A loud roaring sound suddenly rang out, traveling into Micheal's ears, interrupting the brief moment of peace he wished lasted forever. His eyes snapped open, and for a second he questioned if he was even conscious because all he saw was darkness, however that was an illusion, the ceiling was dark, but not so much for his surroundings. Micheal looked around and jolted up in fright. All around him were black silhouettes all huddled together around him. Before he could even say anything he heard an angelic yet slightly annoyed voice of a girl.
"Calm down. You're fine."
The voice was coming from behind him. Micheal felt a hand tug at his shirt, as he looked to see the origin of the voice. His heart tugged, not because he was blessed to see the face of a beautiful girl, it was quite the contrary, her face was obscured in darkness that only allowed her black figure to be shown. So what Micheal was looking at was not just her, but her soul. Even though the darkness is meant to mask the scene, it also makes the unseen visible. This all caused Micheal's heart to throb, and out of fright he quickly backed away.
"Did I frighten you? Sorry."
It took a while for him to respond, but he managed a weak, I'm alright.
And as if suddenly gaining back the full capabilities of his senses, Micheal could suddenly hear the bickering of the people all around him, and not only that but their quiet cries and prayers for their god to save them. It was as if he was in the afterlife where they were nothing but souls, completely maskless and naked, revealing their pain, sorrow, and the hope for forgiveness and salvation quietly into the darkness where none could judge them. It was truly a horrifying sight for Micheal. Then he began to question if he really was alive, what if this was just a stage, and if that's the case did…did I…fail, Micheal thought, his breathing became ragged as the reality he interpreted came crashing down on him. And finally, at his breaking point he let out a loud scream, but not even a second later the girl came rushing towards him, embracing him tightly, and instantly Micheal could breathe regularly again. The warmth of the girl's shirt kissed his face as she pressed his face into it, to calm him. And it was working, because 5 minutes later Micheal was again fast asleep.
An hour later
Eyes blinking open, he regained consciousness as he stared blankly up at the girl's black silhouette. However the loud sound of a horn combined with some movement from below, quickly brought back all his senses. He laid on her lap completely still, too embarrassed to speak, so he tried to close his eyes pretending to still be asleep, but before he could she suddenly looked down on him.
"You're awake?"
Micheal felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him as there eyes met. He didn't say anything, the words just wouldn't form. Perhaps both is embarrasment and the surrounding darkness had gotten to him. However, despite how dark it was in there, the only thing that was fully visible to him was her eyes. It was as if the dark had completely stripped there physical bodies from there sight and instead revealed there collective souls. Revealing the fact that they were all just people, similar in everything but experience. Yet, that's what made people so different in the light.
"Excuse me, but your lap time experience is done. You can stop taking advantage of me now."
"What?" Micheal said, instantly sitting up.
"I wasn't."
He paused, not having a excuse.
"Hahaha. Don't worry about it." She said giving him a smile, but of course he could not see it.
Micheal was speechless, he desperately tried to come up with a excuse, but his brain searched in vain. He had no choice but to whallow in embarrassment.
"Hey, what's your name?" She asked.
"Micheal."
"Micheal. You have a english name just like me." The girl said in a slightly surprising tone.
"What's your name?"
"Mary. I imagine it's a very common foreign name."
Micheal thought so too, but they had bigger issues than his embarrassment and how common her or his names are overseas. He has to find out where are they.
"Yeah, it is. But… do you know where we are?"
"Yeah, we're on a train. But don't ask where we're going because I don't have a clue. But i'm pretty sure it's somewhere in Sudan though."
"Oh." He said.
How can she be so calm, he thought. Despite their current circumstances she didn't seem the least bit bothered at all. In fact, she seemed to be in high spirits by the way she had been talking.
Looking around his surroundings once more, he again saw dark silloehetes huddled in groups. Some snoring, some sniffling, and some whispering amongst themselves. Seeing this, he bit his lip and pinched his leg, Micheal had to make sure he wasn't dead, otherwise he would…., actually he didn't know what he would do if he was dead. Perhaps climb from the deepest depths of hell. Even if he could it would take decades before he returned, if not an eternity. Micheal suddenly let out a sigh of relief. He was glad that he was not indeed dead.
"Hey, don't be scared. We will be alright." She said.
"What makes you so sure."
"Our northern counter part believes in the Islamic religion right. I'm sure there teachings don't involve the killings of children and the innocent."
"I heard they did just that in the Civil war."
Mary paused.
"Really. ….They did. …Oh well, we have god on our side so don't you worry."
"How are you so sure that he's on our side?"
"Because I just know, ok."
Well you can't argue with the religious, Micheal thought. Suddenly the sound of screeching iron pierced into his ears as light suddenly bathed him and his surroundings and blinded him with it's light. As soon as he regained clarity of his vision, he saw the pink sky of the morning, as well as the place they would all be delivered to, and by the sight, the place was indeed hell.
"Listen up." Micheal and everyone else brought their attention to the origin of the loud commanding voice. The origin was a young man, if Micheal had to take a guess he was in his early to late 20s, still considered a brother figure or young uncle from where he was from. But Micheal was no fool, he knew he would not get the care he would get from the young men back in Bentiu, or rather, that were in Bentiu. To Micheal, it seemed as if the rules and norms for morality had suddenly adjusted its laws overnight. Why? He still doesn't know. But what he does know is that he needs to either adapt to the new laws or die. This is the cruel reality he is faced with.
"We're now arriving at the camp. You must all exit at the rate of one person at a time. Anyone who disobeys will be killed on the spot. Same consequence if any of you try to run away. As of today you are all slaves."
The young man said, before stepping in the train cart with another partner.
By what he said and by the gun hanging on his shoulder, Micheal could only assume the young man was a soldier belonging to the Sudanese army. Micheal wondered, was he like me, was he once a carefree child whose life underwent a catastrophic event. Is that what birthed the man I'm seeing now? Is that the same fate awaiting me there? He hoped not. A person would find no peace once confronted by the ugliness of the world.
The sound of the train screeching on the tracks made his heart come to a stop. He realised that this was really it.
And as instructed, the slaves step out of the train cart one at a time. They were also careful coming out, in order to avoid accidentally exiting alongside another person. As for Micheal, as much as he tried to hide his fear, he simply couldn't, his breathing was ragged, more ragged than that night, and his knees felt as if they could collapse at any time. He imagined himself near the front of the exit and accidentally falling out right as another person was exiting. He could see and hear it vividly, the loud paralyzing sound of a gun shot and the sound of a thud as a body fell. Then he looked up and he could see a barrel of a gun pointed at his forehead for a fraction of a second before everything went black. Just by the thought his throat was clenched. But luckily that wasn't the case when he got out the cart.
"You ok?"
Micheal turned to Mary.
"What?"
"I asked if you're ok. You look tense."
"Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."
To the start and to the very end of the train carts there were people, all forming rows of lines as they were told to. Just like him, they were all more than tense, they were terrified. The newly labeled slaves were completely silent, except for their children that was too young to understand the reality of the situation. Seeing how carefree and joyful those children were Micheal couldn' t help but feel a bit of jealousy. How he wished he could have been given permission to be as ignorant as they were. Going around in the world, only seeing the kindness and the love of humanity, being spoiled with affection and care, feeling the love of people close to you, only having to worry about the minor problems and responsibilities like figuring out a math problem and doing chores you absolutely despise doing. Micheal knew that their ignorance will eventually fade with the cruel unstopping progression of time, but what if there was a way to freeze time and live as children forever, or what if there was a way to eliminate the other half of humanity, the darkest side, and we can all live peacefully forever. Not having to worry about the concept of death, pain, and suffering, only knowing the concept of life, love, peace, and hormony. After that humanity wouldn't need to change, there would be no wars, or murder, there only be blissful ignorance and a world of only children. How nice it would be if that was indeed the reality, how nice it would be to be that ignorant. Right now as it is, it seems as if the only way to find true peace is in death. Micheal thought, as he stared at a child, pulling on his mother's breast. Then he thought to himself, what is the point of living? We are all doomed to live a cycle of joy and pain. But why should we have to go through with that, if I have a soldier lay me to rest right now I would be at peace, there would be nothing to worry about, it would just be me, existing in a state of ignorance, not knowing absolutely nothing, not knowing who I am, not knowing my time in life, and not knowing the cost of living. I could do it right now, I am one decision away from obtaining that blissful ignorance. I can escape. ….That's right, forget everyone else, screw them all, they are all gong to die one day, I don't have to put up with this.
A smile manifested unto Micheal's face as he took a step forward, then another step, and another, his heart began to throb, as if wanted to break free from out of his chest, but he ignored it, because he believed in a couples of seconds later that beating would stop, however before he could go any further he felt someone grab his arm. And of course, it was the saint herself, Mary.
"What are you doing? Are you crazy?"
Micheal looked at her, grinning.
"Don't worry, that god of yours will protect me." He said, mockingly.
"Wo, wo, don't test god's power." Mary said, slightly stunned by his daringness.
"Well it doesn't matter right? That god is all powerful and the embodiment of love, surely he would save me."
He violently broke free from Mary's grasped and charged through the lines of people and to an armed soldier. All the sounds around him were completely engulfed in his presence, all he could hear was the loud beating of his heart and his erratic breathing, and of course, his mind, and in that mind he thought, this is my chance of having true freedom. It's right there. It's just a few strides away, I can see it. …I can. His thoughts was interrupted by a force crashing into him and sending him flying to the ground. Looking up, Micheal noticed it was a person, pinning him to the ground. What are you doing. Calm down, he said. But Micheal refused to listen, he managed to get one of his arms loose and elbowed the person in the jaw.
"What are you doing? Stop it." Mary screamed.
But he couldn't hear her. Micheal and the person began to Wrestle violently in the dirt, Micheal focusing entirely on hurting the person as much as possible in hopes he would give up, and the person focusing entirely on restraining Micheal in hopes of his madness to eventually subside. As they were going at it a soldier rushed towards the person and kicked him in the ribs. The pain was indeed visible on the persons face, but he still held on dearly to Micheal until Mary came over and helped restraining him. However right after, the soldier brought down the butt of his gun and stuck the person on the head. Then the soldier asked angrily, what are you doing. But the person only smiled and looked up at the soldier with no rage or pain in his eyes, only love and kindness.
"I'm sorry sir, but me and my friend got into a slight disagreement about something. I promise it won't happen again."
The soldier stared down at the person, looking him up and down.
"I didn't know initiates of the church also indulged in violence." The soldier said, chuckling.
"W, well yes, you are right. I admit, I have violated my teachings. But I shall ask god for forgiveness. Isn't that the beauty of our lord and savior and being human, despite the horrible things we have done because of our emotions and urges, humans always strive to be better. And god always offer that chance to us. To change and become someone new. The only thing we have to do is accept and believe. Don't you think so, good sir?"
The soldier didn't answer he only stared down at the person annoyed, before spitting in his face and walking away. However this did not bother the person in the slightest. He only wiped it off his face, and let the dirt absorb it.
After the whole commotion there new owners escorted everyone in the camp, there new home until most likely until the war is over, or until they are all dead. As they go deeper into the camp, the people could see people like them, closely watched by soldiers, halling equipment into a tunnel, and on another side people carrying things out of another tunnel. A few months or a couple of years ago, those people were them, looking at the people who were working before them. Could they have ever imagine there lives would have led to this, and if they did, would they have still choose to advance forward? Micheal thought, as he walked alongside Mary and the person that had saved his life. The person was a young man, just 1 or 2 years older than him. He was dressed in a all black church uniform, the same ones priests wear. He was tall, tall for his age, and he looked to have Arabian descent. He was handsome and had very soft looking black hair. And eyes completely opposite of Micheal's. Though dark, his eyes can actually see and absorb the light, and because of that light he looked to be alive, unlike Micheal's plain dark eyes, that to him made him something akin to a possessed person.
Suddenly, the loud sound of a mic interrupted his thoughts.
"Listen well new comers. As of today you are the governments property, you are no longer human beings. Forget about your past, your loved ones, and your sense of self respect and morality. If you do not abandon those things here, you will die, or perhaps be delt with a punishment worst than death. So with that being said, let me give you some warnings. You run, you will be killed like a animal, you rebel, you will be made an example of. You disobey, you will be treated worse than a disobedient dog. Remember this, as of today you are no longer human beings, you are tools used for our benefit until the day you die. You all will all do well remembering that." Then silence. By time the introduction was done, they were already divided into groups and locked in bars together like animals. Light completely absent. Only darkness. In the coming of time, darkness is the only thing they will know when it is time for rest.