Crystalline Melodies I: Undying Strains
[PAST] Swiss Army...Plantation?
RECOMMENDED SONG ACCOMPANIMENT: "Storm" by Lifehouse
SONG LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_jSSVJwGek
I didn't ever remember feeling more sore than I did when I finally awoke. I'd probably gotten less than an hour of sleep. I think it was raining too, which probably didn't have the greatest effect on my aching joints.
A sick feeling fell into the pit of my stomach when I thought of Aria, and how I'd likely never see her again. That pain -- knowing I'd lost everyone and thing I cared about in so short a time -- just made me want to curl up into a ball and let myself die. But I could hear Aria's voice echoing in my head as I imagined what she would say. '"Quit acting like the eight-year-old you let people think you are and start being the warrior I know is in there somewhere."' I furrowed my brow in concentration, trying to decide if I'd heard that somewhere before. Yes…yes, I had.
Once, after one of Aria's judo classes, she decided she was going to try to teach me what she'd learned. So, without much ado -- Aria does what Aria wants to do -- I became her pupil, and she my master. She was a great teacher and I was a terrible student. I learned diddly squat, for a while. No matter how hard I tried, I would just keep failing over and over again. Finally, I got so fed up, I started to cry. She tried to comfort me, but the second I decided to quit, that sympathy vanished faster than it had appeared. Then she said it. At first, I was a bit taken aback. I mean, it hurt. But then I realized: she was right. Granted, that didn't make it hurt any less, but the overall message behind it was actually the summary of my current incentive in and of itself: 'Suck it up. Get out of here now, cry later.'
One of the girls from the previous night tapped me on the shoulder until I started from my half-asleep daze. She helped me straighten from my slumped position. There was a terrible crick in my neck, and I had to gulp down a whimper. An older girl gently but firmly helped me to my feet. I looked up at her, grateful, but looked away again when I saw the cold, frightened look in her eyes. She was a good lot older than me -- probably at least 19 -- but she was just as afraid as I was. And that scared me all the more.
It was comforting, however, when she took my hand and held it tightly as we were led out by one of the men from the boat. It was as if she knew how much I needed the support and comfort of someone older, and even though she herself was our of strength, she was willing to give me some.
The camp looked way different in daylight -- albeit it early daylight -- than it did at night. The accentuated shadows were now simply piles of waste and smudges of rust. The previous night's rain had just picked up the dirt and sludge and collected it into tiny deposits scattered across the ground throughout camp. My curiosity begged me to run off to explore -- or even just to get away from the smell -- but I knew that it wouldn't be worth risking the anger of our new superiors. So instead, I just gripped the girl's hand tighter. I'm not sure she enjoyed being my oversized stress-ball, but she put up with it.
After walking approximately half way across camp, me and the older girl were separated. She and a bunch of other girls were taken in a different direction, while the younger girls and I were lead to the farthest side of camp. He split us into a multiple groups of six or so each, and then a few men split up and led is each in another direction. The other five girls in my group and I were taken to a van and packed into the back, shaking and scared. We only drove a short ways before we stopped again. When we got out, we were presented with what appeared to be a farm. The crop: I couldn't quite tell. I wasn't well-versed in agriculture and the like, being only eight. But I was to learn.
That day was very difficult. I had never been one for sports or extreme physical activity, but we rushed around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to almost literally absorb information as it was tossed at us. It was not made easier by the fact half of the men didn't speak English, and the other half only knew enough words to be barely coherent. As it turned out, it was a multi-export plantation. The camp itself had been full of people hauling rocks and ground-centered materials (it must have been built around a coal mine or something) while this place had just about everything else. Apparently, Bangladesh was big on textiles and agricultural products, as that's what was covered by this huge, acres-wide land. Sore feet and aching limbs were completely ignored. After, all what did the overseer care?
Overseer. My God, it pained me to even think that. Overseer just made me think of the Egyptian slaves in the tales of Exodus. But then it hit me: in actuality, that's all that we were. Nothing but servants of the wicked. You always watch movies and judge those in thrall of the villain. I mean, everyone has a choice, right? Wrong. Dead wrong. Try being that slave, then tell me how easy it is to just walk away. Especially with a barbwire fence sitting there, begging to electrocute it's next victim. Electric fences are for cattle, not people. Oh, wait. I'd forgotten our owners didn't know the difference.
"Watch yourself."
"S-sorry…" I mumbled. It was so awkward having to work with kids so much bigger than me. I've always been a pretty short kid, but I'd never really cared until now. Now, as we were led on some sort of farm tour, some of the kids were getting…irritable. From what I could tell, the most aggravated of the people there were the ones I hadn't seen before. Aria's voice echoed in my head as I tried to reason through that.
'"You haven't seen them before. So they might have come in on a different shipment. No…no, the shipment shouldn't affect how scared everyone is. As far as I know, everyone here is human. And humans get scared. Unless they know from experience that they don't need to be afraid. The only way that would be possible in a situation like this would be if they have been here longer than we have.'" The thought frightened me. 'How long do we have to stay here?! Those kids look really tough for twelve-year-olds. It'd take…a few…years…to make me as fearless.'
My heart stopped, and I felt tears prickling at the corners of my eyes. I didn't seem to have time for a freak-out session, though, as the girl adjacent to me was pushing me along the line just as angrily as the faces of the men making sure no one made a run for it.
We were ushered along, being shown cross-plantation the workings of it. I wondered what the point of it was. Well, I didn't have to wonder for long. We toured for probably two hours before we were assigned tasks. Menial jobs that seemed pointless, until you saw how many people were there and that you were just one more piece in the giant puzzle of it all. One thread in the sheet. One strand in the web. God, I must be really bored if I've been reduced to aimless metaphors like that.
Some of us ended up monitoring the rice hullers (apparently, they grew rice). Some of us ended up in one of the buildings. I only got a glance in as I headed towards my job. It seemed to be along the lines of a clothes factory. My assignment? Apparently, I was feeding animals. I was kind of surprised they would go to all the trouble to hijack a boat and kill half the crew, then drag us down here just to have us tending livestock and sewing clothes. But hey, I wasn't real partial to arguing with those muscular knife-wielding psychopaths.
So I just kept my mouth shut and my head down as I slopped bucketfuls of…well, slop into the pigsties. I really had no clue what it was I was supposed to do, so I just followed the examples of the few others who had been assigned the same job. Turns out, they didn't know what they were doing either. I say, we got yelled at a lot. I probably learned a few foreign obscenities and insults that day, but I probably didn't get out of it what their speaker --ahem, screamer -- was hoping for. Maybe a dejected heart and a couple of bruises, but yeah, that's about it.
A plus: I made a new friend. Well, sort of. I was trying to lift one of the heavier buckets but was really struggling with it. Not even my eight-year-old awesomeness was enough to lift the ten billion ton cauldron of trash. If that was the case, no one must be able to lift it! Well, my overseer didn't agree. When he saw my "failure to comply", he immediately walked over, grabbed me by the shoulder, and pushed me onto the ground, yelling curses into my ear. Just in time to save the day, this girl who looked a couple years older than me swooped in and grabbed up the bucket with ease, taking it to the place I was supposed to be at. The man straightened and gave me a dirty look before walking off to beat up some scrawny kid who apparently didn't know how to plow fields in perfectly geometric right angles by instinct.
The girl who saved me came back a minute later, her expression grim and somewhat unreadable. She pulled me aside and whispered to me: "You bēvakūpha laṛakī! You should be more careful than that! You will get us all half rations for a week, working like that."
"I-I'm sorry," my voice quavered. "I didn't mean to. I was trying, but I'm just not very stro--"
"Nahī!" She snapped. "No excuses. You keep working, no matter how tired or weak you are. Otherwise, we all suffer for it. Do you understand?" She finished severely.
I nodded quickly, really just wanting to get away from the conversation with the scary girl who happened to have just saved my life. Surprisingly, however, her next action was a grin. "I am Asa. You?"
I let a smile start to peek through a bit, not sure if it was safe to open up yet. "I'm…I'm Krystal."
"Well, Krystal, I'll just say right off the bat that if there is anyone here you should trust, it's me."
I blinked. "Why?"
"'Cause I just saved your life." Asa turned away then looked back. She gave me a slightly disturbing grin. "Besides, you owe me one now. And I'll keep that in mind for later." And with that she was gone.
It was just then that a horn went off, echoing across the plantation and reaching every nook and cranny of the place. I waited until my peers started to stream out before dashing over to join them. I was worried the overseer would have noticed me gone and would try to find and punish me, but by my reasoning, hiding in the midst of the crowd would be best. There were just too many people for him to remember who was supposed to be where exactly when. At least, I hoped.
We were led back into the vans and driven back to the camp. It wasn't as freaky this time, as I already knew where we were going. The people I didn't recognize -- and could only assume had been there longer -- didn't seem scared or upset at all. A bit dejected and tired, sure, but not near as emotionally traumatized as I felt and everyone else appeared. That Asa girl, too. She seemed kind of smug. Like she was proud to have completed another full day's work. 'I hope I'm never forced into thinking like that.'
When we returned, I was overwhelmed by fright and depression once again. I had been so distracted by the difficulty and intensity of the work that I had completely forgotten about Aria. Without her there to hold my hand through it, what would happen to me? She was like my guardian, and without her, I felt completely lost.
The men marched us to the rows of cabins and the others all filed into our previously assigned building and collapsed onto the floor, exhausted. I would have done the same, but I hesitated at the door. I turned around and gazed out over the camp, the dim torch lights casting long and threatening shadows. My eyes hovered on one point of light, which appeared to be nearing as it swayed with the stepping motions of its carrier. I squinted, afraid to wait and see who it was. It was likely just another guard, making his rounds. As the person neared, I saw that I was right in one respect: it was a guard. But I was wrong as well: there was someone else with him. And that someone just happened to be Aria.
SONG LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_jSSVJwGek
I didn't ever remember feeling more sore than I did when I finally awoke. I'd probably gotten less than an hour of sleep. I think it was raining too, which probably didn't have the greatest effect on my aching joints.
A sick feeling fell into the pit of my stomach when I thought of Aria, and how I'd likely never see her again. That pain -- knowing I'd lost everyone and thing I cared about in so short a time -- just made me want to curl up into a ball and let myself die. But I could hear Aria's voice echoing in my head as I imagined what she would say. '"Quit acting like the eight-year-old you let people think you are and start being the warrior I know is in there somewhere."' I furrowed my brow in concentration, trying to decide if I'd heard that somewhere before. Yes…yes, I had.
Once, after one of Aria's judo classes, she decided she was going to try to teach me what she'd learned. So, without much ado -- Aria does what Aria wants to do -- I became her pupil, and she my master. She was a great teacher and I was a terrible student. I learned diddly squat, for a while. No matter how hard I tried, I would just keep failing over and over again. Finally, I got so fed up, I started to cry. She tried to comfort me, but the second I decided to quit, that sympathy vanished faster than it had appeared. Then she said it. At first, I was a bit taken aback. I mean, it hurt. But then I realized: she was right. Granted, that didn't make it hurt any less, but the overall message behind it was actually the summary of my current incentive in and of itself: 'Suck it up. Get out of here now, cry later.'
One of the girls from the previous night tapped me on the shoulder until I started from my half-asleep daze. She helped me straighten from my slumped position. There was a terrible crick in my neck, and I had to gulp down a whimper. An older girl gently but firmly helped me to my feet. I looked up at her, grateful, but looked away again when I saw the cold, frightened look in her eyes. She was a good lot older than me -- probably at least 19 -- but she was just as afraid as I was. And that scared me all the more.It was comforting, however, when she took my hand and held it tightly as we were led out by one of the men from the boat. It was as if she knew how much I needed the support and comfort of someone older, and even though she herself was our of strength, she was willing to give me some.
The camp looked way different in daylight -- albeit it early daylight -- than it did at night. The accentuated shadows were now simply piles of waste and smudges of rust. The previous night's rain had just picked up the dirt and sludge and collected it into tiny deposits scattered across the ground throughout camp. My curiosity begged me to run off to explore -- or even just to get away from the smell -- but I knew that it wouldn't be worth risking the anger of our new superiors. So instead, I just gripped the girl's hand tighter. I'm not sure she enjoyed being my oversized stress-ball, but she put up with it.
After walking approximately half way across camp, me and the older girl were separated. She and a bunch of other girls were taken in a different direction, while the younger girls and I were lead to the farthest side of camp. He split us into a multiple groups of six or so each, and then a few men split up and led is each in another direction. The other five girls in my group and I were taken to a van and packed into the back, shaking and scared. We only drove a short ways before we stopped again. When we got out, we were presented with what appeared to be a farm. The crop: I couldn't quite tell. I wasn't well-versed in agriculture and the like, being only eight. But I was to learn.
That day was very difficult. I had never been one for sports or extreme physical activity, but we rushed around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to almost literally absorb information as it was tossed at us. It was not made easier by the fact half of the men didn't speak English, and the other half only knew enough words to be barely coherent. As it turned out, it was a multi-export plantation. The camp itself had been full of people hauling rocks and ground-centered materials (it must have been built around a coal mine or something) while this place had just about everything else. Apparently, Bangladesh was big on textiles and agricultural products, as that's what was covered by this huge, acres-wide land. Sore feet and aching limbs were completely ignored. After, all what did the overseer care?
Overseer. My God, it pained me to even think that. Overseer just made me think of the Egyptian slaves in the tales of Exodus. But then it hit me: in actuality, that's all that we were. Nothing but servants of the wicked. You always watch movies and judge those in thrall of the villain. I mean, everyone has a choice, right? Wrong. Dead wrong. Try being that slave, then tell me how easy it is to just walk away. Especially with a barbwire fence sitting there, begging to electrocute it's next victim. Electric fences are for cattle, not people. Oh, wait. I'd forgotten our owners didn't know the difference.
"Watch yourself."
"S-sorry…" I mumbled. It was so awkward having to work with kids so much bigger than me. I've always been a pretty short kid, but I'd never really cared until now. Now, as we were led on some sort of farm tour, some of the kids were getting…irritable. From what I could tell, the most aggravated of the people there were the ones I hadn't seen before. Aria's voice echoed in my head as I tried to reason through that.
'"You haven't seen them before. So they might have come in on a different shipment. No…no, the shipment shouldn't affect how scared everyone is. As far as I know, everyone here is human. And humans get scared. Unless they know from experience that they don't need to be afraid. The only way that would be possible in a situation like this would be if they have been here longer than we have.'" The thought frightened me. 'How long do we have to stay here?! Those kids look really tough for twelve-year-olds. It'd take…a few…years…to make me as fearless.'
My heart stopped, and I felt tears prickling at the corners of my eyes. I didn't seem to have time for a freak-out session, though, as the girl adjacent to me was pushing me along the line just as angrily as the faces of the men making sure no one made a run for it.
We were ushered along, being shown cross-plantation the workings of it. I wondered what the point of it was. Well, I didn't have to wonder for long. We toured for probably two hours before we were assigned tasks. Menial jobs that seemed pointless, until you saw how many people were there and that you were just one more piece in the giant puzzle of it all. One thread in the sheet. One strand in the web. God, I must be really bored if I've been reduced to aimless metaphors like that.
Some of us ended up monitoring the rice hullers (apparently, they grew rice). Some of us ended up in one of the buildings. I only got a glance in as I headed towards my job. It seemed to be along the lines of a clothes factory. My assignment? Apparently, I was feeding animals. I was kind of surprised they would go to all the trouble to hijack a boat and kill half the crew, then drag us down here just to have us tending livestock and sewing clothes. But hey, I wasn't real partial to arguing with those muscular knife-wielding psychopaths.
So I just kept my mouth shut and my head down as I slopped bucketfuls of…well, slop into the pigsties. I really had no clue what it was I was supposed to do, so I just followed the examples of the few others who had been assigned the same job. Turns out, they didn't know what they were doing either. I say, we got yelled at a lot. I probably learned a few foreign obscenities and insults that day, but I probably didn't get out of it what their speaker --ahem, screamer -- was hoping for. Maybe a dejected heart and a couple of bruises, but yeah, that's about it.
A plus: I made a new friend. Well, sort of. I was trying to lift one of the heavier buckets but was really struggling with it. Not even my eight-year-old awesomeness was enough to lift the ten billion ton cauldron of trash. If that was the case, no one must be able to lift it! Well, my overseer didn't agree. When he saw my "failure to comply", he immediately walked over, grabbed me by the shoulder, and pushed me onto the ground, yelling curses into my ear. Just in time to save the day, this girl who looked a couple years older than me swooped in and grabbed up the bucket with ease, taking it to the place I was supposed to be at. The man straightened and gave me a dirty look before walking off to beat up some scrawny kid who apparently didn't know how to plow fields in perfectly geometric right angles by instinct.The girl who saved me came back a minute later, her expression grim and somewhat unreadable. She pulled me aside and whispered to me: "You bēvakūpha laṛakī! You should be more careful than that! You will get us all half rations for a week, working like that."
"I-I'm sorry," my voice quavered. "I didn't mean to. I was trying, but I'm just not very stro--"
"Nahī!" She snapped. "No excuses. You keep working, no matter how tired or weak you are. Otherwise, we all suffer for it. Do you understand?" She finished severely.
I nodded quickly, really just wanting to get away from the conversation with the scary girl who happened to have just saved my life. Surprisingly, however, her next action was a grin. "I am Asa. You?"I let a smile start to peek through a bit, not sure if it was safe to open up yet. "I'm…I'm Krystal."
"Well, Krystal, I'll just say right off the bat that if there is anyone here you should trust, it's me."
I blinked. "Why?"
"'Cause I just saved your life." Asa turned away then looked back. She gave me a slightly disturbing grin. "Besides, you owe me one now. And I'll keep that in mind for later." And with that she was gone.
It was just then that a horn went off, echoing across the plantation and reaching every nook and cranny of the place. I waited until my peers started to stream out before dashing over to join them. I was worried the overseer would have noticed me gone and would try to find and punish me, but by my reasoning, hiding in the midst of the crowd would be best. There were just too many people for him to remember who was supposed to be where exactly when. At least, I hoped.
We were led back into the vans and driven back to the camp. It wasn't as freaky this time, as I already knew where we were going. The people I didn't recognize -- and could only assume had been there longer -- didn't seem scared or upset at all. A bit dejected and tired, sure, but not near as emotionally traumatized as I felt and everyone else appeared. That Asa girl, too. She seemed kind of smug. Like she was proud to have completed another full day's work. 'I hope I'm never forced into thinking like that.'
When we returned, I was overwhelmed by fright and depression once again. I had been so distracted by the difficulty and intensity of the work that I had completely forgotten about Aria. Without her there to hold my hand through it, what would happen to me? She was like my guardian, and without her, I felt completely lost.
The men marched us to the rows of cabins and the others all filed into our previously assigned building and collapsed onto the floor, exhausted. I would have done the same, but I hesitated at the door. I turned around and gazed out over the camp, the dim torch lights casting long and threatening shadows. My eyes hovered on one point of light, which appeared to be nearing as it swayed with the stepping motions of its carrier. I squinted, afraid to wait and see who it was. It was likely just another guard, making his rounds. As the person neared, I saw that I was right in one respect: it was a guard. But I was wrong as well: there was someone else with him. And that someone just happened to be Aria.
Notes
MIGODS I CANNOT BELIEVE IT TOOK ME THIS LONG TO GET THIS DONE. Christmas rush, so much to do, catch-up school work, EXTREME block...apologies. Hopefully, I'll be faster now.Still haven't picked a song for this one. I'll figure it out later...
We've missed you!!
1/19/16