Kadian

The Great Departure

Just as the sun had begun to rise, Mohassen decided to return the village.  He brushed off the dead, dried up leaves from Omose's garden that had clung to him throughout the night.  Some of his best decisions came about from sleeping anywhere but his own tent.   Mohassen had decided that he would give Kadian a brief, but sincere, apology.

When he got back to the village, he noticed that half of the villagers were missing, and the other half were excitedly chattering outside.  The scene looked all too familiar.

Mohassen rushed up to a close friend of his, Daewon. "The kids are leaving?" he asked, trying to conceal the panic in his voice.

"Yes, and it's about time too!  Two weeks is the longest we've had to deal with high schoolers." Daewon laughed, then rubbed his chin.  "They're such a pain, brother.  Except for that weird one who was always with Zee-she was just creepy."

"Kadian!" Mohassen thought.  He often forgot that other people could see her too, that she wasn't around only for the sole purpose of irritating him.

"So they're headed to the airport?"

"Yeah, half of the villagers got airport duty, you know how it is!  Me and you got lucky this time.  We don't have to stand in a crowded room and shout "Goodbye!" to those little fools."

"Damn it!" Mohassen slapped his forehead, and heaved a gusty sigh.

"What's wrong Mo? I thought you were counted down the days like the rest of us."

Mohassen shook his head. "I had something to do," he explained.

Daewon gave him a strange look.  "Well, when you want to celebrate, you know where to look brother!" Daewon ran off to cheer with the rest of the villagers.

"Now what? " Mohassen thought.  He may have been alright if he had gotten at least a little bit of information from Kadian, but nothing at all?  His father would be furious.  Of course he knew that this was the students' last day, but he didn't fully grasp the fact that they would be truly leaving-forever. The same students usually didn't return twice.

It was unbelievable.  Mohassen had been waiting for this day ever since Kadian showed up, and now that it was here it felt as though it had snuck up on him.  Oh the fit that the chief would throw when he found out!  Mohassen's head began to pound at the thought.   

And if he were to be completely honest with himself, part of the pain came from the fact that he wished he had been able to say that he apologized to Kadian.