So be brave
I know there
are echoes
but it's safe
up here in
the shadows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I trudged up the snow covered hill. Snow caked onto my boots and pants, soaking my feet and legs. But I didn't care. I just kept going. My face was red and it still stung from the blow I had received earlier from my father.
I hadn't meant to anger him, but people got angry here very easily. One mistake could get you beaten or worse.
Tears fill my eyes and run down my face. I try not to cry but I can't help it. Anytime I accidentaly angered my father, or anyone else for that matter, I'd run away.
Outside of the Community that we lived in, pass the borders and signs that warned us that if we left, it was our fault if anyhing happened to us.
If I became lost or was killed by the dangers that lived in the forest, no one would come and find me. No one would come looking for my body.
No one would care.
I continue through the snow, it's always winter here. The sun never shines and it's always cold.
I walk to the edge of the forest and enter. The trees grow tall, and their branches are covered in snow.
They have no leaves on them and probably never will. I hear the sounds of small animals scurrying through the snow.
How they manage to survive without new plants ever growing is beyond me.
I keep moving forward, putting as much distance between me and my Community as I can.
The first time I came to the forest was after my first day of school.
Our Intructor was teaching us the rules for living in a Community. The "Guidelines" that we were to follow.
One of the first things out Instructor told us was about how we were never to speak of the War. The War of Echoes.
They say they call it that because the cries of the people who had lost their loved ones in battle echoed across the land for days and nights without ceasing.
It's also called that because the shadows of the war still echo through everyone's hearts. The echoing of grief and hate.
We were never told of why we couldn't speak about the war. We were given the brief history about it but that was all.
They didn't say exactly how it started. All they said was that it was caused by one thing, love.
I do not know what love is. It was abandoned years ago. The Guidelines forbid anyone from showing or speaking of love.
We are not taught compassion. We are not taught to care about eachother. We are only taught to put up with one another until we die.
That was the second thing we were taught that day. All the other students had listened and nodded their heads in aggrement. Not daring to do anything that would anger the Instructor.
But I didn't understand. Why couldn't we love? Why couldn't we care for each other? How could love cause a war so terrible that it was to be banned forever?
Those questions raced through my mind all day. After our instructor finished going over the Guidelines. I asked, "Why?"
Everyone had looked at me in shock. One of the Guidelines was we were never to speak to anyone who was over us without being spoken to first.
And another was to never question the Guidelines, or the ones who gave them.
I was beat that day. Not for the first time but it had been more painful than anything I had experienced before.
I ran away from the Community, ignoring the signs and racing towards the woods. Ignoring the dangers and the cold.
I only wanted to be away from that place. To never go back.
But while I had been out there that day I discovered something. Something I had not expected to see and did not know what to make of.
There, in the middle of the forest, alone at the edge of the trees, was where I found the Woodshop.
