A Strong, Brave Boy

Day 657

Well, this seems a bit informal for a very serious moment in my life, but here we are. I have absolutely nothing to do but to sit here and write in this journal. This is what I’m reduced to every single day in this place. I haven’t seen my mom in hours, or has it been days? I can’t even remember. All I want to do is help. Everyone tells me I’m too young.. and also that I’m a boy. I don’t get why boys can’t help out! It’s so unfair. My sister has been learning so much, but I just have to stay here and guard our station. Mostly to make sure no unwanted creatures or humans come along. If they do, I have to blow a horn so that the women can come back as quickly as possible. The women are always chosen to be the ones hunting, building base, and making our circ decisions. That’s what we call our group, our circle, if you will. I haven’t even seen any other creature since we moved from our last station, which was hundreds of thousands of paces from here. I counted, actually, 10,662 paces to get where we are now. It’s quieter here. The wind blows less, which means the trees shuffle less. I can hear sky creatures singing and I really enjoy that. We walked downwards a lot, so now we are really close to a trickle. I can hear it from our base. It’s this long stream of water, we aren’t sure where it starts or ends, but everyone’s worried about following it because it may lead to another circ.

I’m curious if there are other boys like me out here. I’m the only boy I have ever seen. No other men, no other boys. Just me and about twelve other girls. We used to be with a bigger circ, but we had to break off into a smaller group after we were running scarce on our resources. I have asked my mother about other humans like me, but she never talks to me about it. It makes me feel safe being able to stay with my mom. Although, everyone has been gone for a while and I’m not sure when they’re coming back. I am going to take a break from writing.. my hand is hurting and I should pay attention to the station.

Day 658

I am worried. I am still at the station. A few have returned, along with my sister, but no one knows where my mom and two others are. They took off North up the trickle to see if there was somewhere we could extend our station, and they haven’t seen them in almost two days. It’s very near sunrise right now, my sister is sleeping, but I can’t sleep. How can she sleep? Our mother is missing. I can’t lose my mom, my mom holds everything together for us. But, I’m a boy, I’m not supposed to go off alone, I don’t know if I am strong enough, or smart enough. I have never left any station alone before in my life, and we have lived in many stations since I was born. If I do leave, I have to go before the sun comes over the trees, or else no one will let me go and look for my mom. I’m packing a bag with a few things to eat and something to keep me warm and I am going to look for my mother.

Kentaya threw parcels of food into a small cloth bag made from old tattered clothing. He included a large rag and a small beat up canteen with water inside of it, and didn’t hesitate to throw his journal and pen inside. His feet were bare and his light shaggy hair fell below his naval. He was a skinny kid with knobby knees and he just started to grow dark coarse hairs on his legs. His eyes were the color of the blue trickle, but his mother liked to compare them to the big sky. Tossing his bag around his shoulders, he was precise to be quiet as he was leaving the station, as to not awaken any of the women sleeping. He crept between mats on the ground and ducked underneath a bearing in their shelter. He pushed open the flaps of the door and stepped out. It was a little bit lighter outside than it was in the shelter. The sun had begun to rise. Kentaya knew he had to make way very quickly in case they came looking for him. He could easily be found by the other women who knew the surrounding area much better than he.

He stumbled down a steep hill, stepping on branches and crunching leaves. The trees towered over him, still shading him from the sun. Yet, he felt like his eyes had adjusted to the dim light.

“One hundred fifty two,” he counted his paces in a shaky voice.

As he started to pant and get tired from the pace he was moving at, he finally hit the trickle. Swishing swirling musical water slid South. It danced over rocks and sparkled off of the sun that shone down through the clearing of the trees. Kentaya noticed a pleasant smell from the fresh water and he stood still for a second. On one hand he was taking in the beauty, on the other hand, he was nervous about following the trickle after all of the warnings from the women. Deciding he needed to start searching for his mom, he paced upstream, walking alongside the wooshing water. He squinted and tried to see further ahead, but he wasn’t able to make out much besides large rocks and trees. He kept counting his paces and moving forward, but after a few hours he grew sweaty and tired, the sun beating down on him. Taking the canteen out of his bag, he sat on a hot rock and sipped it messily. Water dripped down his chin. After ten minutes of getting hypnotized by the flowing of the trickle, he remembered the women were probably already on their way to look for him. He hoped that his sister would not come, he didn’t want to be the reason that anything bad happened to her. Quickly, he twisted the canteen cap back onto the bottle and tossed it into his bag. He set off again up the trickle, moving faster this time, counting each and every pace. Another grueling, hot and tired few hours passed, and now he was hungry. He brought some berries, but he wanted to save them. He really wasn’t sure how to hunt and gather, as a boy, he never learned.

He wiped his beaded sweat with the back of his hand, yet it still dripped from his long hair down the front of his back. His feet were aching and his stomach loudly begged him for food. The hot sun started to become harsh on his skin, eyes, his whole being. It reflected strongly off of the water, sparkling back into his face. He just wanted to close his eyes for one minute - but, what was that? He spotted something sparkling, not the trickle, but something just ahead, next to a rock. Without hesitation, he rushed over to it. It wasn’t like anything he had ever seen before. It was the color of a rain cloud, yet shiny. It was a funny shape, attached to a small rope, made out of something curious. A heart shaped locket. He bent down and picked it up, turning it over in his hands to examine it. His eyebrows furrowed and he brought it closer to his face. A latch. It had a latch. He dug his dirt-filled thumbnail into the opening between the two sides of the mysterious item, and click, it opened up. His eyes widened as he saw what was inside. It was a photo of a boy, a boy with long blonde hair, and blue eyes. Although it looked almost exactly like Kentaya, it wasn’t him. This was the first boy that Kentaya had ever seen other than himself. Who was this? Engraved on the inside of the item were letters, a name. As he squinted he could make out the etched letters of his mothers name. This must have belonged to her. His heart skipped a beat, he felt it, his mother was close. But who was this person? This other boy, in the photo? Kentaya noticed a hook on the locket, so he decided to conveniently hook it around his neck. It felt safe there.

He started to wonder whether his mother had gone off into the woods somewhere near the locket, or if she just dropped it along the way. Sitting by the rock, he took a handful of berries from his bag and tossed them into his mouth. Just as he did so, he heard a rustle in the woods, despite the loud rushing water beside him. He instantly crouched down next to the rock, and looked in the direction of the noise. He started to hear other sounds, people speaking. The voices didn’t sound like people from his circ, they were lower, deeper. In thirteen years Kentaya had never met anyone outside of his circ and his mother told him to always assume others were unsafe. His heart started beating out of his chest and his eyes darted around to try and find the source of the noises. Then, beside a tree, he could see a tall, strong looking man. A real actual man, and with the man there were boys, boys like him! Excited, yet still scared, Kentaya moved around the big rock to get a better look. As he did so, he saw the biggest man holding his mother’s bag. Almost instantly Kentaya jumped up from where he was standing and sprinted over to the group,

“What have you done to my mother?” he shouted as he ran toward them. The group held their ground, and a few women stepped forward in a protective manner. None were his mother.

“Who are you?” One of the women said sternly.

“That’s my mother’s bag,” Kentaya replied.

“Don’t touch him,” a man stepped forward. “What’s that around your neck?” He pointed to the locket.

“It belonged to my mother,” Kentaya said, placing his hand over it protectively.

“If that belongs to your mother," he paused, “then we are your family. I am the boy in the photo. I am your older brother.” The blonde man told Kentaya, stepping closer to him.

“What?” Kentaya couldn’t believe it. “But where’s my mother?”

“Our mother, she traveled almost her whole life to find us, but never made it,” The man said solemnly. “She is still missing, and we can only assume she is in danger. We need help. We need someone like you, who is so connected to her. A strong, brave boy.” He reached out a hand to Kentaya. Kentaya took his hand and smiled, he had a brother, and he was a strong, brave boy.