Strange Voices

From a seemingly close distance, Jean could hear some random strange voices emerging from a conversation. Since none of the voices sounded familiar to him, he instantly felt a chill down his spine. Forcing himself to regain a calm state, he tried remaining still in order for him to peer into the conversation. This action of his was directed by his aim of discerning what the strange conversation was all about.

After a couple minutes of continuous listening, Jean was astounded by his findings. The strange conversation turned out vague. Yes, this was because, he could not join the fragments of information obtained from the conversation into a meaningful information.

The more he listened, the more he was thrown out of the conversation.

'…How strange!'

Feeling both dazed and confused by what was happening, Jean's head blanked for a split second.

A heartbeat later, Jean's head was clouded with numerous elusive thoughts and unanswerable questions. But strangely, among all the thoughts, only one came clear of the rest.

'Axel…'

At this point, the last thing Jean could remember was him and his dear friend Axel walking home through one of the most famous streets in Kili City. It was mid-morning and they were just coming from a mall, where they had gone for shopping.

They were accustomed to shopping on these parts of the city, but this was not a usual shopping day for them. This was because, this time around, they had gone there to shop for Jean's Birthday celebration.

This Birthday celebration was not a common one, as it was Jean's first ever in his lifetime. This explained how important this activity was to Jean.

During this time, Jean was turning seventeen on the next day. Therefore, this was supposed to be his seventeenth birthday, but strangely enough, this was to be the first one to be celebrated in his lifetime.

Initially, on several occasions, the duo had tried persuading Jean's mum to allow them carry out a celebration, but she was always rigid to comply. She had successfully turned them down on multiple occasions.

During this time, the duo seemed to have reached their breaking point. This was because, they didn't opt to ask Jean's mum for permission to proceed with the Birthday celebrations as usual. They didn't expect any different answer from the previous ones. So, why would they waste their precious energy on such unfruitful attempt.

Jean knew very well that he was risking by doing so, but he was curious to experience this special occasion the same way most of his mates did, including his friend Axel. He was further stiffened when Axel offered to cover all the expenses of the party. This was one of the benefits of having a haughty friend.

So, them going out for shopping was against the will of Jean's mother.

The restriction that Jean used to receive from his mum when it came to matters concerning birthday celebrations, didn't seem normal to him. If it was before he turned Eight, he couldn't have encountered such restrictions, since he even never thought such a thing existed.

***

Since Jean was born, he didn't have the luck of experiencing a birthday celebration. Let alone hearing about it. It was until he was Eight, when he started hearing some rumours about birthdays and birthday celebrations. This rumours mostly originated from his neighbouring kids and his schoolmates.

'How comes I didn't hear about this before?'

This was the question that kept surfacing Jean's mind every time he heard of Birthday celebrations from his mates. Occasionally, he could feel odd for not knowing what most of his mates already knew in time. At times he felt like asking them about it because, he wasn't well versed with Birthday celebrations, but he always chose to remain mute, as he always felt an ounce of oddness in his attempt.

It was strange that Jean came to learn of birthday celebrations at a later stage of his life. But this wasn't his fault at all.

The main cause of all these, could be linked back to his mum.

In Kelb village, Jean's mum was brought up in a family of four – Three girls and one boy. Among the four children, Jean's mom was the second. They lived happily despite being born in a family with a poor background.

Natalie's parents tried their best to give their children the best lives they could afford. Since their incomes were low, they prioritised on most important things and matters in their lives. They ignored the so, less important ones and concentrated on the vital ones in order to meet their needs.

Unfortunately, birthday celebrations were among the less important matters in Natalie's family. This was not only practised by Natalie's family, but also by most of the villagers.

Kelb village was majorly composed of low-class individuals that majorly depended on daily wages to take care of their day-to-day requirements.

This was a hint to why Jean's mum was so strict.

She was just practising her family's long-term principle. Who could blame her for what life chose to throw at her?

While residing in the village back then, Natalie had just turned eleven, when something strange happened to her family.

The four siblings, among them Natalie and some few other kids in the neighbourhood, were attacked by an inexplicable pandemic. Its origin never to be known to anybody concerned. It devoured all of its victims within a very short period of time, but among all the affected, only one survived.

Natalie, was the one that survived among all the victims. What made her survive the pandemic was unknown to her and everyone that was present during that time. Somebody could have thought that she was cured by drugs, but who could treat what was not known?

The main reason to why people, especially his parents, suspected that she was cured by some drugs, was because, they had initially tried out several drugs without any potent result. A few days later after giving up on the matter, Natalie started showing some signs of recovery. Her health grew better with time and she finally recovered.

The pandemic incident had stirred a wave of heated-up conversations about the victims and the whole situation at large among the villagers. The wave grew further, when one of the victims managed to survive.

Luckily for them, the pandemic could not spread from one person to another, otherwise, many could have been infected and maybe died as most victims did.

According to a few villagers, the pandemic attack looked more like a targeted attack rather than a natural disaster. This was because, according to them, the pandemic only attacked a specified part of their village, and it was unfortunate for Natalie's family and other families that were located in the infected parts of Kelb village.

Since the incident, the rumours about it died down with time until it was over. Since then, none had bothered to trace its origin and how Natalie managed to survive.

Although the incidence had left scars in Natalie's heart, she still managed to work hard in her studies and consequently, managed to secure a scholarship from one of the sponsoring organizations. The organization took care of her requirements and the school fees, until she graduated from university as a nurse.

She went for several internship programmes thereafter, and three years after her graduation, she was posted as a nurse in one of the local hospitals in Kelb village.

***

Natalie got married to Jean's dad a few years after her graduation. This was during the period that she was posted as an internee in one of the local hospitals in Celta village, the village that Jean's dad came from. During that period, she used to reside in Celta village so that she could have easy access to her place of work.

In contradictory to Kelb village, Celta was rich in agricultural produce and majority of its inhabitants were middle class individuals.

On the other hand, Kelb village was rocky and most of its parts were dry and bare. In simple terms, its soils rarely supported farming. So, Kelb inhabitants mainly depended on Celta village, for food as the latter depended on the former for labour.

After Natalie got married to Jean's dad, she permanently moved to Celta village, where they build their home.

Some years later, Natalie got posted as a nurse in Celta village, this is after working in the hospital for some years as an internee.

This marriage was indeed good luck for her. She moved to a family which was a little bit better than her own family in terms of finances, and at the same time, she also got employed in her new area of residence.

A few years later, before Natalie got posted as a nurse, she gave birth to Jean. This was three years after her marriage. She tried her best in giving Jean the best life she could, as she also committed herself to her work.

She restricted Jean from interacting with just any village kid. By doing so, she believed that she was protecting her son from absorbing bad morals into his character.

Jean lived to know his mum as a strict, hardworking, responsible and caring parent. Although they crossed paths on several occasions while growing up, Jean still didn't stop loving his mom.

At the age of Ten, is when something unusual happened in Jean's life. This was the time when they were to relocate to the city. 

 >_<