The Fraction

Chapter I: The Outsiders

I can barely remember the days before the War; I guess is pretty normal to start forgetting about it, after all, who would like to remember a time when everything surrounding you is pain and sorrow, when you had to fight and sometimes with your life for the most basic of things like food, when you didn’t know if you would get in one piece to the next day, but at least we were free and sure I was little I can’t remember how it really was, how desperate we were and all those things the elders always say to me: “We lose but at least we don’t have to worry about surviving, about getting food to the table, you should be grateful for that young man” I can tell by heart all the words they throw at me: “War is a dreadful thing, it’s good that is over now”. “You should be careful with the things you say, if they hear you talking like that…” “Do you want another War?” Of course I don’t want another War, I might not remember the days before it, but I sure as hell remember the things that happened during the battles and I don’t yearn for something like that. It’s just that I believe that sometimes battling, fighting and striving are the only tools that we have at our disposal to change what we think is wrong, to eradicate an oppressing hand that grasps your neck if you move even a little and I know that in the history books you will find reasonable explanations of why war or any other type of warlike confrontation is bad, but let’s face it, wars are the only things that actually change things in a rapid and effective manner and yes this time it turned out that we were the loosing side, but perhaps if we had another shot, then maybe our situation would be different and it’s not like I want all those awful things to happen again, but the final outcome was something really good for the winning side and some of our own would say that it was good for us as well, and also to be honest, the wars before that one, as bad as they were also brought great breakthroughs in science and technology and somehow every conflict changed the social landscape in which humanity was involved until that very moment, so yes, wars are bad, but necessary, at least that is what I feel.

I don’t think that the people can even remember how the War started in the first place; some would say that they threw the first punch, some others would tell you that it was us who started it all, but one thing is for sure, it all happened….

“Day dreaming again? Come on man, we need to finish this before nightfall.”

“No, yeah, I know, it’s just that…”

“It’s just that if you don’t stop going wherever you go when you do that, we’ll never finish on time, so snap out of it and give a hand for a change!”

“Sorry, don’t worry, Mai we’ll finish on time”

“ Yeah right!”

She just doesn’t get it, actually I don’t think anybody does and even if Mai is a pretty centered girl, she lacks the vision to see how things really are around here and how is bad for us, but maybe I’m not the one who should be concern about these issues, maybe I should learn that my place in this new society is not to question and wonder but to obey and survive, maybe, yeah maybe.

“I told you we would finish on time without problems”.

“ Well if by no problems you mean killing ourselves under the burning sun and working like crazy to compensate the lost hours at the risk of dehydration, then yes I suppose we finish without problems.” I could notice the anger in her words.

“Come on, I already apologized a hundred times, stop giving me a hard time, we finish and that’s the important thing, isn’t it?”

“I guess, anyway we should head home right away, the Curfew Patrol is going to start their rounds anytime now, and you know that nothing good will come of them finding us here”. Suddenly and very quickly the anger in her words was replaced with concern and fear, why, why is it that this is usually the way our conversations always turn out to be.