Set Me Free | KOOKV

Chapter 1

Aussoville

Wrapped in scenic landscapes and endless miles of green pastures, this town was no less than heaven on earth, as if crafted by the almighty's own hands. Birds of all colours floated across the clear blue sky as sound coming from a far away monastery resonated in the morning air.

The town was at a 7-hour drive from the city. Untouched from heavy clusters of smokes and devoid of plastics strangulating the lungs of earth, this place was an attraction for people who longed for fresh air, a life sans busy traffic streets and an escape.

A small tourist place and a rather peaceful hill station had not many but few visitors arriving every year, which somehow ended up being more than enough for the townspeople.

The peaceful town was not peaceful all the time. The tranquility was often disturbed every year when nature would decide to go berserk and thunderstorms and heavy rains would force the people to be locked inside their houses for days, sometimes even weeks, resolving to depending upon their savings which they had quite a lot for a small town like that, thanks to the inflow of cash from the rich-men, a.k.a. the tourists.

They didn't have much to spend their money on anyways. Most people managed cattle and poultry, some in fishery and others in tourism, this simple town was inhabited by simple people doing simple jobs in their simple lives with moments of happiness and rarely, any sad moments.

Most people had their homes right across the road that crossed through the middle of the town going from one end to the other.

Others lived in the shadows of forests in the west, leaving a small section of population which inhabited the green pastures on the opposite end of Aussoville- the east of the town.

And among those velvety green hills on the eastside, lived a young man, a 20-year old male, better known as the beauty of the town.

With exceptional facial features and a heart-flipping smile, Taetae, as he goes by, lived all by himself in a small teak-wood house. Also known as the "flower boy" or "smile of the town", one would always find a smile on his face.

He was a tourist guide and for this ethereal town, he sure was a perfect match.

His beauty complimented the scenery or if the truth be spoken, it was the other way around.

Narrating century-old stories to the tourists as they took in the picturesque views all around, that was his work life. And he loved it.

He was happy. Just like he has always been.

What was there to not be happy about?

A house of his own, a job that he loved topped with the freedom to enjoy his youth. Only his way of enjoying his youth was roaming on the freshly grazed grass, or stepping and skipping on the round stones lining the river streams, or sometimes just sitting under the roof of his veranda as he counted the twinkles spread upon clear night sky. Simple pleasures of life and more than enough to keep him happy.

The young man didn't find living alone challenging as much as it seemed, in fact he loved it.

Summer evenings painting the sky purple, clear river stream water dipping on the crevices of soft pebbles on the incline facing his house, horses neighing in the nearby fields, lambs returning after grazing the soft grass in the evening, raindrops hitting his roof in the middle of the night.

He loved it all.

He also loved the nature going all out on the humans, reminding the weaklings that there is something much greater and way more powerful than solid concretes and hollow rulerships.