Chapter1, Rocky Prelude

Noticing differences, playing with fire, and taking nice long vacations to far away lands.

When I was young things were difficult, but not nearly as bad as they are now. Back in those days the only problem I would seem to have is trying not to attract attention . However, my differences stood out more than an albino in a black tribe…And one day, my biggest contrast to my peers, one that couldn’t normally be seen, came out suddenly…

“Ahmar…Ahmar! Are you sleeping?” A small little boy dressed in an uncomfortably tight school uniform laughed and skipped along large stepping stones heading toward his friend who was by a magnificent fountain. Both of them possessed darker skin than you would find in certain places but one of them was different. He isolated himself from the other kids at play. He didn’t laugh nor smile. Instead he stayed leaning over and looking into the fountain almost in awe. Adding to his social difference was his skin tone. Many shades lighter than most including his skipping laughing buddy, his black hair a bit more fair than most of the other children. What stood out even more were his dark red eyes. Dancing in the reflection of the fountain‘s water. “Ahmmaaaaarrr“ The child called this odd boy by his name casually. “Teacher said that fountain is new. She said we shouldn’t get too close and dirty it or she’d beat us till our bottoms look like apples…” The boy said in slight distress. Praying his friend didn‘t get into more trouble than he was normally in.

  “Shhh..I’m busy” Ahmar said while not even bothering to turn around. He continued to look down into the water, mystified in a sense. 

      I couldn't take my eyes off it the first time.

“What’cha lookin’ at?” The little child would ask as he came closer to his friend somewhat cautiously.

      That color was deeper than any other I had ever seen before. Like its own shade

 “Go away Hamza!” Ahmar said as he still remained focused on that object in the water while keeping his friend back with his left arm. Hamza continued his attempts to get closer but the lighter skinned child pushed him away with a big grunt and all the strength he had in his tiny body. “Owww!” Hamza let out a cry when he hit the ground, which attracted the attention of his fellow classmates and soon, the teacher. 

       At that moment no one else could see it. I wanted to keep its beauty for myself.

“Ahmar? What did you just do to your friend? Why is Hamza crying?” The voice was raised far above that of the crying. It was angry, frustrated, and almost murderous toward the boy the voice was directed to. “Are you picking even more fights!? With the last friend you have!? Are you listening to me child? Turn around and look at me!” The teacher could shout her own ears off; it wouldn’t make the boy take his eyes off the thing in the water. Slowly he reached his hand in. Enjoying the cool feeling of it and the soft sound of the splash as his hand entered the water. His tiny fingers wrapped around the object grasping it tightly. He soon pulled it from its natural habitat among the others inside the fountain’s depths. He marveled at it. This was his. It was born for him to hold, to play with, to keep and show only to the ones he trusted and cared for.

  “Ahmar what did you take from there!? What’s in your hand?” Finally coming to reality the boy realized his teacher’s anger and what she asked of him. He stuffed the item into his pocket. His defiant red eyes started up at the much taller adult. “N-no!” He shook his head. “Give it here!” The woman said as she grabbed the boy’s shoulder roughly. Ahmar struggled like his life depended on the thing. “Nooo! It’s not yours” He screamed. She would respond. “It’s not yours either, you took it, now give it here child!”  Their exchange of shouted words and angered movements would continue on, but the result of all this was already set in stone…

   That day I got three beatings, which  was actually better than usual for me. I got beat by my teacher, my principle, and another one awaited me back at home. Normally I’d get beat by the other kids too. They couldn’t accept me. Or maybe instead they saw me as their dog. Something they could do what they wanted with. All but Hamza thought that way. He was always kind to me…but he didn’t help when I was being stomped on by the others. He would just watch and cry…that’s all he ever did. He was my only friend, but he was weak. That’s why I needed to be strong. No one else who loved me was strong enough to carry my burdens lest they sink and drown with me.

  “By Allah’s name…you fought with your friend…and your teacher…over a rock?” Later that day Ahmar sat in the kitchen at the shoddy wooden table. This place was his home but he wouldn’t tell people that he lived here. He slept, bathed, and ate in this house, but living is something he did not do. There was no happiness or laughter. No fond memories or pleasures to be had in such a dreadful place. This woman, this monster, was the one who ensured it stayed that way night or day. “A-Auntie…you don’t understand…its special.” He said while the woman paced in the hallway, reciting prayers from the holy Qur’an, dressed as though someone had just mugged her. The sweat dripping off her face only served to register more how mad the woman must be.

  “There isn’t any use of sugar coating it for you is there Ahmar? You attract the wrong type of attention! Yet you still persist in start fights and making more and more trouble for me.” She approached him, and even before he could open his mouth and speak he earned a slap on his light skinned face. He winced in pain but didn’t cry out or shed a tear. This was opener to a grand beating. Not that he would just let this happen though. He was going to attempt to prove to her how special the rock is. “Why can’t you be more like Naidrah!?” She would shout as she walked over to a nearby table where the stone lay. “It glowed red!” Ahmar screamed holding his cheek. The woman picked up the rock

  “It’s a simple stone boy, are you color blind!? It’s as white as your father!” She screamed back in response. Ahmar’s eyes opened up wide. They were empty and full of sorrow over his aunts words. Speaking of his father was like that was equal to a knife in his heart. “Mother…” “Don’t you dare call for her child!” The woman yelled in rage as she threw the stone toward the glass cabinet beside the young boy. The shattered shards flew everywhere, one of which cut him directly below his right eye. Falling to one knee he held a hand tightly over that area. He could feel the blood rolling down his cheek; the cut was certainly deep enough to leave a scar. However as he stared down to the floor with his left eye, he noticed the face of his little sister, expression frozen in the reflection of the broken glass. He heard his aunt scrambling across the floor to get to Naidrah. The little girl’s face was in complete shock of the situation going on before her big brown eyes.

  “Naidrah! Auntie is so sorry you had to see that! Your brother was just being bad again,” The woman said as she comforted her. Petting the child’s head and wrapping a gentle arm around her. The difference in the way this woman treated Naidrah compared to Ahmar was downright shameful and sick. But Ahmar couldn’t be jealous. No, he was happy for his sister. As long as his aunt treated Naidrah well he didn’t need to worry about being in this place no matter what twisted punishments would befall him at the hands of the monster. 

    That’s when Ahmar finally got to look at his stone again. Once more he was enchanted by it. The stone sat among the broken glass in the cabinet. He would approach it, paying no mind to the crunching sound of broken glass under his feet, nor to the pain that unavoidably brought. As he stared at the stone, and reached out to touch it’s lumpy like shape, it glowed the most brilliant red shade. A clump of rock turned into the prettiest little gemstone.

   “I told you auntie…see?” Ahmar spoke in a soft pleading tone as he turned toward the woman and his sister. She wouldn’t have paid the child any mind if it weren’t for the sound of Naidrah admiring the color. “ Ohh…it’s pretty brother…” The little girl said with wonder in her eyes. Naidrah’s slim finger rising up to point toward it. Her clutching Aunt gave a grunt and turned to see Ahmar. “It’s just a ro-…” Suddenly the woman’s mouth would fall open. Just as wide as her eyes were. It couldn’t be explained. How did a stone change color and glow like that. “Ah..Ahmar how are you..doing..that” The woman’s speech slowed. She raised her eyes from the boy’s cupped hand to his eyes. Normally a dark shade that could almost pass for brown in the dim light of their home. However, as he peered down at the rock, Ahmar’s eyes glowed bright red. They shimmered and shined the same as the damned stone.

   She scrambled back, pulling Naidrah with her. “Demon! Monster! The shine of your eyes! I knew you were some kind of evil creation boy!” She screamed and almost hissed as Ahmar came closer. Both children had confused looks on their face. Naidrah couldn’t understand why something so pretty could frighten her aunt. And Ahmar could believe her.

   “N-no auntie. Not my eyes, the stone!” He came closer and closer, the more he did, the further she’d attempt to shuffle backwards. “It’s the stone that glows! SEE!?” Ahmar grew angry. However along with anger something else grew. A feeling that wanted to escape. Like it was trapped in his stomach and just built up more and more. She continued shouting out demon, trying to hold on to Naidrah but the girl wouldn’t have it. 

She reached up, trying to touch her brother’s stone. “Auntie…” Ahmar whispered softly, now seeing this woman was pathetic and beyond hope. A god fearing person who has marked him a monster “I wish you’d…”

                                   Burn

        Ahmar clutched the stone tightly in his hands, tears rolling down his cheek as he glared in hatred. His body got hot, but his hand was even warmer. Fire stirred up below the stone in his palm. His eyes opened wide in shock while the fires spread and stretched out toward his mother more like whips of ivy. In a flash of light the woman held up her hands and screamed out. The outcome of all this had Ahmar on his little knees, yet again paying no mind to the pain of broken glass sinking into his flesh as he looked on in horror. Did he really just cause this…and if he did, was he truly the demon his auntie said she was. She continued to writhe in pain from her hands, but Ahmar had no sympathy for that woman.

         What the boy was really horrified about was his sister. She was silent, but there was no way she wasn’t in pain. She had to be unconscious.  The burns on her face were sure to scar her. He wanted to yell at his aunt to shut up, but his words had left him already. The only good thing in this whole situation was the single fact that the flames stopped before the house could burn down.

      After that day I was forbidden to ever see Naidrah again. Not as though I was even given the slightest hope of doing that even without auntie’s words. See, her actions shattered me inside far worse than any words could do. The very next day after that incident I was put on a plane. Sent to live with my father in New York City, so far from Africa…

    Before I left Hamza had tears in his eyes. He shouted out at the top if of his lungs in public.

  “I’ll protect Naidrah!” The boy balled, appearing like a total mess as he would hic up and sniffle. All and all to Ahmar this sounded more of a confession of love toward his sister more than promise to him. “Thank you Ahmar…then I’ll trust you with that. Just remember what I asked you to do. As soon as you get my address you have to mail them okay?” Ahmar said with a firm voice and stern look. Getting a nod back from his friend Ahmar could turn around and head to his plane without regret. 

     Well…I did regret a lot of things. It was just the future that I was making an attempt to look forward to. Why was I so transfixed on that damn stone? Even on the plane I had smuggled it in to my pocket, but wouldn’t dare pull it out to take a look. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself completely for hurting my little sister, but at least I can escape from auntie while knowing she’s safe.

    What will my father be like? Before mom died she told me that he was some rich owner of a power company…but that told my naïve brain nothing of his personality. However, I felt like I had gained some type of power. An ability to change any situation I didn’t like even though I was only a child. I had no idea what sick kind of trails my life would bring.

Reviews

[Talismanic]

intention... attention?
This is really good, so gripping and intense... I admit the shifting between first and third person fragments things a little, but i feel like i don't need to know exactly what's going on, the emotional impact is clear.