Sun Kissed kids

Freedom

The dark clouds have been lifted. The looming darkness made by the smoke from the factories which seemed to trap whatever light from the sun somehow thinned and allowed for some sunshine to penetrate into the slums. Suddenly, everything was brighter. Most of the slum dwellers revelled in the sunshine outside and took a second from their busy lives to relax their exhausted bodies. The constant struggle among them was forgotten and in that one instant, hope was in their hearts.

Tristan was feeling much the same like everybody else. After years of resisting the raging way of life in the City and fearing for the others especially for his twin sister, it was finally over. He felt it through that bond that links him to his twin. There was calmness there now. No more depression and loneliness. Just peace. Mari was finally alright and alive, he was sure of it. That dreadful feeling had been slowly ebbing away from his tired heart for some time now. And, now, it was absolutely and totally gone from his system.

“Wow,” exclaimed a young voice. “You’re actually smiling.” The voice came from a thin and undernourished boy sitting beside Tristan. He was twelve years old but he looked almost ten years older. His body was hunched from carrying tons of weight against his young shoulders. He was working in the mine before Tristan came and dragged him out from hell. And of course, the life in the slums itself was a struggle.

Tristan playfully boxed his ears growling, “you impertinent bastard.” If there ever was one person that he showed his real self, it was Rusty. But smiling was a rarity for him. He had actually forgotten how to smile. Most of the time he was scowling. He considered himself to be one of the most feared in the slums and it suited him to be so. He needed to look indestructible, to be feared, to survive. But in truth, he was tired of all of it. It was just all an act. Hidden behind his dark looks and angry façade was a vulnerable man. A man who wants freedom. Freedom which he thought he had when he escaped from his abusive family who adopted him the day they were taken from their paradise.

“Where are we going today?” Rusty asked as they headed eastward from the slum.

“You’ll see,” said Tristan humming a song that Mari used to sing to them as they gazed at the stars every night.

Rusty was feeling exhilaration. He was being brought at Tristan’s secret hiding place. A place no one has ever found nor dared to look for. He skipped and danced into that tune which Tristan always hummed or sometimes sang when he thought no one minded him.

The place was at the border of the City. A rundown and abandoned industrial area.  They climbed the tallest building and at the top, Rusty could only stare with wide bulging eyes and slacked jaw. The view of the City was horrible. A stone jungle that goes as far as the eyes could see. Skyscrapers loomed horrifyingly at the northern part of the city casting dark shadows on lesser buildings. The factories crowded against each other just west of the slums below the residential area of the middle class city dwellers.

It was the east that really captured Rusty’s attention. He had never seen so much green before and in different hues. The colors were in total contrast with the bleak black and white structures of the City. Further still was the ocean Tristan used to tell stories about the ocean to Rusty. Sometimes if he closed his eyes he could see himself swimming in the ocean. He could even taste its saltiness. But now, he was seeing it. It glimmered as though beckoning them. The air was also fresh and warm coming from the east. Rusty had never experienced this kind of happiness in his life. He could very well imagine himself dying from it if he ever gets a chance to go there.

“Something’s wrong,” said Tristan. He had not come back here for quiet a long while now. He was busy trying to reorganize the mess his predecessor has done in the slums. A frown creased his forehead as he slanted his eyes further towards the ocean.