It was a fairly sunny and a perfectly beautiful day. The entire Sehyk family had arrived for the long awaited annual family reunion. Ten year old Ruhil loved this day as he would get to play with all his cousins and could also eat the delicious barbecue that was made during every reunion, but what he actually loved was the atmosphere. The way all the relatives came together on this day and how delighted they were.
This year had not been very good as tensions between the Highlanders and the Foresters had boiled over. The conflict between them had lasted for around 700 years now. The Foresters were the original inhabitants of this land, but the Highlanders had started settling here some 750 years ago. The conflicts between them had began to take a serious turn around 500 years ago when the Highlanders under King Souphil Jayel began to burn down the forests to satiate the demands of the growing Highlander population. The Foresters' King Nalaui Rua led an army and stormed the Highlanders' colony, which would one day be Saville ( 3rd biggest Highlander city), and massacred 343 Highlanders. Things had been going on like this for another 150 years when The Highlander King Jounil Mahek defeated the Foresters led by General Malas Jio and annexed the Foresters' kingdom. Ever since, the Forester land had "belonged" to the Highlanders, but there always was some unrest or the other in these lands.
But today that did not matter, today all that mattered was that the Sehyk family was together and none of them had been affected by this new crisis. Uncle Sahil was singing some new song that he had wrote, while his father sang along with him. He was just about to sing another song. When Grandma Siel announced that it was lunch time. Everyone rushed to the table. I raced with my cousins to get to our favourite seats.
The Sehyk family was eating and jesting. Like every year this year too everyone was praising Grandma Siel's barbeque. Uncle Sahil stood up and raised his wine glass and said, " A toast for peace and prosperity; may the Sehyk family live for ever." He had no sooner completed his sentence than a loud clap broke the serenity of the morning. Uncle Sahil dropped dead, a bullet through his chest. More gunshots were now heard. Men wearing some sort of green camouflage uniform stormed the Sehyk family reunion killing everyone indiscriminately. Ruhil who was hiding under the table was pulled out. Ruhil thought that they were going to kill him too, but it was his father who had pulled him out. "There is a bus stop about 600 metres west of here. Run as fast as you can when I tell you to." His father pulled out his Berretta .17 mm from the inside of his jacket. "This belonged to your Grandpa." Looking at his son's confused face he continued, "Ever since the Foresters started attacking Highlander families, I started carrying it. Now run!" His father raised his gun and randomly started firing at the men. "Go, I'm right behind you". Ruhil ran. His father was running beside him, looking at his watch. "Faster, the bus will be reaching there within 8 minutes".
The bus stop now loomed before them. The bus forked around the curve in front of them. Suddenly more gunshots echoed. More men in the green uniform were running behind them. The bus was only a few seconds away from them. The men now raised their rifles at them. Ruhil got in first. They started firing. The bus now sped away not stopping. Ruhil's father tried to enter but a few bullets ripped through his body and he fell down lifeless.
Ruhil began screaming, "I want to get out." No one did anything. Ruhil started to go to the bus exit but the conductor stopped him. "You'll just get yourself killed." Ruhil stared at the conductor for a few moments and sat down at the nearest seat tears dripping down his face.
