Honour amongst Thieves

In complete silence, did he feel the essence of fire and water. In unison, did they rip through his delicate skin, destroying each fibre cell by cell. His eyes cried in red, and his fingers felt what his eyes could not see: death.

Without fire, water ceased to exist, and without the purity of water, fire’s destruction struggled to breathe. But life was not kind to them, one died so the other could live.

Bodhi awoke in a pool of ice after spending eleven days unconscious. Never had he been so scared and frightened for his life. His mind was awake and vibrant, but his tired body lay in slumber. Figures that reminded him of that dreadful day came back to him in waves. The Leprechaun did leave and never came back. That was when Bodhi’s last strand of hope of being saved was lost. His mind gave in to the torture, and to save it from enduring more agony, he shut down; but before his mind fully gave in, Bodhi’s drowsy eyes thought they had witnessed the canopy shake. Alas, there was nothing Bodhi could do. However, not all ended in vain, he was still very much alive. Just seconds after Bodhi became unconscious in the pit of tar, came the sound of rustling and snapping of branches.

The appearance of Bodhi’s mysterious saviour tugged on his mind, for there was something oddly familiar about him, but before Bodhi could identify what it was, there was always something to distract him. His saviour dressed in the colours of the forest. His tight clothing drew perfect lines around the deep musculature beneath, which was hidden by a long draping cloak.

His physical characteristics reminded the common man and woman of a prince, except one with a leering darkness. He lacked the refined nature of a simple human being and sneered in disgust at every kind and welcoming gesture. He was this way, for his heart had been silenced and sewn up by stitches of hate and agony. However, Bodhi chose to ignore the bitterness within and focused on developing the smidge of goodness that rippled beneath his saviour’s skin.

He told Bodhi that he was to call him Abhivand, nothing more and nothing less. Eventually, Bodhi managed to get Abhivand to accept being called Abhi. This ripped open a single stitch encapsulating the man’s wounded heart, but it was too small of a change for Abhivand to feel a difference.

Abhivand cared for the poorly child and wrapped his scarred skin with many herbal remedies and earthy plants that were imbued with medicinal properties. Despite this Bodhi healed slowly, however, it did not bother him, for he was not in pain, and he had Abhi to tend to his every need, no matter how small or great. This Bodhi found peculiar; it almost felt as though he saw Bodhi’s predicament as a way to atone for his sins and bad deeds. But what he did not know was that he was there to atone for his sins that had directly affected the healing child.

Bodhi spent approximately eleven weeks hiding deep in the woods with Abhivand. He was in no stable condition to move about for a long while and he contracted several serious infections along the way which only complicated the matter. Throughout this time the child had a lasting impact on the broken man, for Bodhi reminded him of someone close to him, another child. Bodhi had almost entirely unstitched the poor soul’s encaged heart, before Abhivand revealed to him that his wounds had healed enough for them to leave. Once Bodhi’s strength returned they set off from the woods for the nearest town, which was miles away.

The young child was unaware of what Abhi had planned to do next, for he did not feel at threat by his side, and so had subconsciously suppressed the part of his mind which sensed doom. Their journey to the town was significantly different to Bodhi’s travels from his city to the woods they had just come out from. The walk from the city was barren, dusty and the heat evaporated any signs of moisture, but here the ambience was more comfortable. The air here was dewy and alive with minute creatures buzzing around and the landscape began to resemble scenes from ‘The Princess and the Frog’. Fireflies danced through the skies, bedazzling passers-by with their charming and playful ways. Frogs bounced from lily pad to lily pad, hiding behind enormous rows of bright pink lotus flowers, and newly hatched baby crocodile scattered themselves throughout the bulrush, taking in the sites and wonders of their new world.

Many hours passed with ease, for Bodhi had become bewitched by the beauty of nature and took no notice of time. His awe of nature did not go unnoticed by Abhivand, in fact it opened up his heart just that bit more and for the first time in what felt like a century he smiled, but he never let Bodhi see this momentary happiness.

Finally, they arrived. Bodhi took a minute to appreciate the chaos of the town, but this minute was long enough for Abhivand to leave. The child searched and searched. A rush of different thoughts flooding his tired mind: ‘he got lost’, ‘someone took him’, and finally ‘he left me’. Angry, confused and frightened Bodhi sat down on a boulder when he felt an unknown rustle inside one of his pockets. He reached in and pulled out a tea stained crumpled letter. He opened it and read:

‘My dear Bodhi,

Your young years have felt such grief, loss and pain. They shed an abundance of tears and mourned those whom should have lived lives of greatness and prosperity. But they also know what it felt to cry in laughter and joy. Do not forget this. Do not forget that what life took away from you now, will be returned to you when the time is right.

I have never been a kind soul and perhaps I never will be, but you unstitched the encasing around my broken heart and for that I will forever be in your debt. Your love freed me from my inevitable fate and helped me heal and strive for existence, this was when my bitter heart flourished in love and laughter.

I am truly sorry dear child, you will learn to heal. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

Abhi’

Feelings of betrayal and confusion tugged onto Bodhi’s mind. He read the letter over and over until each blodge of ink was ingrained into his brain. Not even a moment later, something struck him. A devastating epiphany. His torturer and Abhivand shared the same eye colour and had even worn the same colours of clothing when they had met.

Bodhi trusted him and even saw him as a father figure, perhaps this is why he was so distraught. For throughout the eleven weeks of healing Bodhi mustered enough courage to find forgiveness for Jaitun, but now knowing that Jaitun and Abhivand were the same person he could no longer maintain this forgiveness. As far as Bodhi was concerned Abhivand had died.

He took a moment to gather his thoughts and to settle his emotions before setting off for the centre of the town. He was desperately in need of food and shelter and all he had left were the twin bracelets and Ekadashi’s pocket watch. He would never give up either of these so he begged for food.

Days passed and begging became harder. In a desperate attempt to feed himself, Bodhi waited for a food cart to be left unattended and grabbed as much of the contents as he could and fled. He was unsuccessful. The owner noticed the little thief and chased after the boy. Bodhi was still frail and fragile and once the owner caught up to him he fell to the ground hard. A bracelet and the pocket watch came spilling out. The keeper of the cart swiftly grabbed the two items and claimed them for himself as payment for the stolen food. Bodhi pleaded with the man, and even offered to trade the food back for the items, but humanity’s greed got to the better of him once he noticed how valuable the possessions were. He unclasped his scabbard and pulled out a large knife, violently swinging it at the child. Bodhi narrowly missed the tip of the blade; someone had snatched him from behind by his shoulders and pulled him to his feet.

It was another boy. Before Bodhi could thank him, the knife came back to swing at him. Both children ran.

That evening Bodhi lost everything that tied him to Ekadashi. The vendor had taken her bracelet and pocket watch. Despite the two bracelets being of the same design, their lengths were different. Ekadashi had wider wrists so Bodhi gifted her the larger one of the two. The one that remained with Bodhi was the smaller one which fit perfectly around his dainty wrists. He was distraught and was brought back to the words in Abhivand’s letter – ‘what life took away from you now will be returned to you when the time is right’. He still loathed him but knew that his words were wise and so held his faith to them, hoping that what was stolen would be returned.

The boy who saved Bodhi from the attack introduced himself as Ayushman and took him back to where he lived. It was the attic of an abandoned building. The view was immaculate, and on the horizon, Bodhi could just about see the ocean and his ruined city.

This is the end. This is where we leave Bodhi’s story. His narration will be portrayed alongside various other characters, for it is time for the narrator to capture the heart of another broken soul. Bodhi and Ekadashi shared the ‘essence of fire and water’ between them, because without it ‘happiness and sadness would have ceased to have existed and the purge of humanity’s struggle would have reigned on in the sands of time.’ So, we have them to thank for showing the world that it could grow in goodness whilst being embalmed in elements of evil.