The Truth About The Universe : The Coup | TATU |

19 : The Rest

The room was dark. Obviously because it was night. I was laying on bed, trying to sleep, but couldn't get today's events out of my head. I head Sam shifting in his bed. "Can't sleep?", I asked.

"No- It's just... just getting used to this bed", he said.

"Oh okay..."

When we arrived here- in India, we arrived in a military refugee camp, few of the patrol officers found us and took us with them to the main camp. We saw many children and women hurdled together sitting on the ground with blankets and sheets. We were made to sit down wth them and given some sheets.

"So, the commander would like to talk to you guys, you can leave the girl, she should be fine here", one of the officers said after reporting about us to his boss.

"Namaste!", the commander said as he got up and joined his head and bowed down, seeing this Sam also bowed down and after a moment I too bowed down awkwardly.

"Can you explain how you made your way here, or where you came from? Not trying to interrogate you or force you to relive some bad memories, if you need some time to think you can wait till settle everyone for today and find you a room. You can take your time to tell us, so we can make records and everyone is accounted for, you already know the situation here", he said.

"Ugh- no it's fine... we umm.. how do I put this... ", Sam started.

"We are from the United States, we have a thin grasp of the situation, and we might be able to tell you something important", I said.

"Oh please open up", the commander said as he waved at one of the officers behind us to leave. "Please take a seat gentlemen, you story sounds quite interesting"

***

Soon we got a room and were told to get some rest, but I just couldn't sleep. I walked outside and sat down beside the put out fire and looked at the skies. "Where now?", I said out loud.

Tears started rolling down my cheeks. They were gone... Vadar, Texas, Higson, Linda, Roughy, Dad, Mom, my friends... everyone, it was over, we were all going to die. I got up.

"WHY!", I screamed at the top of my lungs.
"WHY! WHY! WHY, WHY ,why, why, why... ", I screamed repeatedly, until my throat gave out. I fell down, still crying. I heard footsteps, as they cracked the dry leaves on the ground.

"It will be okay... " ,I heard a soft voice. "I know it must've been hard, but trust me, god will fix all of this", she said.

I got up, wiped my face. "Hel- hello", I said weakly.

She put her arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer, "Let it out, let it all out", she said as I buried my head in her chest. "Thank you", I said. I stopped crying and felt okay.

"Now tell me... where are you from, certainly not from here", she said.

"Yeah, I'm from the United States of America, my name is Preak", I said.

"Oh the USA... I'm Roma, from Nepal, one of the bombs landed straight down on my house, killed my whole family and my cousins, while me and my brother were at the school", she said.

"They teach you guys pretty good english at Nepal, I must admit", I said, knowing I didn't have anything else to say, but comment on her accent.

"Oh no! They don't teach english at the school, I learned it myself reading novels and other scripts", Roma said.

"That's impressive... I think we should go sleep, it must already be way past midnight by now", I said as I got up.

"Oh are you an early sleeper?", she asked as she smirked.

"Uh,,, not really, I used to wake up late to study- "

"So you've never really spent a night with someone alone?", she said as she drew closer.

"Um, yeah I haven't... "

"So its decided! We shall not sleep today. Come on I'll show you some amazing things!", she said as she grabbed my hand and got up. I saw her smiling face silhouetted by the moon, her hair all over the place, her white cheeks... she looked absolutely beautiful at that moment and time seemed to slow down and her smile, her face was engraved into my memory.

***

We walked for a bit, we were in the forest behind the rooms. "Where are we going?", I asked.

She turned around and put a finger on my lips and smiled. She had the best smile.

When we reached the border she said, "The guards are mostly asleep at this so we can sneak out easily"

"Have you... Have you done this before?", I asked.

"Well yeah, once or twice, you don't need to worry though, it'll be fine, we'll be gone for just a while"

We walked out of the settlement and went uphill, "Where are we going... I'm tired, I need a break", I said, I didn't know, not sleeping for a day could be this tiring.

She let go of my hands and ran ahead, "Hey! We're here! Come on quick!", she screamed. I walked at at faster pace expending every bit of energy left in me.

"This... wow!"