hand in front of his friend’s face.
A smart knock to his head snapped Trivari out of his deep thought.
“Ai, what was that for?”
“Pass the beans, Triv.”
Trivari obligingly handed the beans to Kyan and the men resumed their banter. It was dark outside and some of the men began to retreat into their tents. The crisp night air seemed to be telling Trivari to stay still, and he did. He closed his eyes and thought back to his past.
******************
The vulture’s cry echoed in his ears. It had been circling him for days since he had run away from his village with nothing but a water canteen. He had returned home one day only to find his mother gone and what little furniture they had disheveled and broken beyond repair. He knew she wouldn’t be coming back. The Mai Nenye had taken her away. They were renegade men, bandits, who rode across the land in groups of five and sometimes more. Ruthless and barbaric, they often captured women to use as they pleased, then disposed of them after they had had their fun. Trivari shuddered to think about this and rapidly blinked his eyes hoping to erase the image from his mind.
He was alone now; walking endlessly it seemed, with no destination. He felt the sand scrunching in between the toes of his bare feet and he became more aware of the scathing heat from the sun. His water canteen was empty now; he tried to strain the last few drops from it with no success and his parched lips bled with a desperate need for water. Never had he felt so abandoned.
Tired, hungry and listless, Trivari collapsed under the shade of a tree and fell asleep. He was awakened by a tapping on his head. He quickly jumped up, only to see a boy about his age crouching close to where he had been lying.
The boy laughed and said, “You jumped so fast! If I had known you were this easily scared, I would have woken you up with a yell! Then I wonder how far you would have jumped huh!”
In his shock, Trivari could not laugh at the boy’s playful remarks. Instead, he wondered who this fellow could be. As if the boy could hear Trivari’s thoughts, he began to speak again.
“My name’s Kyan. I’ve run away from my father so that I can join up with the Tai Jaed!” Kyan’s eyes sparkled as he spoke.
At this, Trivari’s eyes widened. The Tai Jaed was a terrorist group.
Kyan rambled on, “They’re a tough group to find but if I walk around long enough, I think I’ll eventually meet up with them. After you’re officially in with them, they pay you and they don’t even hit you if you do something wrong…”
Kyan kept talking but Trivari was barely listening. He had noticed large red welts on Kyan’s arm and guessed that they were from his father so the boy must have run away for a good reason.
“…and now all I have to do is find them and convince them to let me join!” Kyan finally finished.
Trivari looked at Kyan and offered him a small smile. He had not heard all of what the talkative boy had said but he had heard enough. Perhaps he too, would join up with the Tai Jaed. He scoffed at this thought, as he was certain the chances of finding the group were minimal, if not impossible; and began to think of his other options. They were nonexistent.
Trivari looked at Kyan and Kyan gazed back with expectant eyes. Trivari cleared his throat.
“My name’s Trivari.”
It was the beginning of an unbreakable friendship. They talked about everything but there was an understanding between the two that their pasts were a touchy subject and a topic to avoid in conversation.
The two wandered far and wide together, all the while searching for the Tai Jaed. They drank water from wells, rivers and were constantly filling Trivari’s water canteen. They stopped at villages to beg for food and money but at times, the amount of food and drink was so meager; the boys thought their lives would surely end due to sheer exhaustion, and hunger.
The day came when Trivari and Kyan, in the midst of their begging had chance enough to hear about the Tai Jaed’s whereabouts.
“I saw them, I swear!” They had heard one man say to another. “I thought for sure that I was a dead man but they didn’t see me!” he boasted.
“So where are they now?” asked the man’s comrade.
“They headed North, I think they set up camp up there tonight.”
The man casually threw a coin into Trivari’s open hands and sauntered away with his friend.
“Did you hear that?” Kyan said excitedly, “They’re so close! We have to get to them! The sooner, the better!”
Trivari was full of uncertainty. Truth be told, he hadn’t taken Kyan’s ranting about the Tai Jaed seriously and he couldn’t bear to lose his friend now. He looked at Kyan and right there, in the middle of the street, words began to pour out of his mouth.
“I don’t want you to join them! Don’t do it!”
Kyan was shocked and puzzled.
“Why not!?”
What had started out as a conversation had turned into a yelling match.
“Because… because… I don’t want to lose you as friend!”
Kyan looked at Trivari, still mildly confused. Desperate for a reason for Kyan to stay with him, Trivari took the plunge and used his last available ploy.
“The only reason you want to join anyway is because you know they won’t hit you like your dad did! I wouldn’t hit you either!”
Trivari was amazed at the words that had just come out of his mouth; they had been uncontrollable, like word vomit. Kyan was surprised as well. For the first time since Trivari had met him, he was speechless.
“I… you… don’t ever talk to me again!”
Kyan turned and ran as fast as he could. He had tears streaming down his face as he ran North towards the Tai Jaed’s camp.
Trivari tried to run after Kyan but soon stopped, gasping for breath. Kyan had always been the faster runner. Night soon fell like a blanket, enveloping Trivari in its folds. He curled up into a ball and cried himself to sleep. For the first time in a long while, he felt utterly alone with only his empty water canteen to keep him company.
Trivari closed his eyes tightly, trying to shut out the piercing beams of sunlight as well as the events of the day before. After a few seconds, he gave up and looked about him. It was morning already. He walked around listlessly for a bit, chewing on a bit of bread he and Kyan had found the day before. It was gritty but he was in no position to complain.
After about fifteen minutes, Trivari couldn’t lie to himself anymore. He didn’t want to be left on his own to fend for himself and Kyan was one of the best friends he had ever known. He had been wrong in mentioning Kyan’s father and he knew he had to apologize. He set out to find Kyan after stopping at a well to get a sip of water and to refill his canteen. The water tasted refreshingly sweet and Trivari licked his lips as he began to jog in the direction where he had last seen Kyan headed in, north.
Trivari ran, then walked, all the while calling Kyan’s name. It began to get darker and he was about ready to give up hope when at long last, he saw a campfire and several tents pitched in the distance.
“Kyan?” Trivari whispered to himself.
He began to run towards the camp; he had no idea what he was doing. This was the most irrational he had ever been. When he got to the camp, he realized that it was none other than the Tai Jaed’s. A unique odour of sweat mixed with cigars filled Trivari’s nostrils as he quickly scoped out his surroundings; there were rough-looking men about. Some of them, upon hearing Trivari’s frantic gasping for breath, looked up to see a boy of about 12-years-old. Trivari was greeted by intimidating stares and he wished right there that a black hole would open up underneath him and swallow him whole. However, he stood his ground and approached a man who was sitting on the ground with one knee propped up, he had a pipe in his hand.
“H…Hi,” Trivari managed to stutter, “have you seen a boy…a… about my age? His name’s K…Kyan.” Trivari’s face turned beet red.
Without a word, the man pointed to a tent whose flaps were open. It was light brown in colour, not unlike the colours of the ground it was pitched upon. With confidence that he didn’t possess, Trivari walked over to the tent, paused in front of it, took a deep breath, and stepped inside.
******************
Trivari took another swig out of his water canteen. It had probably been through more bumps and scrapes than he, himself, had been, but it still worked for him, all the same.
“Hey, Triv, are you coming in or what?” Kyan asked as he held open the tent’s flap.
“In a bit Ky, you go first.” Trivari replied.
The tent’s flap made a swishing noise as Kyan let go and it fell closed. Trivari smiled as he thought of the night so long ago when he had apologized to his best friend for the harsh words that had tumbled out of his mouth uncontrollably. It had taken a while to convince his friend to forgive him but he had been relieved when he had heard the words, “Okay, I forgive you.”
At that point, Kyan had already joined the Tai Jaed and Trivari was torn. He was forced to make a decision right then and there whether he would join the Tai Jaed or wander around alone for the rest of his life. He had thrown caution to the wind and joined the group.
Now, Trivari screwed the lid on his canteen closed and took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the cold night air and exhaling slowly. He looked around to see the shadows of his comrades in their tents and a feeling of fulfillment swept through him. The Tai Jaed was his family now and he knew he would never be alone again.
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