A Very Cliché Short Story

Dark, gloomy clouds stared down menacingly while a girl, named Concordia, walked straight ahead on the train tracks. Passing a discarded, decrepit train car, she only saw the slightest bit of the sun's rays peeking out of the sky. Ahead, she stared at what people referred to as the Island, a divided town, which was named appropriately for its seclusion and isolation. Concordia had already heard about how the clans had separated. The worn, rusty tracks would at some point lead her to a circle, located in the middle of the two villages. Civilians referred to the center circle of tracks as the Heart of the Island, which split the town and represented the boundary line between the two sides. Each side had its own beliefs about humankind. They never dared to cross over the tracks, for fear of being beaten or killed by their enemy. The horrific rivalry began over three hundred years ago, after the Great War. Families were forced to separate in order to survive. Gangs and clans grew in number as the world divided over trivial beliefs. However, two groups were unlike all the others.

One side was white, and the clansmen called themselves the Lights. The other was black, who were called the Smokes. The Lights-wearing all white clothes-thought that humans were good and had the capability to redeem themselves if they pursued it. On the other hand, the Smokes, who wore all black clothes, believed that all humans came to the world to fight, destroy, and corrupt. As the hatred between the two sides escalated, the Smokes and the Lights began to lose the ability to identify colors. Overtime, they could only distinguish the colors black and white-their friends and their foes. Finally, after the hundreds of gruesome homicides and murders, the people of the outside world forced the clans into isolation. No one had ever travelled to the Island before Concordia.

Concordia continued to walk bare foot swiftly toward the Island. Her feet seemed to glide over the ground. She wore a plain, grey t-shirt and a pair of jeans. The only sound was coming from the crunch of the gravel under her feet, and the wind blowing peacefully through the tall grass. After about fifteen minutes, she finally arrived at the Heart, where the tracks made a wide circle around her. No one could be seen anywhere in the dappled night. With each step she took, a circle of light rippled out from under her feet, closing slowly back up as she lifted her feet off the ground. In the distance, she could hear shouting from both sides. Unable to discern their muted words, she decided to lie down and call it a day.

She awoke to morning's silence. Concordia looked out as far as she could on all sides. Still, no one had come. Two hours later, on the left side, she saw a man in all black trudging through the tall grass. "Finally, someone makes an appearance," she thought to herself. Half an hour later, Concordia spotted a man in all white coming from the right side of the field. As she stared at the man coming from the Lights' side, the representative from the Smokes sides came up behind her. He stopped outside the left of track circle, and stared quizzically at Concordia's shirt as she stood expressionless waiting for the Lights' representative. The man's short white hair clashed with his dark black tunic. A minute later, the Lights' representative came to the right side of the circle. He had long, black, shoulder-length hair that matched the Smokes' tunic. As he saw the girl's odd-colored clothing, he inhaled sharply. Concordia turned to them and said, "I've been waiting for you."

"So...who are you and where do you come from?" said the Lights man quickly, glancing at the Smokes man. Concordia scanned them up and down, seeing that both had olive colored skin, and dark brown eyes. After realizing that she had just been staring, Concordia smiled and said, "My name is Concordia, and I am from past the horizon, where your people originally came from. And what are your names?"
The man on the right spoke first, "My name is Lance. I'm a Light."
Then, the man on the left spoke, "I'm Aiden and I'm not a part of Lance's stupid-"
"Hey! Who do you think you're calling stupid, Aiden? Get back on your side, Smokey!" yelled Lance. Aiden opened his mouth to fight back, but Concordia raised her hand, signaling for them both to stop bickering.
"Look, you two, calm down for just a sec and let me explain why I came here."
"What gives you the right to tell me to 'calm down'? His people are the ones who need to calm down! All Lance and his people do is sit around, planning out how to cruelly manipulate us. They're liars and a disgrace to all humanity!" shouted Aiden.
"Calm down, Aiden, and let the girl talk." Concordia stood quietly for a moment, waiting for the tense argument to come to a close.
"Thank you, Lance. Now, your clans have been fighting each other for generations, right? Well, do you not think that this feud needs to end?" A glimmer of light suddenly erupted for her eyes, causing Aiden and Lance's gaze to turn from the white sunset falling behind the horizon, to Concordia's exceedingly blue eyes. "No more blood, no more war, no more fighting, no more loss. It's time for you all to leave this lonely place. I'm here to help you move on." Rays of light came out from under Concordia's feet, and they reflected golden beams onto the ground.
Aiden stared down in wonder at the glowing white grass thinking, "I hate the Smokes for separating us, but would they listen to what a stranger says and just leave with her? Or would they try to kill her? She seems to have some sort of power, maybe even magic."
Meanwhile, Lance peered at Aiden through his watery eyes, "Could we really be brothers again-after all that has passed between us?"
Then, Concordia sat on the tracks and broke the tense silence, "If you wish to bring your people, I will be here. Those who choose to listen and obey what I have to say will be able to leave." After saying this, Lance and Aiden turned and began walking back to their clan, leaving Concordia alone in the moonless night.

The next morning, the Lights and the Smokes gathered and lined up along the edge of the Heart. Some were curious, some skeptical, some angry, some confused, and many were just terrified. The children gaped at her grey shirt, whereas the adults looked upon her with fear.
Then, an old man from the Lights side stepped forward pointing at the Smokes and shouted, "How dare you come here threatening us! We will never join them and go and live with the evil humans!"
Suddenly, a little girl pushed through the crowd of Lights and yelled back, "They're not all mean and bad!" And then out of nowhere, a Smokes woman threw a spear at the old Lights man, impaling him in the chest. The man's family charged forward with their fists high in the air. Both sides screamed and shouted their battle songs and war cries. Concordia, stood glowing slightly in the middle of the commotion and uproar. Three men from the Lights drew their daggers, flinging them at the Smokes woman. One after the other, they sunk into the woman's body. The first in her shoulder, the second in her thigh, and the third had sliced through her ear, piercing a boy behind her in his forearm. The woman instantly crumpled to the ground, as did the boy. Right away, both sides drew their swords, and waited for the impending charge of the enemy.
The mother of the young boy wept beside his body wailing, "My child! My child! Why must you kill my innocent child?!" After saying this, the Smokes side charged and started to pummel the Lights. Throughout all this chaos, Concordia continued to glow brighter.
Then, to try and end the ferocious battle, she covered her ears and let out a piercing scream, "STOP!" A wave of blinding light exploded from Concordia, knocking each person to the ground. Immediately, a wave of silence swept over the Heart. Concordia stood in the center shaking violently. "I'm terribly sorry that I had to do that but I meant no harm. The petty brawl was starting to get a little out of hand. Please, just let me explain." Everyone stood up trembling in fear as they stared at Concordia. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and began her reasoning.

"Now, I know about your individual ideas on the human race. Each of you is wrong. And each of you is right. We are all flawed-each and every one of us. However, there is forgiveness in this world for us all-if you take it. And you can, if you come with me." No one shifted or spoke.
Breaking the silence, the little girl ran past the boundary to Concordia and asked, "Are we leaving then?" Concordia smiled back at her and replied, "Not leaving, no. Moving on."
Then, a young Smokes boy stepped forward inside the Heart and asked, "Where are we going?" Concordia held her hands out to the children. "That, my dears, is for you both to find out." They each took her hand, and in that moment, colors came back into the eyes of all those who had gathered at the Heart. Everyone stood in awe as they watched the beautiful orange sunset cast shadows on the lush green fields. Gasps and sighs of relief filled the crowd. Children spun gleefully in circles as they now saw the world from a whole new perspective.
Concordia, laughing, turned to all them and said, "Now you're like me." Joyful whooping and hollering rang out in the field. All through the night, the people bonded together, celebrating their new union.

However, Concordia, did not stay for all of the festivities. Her work in the Island was finished. Under the glimmering moon, she traveled back barefoot to the old, rusty train locomotive. She stepped onto the car making it creak with satisfaction that someone finally wanted to utilize it. Cautiously, she crept to the engine room, trying to stay away from the shadows. There, she found a working break lever and other control throttles, a rotting wooden shovel, and some unused coal that would be enough to fuel her journey back home. The golden light from her feet lit up the room so she could see around her. Then, she heated up the firebox, and began to shovel mounds of coal to get the pistons warmed up. Minutes later, the wheels began to chug along the tracks faster and faster. The Island grew larger as the locomotive came closer to the outskirts. Concordia sped through the Heart, sticking her head out the window to wave goodbye to all of the Islanders. A loud chorus of, "Farewell Concordia!" echoed across the plain. As she continued through to the other side of the Island, even the moon winked her a goodbye as Concordia rode out-past the horizon.