The wall

Cairo stood beneath the looming concrete wall before him, his eyes traced over the various cracks in the large pale beast of a structure. He slipped his hand from inside his jacket pocket and placed it against the concrete. It was cold to the touch and rough against his palm. He craned his neck and attempted to look up to the top but stopped when he felt it stiffen. He attempted to get a better view of the massive fortification. The large structure stretched out for miles or at least as far as he had ever seen. It had always been a monument in the town. bearing down on it and secluding it from whatever lie beyond. Occasionally casting its shadow when the sun would hit the opposite side, blanketing the town in darkness for a few minutes. Cairo knelt and picked up a large rock that might have at one point been a part of the wall, he looked it over in his hand and c****d back his arm as he tossed it as high as he could. The rock hit the side coming nowhere close to the top before it plummeted back to earth and shattered on impact, He covered his eyes as the shards flew past. “I thought I’d find you here, Cairo,” Magda Said as she walked up. Her hands where tucked into the pockets of her large hooded jacket and her red bandana hung around her neck. Cairo turned from the wall to face his friend as he brushed the debris from his jacket “What are you doing here, aren’t you supposed to be doing chores?” He asked and stepped closer to her. “I finished early so mother said I could go play,” she replied with a toothy grin. She skipped the rest of the distance and stopped beside in front of him “You know if you keep playing here people will think you’re a deviant, everyone else is at the park right now,” She said and kicked a bit of rock at her feet. Cairo turned his attention back to the wall “This wall is extraordinarily interesting,” he replied in his most mature voice. “No, it’s extraordinarily boring actually,” Magda retorted and stuck out her tongue in a mock gesture. “The park is for little kids.” “Well then why aren’t you there then?” she sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes “Is staring at some old wall more fun?” she asked. “I just don’t get how you guys aren’t curious about it, you all just run around and play like it’s not there,” he said and threw his arms up in exasperation. “But it is there, and whatever may be behind it we aren’t allowed to see,” Magda said and tucked her hands back into her pockets. “Doesn’t that make you want to see it more?” he asked and turned to look into her eyes. “No actually, less if anything,” she replied “mother always says curiosity killed the cat.” “Well my father always said curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning,” Cairo replied. “How would you know you’ve never even met your father?” she asked and placed her hands on her hips. “My mom told me, she said he was a great adventurer and that he came from over the wall,” he replied. “Well that’s not true, my mother said your mother is just too embarrassed to tell anyone who he really is.” His face grew red and his cheeks puffed out in anger “What does your mother know!” he said and glared at her “My father was better then everyone in this stupid town.” Magda frowned and her shoulders relaxed “Cairo I… I didn’t mean to.” She reached her hand out toward him but stopped when he turned his back. “That’s why I’m not going to waste my time playing in some dumb park,” he said and walked up to the wall. He sat with his back against it.