Angellic.... Little less than Perfect

Grief



Somewhere in Angellic there was a small peaceful village. {Describe the village, small houses, narrow lanes, amidst farms, a small human settlement near a dangerous jungle}

Having, most of its population of poor farmers that led life almost peacefully. There were not many with cruel intensions in Angellic but there were some, a few, a negligible amount that can easily be overlooked but not their effects, they were as brutal as any other disturbance in any world.

That day a girl was filling water from the river for their daily purpose when she saw a group of soldiers marching in. the group was larger than any usual troop. It went straight into the village.

Girl (to herself): “I wonder where they are going. I think I should wait here. I better be out of trouble. My mom’s a bit too worried about me these days. She is always like don’t do this, don’t do that.” From her position she could barely see the village’s houses at the horizon she noticed the strange glare coming from the village.

Girl: “Is that a fire?”

The girl didn’t head for her village, she decided to wait till the army comes out, and she passed her time seeing the birds slowly build their nests

After a long wait she saw the soldiers slowly marched out & moved ahead. The girl slowly & quietly followed the troops from a safe distance.

Soldier 1: “Nothing much fun today.”

Soldier 2: “I guess burning them with the house would have been fun for you?”

Soldier 1: “Absolutely.”

Soldier 2: “But she looked pretty good while begging for mercy.”

Soldier 1: “I liked her helplessness.”

Soldier 2: “Helplessness of a woman.”

Soldier 1: “You’ll get more of it, next time.”

Soldier 2: “They won’t pay the revenue.”

Soldier 1: “You bet, how can they?”

Overhearing this conversation made her feel worse; she knew she couldn’t expect happy faces when she returns. A shrill air of horror went inside her; what damage happened to her family? What’s happened to my people? Why is this happening? Have my parents paid the revenues? What will happen if they haven’t? There was just one way to find out, to go home & see for herself but her legs won’t carry her. She walked slowly, she tried to run but her grudge stopped her steps, she felt horrible, she didn’t wanted to move forward, she knew she wasn’t ready to face it. I wonder if anyone is hurt. What if my family or any of my friends was agonized by the soldiers? She was thinking red. The red blood, she could feel was all around her. She walked slowly to her village. She could now clearly see the flames of fire in the air; something was burnt by those brutal & aggressive soldiers. She knew everything now would be in a different air.

They all were poor farmers & almost none had paid the revenue to the king as far she knew. As king was generous he usually exempted their revenue as he knew their conditions & this time even the monsoons had failed. But this time things weren’t so smooth. Maybe it’s about the rebels.

When she got to her village her disappointment grew, as she saw her own house burning & saw her mother crying with sister. Her father stood in silence, he couldn’t say a word to her mother & was standing in a corner crying & sobbing slowly in between in a corner, he tried to stop his tears but they flowed down & he shed them unwillingly in despair & helplessness.

The house was the thing the family used to cherish the most for this whole time. The girl herself was shocked to see the affair. She was born in that very house. She use to play there, her favorite game being ‘hide & seek’ was ideal play inside the huge & old villa. She used to play all day & night with her little sister. She used to run up & down the stairs all the time in spite of thousands of scolding of her mother to not to do so.

Her sister was crying with her mother. The flames continued to rise high & all efforts of the neighbors to extinguish the fire were ending in vain. Fire was everywhere in the house. Hours later it rained. The water droplets calmed the fire outside but not the one inside. The place was in ruins.

Neighbor 1: “We can repair it, Aye! Stop it. You are acting like little kids.”

Neighbor 2: “Thank god. You all are safe.”

Neighbor 3: “The wood was old anyway; we needed a renovation, which just gives us another excuse.”

Neighbor 2: “Aye! We’ll start working on it early morning.”

Father: “We can’t do a thing. I got no money. We got to live in this, though burnt it still is home. There will be no repairs.”

Neighbor 1: “You can’t live in this, its ashes, it can fall anytime.”

Father: “Can’t be helped.”

Neighbor 2: “You stay in my place for the time, we can adjust.”

Father: “Thanks, I might consider it.”

Father signaled his family to move into the house.

Inside the house, father: “We haven’t paid the revenue for a pretty long time, I thought we were relieved of the earlier taxes, I was wrong. The officer came in & charged all of us for not paying the bills for years. I pleaded but he won’t listen…. I have no money to give…. I can’t pay it’s a huge amount….. God knows what will happen...”

Girl: “Keep faith, dad. They say night is the dark just before the dawn. It is in the darkest times we must not leave hope. The king is a generous person, he won’t harm us. This is Angellic help will come to us, I know that for sure.”

Father, “My little doll is growing up. I am so proud of you. You all better stay with neighbors; it is not safe in here.”

Girl: “What about you, father?”

Father: “I’ll manage, somehow. I like it in here.”

Girl: “So do us.”

Father: “That’s an order son.”

So the girl stayed with the neighbors & the next week the soldiers returned to the village.

Father: “I got no money.”

General: “You got to pay this way or that.”

Father: “Please, don’t hurt my family, we are poor farmers.”

Mother: “Please, don’t hurt our children.”

General: “Isn’t she beautiful.”

Father: “Please, not the family. I beg of you.”

The girl couldn’t resist seeing her parents feeling so humiliated by the mere presence of general in their village. She came ahead for their support.

Girl: “Don’t beg of him dad. He can’t hurt us. He has no authority.”

General: “What did you say, child?”

Girl: (loudly) “I said you had no authority, sir.”

General laughed at her sentence. General: “A small child, a small girl teaching me my job. Let me teach you some manners.” He took out his hunter to whip the manner less brats.

Father: “She is just a small child.” He was awarded a cane of thrash.

Mother: “Leave her alone, she is just a small innocent child.”

General: “Ah! I love innocence.” The general moved towards the girl. His steps ceased as her mother came in the way.

General: “You know something, I would have enjoyed playing with you all but today is my daughter’s birthday. So I got to go. (Murmurs I mothers ears) You are very beautiful from outside I really would have loved to know you from the inside. But, but what a beautiful hand.” The general hold the mother’s hand & her hands got fire by his touch. Soon her whole body was on fire. She was burnt to death alive in front of everyone, she screamed for mercy but she could only see her helplessly caught family & hear the smiles of the soldiers. Her scream echoed in every corner of the village. Father was caught by many soldiers but he never stopped resisting, he wanted to save his family, his wife & kill that general for his immoral acts.

Father: “Stop, Stop! Stop, you monster.” General slowly marched forward & stabbed the man with his knife on his forehead mercilessly. The hunt was over for general so he decided to leave but his steps couldn’t move far when they had to return because of a shrill voice.

Girl: “Hey! You, where you think you are going?”

General: “You know something, you remind me of my daughter, and she is exactly of your age.” General took another knife in his hands & drove it in girl’s stomach & imprinted a cross mark over it. “So I propose that you die a little slowly. (To his soldiers, loudly) Clear the mess.”

Soldier 1: “What about this child, sir?”

General: “Leave her; she would be a good orphan beggar.”

Soldier 1: “Then she would better be mute, sir.”

General: “Aha! Even better an, ‘orphan mute beggar’, wonderful.” & so the girl’s tongue was cut & gifted to the village as a token of reminder that the same would happen to their family if they don’t pay the revenue in time as the king was running a kingdom & not a charity.

The peaceful village became silent once again as the soldiers marched out.