LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

Conflicting Emotions

Lena follows Mickey eagerly to see what he will present to her, forgetting that she came with him to find out the locations of the guards. She was enthusiastic about discoveries and curious to know the unknown. They arrived at a place where there was a table set between two trees, and above it was a canopy stretched between the trees like a tent. On the table, there were many notebooks and pens.

Mickey: "The most important thing for a researcher is to have a notebook and a pen to write down their research."

Lena: "Thank you, that's wonderful. All my notebooks were lost when the ship sank. I never thought I would find a notebook on this island. Now I have a lot to write."

Mickey asked her, "Did your ship sink in the sea? How did you survive?"

Lena: "Yes, the ship sank, and we were on the verge of death. We barely made it to the shore."

Mickey: "So you don't have any belongings now. You lost everything in the sea."

Lena: "Yes, we lost everything, but..."

Lena was about to disclose important information about her comrades without realizing it. She felt a rapport with Mickey and no longer treated him as an enemy. She spoke to him confidently, understanding that he wanted to gather information about her comrades. Then she remembered that Noor had asked her to find out the locations of the guards so they could escape that night. Lena wondered whether Mickey was genuinely kind or pretending to be to deceive her. She couldn't reach an answer, so she decided to continue walking to find out the locations of the guards and asked Mickey to walk around more. On their way, she saw all the guards standing in their positions. After finishing the stroll, she returned to the tent and lay down in her place. Mickey left her in the tent and went elsewhere.

When the sun had set and its rays diminished, Blake gathered all those present around the prisoner tied to the wooden column, where his fate would be decided after the crime he committed.

Blake spoke with a serious and firm voice: "Here we have someone who has committed an unforgivable crime. He has severely harmed my innocent wife and assaulted two young women in my community. This crime strikes at the heart of the society we are trying to build, and for this, he deserves punishment."

The prisoner shouted angrily, saying, "I have served you for years and fought alongside you in the toughest situations. How could you treat me like this? You even brought a concubine for yourselves alone; it is our right to share. You cannot punish me because of this concubine!"

When Blake's followers heard this, they began to consider that the prisoner might have a point in what he said, and they started to sympathize with him, causing Blake to see that they were confused and overly sympathetic. He raised his voice to reach everyone present, including Lena and Noor, who were listening to everything being said.

Blake: “This sick thinking is the thinking of bandits, this foolish thinking shows that you are no different from animals, you have abandoned your humanity. We are here to establish a new civilization, a society dominated by safety and peace, where this island becomes a homeland for us and for future generations. There will come days when we do not need weapons, but we live in peace with our families, witnessing the joy of children playing safely."

One of the followers said, "How can we see children here and there are no women? Are you only talking about your children and your brother's?"

Blake: "We are not alone on this island, there are many who preceded us to it, they were constantly fighting, and we stopped this ferocious fighting with our strength and firearms. I plan to govern them and establish our state. You will find wives for yourselves and bear children, and we will build schools to educate them. Do not think that we are just highway robbers carrying weapons, but we are soldiers of peace, we will enforce the law and build our country here on this island, for us to live in and for our children to live in."

Blake's words touched everyone's hearts, the men who had lost hope of returning to their homes and found in their new lawless lives a reason to turn into what resembled savages. However, as the echo of Blake's words resonated among them, they regained hope and felt their humanity pulsating within them anew, to the point that some couldn't contain themselves and shed tears, moved by the power of his speech.

Blake said in a loud and confident voice: “We do not allow anyone to spoil our peace and security with their brutal actions. And to ensure that such a crime does not happen again in the future, we have to punish anyone who violates our law and insults our honor.”

After he finished speaking, he took his dagger and stabbed the prisoner in the heart, and cheers broke out among the crowds that were calling his name: “Blake! Blake! Blake! Blake!”

Noor and Lina were shocked when they saw this situation, and they were very scared. They were standing next to Mickey in that horrifying moment. Then, after that, they ran to their tent terrified, determined to escape that night because of the violent scene they saw. At night, the camp residents gathered for dinner, and Lina and Noor sat with them at a large table. Mickey tried to start a conversation with Lina, but she felt confused and could not eat anything. She got up and entered her tent, and Noor followed her. Mickey wanted to follow them, but Blake stopped him and told him to leave them alone. He added that they would realize in the future that what they were doing was for the benefit of the society. After everyone finished dinner, they dispersed to their places. Mickey returned to his tent and found that Lina was avoiding him. He told her that he understood her fears and that she did not need to think too much about the matter. He promised her that he would take her tomorrow to continue her research on the mulberry tree and write in the new notebooks that he gave her. But she did not respond to him and covered herself with the bed and stayed like that until he slept. In the middle of the night, Lina sneaked out of the tent and passed by Noor’s tent, and found her waiting for her behind the tent. Lina approached and Noor followed her. They were walking low among the small bushes, avoiding the guards until they moved away from the place. And when they moved away, Lina said to Noor:

“Come with me, we’ll get something important before we escape.”

Noor answered: “No, I’m afraid they’ll catch us. Let’s keep going.”

Lina replied: “Please, we’ll take it quickly and come back fast.”

Noor asked: “What is this very important thing that we come back for?”

Lina answered: “They are notebooks and pens. These materials are essential for me to write down my research. I won’t find any other notebooks on this island.

” Noor expressed her concern about facing the guards on their way. But Lina assured her that the place was a little far from the camp and there were no guards there. Noor agreed and followed Lina to the place she pointed to. They continued to sneak until they reached a table full of notebooks. Lina went to the table and grabbed one of the notebooks, then turned and said to Noor: “look at this…”

They were surprised by Mickey who was standing right behind Noor.

Lena: "How did you find us here?"

Mickey replied, "When I woke up and didn't find you in your place, I feared you might have escaped. So, I went out to search for you, thinking I might find you here, as I was the one who guided you to this place."

Lena exclaimed, "Let's escape, Noor, before he catches us."

Mickey said, "If you escape, the guards will catch up with you. We know you're heading to your cave, so there's no escape for you. Come on, let's return before Blake discovers and gets angry, and perhaps imprisons you."

Noor angrily retorted, "This is all because of you, you fool. You're the one who brought us to this place. I told you to keep running, but you wanted to return."

Lena: "I'm sorry, Noor. I didn't mean that. I just wanted to get the notebooks."

Noor: "No, he found us because of your trust in him. You're the one who brought us to this place he told you about."

Mickey: "Don't be too hard on your friend. Let's go back now."

Noor: "You don't interfere between us."

Then Mickey led the two to the tents, leaving Noor to enter Blake's tent while he returned with Lena to their tent. After that, the number of guards increased, and he ordered them not to allow anyone to enter or leave the camp.

In the morning, after Lena woke up, she headed to Noor's tent attempting to talk to her, but found Noor extremely angry.

Noor: We would have escaped last night if you hadn't taken us to those stupid notebooks.