So this one is about Kollin, and just so you know I do plan on having a draw of Kollin on my other blog soon. Don't know when since I'm still working on it, but I love the direction I've been heading. :D
*Dramatic, kind of sad music*
The five year old boy yawned in his mother’s arms.
“Mommy,
we a’most dere?”
His
mother smiled at him and stroked his hair.
“We’re
almost there, Kollin. Just another hour or two.”
“Dat’s
a yong time…” Kollin wrinkled his nose, and snuggled against his mother. “I’s
makin’ me seepy…”
His
mother chuckled, and rubbed her nose up against his.
“Well,
if you want to sleep you can. Then, before you know it, we’ll be there.” She
was about to say something else, when she stopped suddenly.
“Honey,
are you alright?” Kollin’s father reached over and took their boy from her
arms. “I’ll carry him for now. Are you sure you don’t need to rest?”
“No,
no… I’m fine… Just a little tired…” She smiled up at her husband. “I don’t want
to stop now, though. Not when we’re so close to reaching our new home, and the
place Kollin is going to grow up in.”
“Yes,
but you should be pushing yourself so hard. Not when you’ve got the little baby
growing in your tummy.”
“Mmmh…”
Kollin’s mother hummed, her smile widening. “I can’t wait to meet my baby… I
guess I can sit down for a few moments…”
Kollin’s
father nodded and excused himself for a moment. He marched off of the path into
the forest, and came out dragging a log that he had found.
“Here,
sit on this.” He set it down for her, and helped her sit with his free hand.
“Are… Are you sure you’re going to be able to make the journey? If you need me
to I can leave you and Kollin here and run the rest of the way. Then I can find
some transportation or—”
“I’m
fine. I wouldn't feel safe if you left me and Kollin all alone, and besides… I
wanted to travel as a family.”
“’cept,”
Kollin mumbled, “I didn’ wan’ ta go at all…”
“I
know, son.” Kollin’s father squeezed him in a tight hug. “But we had to.”
“How
come?”
“Well…”
Kollin’s parents looked at each other, both unsure how to answer. “Sometimes
people aren’t very nice… They… They make up their minds about certain things
and they refuse to believe any other way. And there were lots of those people
back at our old home, so now we’re moving to a new home where people won’t know
us yet.”
Kollin
made a small puppy like whimper in his confusion.
“I don’
get it…”
“That’s
because you’re still small.” Kollin’s mother patted the seat beside her,
motioning for her husband to sit. Then she hugged Kollin as well. “When you’re
older you’ll understand. But for now just know that your father and I love you.
No matter what happens we’ll always love you.”
“I yike
you too!” Kollin said, grinning. Leaning closer to his parents faces, he licked
them both, and gave a small, excited bark.
“Careful,”
his father warned, smiling gently, “otherwise our little puppy isn’t going to
be tired anymore. Go ahead and sleep, Kollin.”
Kollin
whined as if he wanted to protest, then he gave a big yawn, and sighed.
Wrapping his arms around his father’s neck he quickly fell asleep.
“I-it’s
not fair…” Kollin’s mother said, her smile no longer present. “It’s not fair
how people treat him just because he’s different! Why would they blame a five
year old for people’s deaths, especially when he didn't even know they had
died?”
“Shhh…”
His father wrapped an arm around Kollin and his wife. “You don’t want to wake
Kollin…” He leaned over and gently kissed his wife on the forehead. “I know it’s
wrong, but there’s nothing we can do. Nothing but move on and start over where
people won’t judge him as harshly. And if it happens again, we’ll pack up and
find somewhere else.”
“But
what kind of life is that for Kollin? And the new baby? It’s… It’s terrible to
have to rip them away from a home like that.”
“Yes,
but think about Kollin’s safety. Sooner or later people will start to react
violently, and Kollin will end up hurt or worse… At this point I would rather
move him constantly then attend his funeral.”
Kollin’s
mother sobbed quietly.
“I-it’s…
It’s too much to think about…”
“Then
don’t think about it, my darling. Let’s move on. Once we get to the new house
we can put everything behind us and start a new life. We might not even have
the same problem, and in that case, this move will be our first and last. So…
Let’s not think about any of this ever again unless we have to.”
She
nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“Y-you’re
right… You’re right. For Kollin’s sake I will move on. And I will hope and pray
that Kollin can grow up having a normal life.”
He
smiled, and helped his wife to his feet, then they walked on…
Kollin was dreaming of chasing a rabbit. He wasn't exactly
sure what he was going to do with it when he caught it, but the chase was
thrilling and exciting. It was so much fun he almost never wanted to wake up
again. But with a sudden jerk, he was pulled from his pleasant dreams into a
real life nightmare.
Kollin
blinked several times, trying to figure out where he was. Whimpering in terror,
Kollin realized that the jerk that had woken him up was him being pulled from
his father’s arms to be held at gun point. There were five other guys
surrounding his parents, all of them holding guns.
“Don’t
touch my son!” His father pleaded. “Please! I don’t know what you want from us,
but please leave my son out of this!”
“Shut
up!” One of the men slammed his gun into his head and sent him to his knees.
“Both of you give us all your money and valuables, or we’ll shoot the kid.”
Without
hesitation Kollin’s father dumped all of the money from his pockets onto the
ground. Then he took off his watch and wedding ring, and turned to see his wife
taking off her necklace and her wedding ring.
Then
man who was holding Kollin scowled at the small amount of money, and raised his
gun to Kollin’s head.
“No,
please!” Kollin’s mother sobbed. “Please…”
“Th-this
is all we have…” Kollin’s father pushed the money towards the man. “Please take
it and let my son go… There’s no reason to kill him.”
“Huh,”
the man said with a nod, “you’re right. It’s not the boy’s fault his parents
are poor. Pushing Kollin to the ground, he turned his gun on Kollin’s mother
and fired.
Both
Kollin and his father cried out in shock and horror. Kollin was shaking visibly,
tears streaming down his face.
“M-m-mommy…”
His
father rushed to her side, choking back a sob as he saw the bullet wound in her
chest.
“No,
no, no… Why?” He cried over his wife’s body in anger and anguish.
“Don’t
worry, you’re going to join her.” The man with the gun said, as he took aim.
Jerking
his head toward his son, Kollin’s father yelled, “Run, Kollin! Run!”
And as
Kollin heard the gun shot, he took off as fast as his little legs could carry
him.
Kollin gasped for breath, swaying dizzily as he leaned
against a tree. He had been running for days since his parents had died. He
actually managed to run for an hour straight, then took a few moments to rest.
Once he had taken a break, he started running again, with no idea where he was
going, or what he was going to do. He kept running like this until a few days
had past, and finally he was too tired, hungry, and dehydrated to continue.
“I-I
r-r-ran, Daddy…” He cried as he slid down the tree and sat hard on the ground.
“H-h-how c-come… How come you c-couldn’ come wif m-me?”
Kollin
wrapped his arms around himself and cried until no more tears would come. He
was still shaking, the sound of the gun shots refusing to leave his mind,
promising to haunt him forever. He was now an orphan, and somewhere deep inside
himself, Kollin knew he wasn't going to survive without his parents there to
care for him.
He was
going to die…
Kollin’s
head snapped up as he heard a small rustle in the woods, and he stood up,
panicking. Before he could react though, the head of a wolf poked out of a
bush. Kollin stood still, suddenly more curious then afraid.
“D-d-doggy?”
He hesitantly took a step forward, but froze when an ominous growl came from
behind the baby wolf. Kollin whimpered and began to retreat, but the growling
stopped, and another wolf appeared from the bush.
This
wolf howled and a dozen more wolf came out of their hiding places. Kollin
stayed as still as he could, wondering if they wanted to eat him. A few of the
wolves stepped closer and sniffed the boy in front of them. In response, Kollin
got on all fours and howled in exactly the same way as the first wolf had, only
smaller and with less power. All the wolves tilted their head curiously, then
howled back, startling Kollin.
Then
all at once the rest of the wolves gathered around Kollin, rubbing on him, and
licking him. As Kollin watched them, he smiled, hoping this meant they would
all be friends. From there, they guided Kollin to a river where he lapped at
the water. They fed him, and he played with the wolf pups until he was so
tired he fell asleep. The Mama wolf who had first seen Kollin, scooped him up
on to her back, and carried him as the pack moved on.
Kollin had grown up quite a bit since he was five years old.
Not a day had gone by that he didn't think of his parents, but with those
thoughts came the thoughts of the new family who had taken him in. He was
twelve years old now, or as far as he could remember he was. As the seven years
had passed, the pups he had grown up wrestling with were just as big as he was.
The
wolves had taken care of him in every single area except for clothes. As soon
as he got too big for the ones he was wearing, he raided a near-by town for a
pair that fit him. It was that time again, and as he separated from the pack
for a few minutes, he howled, hoping he was letting them know he was going to
be back soon. He knew they would wait for him, they always did.
Running
into the village on all fours, he leaped into the yard of one of the houses,
and stood up to examine the clothes line. After trying on several different
items of clothing, he finally found a tee-shirt and a pair of jeans that fit.
Looking
around to make sure there was no one close, Kollin took off, running back to
his pack. He was almost there when he heard the unforgettable sound of a
gunshot. Eyes widening he howled and ran faster, hoping nothing had happened.
When he
reached his pack, the scene was horrific. Men with guns were shooting the
wolves of his pack, and the wolves tried to defend themselves and fight back,
but they were no match for the men’s weapons.
Kollin
raced in the center of everything, growling at the men, and tackling the
closest one.
“Whoa,
whoa! Kid, stop. We’re trying to rid the town of these monsters…”
Kollin
turned in a rage to the man who had spoken, and moved to tackle him, when he
heard the whimper of one of his closest friends.
Hesitantly
crawling over to him, Kollin pulled the wolf’s head into his lap, and bit his
lip as a tear made its way down his face.
Letting
out a howl, Kollin threw his head back as the wolf let out his last breath and
went limp. He gently laid his friend’s dead body on the ground and turned to
face the men. He would have attacked them if they hadn’t had their guns trained
on him.
As the
authorities of the town arrived, the men explained what had happened, and the
carefully pulled Kollin’s hands behind his wrists and handcuffed him.
“What’s
your name, kid?” One of the officers asked him.
Kollin
stared at the ground, growling. He couldn't believe his family was dead again…
“Kid,
what’s your—”
“Go
away!” Kollin yelled, the English words feeling odd and unfamiliar in his
mouth.
“No,
not until I get to the bottom of who you are, and what you were doing hanging
out with a bunch of wild animals.”
Kollin
shook his head. He had no response for the man, and he wasn't sure if he would
be able to clearly communicate with him anyways.
They
dragged Kollin away when they received no answers, and placed him in a room for
interrogation. After a week all they were able to get out of him other than
growls, barks, and howls, was that his parents were dead.
That
was enough reason to place him in the orphanage, and as they dropped him off
there they threatened to kill him if he even thought about doing something bad.
In the
orphanage, Kollin was given a place to sleep on the floor with thirty other
boys. All of them were bigger and tougher than he was, and as soon as they got
a look at his strange behavior they began to tease and bully him. He could
expect to have his food stolen from him every day, and when he attempted to get
it back, the people who ran the orphanage punished him. Along with being picked
on, Kollin could hardly understand a word anyone spoke to him, and as a result
people would get mad and punish him for not listening or responding.
Eventually,
Kollin got the gist of what everyone was trying to tell him, although he never
spoke back. If he had to respond it was with a nod, a shake of the head, or he
would ignore everything, and face the consequences that came with it.
One
particular day one of the people who had run the orphanage asked him to recite
the rules, especially those pertaining to fighting as he had punched another
boy for taking what little food they had been given that day.
Kollin
sat in silence, refusing to obey. That received him a slap in the face, and a
whimper slipped out which Kollin quickly turned into a growl. The man simply
smacked him again, harder this time because everyone there despised the
canine-like noises he made.
Kollin
barked and grabbed the man’s arm, biting it hard. As blood began to seep out of
the wound, Kollin blinked, slightly shocked that he had caused it. Then without
warning, Kollin shot up, and ran out of the building, into the woods, and as
far as he could from that village.
There you have it... I was told by someone that it was pretty depressing, which is actually good because that's the sort of tone I was shooting for, but what do you think? You should definitely comment on your thoughts!
