The Sacrificed Child (Complete)

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Published on: February 20, 2022

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The Ayllu seems the same, people doing their duties, women feeding their little ones, young girls assisting their mothers...the men in the field, a few on northern walls, the kids running around playing with their Piscoyunu...

And here is Mew sitting on the porch trying to feel colors again, he had not uttered a word since he was back...

Rumors spread like fire, he went into the forbidden area and now is possessed with some unknown. People believe he is cursed to be muted, his family, neighbors everyone believes in these rumors, the saddest part Ocllo believes too, she cried hugging Mew. And confirmed that he is possessed, when Mew refused to look at her, he is fixed on his spot.

On the same day, they took him to the Huacas (shrines). But nothing fruitful came out, he is the same possessed as per people's belief. His grandma does the ritual for his safety every evening, blowing on his face chanting a few verses, burning a few grains, and doing other things for his well-being.

He remained unbothered, gaze stuck somewhere distant, mind blank, eyes empty, hands clutching and unclenching desperate to hold on to something. He needs those poking ribs to remind him.. he is alive. Need that cold body besides him...

Ocllo placed her hand in those desperate hands, but sadly it was rejected. He let it go easily, she cried more with every destruction Mew was going through...

Pen and Meril were the only ones aware of his devastation. Wish they could let everyone know, that Nooo.. 'he is not insane nor possessed' more like a broken person.. but they let them assume, it is better being called possessed rather than a guy mourning over the chosen one, they will despise instead of caring for him.

Someday he sits on the porch from morning till night, at the same spot, in the same position glaring at those mountains. It was hard to avert his gaze from the mountains.

"So, finally your pet disown you", "happy now??"

"What, is it true??"

"He will not"

She blinked few times and without any effort, tears roll down. Years back memory gushed in her head. Mew had ran like a lunatic at that time, and now he is living that life. 

Lunatic, possessed, freak, that's what Ayllu had started to call him...

She doesn't know how to stop people talking all non-sense, she doesn't know how to console him.

Can anyone console him, she cried every night watching her brother in his current state....

sometimes he smiles on his own, and the second later he tore down, no one knows what is going on in his head...

Some other day he went up hills, someday he ran towards the roads, eyes looking far somewhere, in hope of glimpse. A glimpse of nothingness welcomes him every time.

His random whereabouts out of nowhere, sometimes in the middle of the night, become so frequent that the family decided, it is not safe to let him be alone, Pen volunteered on his own, taking responsibility to bring him back every time, he knew the places Mew gonna ran into.

Today same as every day, he was sitting on the porch since morning, his hands caressing a little wooden piece in his hand...

Meril sat beside bumping her shoulder with him, as usual, didn't get a response, she shouldn't put her hopes high.

It is so unreal like one day they woke up and it was just a nightmare. But no. It is not, Mew is living his worst nightmare...

She cleared her throat, took a few breaths, it is a New Day, a New Start, she will try once again...