Chapter 1.1

When I was seven years old, I was sold and I became a child solider; a woman came to our orphanage early in the morning and brought us off the matron there. Matron was excited by her arrival- she tried to hide it, but she couldn't fool us. That women barely had any happiness left in her, but when the door bell rung at dawn, she came alive for the first time. Her wrinkled old face lifted, taking ten years off her appearance and a not so concealed sparkle in her eye.

She walked with a spring in her step (the old cane she usually used was left by the front door) as she retrieved us from our sleep and lined us up in the hallway. Still half asleep, I rubbed the crust from eyes, and what I saw was a young woman in her mid-twenties; her plain brown hair was pulled back in a tight bun, and her deep green eyes studied each of us in turn. She started from the side closet the kitchen, now that I was wide awake my curiosity took over and i leaned out of line to get a better look.

She was tall and thin, wearing a smart suit but carrying an old bag that seemed uncharacteristic of the rest of her clothes. She paused after each child, taking care to look at them in the eye; after a few she finally tapped a child on the shoulder, and a man I hadn't previously noticed, took the child out through the front door. As I was closest the door, I watched him take the small boy to the back of a truck, where he climbed in and was instructed to wait. The women continued down the row selecting two more boys and a girl, until she reached me. She paused when she reached me, and when I looked up into her eyes, her lips pursed into a thin line. I couldn't see anything beyond those eyes, just that blank stare and pale skin. I wondered if she was alive. My mind erupted in questions I wanted to ask, Who is she? Where is she taking the children? Why is she taking them? Why did she come? Will they ever return? I wanted to ask all these questions but for some reason, for the whole morning no-one but the woman spoke a word. It was a very odd scene, it felt strange staring into my eyes. It wasn't exactly unpleasant, but it felt like she was seeing right into my soul or even way beyond that. She was the first to pull away, followed by lightly tapping my left shoulder. I obediently followed the man through the front, still dressed in my light pyjamas, and joined the others in the back of the truck that smelled of dust and dirt. We sat facing each other on a bench running down both sides of the vehicle, after matron and the woman exchanged a few words and a hand shake (after which matron broke out in a huge grin), the truck doors we locked, and the women sat in the driving seat.

The whole ordeal took less than fifteen minutes; and at the end of it, I watched my home of six years slowly disappear through the back-window screen, as the truck pulled us away to our new fate.