-Four
1809 Words
The mini-hall was quiet as Elena opened the doors and Karen stepped in with her.
There were children sitting round the three long and rectangular tables in the hall. Empty plates, spoons and cups were on the table before them and their eyes were fixed on Karen as Elena led her towards them.
Two other women were inside the small dining hall as well, arranging the plates, spoons and cups in front of the children.
The eyes of the several kids remained on Karen as she walked towards them with Elena.
Elena finally stopped walking when they got close enough and Karen stopped too. She didn't notice that Elena had actually started speaking to the kids till she looked up at her.
She was signing to the children while they watched her.
The two women left the hall while Elena kept signing to the kids.
Karen watched her intently.
One of the kids raised his hand and signed something to Elena, and Karen watched as Elena smiled and signed back to him.
She looked back at the boy and he was now smiling at Elena.
She watched again as another boy said something to Elena in the sign language and this time, Elena didn't sign back.
She voiced out her reply, "No," and then she shook her head to support it.
Karen was slowly getting interested in what they were doing.
Most of all, she wondered what they were saying and she was getting fascinated by the whole thing.
All the kids suddenly turned to her and smiled at her. A few waved.
Karen couldn't help the little smile that came on to her face at that instant.
Elena looked down at her with a smile.
"Welcome to the Shenon Special Home," She said and Karen smiled back at her.
Just then, the two women that'd left, came back with trays of large covered plates.
A man followed with another tray.
Elena led Karen to one of the tables.
The middle one amongst the three tables.
There was an empty seat there and she slowly settled on it.
Her eyes went over her own plate, spoon and cup which were in front of her. When she finally moved her eyes to look at the person seating beside her, she almost got startled 'cause the person had his eyes on her when she'd turned.
It was a boy.
An older boy with chestnut hair.
"Are you a girl or a boy?" He suddenly asked and Karen looked confused for a moment.
Why would he ask that type of question?
It's very obvious that she's a girl, isn't it?
She moved her eyes away from him and faced her food again, deciding that the boy must be one of those kids with little mental disorders.
She watched as the women and the man distributed the food.
One of the women came to her and filled up her cup with yellowish juice before dishing out food from the large plate onto her own ceramic plate.
She suddenly felt a kick on her leg and looked at the boy with a frown.
"Are you a boy or a girl?" He asked again.
She frowned the more and faced her food again.
The woman was already done with dishing out her own portion of food.
She picked up her spoon and absently tapped it against her plate for a while before she scooped a little portion of the food.
"It's a girl, Neville," The woman spoke as she dished out the boy's food.
Karen turned to them and watched as the boy smiled at the woman and nodded.
He looked at her again and she almost thought he was crazy.
Couldn't he tell she was a girl?
The woman looked at her then, and gave her a little smile.
"Neville is blind."
"Oh," She muttered quietly as she moved her gaze back to the boy who was still facing her.
Both of his eyes were open.
He had grey eyes, but it was then that she noticed that his grey eyes looked a little bit abnormal.
Abnormal.
Just like hers.
Just that her own eyes are not grey and also, she can see.
She slowly looked away from the boy and continued eating small portions of her food.
As she ate, she looked around at all the kids eating as well. Scanning them.
None seemed blind—except Neville.
He was blind and the others were deaf. And she, She was simply nothing but abnormal due to her weird eyes, and minutes ago, she'd been covered in her own mother's blood. Her mother whom she'd slain herself.
She took her eyes away from the kids and returned them to her food. She stared down at her food for minutes, as if scrutinizing every single piece of it.
A gasp suddenly escaped her throat with a little wince as two pairs of strong hands grabbed her arms and jerked her away roughly from her seat.
Her knee hit the table in the process, making her ceramic plate land on the floor with a loud noise.
She didn't even get the chance to look up at who had pulled her up like that, as the person dragged her towards the door.
The person's grip on her arm was incredibly painful!
"Hey! Stop! What's happening?" Elena's voice rang out but the person didn't stop dragging her towards the door.
"Stop!"
Elena ran to their front and the person finally stopped.
His tight grip on her arm was almost putting her to tears and she used that opportunity to look up at who it was.
It was an unfamiliar face.
Obviously a Shenon guard.
He was hefty and mean-looking, and his hand was literally crushing the bones in her arm.
"What's happening? She's just one of the kids here. One of the captives. But she was sent here to stay. What has she done?" Elena's eyes held confusion and alarm at the same time.
"Lord Cromwell ordered for her to be brought outside to him."
"But why? She's just a harmless 12-year-old."
The guard said nothing else as he simply shoved Elena aside and walked out the door with Karen who looked back to meet Neville's grey eyes before she was dragged out the door.
The guard walked in fast, long strides and he was dragging her along in that same pace. She could hardly keep up and kept stumbling over her feet but he kept pulling her along.
His grip was still tight on her arm and she finally started to make crying noises as she hit her fist on his large palm that was wrapped around her arm.
He didn't budge, and soon, he'd dragged her through the main exit door and out the shed extension.
The sun's rays hit her eyes and she squinted them as the guard pulled her past the several people walking around.
Her feet were bare and they moved through the hot sand as he pulled her along.
They kept moving till he finally stopped and pushed her forward in a way that she stumbled forward and fell on her hands and knees on the sand.
Her long black hair covered the sides of her face as she stared down at the sand, breathing hard. She gulped and shut her eyes, then opened them again to keep staring at the sand.
Someone suddenly held her arm again just at that moment. Not in the tight way that guard had held it, but in a much gentler way. Whoever it was now, pulled her up slowly to her feet and she slowly looked up to see the face of Cromwell, Sirak Lord.
He slowly let go of her arm and took two steps back, putting his hands into the pockets of his loose black trousers.
Her eyes moved on to the other people standing there. She could recognize the five mujang elders there.
Mujang Bennett, and four others.
After the trouble that'd arose during the time of Byron and Conrad in Eldon years ago, Eldon stopped having mujang lords. Rather, they began the system of choosing old mujangs to be made elders, and that has been the system since then.
The elders standing there were in chains, just like the rest of the Mujangs that were captured.
People (citizens of Shenon) were still walking around and going about their various activities outside there.
"Karen. That's your name, isn't it?" Cromwell asked and her eyes went back to him.
She didn't respond.
He had a look of disgust on his face as he looked at her.
"I'm sorry but I can't let children like this stay here in Shenon," Cromwell spoke again. He looked at the elders there, then returned his eyes to Karen. "I'd wanted to keep you in that home for abnormal children, but those eyes of yours are too evil-looking for me to keep you here. You're getting executed." He deadpanned and Karen felt hands grab her that instant from behind, pulling her towards a long, cubic steel there that she hadn't noticed before.
She started to struggle but they pushed her down to her knees with ease and placed her head on the cold steel.
No.
She could literally feel her heart screaming and pounding all at once as a guard tied her hands to her back.
"I decided to do you the favour of being executed, atleast, in the presence of your own kind. Mujangs. And I chose these five Mujang elders here to grace the event," Cromwell continued speaking.
Karen's eyes were already glossy and full of fear. She suddenly sprang up and took to her heels but one of the guards caught her almost immediately.
She started to cry loudly, Screaming and kicking as he carried her back to the steel and placed her back on her knees.
"No! Let me go!" She screamed as they placed her head on the cold steel again. "Let me go!"
She was crying her lungs out and her vision was blurred by the tears but she managed to sight Elena standing afar off with both hands on her chest as she watched.
She must have followed them.
The people walking around had already started to gather around at the scene.
Karen struggled to raise her head but the guard held her head down even more firmly.
"Let me go."
Her face was already reddish and was covered in tears as she cried.
Bennett was seething inside.
The other elders watched in fright and horror.
Cromwell stood with his hands behind him as one of the guards slid out a sword that immediately caught the sun's rays and sparkled.
"Cromwell..."
"Don't talk, Bennett," Cromwell cut in and Bennett looked away.
"Execute!" He ordered and the guard raised the sword, then landed it hard on Karen's neck as the crowd gasped.
- Writer
