"There's space for one more butt…"
Rave states casually after some silence.
I stare at him quizically, and he motions to the mat he's made from his shirt,
It finally clicks.
-He's inviting me to sit with him?-
I nod and crawl to the shirt-mat, unfortunately, the shirt is small and we are rather very close.
-He's obviously too uncomfortable right?-,
I stare at him, waiting for him to tell me to move, but rather, he concentrates on carefully breaking the meat roasting on the firewood.
-Where is this kindness coming from?-
He hands me a piece of the meat and begins to eat some himself;
I look at him in semi-horror.
-Who would eat beast-meat?-,
At first, he's oblivious of my repelled look, but eventually he notices my expression.
"What?";
"Is this edible?" I quiz, he shrugs,
"If you don't want to…then it's fine" his tone is flat.
The pangs of hunger in my stomach don't allow me to be 'reasonable', I bite into the meat and after meditatively chewing, I swallow.
-It actually doesn't taste so bad-
"So…what about you?" he asks suddenly,
I turn to him;
"What about me?" I repeat the question,
He seems hesitant to ask again.
"I mean what do you want to achieve?" he musters confidence to ask,
I bite my lower lip.
"I just want to be powerful and famous" I state simply.
He stares at me briefly, then he nods;
"You did mention that earlier…"
-Silence; awkward silence-
"But why do you want to destroy the system?" I decisively continue the conversation, he groans painfully;
"My entire family was massacred before my very eyes…by the government…"
CAMADA'S POV END.
*********
RAVE'S STORY.
MEMOIR ONE.
"Rave!... Rave!"
I happily run towards the direction of the call,
-My parent's hut-
"Yes papa?", I nervously stand at the door, looking on as my father cradles my newborn brother affectionately.
My mother is lying on the bed,she is still remarkably weak from her gruesome labour.
"Would you like to hold Shidoo a little?" she asks in her gentle, breezy voice,
My eyes widen in excitement, as I shyly step inside.
I turn to look up at my father expectantly for a go-ahead,
He regards me curiously.
-I am sure he'll say no-,
He turns to my mother who nods at him reassuringly, he sighs in defeat.
"He may be fourteen and sturdy but you need tenderness and not strength to handle a newborn" he says quietly .
My expression falls.
-I've been so eager to hold my brother-
"But…I don't see how you can hurt him" he smiles and hands me the baby.
-I am absolutely elated and I feel victorious-
My father places the small human in my poised arms,
I gaze into his sleeping face.
-He is so adorable and he smells so good-
I am very careful as I lovingly and lightly embrace him.
"One big family right?", I hear my father say as he embraces my mother.
I couldn't agree more;
-I feel so happy, and so complete-
*********
I stare at the bloody, massacred bodies littered everywhere.
All I can do is cry out,
I cry and cry, and cry,
I am unable to even identify the bodies.
My village and family have been utterly destroyed
-But why?- is all I can ask myself.
-Just why?-
A sadness fills my heart, it's so heavy upon me, I'm actually sure it will burst right out of my chest.
I remember the words the stranger spoke;
"It's all the government does...it ruins lives and destroys the innocent all with maintaining the facade that they are heroes and saviours"
-Fenice was it?-
I stand up slowly.
The sadness is replaced by something else;
-RAGE-
I grit my teeth in pain;
-I WILL DEFINITELY HAVE MY REVENGE…-
END OF MEMOIR.
*********
CAMADA'S POINT OF VIEW.
I stare at Rave in concern as I observe a single tear drop from his eye.
He wipes it quickly and feigns focus on the burning firewood,
I don't even know how to comfort him, the story about the massacre of his peaceful, quiet village is heart wrenching.
-Embracing him would be weird but…I do anyway-
I'm sure he's going to push me away but shockingly enough:
-He doesn't-
He sobs for quite a while into my shoulder, I run my hands through his hair gently.
CAMADA'S POV END.