THE LIGHT

The Force

Jake

Let me tell you how we ended up in this mess. While we were in school back in Canada, Shane and i were recruited by some guy. Well the guy had a relationship with our principal/headmaster, he chose a minimum of 12 boys throughout the school, 6 in my grade and i was among the 6, then he chose another 6 in Shane's grade and he was among that 6. We were never told what we were chosen for, they just told us that we were one of the special ones. The chosen ones, other students seemed happy to be chosen because they said this has been happening for about 4 years and that all the guys who were chosen came back home cool, popular and somehow well off. I wondered if we were not being recruited to be drug smugglers or whatever illegal thing these people might have been involved in. Another surprising thing was that we were taken the same day and when we asked about our parents we were told that it will be taken care of. They put blindfolds on us before we left so that we couldn't see where we were going or how to get there. All i remember is that we drove for a while then flew, i don't know for how long because i slept for some time and woke up when we were taken out and put into a car again. We drove for a while then the car came to a stop and blindfolds were removed. When we looked around which we didn't have much time to do because two men in military clothes came by and we were told that one group of 6 is to go with one and another with the other man. We did as told, Shane and i were separated. We were scared but we had no choice but to cooperate. We were taken to different training sites still not far from where the car had dropped us. The team was asked to choose a team leader and my team voted for me since i was head boy at school and Shane was chosen as second in command by his team. Training began, mind you we didn't eat anything since we left school but these people didn't seem to care. Each team had two trainers allocated to them, we were trained until it started getting dark and the guy came to call us to eat. We were lead to what looked like a small hall only to find out it's a dining room but bigger than most. We were introduced to the commander which was the guy we came with, scary looking guy, doesn't talk, smile or even open his mouth much when he speaks. His voice is always low and you have to pay attention when he talks about he doesn't repeat himself. Then we were introduced to supervisors which were the guys who trained us. In me team it was me, the second in command Mike, our back up Tatenda a Zimbabwean guy, Nick, Frank and Samuel. We trained with the supervisors for 3 months in knives, swords, torture, fighting, different guns and how to stay invisible not literally of course. We had to know how to blend in wherever we were so as to not be spotted by the enemy, the next 3 months we were trained on the field, we would be asked to rescue certain people we don't know. Apparently that's what our jobs was, we got hired by rich people to do anything they wanted, if they wanted us to steal something we would do that, if they wanted someone rescued from kidnappers we would do it, if they wanted someone kidnapped we would do it but mostly Shane's team was involved in the kidnapping, stealing, we did the rescuing, finding people who didn't want to be found and killing. The two teams were made to compete in each mission given and that's how we became enemies. But i couldn't hate my brother because of that now could i? Well what traumatized us the most were the killings even in training we were taught to kill with knives and guns even our bared on we were taught on real people. People we didn't know but people none the less, we were turned into killing machines with no hearts. We went back to Canada after the sixth month ended and when we got home we though our parents would ask questions but none of that happened. They just asked how it went on the camp and that the school informed them of our whereabouts. We asked if they knew where we were and what we did they said yes, but i don't think they do of else they wouldn't have been that cool about it or would they? We continued doing whatever jobs were assigned to us even after we came back until my father told me we were moving back home to South Africa, told the commander and my team so they also decided to leave. We went out separate ways even though we were told not to separate but we knew that they would find us when they want to because of the trackers they installed in us. When we came back we were so paranoid and kept looking over our shoulders until we decided to see someone, the nightmares were also unbearable. For a whole year we attended therapy and things started getting back to normal and i was also feeling better until my parents decided to get me a wife Camilla, that's when i got the urge to kill again and if i had gone home i would have killed all of them which is why i don't want to go there yet. Shane was just starting to fit in at school, has friends and a girlfriend and now all that will go down the drain. We have to find the others though and i don't know how because we never kept in touch. Shane comes into my room and snaps me out of my thoughts, he looked clean i think he showered. "check your phone" he says " it's in the lounge, what it it?" i asked not really wanting to hear it. "just check" he snaps, i went to the lounge and took it out of the charger and it has a simple message: Meet @7pm outside Pretoria  and it has coordinates of the place. " you scared?" my brother asks" no i just thought we could finally forget this and lead a normal life, especially you but i guess i was wrong." he looks at me for sometime "Don't give up we will find a way out" he says hopeful "Yeah" i don't believe there is a way out but i cant take away the little hope he has.