Edit: 6/19/2010
I've added a revised copy. Also you can read it via it's place in my novel. http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/topic64789.html
The Wall of Ignorance
I stared at the wall for the millionth time, studying every detail. I had been doing this ever since we had moved here, back when I was six. When my parents and I had moved to this house the wall was there, 10 feet high of solid concrete and brick.
I asked my family and friends about it, and was surprised to learn that it stretched and enclosed an area of a few thousand acres. Apparently the government set it up to keep what was known as the ‘wild men’ away from us. No one knew much about them, only that they were strange, crazy, and unpredictable.
It was only the kindness of the government that kept them alive. A government employee told me this, but I’m not so sure that’s why. It bothered me that we knew so little about them. Surely someone would have gone to study them.
However, I soon found out that a great number of people tried. No one came back, and all the other researchers didn’t think the risk was worth it. From that day forward, I vowed that I would find a way over that wall and learn more about these people.
I didn’t tell anyone about it anymore, they would just put me down and call the idea silly and childish. Just like all the people at my new high school had. However, I knew there was a way over the wall; I just didn’t know what it was. Until my father built a shed next to it and I had hope.
I was able to climb onto the roof with the help of a nearby tree. And tonight was the night that my exception would begin. Still I stared at the wall, it was an old habit I had; helping organizes my thoughts and relaxing me before the big jump.
The wall was the same as ever, smooth as water. I had memorized the location of every crack, every imperfection of color and feature. I was lost in thought of what my journey would bring until it was dark and I was called in for bed. I came in, said goodnight and fell into bed with all my clothes on.
I didn’t plan on falling asleep. I planned on waiting an hour or two until my parents fell asleep, then make my escape. But, of course, I unexpectedly fell asleep. However, I had planned on this and I was awakened at midnight by the sound of an alarm in my ear. Confused for a moment, I then quickly shut off the alarm on my watch before it could wake my parents up.
As quietly as I could I got out of bed and tiptoed downstairs. I put my shoes and my coat on, as well as my backpack that I had packed beforehand. It contained some clothes, a bit of food as well as a video camera and a pencil and pad for scientific observation. I opened the back door slowly then slipped out before slowly closing it.
Silently I slipped out onto the patio. The black night air was crisp and cold. I hugged myself trying to shrug off the chill. Then I turned and rushed to the shed and the wall. With all the grace I could muster, I scrambled up the tree, and then jumped onto the tarred roof. Anxiously, I kept my eyes on the roof of the shed as it creaked and moaned in the wind.
When I realized it wasn’t going to fall under me, I backed up a small bit and took a running leap at the wall. As I soon found out the shed was about a good two feet shorter than the wall. Grunting with exertion I managed to pull myself onto the top.
The other side was a massive forest of endless trees that looked untouched for decades. It looked like the perfect place for some wild men to be hiding in. Carefully, I jumped down, landing on soft, fresh dirt. Dusting off, I breathed in amazingly clear air and looked at the vast expanse of trees in front of me.
I turned back to the wall and found that it was loosely covered in moss and vines. It occurred to me now then that I didn’t have a plan for getting back. But I didn’t need one now. Gathering up my courage I ventured forward into the trees.
They were very thick and full of live and green leaves more so then any other tree I had seen. They were also very tall, certainly taller than ten feet. I wondered how I had never seen them before. They were spooky in the darkness and my heart beat faster as I increased my pace.
I had expected the wild men to be running around everywhere, but there was nothing but trees and more trees. I realized that it was stupid to think that they would all be bunched near me, when they had thousands of square acres to roam around in.
There was no way I was going to find them tonight. I needed to pace myself. So I slowed down and started walking very slowly. I was beginning to get very tired. It was after all the middle of the night. So I found a comfortable looking tree, sat down and rested using my backpack as a pillow. It wasn’t long before I was fast asleep.
My dreams were all confused and mixed up. People kept chasing and yelling at me, most of them loincloth wearing barbarians. Yet even still these dreams weren’t nightmarish.
I awoke with a start and squinted in the bright sunlight. It was late morning. I had slept for a long time. The birds were singing in the lit up trees, and the sun illuminated everything with a golden light. My world was warm and calm, and it took me a few minutes to soak it all in.
But I knew that I would have to get moving sometime, so I got up, grabbed my backpack and started walking. As I was on the move, I again observed how different everything here was. The air was so crisp and clean, the trees made me feel like an ant, and even the birds had a different song.
Suddenly I froze when the song of the birds reached my ears. It was different because there was something in addition to the bird singing. I listened closely, and it took me a few seconds to realize that the singer was getting closer.
That’s when I began to panic. There were no low branches around to climb, and the chances of finding a building were not good. So I decided that running away was a good choice. Then I remembered why I was there, and the fact that I might not get another chance.
So I swung my backpack around and got out the video camera. Listening for where the singer was coming from, I positioned myself behind a tree and crouched down. I turned the camera on and pointed it in the direction where the song was coming from.
The idea was that I could videotape the wild man and follow him until I found more of them. Then I could hide outside their camp and get all the information I could from a distance. What could go wrong? A human silhouette appeared in the shadow of a tree, and I braced myself to push record. But when the person came into the light, I was too shocked to move.
It was a girl, about five or six years old, singing in an odd language, and laughing while running. Her shiny silk toga moved freely with her but still hugged her tightly. It looked extremely comfortable. She kept looking over her shoulder as she ran, as if waiting for someone. She ran past my hiding place without as much as a look in my direction.
A few moments later, another figure came running by. This time it was a tall, muscular man, his toga similar to the girls though bigger and in a different style. He was singing to the girl in the same language and had a big grin on his face. He ran swiftly past, and I had the idea to follow him. Slowly, I got up, put the video camera in my backpack, and swung it around my shoulders. Suddenly, something touched my back and yelled.
“Boo!” I was already on edge, so this made me jump about three feet in the air. I spun around and saw the girl laughing hysterically. I remembered the man that was with her, and quickly ran to another tree, out of the sight of the giggling girl.
No sooner did I hide behind the tree then the man appeared and scooped up the girl in his big arms. She hugged him and sung him a few words. He started walking back to where he had come from, gently holding her. He sung to her softly, like a lullaby. He was becoming small in the distance, and I quietly followed him, staying as far away as possible without losing sight of him.
It was not hard. He looked like he could sprint two miles, but he walked very gingerly and slowly. He would periodically look at the girl in his arms. She must be asleep, I thought as I stealthily crept through the woods. I’m willing to bet that he is her father.
Then the trees started to thin, and I saw something shine in the distance. When I got closer I saw that the shine was a tent made of the same material as the man’s clothes, woven much tighter. Beyond that were more tents around the soft glow of a fire.
Around the fire were three more muscular men in more shiny togas. When the father was in sight, the men motioned for him to sit with them. He went inside a tent, and came back out without the girl. Soon he joined them around the fire, singing and laughing with them.
I watched all of them like a panther for ten minutes, being as still and silent as humanly possible. The shiny material kept grabbing my attention, and I wondered what it felt like. But I couldn’t go any farther than my hiding tree, or they would see me. I had to wait. So I did, and tried to learn as much as I could.
But that wasn’t much. It looked like a couple of guys sitting around a fire, though they were so buffed up it looked like a football meeting. They kept drinking out of a bronze cup that they passed around. My leg was starting to fall asleep, but I forced myself to be patient. They had to leave sometime then a sample of that cloth would be in the open.
I slightly readjusted my foot, and was horrified to hear leaves crackle under me. My hope that they would not notice was in vain. They all paused, and slowly turned to face my tree. All the singing and sound had stopped. No one moved for what seemed like eternity. “Why does it bother them”, I asked myself. It’s just leaves rustling.
Even so, they continued to stare with unbroken silence. This ended abruptly when the girl’s father whistled shrilly. The girl came out of the tent and stretched while yawning. Then, noticing how quiet everyone was, she walked to her father and stood at attention. He motioned to her, and she bent down to her level.
He started whispering in her ear, pointing at the tree that I was hiding behind. I knew what was coming next. I tried to move away, but fear had paralyzed me. The girl nodded, and then started in my direction. Every swear word I had ever learned was going through my head, and my legs finally got the message to move.
I started to creep away as fast as I could. I couldn’t go very far though, because the girl looked behind the tree and saw me. Her face lit up with a huge smile, like I was Santa, and then she broke into a run. She was very swift for someone so small, and when she was upon me she grabbed my arm and started pulling me out into the open.
I tried to pull her off, but she would not let go. Before I knew it, I was pulled into full view of all the men by the fire. By now I was in full panic mode now, and pulled with all my might on my arm to free it.
But still she wouldn’t release her iron grip. Now a man from the fire got up and calmly walked towards me, in no rush at all. I was beyond panic now. My stomach was churning as I shot the girl a pleading look. All the while she kept on smiling and hugging my arm. I looked back up, and stared right into the face of the most muscular guy to walk the earth.
It’s not that he was big, which he was, but it looked like he benched 500 to warm up. I didn’t like the way he was looking at me. It was the same face he would use on an annoying fly that he was about to swat. He got behind me, put his arms under my armpits and lifted me up effortlessly.
The girl let go of my arm and ran back to the fire, sitting next to her dad. The man started walking back towards the fire, and I did my best to resist with kicking, but it was a one sided battle. We got to the fir and he set me down in front of everyone there. Then he sat down, joining them in looking at me intently.
I did my best to look as small and scared as possible, which was not hard. I looked into the face of one guy, trying to pick out some emotion, when I saw his mouth twitching. He broke into a grin, and started chuckling to himself.
Then the rest of them started, and it wasn’t long before all of them were laughing hysterically, howling and slapping their knees. I just stood there, completely bewildered. They looked like they were going to kill me before, but now they were pointing and laughing at me.
“Oh man, that was the best one yet.” Exclaimed the man who picked me up. He slapped the man next to him on the shoulder, almost knocking him over. “That was even better then the bald guy!” He imitated my scared face, and I couldn’t help but laugh right along with them.
“Why are you still standing?” asked the same man, wiping tears from eyes. “Come, sit with us and drink something.” I obliged, and was passed the bronze cup. The clear liquid inside was sweet, yet seemed to burn within me.
“We apologize if we scared you, but you should have seen your face.” Said the man sitting next to him, wiping his eyes and giggling softly. I drank another mouthful more of the sweet liquid and passed the cup. Finally, I gathered the courage to start speaking. “I take it this has happened before?”
“Yes.” Said the father, recovering himself much more quickly than the others. “Everyone comes here expecting to find illiterate monkeys, but then they learn that they are the monkeys.” I had expected them to keep laughing at this remark, but they were silent, maybe even stone faced. It made me remember how no one had come back alive.
“What is it that they find instead?” I asked, remembering that I was on a fact-finding mission.
“Oh yes, let me tell you about us.” He said, sitting up strait. “We are on a rescue mission to help people like you. You know almost nothing, and yet you are content in that nothingness. The chain that holds you down is an abomination, and we are here to remove it.”
“Wait.” I said, not understanding. “Don’t you need to know everything to do that?”
“Of course, and I can assure you, we know more than that.”
I bit my lip, not knowing what to say. It appeared the tables had turned. The father, seeing my hesitation, clapped his hands together. The fire in front of us blazed, and then turned a violent shade of purple.
I was totally blown away, and he smiled.
“Men,” He said to the rest of the men,” It’s time to pack up and go. Tell HQ that we have another one.” The men and the girl quickly got up and went into their tents.
“Wait a minute.” I said feeling a bit overwhelmed. “What do you mean by that?”
“It’s regulation.” He explained. “Every time someone is going to join us we have to notify headquarters so they can prepare everything.”
“Don’t I get a say in this?” I asked, regretting it soon after.
The father became very upset, and he looked like he would pop a vein. “When you are in our company, do not speak like that. Ignorance is the worst crime we know of. Embracing it is not the wise thing to do.” He pointed to a tent. “You can rest in there until we are ready.” He said, using a tone of voice that did not leave any room for arguing.
I got up, thinking hard, and went inside. I closed the zipper and looked around the bottom of it was padded, but there was nothing inside. The glow of the fire was suddenly diminished, and was replaced by a shadow of someone standing in front of the tent. “No escape”, I thought, setting my backpack down beside me, and laying down.
Something was telling me that I had to get out of here. It was feeling forced and rushed, like it was to prevent me from resisting. However, if they did know everything and more, than they would have anticipated my escape and prevented it. I looked at the side of the tent, made of the shiny silk. Touching it in my hand, I ran my fingers over the soft fabric.
“All this because I wanted a piece to take home,” I thought. How would I even do it? It’s not like I had a knife on hand to cut it with. All I had was a video recorder, a pad of paper and a pencil. “A lot of good that does me”, I whispered angrily. I was beginning to get bored, so I picked up the pack and searched through it. Finally, I came to the pencil. It was sharpened to a fine point, and I looked at it for a moment.
I looked at the wall opposite the zipper and the man outside. No way, I thought, there was no way that would work. But what if it did? Quickly I stabbed the pencil into the cloth, and watched as it went right through. I kept doing this, though slower and with less noise, until I had a square outlined with dots.
From there it was a simple matter of tearing the rest until there was an opening just big enough for me to fit through. I put the ripped of cloth in my pocket, swung my backpack over my shoulders, and squeezed through the hole. With my belly to the ground, I army-crawled very quietly away from the fire.
The men were singing to each other, but it didn’t sound as nice now. It sounded like a captain ordering his men. When I was out of sight of them, I got up and ran as fast as I could. I had to get to the wall before they noticed that I was gone, which wouldn’t take long. I ran and ran and ran. Every noise freaked me out and made me run even faster. This time I was the hunted.
I was soon out of breath, but then I saw it. The massive, ivory covered wall. I ran up to it, never delighted more to see it. I leaned up against it, resting for a brief moment. Then I wondered how to get up it. All the trees around it were un-climbable, and I had nothing to stand on.
“Pitiful.” Said a voice behind me and I whirled around. The father was standing there, looking as mad as a person can get. I looked for escape options to my left and right, but I saw all of the men circling me, equally ticked off expressions on their faces.
“Did you really think we were that stupid?” The father said with clenched teeth. “That we would let you get away that easily? Look at your left leg.”
I looked down, and saw a small, blinking devise that looked an awful lot like a transmitter. I had no idea how I had not seen it before, or how they got it there, just that the jig was up. It was all over, and to drive the point home, the father pulled out a metallic gun.
“Because of your childish ways, this is going to be done a little bit different. This will knock you out for several hours, during which time you will be transported to our city and have all knowledge downloaded directly into your brain.” He sighed. “I didn’t want to do it this way, but you have left me no…”
“Oh shut up!” I snapped at him, surprising him and even myself. “What makes you think for a minute that anyone would ever in a million years want to join you?”
“We have all knowledge…”
“So you can’t learn anything new!” I ranted. “Would I have gone over this wall if I knew what was on the other side? Would I have the joy of learning something new if I already knew everything? Life would be a pointless existence if you have gone as high as you can. Why do you think we are here?” I didn’t mean to go that far, but I got upset when an adult tried to call me stupid.” He was taken aback at this statement.
“I…I… never thought of that.” He said stunned. “There is joy in not knowing?”
“Only the joy of new discovery and advancement.” I told him.
He was silent for a moment, and then spoke to the men surrounding me.
“To camp. Now.”
They went as quickly as they had come. He looked at the wall behind me with solemn eyes.
“I always thought… that the wall that separated us was hated on the other side. I thought that those on the other side yearned to embrace our wisdom. We call it the wall of ignorance for that reason.”
He looked at me. “You should go back and live this life that gives you so much joy. I will speak with some people about your ideas.”
He started to walk away, but I called to him. “Wait, how do I get over it?”
He looked at me, and then jerked his hands. I suddenly got a swooping feeling in my stomach, and I started rising up and over the wall.
“Cool” I said, and the father smiled.
“One of these days, you will learn how.”
Then he disappeared, and I was alone on the other side of the wall, in my backyard. I didn’t know how I would explain it to my parents, but the cloth might help. I looked at the wall again, no longer the wall of ignorance to me.
We can't see the MS Word version.