Inveigler: born from a myth

Shadow of the past

           Navan Leon. Navan Leon Raeken. That is my name. You would say it is an uncommon name, true, but my story was a story I thought would never exist. So, I would kindly share it with you, just be patient.

Are you ready?

This is it then.

I may have been a typical boy who grew up in Romania, having an English name, but do not blame me for this, blame my parents who left me with nothing but a letter. To be honest, I found it on the bed saying that I have a gift. They were not that specific in which gift I have, and that I might find out later. Back then, I was just a boy who did not care about the letter much. I did not think of my parents. I was raged by the fact they left me, so, the letter meant nothing.

I was raised in the middle of a forest by locals, people who grew there, the sisters, and the priests from the church. The place became my home quickly, as for outsiders, I have not seen any because we were very protective of our community. They pretty much raised me and thought me Romanian, English, Spanish, French, and German.

When I was not helping with every activity that was needed at the church, or in the kitchen, I was horseback riding. I never thought about my future, while I was living my simple life, but somehow my curiosity and boldness made me think about who I was.

I barely had clothes to change, but I was good with that because I was raised to believe that I had to do good things, to be kind and honest, and to help others in hand than being material. As I said before, I did not know much about my parents and the first ones to ask about them were the nuns who raised me. They couldn't give me an answer since they said they found me by the stairs of the church. My parents told me in the letter that I had to live there, that they loved me, and if I would read the letter, it meant they were dead. I know I should have believed what my parents told me, but I know that something was not right and every time I had that thought, I was trying to think at something else, forcing myself to believe everything was true.

Mornings were perfect with cold air, invading my lungs. Cold – fresh- air.

I heard that in the city the air was polluted. That everyone outside this place was slowly killing the planet, the very life we had to treasure. Surely I was an open-minded person, and always curious to learn what the world had to offer, but the fact that news traveled fast about harming the environment we live in, made me think that being safe here is a good option.

The weather was cold almost all the time, but I loved the cold fresh air. Who would not want to live here? Living in the countryside had its advantages too. Of course, you wouldn't resist a day if you were that sunny type, like I heard, in the city. We were living near the mountains, not needing cars, malls and barber shops, or any of that sort. We would manage. We had rainy days but not like other cities from Europe.

One matter that was in my head was that the other kids who didn't meet their parents weren't that bothered by this fact. I thought that they were really sad not trying to understand why they were left, but I guess they wanted to feel safe, and they were. They were constructed to be strong. What was different about us was that we were not rude. It takes a lot to know that you were left alone, and you still managed to be taught to behave well. We all respected each other.

Girls weren't allowed to talk to us, and they had their dorms. We were only allowed to talk with them when we were in class.

The houses we were given weren't that big. We had small ones, for a person or two to live in.

When we were going to eat food, we had a kitchen in another area of the church. We would sometimes do our food and help the nuns if tourists were visiting. I liked to watch them and see how amazed they were by this place. I was surprised they even liked this place since they came from town, but, they did. They would eat our food, and ask us how do we know English since we were in another country, ask about this place and some didn't even know it existed. They say that it is a fairy tale. Some would like to live in our homes, see how we live.