The Teacher [Watty Awards 2013] - COMPLETE

XIV - Meguri Ai

GUANTANAMO BAY, 2012

The helicopter landed and two men and a woman hopped out of it. A truck was already waiting to take them to the detainee center. One of the men was wearing khaki short and a white shirt. He had his hat and sunglasses on. His brown hair was messy and his build was strong. He looked like a person who had been all around the world. His name was Angelos Kostas, a Greek-born American citizen. The woman that came with Angelos had beautiful blue eyes. She had her sunglasses on top of her head, slit through her dirty blonde hair that she tied up to a bun. She was wearing grey sleeveless shirt and blue jeans. Her name was Amber Hunter. She was married to the man walking next to her, Ethan Hunter. It took all her might to convince Ethan to come here with her, away from his entire busy schedule in New York. It was extremely hot this time of the year in Cuba but she had been to places where the weather was worst. Her job at the Amnesty International had led her to see different parts of the world. Some were beautiful and some were unbearable to see. Angelos was her co-worker and they were here today to assess Human Rights activity in the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center.

The impetus of such assessment was due to a hunger strike by the prisoners starting two days ago. They refused to take in any food in the protest towards their condition and unending detainment there. Since Barack Obama took office in 2009, many of the prisoners had already been transferred or released. However, there are still some prisoners locked away in the facility with their fate unsealed. High up in the state administration, they had begun to worry on the impact of a prolonged hunger strike by the prisoner. Amnesty International, on the other hand, was also worried about the condition of the prisoners if no actions were to be taken by the government. Today, Amber wanted to see the strike herself accompanied by her two fellow trusted men. Their visit was directly to Camp Delta where the prisoners were housed.  

As they were walking towards the place, a view of a recreational yard could be seen from the distance. There were basketball court stand and a tall flag post with an American flag waving in the sky. As they approached nearer, Ethan looked down and saw an arrow on the ground in the direction of Mecca. It was written below the arrow “MAKKAH 12703KM”. Ethan looked up at the entrance heading towards the detainees’ cells. Angelos and Amber were already at the door. Amber glanced at Ethan, motioning for him to keep up. Ethan quickened his pace to catch up to his wife.

As he entered, he could see the cells that were colored in pale green and black. Ethan could see a long row of cells. On each cell door, there was an opening at the top presumably for the guards to pass items to the detainees. As Ethan walked by, he could see the detainees in their cells. Some of them looked very skinny. He hoped the hunger strike didn’t continue as he was afraid of the outcome of a prolonged strike on the detainees. Ethan was told that they will be questioning the leader of the hunger strike soon after the tour. He couldn’t wait to hear their side of the story. So much as he wanted to know the reason these detainees were captured, he was more desperate to know if the reason was ever valid. As a person who practiced law, he hated the fact that these prisoners were held without trial. For him, it was against the principal he fought to uphold. Helping them out of this hunger strike was the least he could do to provide them some justice. He hoped the people higher up could come to their senses.

All of a sudden, from the tip of Ethan’s left eye, he thought he saw someone familiar. He quickly turned to look at one of the detainee in the cell. He couldn’t believe what he saw. His heart broke and all his emotions ran wild. It was his teacher. The person who once saved him. After all these while, Ethan hadn’t had a clue as to Mr. Ahmed’s whereabout. And now, there he was, in front of his bewildered eyes. Ethan didn’t know what to do nor what to say. He froze. All he could think of was that he needed to get his teacher out of there.