Young Writers Society

Chapter 1

It was a cold, dark, and windy day in the country of Estonia. I was walking down a trail of the nearby forest. I couldn’t help it, I loved walking here every night before dinner. There was no one around. Usually, there were a lot of people, but I was the only girl to ever want to walk in the forest. I rub my hands together to warm them up, now that I think about it I should’ve brought a jacket.

While I walk the trail, my brain relaxes, I don’t think about anything.

I continue walking and eventually stop at a blue bench to sit down and take a small break. I breathe out. Even though it was cold I knew it was the right thing to come out here.

My stomach starts to rumble. I haven't eaten my dinner yet, so I decided to head back home until my eyes find a tiny fruit dangling from a tree. I stand up and take it off the branch, debating if I should eat it or not.

It could be poisonous, I tell myself. It was rare that the fruit would turn out poisonous though, so I take a bite.

Oh my gosh. It was so sweet. Quickly, I devoured the whole fruit without realizing it.

I started heading back towards the trail until suddenly a wave of dizziness spread over me. I grabbed ahold of a nearby tree and sank onto the ground. Ow. Everything hurts, I thought. I soon realized that the fruit I ate had been poisonous. My luck really did suck.

I needed to go home, now. I stood up, still very dizzy, and started to follow the trail. I barely knew where I was going. I kept walking for what seemed like a long time until I crashed into something very hard.

Everything went black.

Chapter 2

I woke up to the sound of running water, and wait, was I in a bed? I was probably at home. I closed my eyes to go back to sleep, but then I heard a voice.

“Are you awake?” I opened my eyes to see a girl about my age, she was wearing a dark brown jacket and sweats. She wiped her wet hands on a towel and stared at me. “Are you ok?” I stared at her, stunned at where I was.

“Y- Ye-” I must've been too loud because she shushed me and said,

“Whisper, my parents don’t know you’re in here.” I nod and notice a tattoo on her arm, a symbol with a line across it. I blink, shocked.

She’s an Eritrean citizen.

I was in Eritrea. I gulp in horror.

Our Elector, Kim Salvator, would always tell us to stay away from Eritrea and its people. My family and I had learned even more gruesome details about Eritreans since we lived in the county right next to the border.

They were meant to be the enemy, and I was in the enemy’s bed. “Hey, are you okay?” I look at her, and part of me wants to run away.

“Ya,” I say, my voice shaking as I speak.

“Are you sure, you have some nasty bruises.” She hands me a freezing, wet towel to put over my wound. My eyes widened in shock. Why was she helping me?

“I- I’m an Estonian,” I blurt out after taking the towel. She stares at the tattoo on my arm, the one every Estonian citizen gets when they are born.

“I know.”

I look at her, confused.

“Then why did you help me?”

She shrugs and says,

“I found you on the middle of our nearby forest trail, unconscious. I saw the tattoo on your arm and knew if anyone found you they would turn you into the guards.” I freeze. I should’ve known that they do the same thing on their side as well. I probably ended up on the Eritrean side when I was blindly walking the trail and crashed into something.

“How did you end up on the Eritrean side?” she asks, reading my mind.

“I accidentally ate a poisonous fruit.” She looks at me like I’m crazy.

“Can you tell me what it looked like?”

“Umm, It was green and round,” I say, puzzled as to why she wanted to know that. She thinks for a moment and finally says,

“Ok. Those kinds aren’t deadly, so you’ll probably feel better in a couple of hours.”

“Thanks,” I say. Maybe our elector was wrong about the Eritrean people, although I had only met one so far. “So, what’s your name?”

“Leah, Leah York. What’s yours’?”

“Cody Bowers.”

“Nice to meet you, Cody,” she extends out a hand and I shake it.

“Thanks for helping me,” I say, sincerely.

“Wasn’t a big deal.” But it was, I thought that everyone who lived in Eritrea was evil, but she had saved my life. I promised myself that I would never judge the Eritrean people again. 

Chapter 3

“Oh my gosh,” Leah says and laughs. We were currently talking about our siblings.

“And then he started running around the house with the paper still stuck on his shirt,” I say, still laughing.

“My brother once ate sand,” she announces. My eyes widen.

“You should ask him how it tasted, I’ve always wondered.” We both erupted with laughter.

After it died down I guiltily said, “To be honest I always thought that Eritrean people were criminals.” Her eyes widened with surprise. I quickly continued, “Not that I believe that anymore, it’s just what every Estonian thinks.” She nods, understanding.

“Why though?” she asks.

“I don’t really know,” I reply. I stare at the clock on her nightstand.

“I think I should be going now,” I mutter.

“I’ll come with you.”

“Thanks.” She quietly shuts the door and we head out in the quiet night.

We walk in silence so no one can hear us.

When we near the border of Estonia and Eritrea, I face her.

“I guess this is the last time we see each other,” I say, disappointed.

“Ya,” she mutters and looks at the ground.

“Cya.” I do a little wave and walk into Estonia never to look back.

***

I try to enter my house sneakily, but my mom notices me. She works as a doctor, so she comes home earlier than my dad who works as a guard for Estonia.

“Where were you, Cody?” she questions sharply.

“I was taking a walk down the forest,” I answer honestly.

“This late!” she yells. “It’s so cold outside, why would you go walking in this type of weather?”

“I’m sorry, I just wanted a break from all of the training,” I muttered looking at the ground. In Estonia, we go to school to learn how to become a guard, although some people have the option to train for something else, like my mom who studied medicine. I decided to become a guard, but sometimes I regret doing so just because it takes a lot of my energy.

“That's okay, but don’t come back so late then,” she says, sighing. I nod, understandingly.

I walk into my room and sit on the bed, thinking about Leah. Why would our elector tell us that all of the Eritrean people are bad when Leah saved my life? The Elector wouldn’t lie to us like that, would he? Maybe I’m missing something.

I hear the front door click and soon after my dad's voice talking to my mom. Instead of going to the living room to eat dinner, I lay on my bed and fall asleep.