12 Years Ago

“Alaiz! What are you doing? It’s dangerous to sit near the window!”, gasped a woman in her thirties, almost dropping the big basket full of fresh baked breads that she was carrying. She hurried to the little boy’s place, going up the stairs that was located near a big window where the boy sit and gazing outside.

“There’s a big smoke over there mom. It started a few minutes ago”, he pointed to a big grey smoke from one of the buildings about 1 mile away towering to the sky. He just sat calmly, gazing as if a lot of things are crossing his little mind.

“Oh my God, it must be the oil store on the central street…” shock, fear and desperate were all there in her face. Her hands covered her blue eyes along with her sighed before she took Alaiz’s hand in a hurry and dragged him down the big stairs. It was quite a big house with nice furnishings, but certainly old. The paint was fading away and the big living room was simple, very humble for the size.

“Mom, why do they hate us?”, asked the little boy slowly. His mother stopped, she looked at her young son’s blue eyes, and sighed. She went down and hugged him, when she finally released her hug, she tried to say something but nothing came out from her mouth. “Did we do some kind of crimes?”

“No, dear, no, we didn’t do any crimes”, replied her helplessly.
“Then why do they want to harm us?”
The woman sighed again and again, cannot find any words to reply her son’s questions.

There had been news on the street saying that the country was in a bad economical condition. The food prices had gone up steadily, small riots appeared sporadically throughout the country, and now, things had gone to the worst. Alaiz hadn’t gone to school for days now and none of the people had gone out from their home either. Everyone hid in their homes, full with fears.

“Is it a crime to have blue eyes?” he asked again.
When his mother just about to reply, they heard a lot of shouting and swearing from the street, coming near.

“Alaiz, listen to me. You have to hide.” She said with determinations shone from her eyes. “I’ve made these breads for you, hide them with you, you could survive with these for days. If those brown-eyed people broke in, all you must do is hide. Don’t cry, don’t make any sound. No matter what happen, no matter what you heard, don’t come out from you hiding, don’t even try to find me or dad. You hear me? You must stay silent!” Drops of water already on her blue eyes. She hugged him tight and whisper “you must survive”.

New Year's Story

*****

She lied on her bed, reading a book. The story that she was reading was so engaging to her that she can't hardly put it down. It's about a lass, younger than she is, that was sacrificed for the sake of her village and to pay the debts of her father.

Then she looked at the clock, it's almost midnight. She remembered, it's almost new year, her friends went to the town to celebrate. She's too lazy t0 go out and prefer to read the book that she started in the evening, and the weather outside was too cold for her. It's in the middle of winter and her health hasn't been that good for a few days, she really don't want to go out and became really sick the next day.

A loud cheer was heard from the town, it must be the crowd celebrating the new year that was almost arrived. She knew in a few minutes she would hear another noise from the fireworks, and she could see them too. Her house is a little bit up in the mountain, in the outskirts of town, the fireworks would be clearly visible from her windows.

She's thinking to get up from the bed and sit near the windows, to see the fireworks. But on the second thought, she has seen the fireworks from year to year, and seeing the fireworks alone would only make her feel lonely, so she decided to stay on her bed and immerse herself in the story again.

Just when her world of imagination started to build, the loud cheer disturbed her again, this time accompanied with the sound of explosions, the fireworks had begun. It's midnight.

She wanted to build the imagination walls again, but the noise keep disturbing her. At last, she gave up. She got up from her bed and walked to the windows. Then she sat down on the floor just by the windows, and watched the fireworks. She still could hear the loud cheers from the town every time the big fireworks came.

As she watched the fireworks, she started to wonder. If she decided to go with her friends, she might have a great time right now, watching the fireworks with a glass of wine or champagne on her hand and cheer with her friends or even making new friends. Or if she hadn't fought with her dear lad 2 weeks before, he might not returned to his homeland and still with her now watching the fireworks with her, together. She suddenly missed him, missing his hugs and kisses.

The fireworks had finished, the loud cheering ceased and so did her thoughts. She got up, and returned to her bed. She picked up the book again, and returned to her world of imaginations.

*****