AFTER THE REVERSAL

Nur

The room was dark. Not a single source of light was present: not a lamp, not a fire, not a hole linking to the outside. This has been Nûr's home for the past three weeks, after the victory over Yvon. Not once had he seen the outside world since then. Even when he was to eat or respond to nature's call, he did everything inside this same room. Leader Francis CATSLY himself asked him to be punished in this manner and if not for Mr's CATSLY, he might have asked him to be hanged instead. But faith made another judgment for Nûr.

Since the first day he had been thrown into this prison, he had almost lost his mind. The image of what he had done kept reappearing in his head. Nothing could he do to make them go away, not even sleeping. He had always thought of his present situation an atonement for his sin. He felt it's not enough. Maybe he should have been hanged after all.

He thought of that very moment. He shouldn't have left them to shop alone. He should have been there with them. He should have escorted them home. Now Juliana was gone and Praya was missing.

"Praya," he whispered to himself, "where are you?"

He remembered the first time they met. They were little then. Nûr was 15 years old of the Post-Reversal era and Praya was 17. Francis had came to visit his father at their home and had brought his daughter with him. She was so innocent, and beautiful. Her brown hair was short and soft. She had planted a seed with her firm eyes inside Nûr's heart and with her warmth smile she watered it.

Nûr remembered learning so much from this Catsly girl about the governing of a state and how her father would at times spend the whole night watching the people through the Viewer. And he would himself attend to people's needs. He would not sleep until everyone else in the Dome Hall has and he would be the first to wake up in the morning.

"One day," Praya had once told him, "my father and I was travelling at night. That night I was unable to sleep and I had to cry to make me follow him. It was a cool night. The breeze was soft. The trees were dancing slowly. The beautiful moon was full, hanging aloft the naked sky. Even if there were no street lights, we would have seen every insects clearly. Then we came across a lonely rabbit. It was at the verge of death. I could see that father's facial expressions changed immediately and his emotions arose. He couldn't bare to see an animal suffer. He insisted that we take this animal with us but before we could get home, it died. It was after then that father issued the law that every home in Kendredome must adopt an animal."

Nûr remembered all the stories she had told him about how this incident cooked her interest in animal science and how each animal possess its own personality, just like the humans. "How caring and loving." He thought to himself.

The light that pierced through the prison door as it slide was what brought Nûr back from his daydreaming. He could hear the sound of footsteps approaching the cell. His eyes burned, causing him a serious headache. His ears ached, for silence had been his friend for the past three weeks. His heart beat twice as fast as usual. He had no idea when his breaths began to compete. He swallowed the river of saliva which passed through his throat, one gulp after the other. For some time he closed his eyes, because of the light. Then he opened them bit by bit like a little child that was being pulled out of sleep.

The whole room was illuminated now, and in front of him was a tall man, built like an elephant. Nûr's head was by his shoulder. Therefore he found himself looking up at him. His brown T-shirt was so tight that Nûr could see his heartbeats, and he could hear them amidst the silence that engulfed them both. This time, he had no hat on. So he could see his face clearly. Two grey irises stared back at him. He could feel his pointed nose warning him against those eyes.