Preface
“Vara’s stupid! Vara’s stupid! Stupid, stupid Vara!”
Hands joined hands, forming an unbreakable circle which revolved around Vara in a cruel dance. Faces became blurred and indistinguishable, clothes nothing more than drab splashes of colour blending into one another. Her tormenters’ glee was evident as they spun faster and faster, and sung louder, clearly enjoying this game.
Vara slipped to the ground, hugging her grazed knees to her chest as she stared at the sky, watching the darkening clouds roll over her and the sniggering children. The anguish in her eyes and the sparkle of a single tear was enough to incite them to continue.
“Stupid, little Vara! Stupid, little Vara!”
Their cruel laughter surrounded her, suffocating her like the heavy water of the river. Sometimes they found her there and they would play a different game. One they liked to call ‘Fishy Vara’. They would hold her underwater and chortle as she thrashed and screamed, desperate to drag air into her burning lungs. Then all of sudden they would disappear, already bored of the game, and leave her gagging and choking on the riverbank, terrified of their return.
Like now. There was one final burst of laughter before they let go of each other’s hands and scattered like birds disturbed by a cat. The cat came in the form of raindrops as they fell from the sky like tears. They chased the children away until Vara was left with only the sound of the rain pattering against the ground.
Vara didn’t mind the rain. It kept the children away more than the elders ever could, despite their threats and scoldings towards her tormentors. The rain didn't ask questions, or call her stupid, or try to teach her to read. It just washed her feelings away, until she was empty, no longer a person, no longer an orphan, no longer Stupid Vara. Until she was just existing, not living.
Until she was nothing.
“Vara.”
She blinked back the tears that blurred her vision and saw a boy her age standing not that far away. He didn’t seem to mind the rain either; he wasn’t running away and seeking shelter like the other children. He was just watching her with his serious, brown eyes.
His hand was held out to her, waiting and expectant, a silent offer to help her to her feet.
Vara gazed up at him, softening at his act of kindness. She never received sympathy from anyone her age, and was torn between relief and weariness. She was right to be uncertain, for his face was one she had not glimpsed around the village before, despite the pathetic size of Hujulin Kal. Recently, she had noticed no one welcomed strangers anymore. In fact, new faces were rarely seen. Not only that, but a few of the children played this trick on her sometimes. One would talk to her and distract her with kindness, while the others would creep up behind her and drop worms down the back of her dress. So Vara had learned the hard way to shy away from gentleness.
Yet his eyes ... they were so unwavering, so compelling, so trustworthy...
She grabbed his hand.
Almost at once, a pain like fire began to spread up her arm. Agony she had never felt before tightened its grip on her until she couldn’t even scream. Her eyes rolled like rocks tumbling down a hillside as she slumped to the wet ground, succumbing to the claws of the reaching darkness.
The last thing she saw was the boy pulling his hand away, a tiny little picture of a black dragon scratched on his wrist.
...Twenty questions-R-us, I know, ha, yeah...
gold star for you!
