-Break-

  Φ I still remember those days, when an epidemi through our vilge. It would make the ied suffer ireme agony, while their brain started to swell. It was a slow, painful death as they lost trol over their bodily funs. Every single day people were dropping like flies, the popution of the vilge halved. Brothers lost their sisters, wife’s lost their husbands, and I lost my parents.

  Eventually, it was decided to put all the sick to death to stop the iion aheir suffering, but I opposed it with all my might. Even as a kid, I stood in opposition to everyone, saying there still might be a way to save everyone. I keep saying that we ’t just dispose of all these lives like this; it was just a pipe dream. I khere was no way to save all those people, yet I kept opposing the decision to buy time, because I didn’t want the st words my parents would say to me to be: it hurts Buloke.

  It was a selfish desire that gave false hope to people whrieving, but I thought if I had enough time, my parents would be able to tell me they loved me once again, but it ointless, because their disease had progressed to the point where they couldn’t even reise me let aloalk.

  But relentlessly, I kept sneaking into their room and talking to them every day until I would be able to cause them to say something. The stress of reality crashing down ohe fact that I had to keep this secret, made me extremely stressed, until I colpsed during one-day dinner.

  When I awoke ter that day, Oren was by my bedside.

  “Buloke, how are you doing.”

  “I am fine. I was just a little tired.”

  “Buloke, while I was cheg on the sick, I noticed some things out of pce by your parent’s side, plus testimohat people have been seeing someone walking around at night.”

  I started panig. Did he find out?

  “Did you sneak into the sick bay to see your parents, yes or no.”

  “Yes.”

  “For how long have you been doing this?”

  “For the st four months.”

  “Do you uand what you have done. You could have been tagious through all your iions with the other vilgers, and cost us more lives.”

  “I am sorry.”

  “Buloke, until further notice, you will stay locked in your house until I say that you aren’t ied. I will send someo you food. Use this time to refle your as and pray that you’re fine.”

  So as Oren said, I spent the day locked in my house, aually, someone came t me my food. It was the vilge chief Sequoia.

  “Chief, what are you doing here.”

  “Oh, when I heard about the situation from Oren, I decided t the food to you myself, and I brought some flowers so if you get bored, we make s out of them.”

  Then after I finished eating, Sequoia and I spend our time making flower s.

  “Chief, should you be here right now? Your daughter Maple is only six months, don’t you think you should be with her.”

  “Right nole is asleep, and since we ’t risk people finding out about what you did, only me and Oren know why you are in here, so we decide to keep this between us.”

  After tellihis, he nontly returns to making flower s. He keeps talking to me throughout this.

  “How have you been doing.”

  “Fine, I have been able to get lots of sleep.”

  “That’s good to hear. I haven’t been able to get any tely, work has been interying to void everyone’s worries, and Maple has beeic. I don’t know where she gets it from me, and Deae are quieter people.”

  Hearing this, I ’t ha anymore and say, “Why aren’t you angry at me? What I did put the lives of everyone in the vilge at stake, especially your daughter. I could have gotten her ied.”

  Putting the flower down, he says, “I am not mad, because I uand. I ’t tell you how badly I want to see my wife. I wao hold our daughter, and calm my nerves about being the chief again. I wao smile and be her normal happy self again, but she ’t. All she does now is stare into nothingness, having lost all trol of her bodily funs, slowly dying.

  I uand how hard it is to look into the face of someone you love and realise that they’re no longer in there, and I guarantee you that everyone in this vilge uand that as well. So, I don’t fault you for doing what I wish I could do. The only real differeween you and me is that I have forced myself to accept it for the good of everyone else, sihat is what it means to be the chief, which is why I want to kill all the ied and bring their suffering to an end.”

  “But how you accept it so easily, the way my parents smile, the way they hug me every night, the food that they cook, and all the fun we had. I ’t just throw it away, if there is even a small ce they may e through, so what am I supposed to do, chief? How am I supposed to accept that.”

  “Most people don’t know this, but every time I get sad disced or have to make a plicated dey wife used to make my flower s. They were pretty like her and raised my spirit. So, whenever I make them, all I think about are all my memories of my wife, which made me realise she is still her amazio me and so many others. I don’t think I will ever fully get over what has happeo my wife, but I share how amazing she is with everyone and my daughter till I die, which helps if only a little bit. It helps me accept everything and move forward, since if my wife is no longer her amazing self, I won’t let what she meant to me fade.”

  “Do you think the same will apply to my parents?”

  “Yes, it will. I believe ply that to everyone who is sick. All we have to do is make sure no one is fotten, so Buloke tells me about your parents.”

  We talked every single day about the people we loved until I was set free, and when I was, I stopped opposing the execution decision, and in almost no time it was carried out, the sick were put to death and buried, on that day I saw everyone cry from the ti children to the most promi warriors.

  But after the burial, I went out of my way to gather everyone up, and we all decided to share stories of those we lost.

  Some amazing.

  “My father became a warrior at the age of seven.”

  Some funny.

  “Even at thirty-eight, my wife was scared of the dark.”

  Some strange.

  “My daughter used to name every one of her teeth, and she would talk to each of them.”

  And some sad.

  “The first time my wife held Maple, she cried her eyes out, though that was the st time she held her as well.”

  Through sharing all these stories, I learned how many different people were living in the same pce as me. We were able to get past our troubles and grow clether. We looked out for each other, and soon this vilge turned into my family. I was able to love everyone in this vilge as much as I loved my mother and father. I wao protect them, so I became a warrior, one who could fight any physical danger and keep everyone safe, and it tinued like that until the day the outsiders arrived.

  Little by little, they have been w their way into the hearts of everyo this point, I am vihat no o me see the dahese two pose. Regardless of if they’re currently good people, they could pletely ge, and if we let them go without knowing for a hundred pert if they know how to leave or enter, we could just be giving a key for anyone in the world to find out about us.

  I ’t make that happen. I must protect everyone here, so I must remove the issues. I don’t care if I disgrace or dishonour myself; my family is the most crucial thing to me. So, both Orb and Cole have to die.

  -Break-

  As I start to awake, I feel my body moving ahe words.

  “Owo, owo.”

  Realising the voice I heard was Orb, I opened my eyes and took hold of the situation. Orb, whose hair is bright red, is carrying me. I then try to move my arms and legs, but the right side doesn’t move, giving me a searing pain; they are broken.

  “Stop moving around. You’re making it harder to carry you.”

  With all my strength, I push Orb away, falling onto the ground.

  “What are you doing.”

  “I tried to kill you, so I refuse to be helped by you, SO LEAVE ME HERE!”

  A rs through the forest.

  He then rushes towards me, gets to my back, covers my mouth, and says, “I am going to need you to shut up, ats eaters are roaming around here, so don’t make any noise.”

  I then hear aer walk around the forest very close to where we both are. After some time, it leaves, and Orb takes his hand off my mouth. Orb then tries to pick me up again, but after pushing him, I say, “Did you not hear me.”

  His hair turns red, and thes me in my broken leg and arm. “Let’s get this straight as you are right now, you have no way to refuse me, if you feel like dying bite off your tongue, but you’re the leader of all the disseo Cole and me being here, so if you die here, I am sure that we would bee full-fledged members of the vilge, so unless you want that to happen shut your fug mouth a me carry you.”

  Ruminating over his words for a minute, I decide that he if doesn’t want to kill me, I at least use this to get close enough to the vilge. So begrudgingly, I let Orb pick me up, and then we go on.

  As we tio walk, Orb’s hair keeps shifting from a dark red to a light red, so I tell him, “’t you stop that? Your hair is an obvious signal to where our position is.”

  “No, I ’t. My hair ges colour due to my emotions, so it doesn’t just turn off.”

  “So, what emotion causes this hair colour.”

  “Anger”

  “So, what are you waiting for? I am pletely helpless, and at your mercy, so you get your revenge all you as you could even critically injure me.”

  As his head bees even redder, Orb tells me, “Two things, first, I don’t want to bee the kind of person who only deal with his anger by taking it out on others, a me tell you, this has been an interaining session on self-trol.

  Sed punishment and reform e hand in hand. Trying to reform someohout punishment is unfair, and trying to punish someone whom you know won’t reform is a pointless effort, so due to the fact you see nothing wrong with your as, there is no point, and from a certain perspective, I see how your as were justified.”

  “There is no reason for what I did, I just wao kill you.”

  Orb then gives me a belittling look. “Do you think I was borerday? You must not know your reputation.”

  “What are you talking about.”

  Taking a breath, Orb says, “Throughout the st eight months I have spent in your vilge, I haven’t heard a single bad thing about you, which was strao me since you have been a very open piece of shit to me, but no matter whom I asked Willow, Sequoia, Pihey could only say good things about you, and that your behaviour since I got here was weird.

  Due to all this, I suspect you did all this because you're worried for the safety of the vilge and all the people within it. All it could take is me telling one person oside how to get into your vilge, and your peaceful lives will all crumble. Of course, there is a ce I wouldn’t, but no sane person would bet the lives of all his loved ones on an opportunity, so I uand why you did this.”

  “You say all this, but your hair has only beeing redder while you talk.”

  “Because you not only tried to kill me, but pushed me down a cliff, so of course I am mad, and not only that but the more I think about it, the madder I get. Your pn was full of holes. You didn’t put much thought into killing me. If yoing to gh with it, at least pn my death out a bit better, but the worse part of it all, is that when I see you had a legitimate reason to kill me, I get even angrier because I have no oo bme, SO THIS WHOLE SITUATION IS MAKING ME MAD!”

  What is wrong with him? Then a thought occurred to me “How did you survive falling down the cliff with no injuries? I am sturdier than you and still broke bones.”

  “I had no idea. When I awoke, the right side of my body was on the ground, and there was frozen blood all around me, but I had no injuries, so I picked up your body and started walking, but maybe wolfie protected me.”

  “What’s a wolfie, is that what you call the other prisoner.”

  “Huh, I have told everyone my story in the vilge. How do you not know by word of mouth.”

  “I avoided all information about you.”

  “I thought you were suspicious of me because you didn’t trust me, but you didn’t even bother to learn anything about me.”

  “What’s the point of learning about a person you pn to kill.”

  “You see, that mentality is why you have spent the st eight months in fear while everyone else has been enjoying my presence, so let me spin you the tale of my life.”

  “I would rather you not.”

  “Too bad it isn’t like you go anywhere, and this will help me calm down, so bear with it.”

  So, Orb begins to tell me everything about his life from the beginning to now.