Neither Hero Nor Villain Pt 3

         Suddenly, the sound of the footsteps stopped. I could barely make out sounds of whispering but I didn’t dare open my eyes.


         “I – is anyone there,” a small voice asked.


         That was definitely not what I was expecting. I don’t really know what I was expecting but I knew it wasn’t this. The voice didn’t really sound like an adult. It sounded more like a little girl, maybe?


         “Hello?”


         The small voice sounded again. I opened my eyes and quietly poked Robin. He had closed his eyes too but now he opened them. Should I answer? I mouthed to him. Robin seemed to hesitate for a second but nodded at me.


         “Yes.”


         Maybe it was because I was nervous but my voice sounded very squeaky.


         “Where are you,” I asked.


         I had actually figured out where the voice was coming from, though it was slightly hard to believe. Since there was nobody in front of us or anywhere we could see. This could only mean that the sound was coming from… behind the wall.


         “Turn around,” the unknown person said as Robin and I turned.


         “Look at the wall carefully. If you do, you’ll find a chink in the wall big enough for you to climb through. I’m on the other side.”


         I didn’t react and just stood there. We had come here knowing we might get in trouble but would we really cross the line that could change us from innocent, mischievous children to criminals? As always, I turned to Robin, half expecting him to be shaking his head no but I was wrong. On the other hand, his grin seemed to reach his ears.


         “Let’s find it, Dove,” he half whispered and half pleaded. “It’ll be our biggest adventure yet! Don’t you remember a few years ago when you told me it was your wish to see the other side of the wall? It’s your chance. It’s our chance.”


         He wasn’t wrong. I had told him that, maybe not necessarily in those words. I always wondered if the people on the other side of the wall really lived in a world more poor than us. How poor? If they are and we knew that, why weren’t we helping them? Why is there a wall between us? Of course I knew what all the adults told us kids about that. If there was no wall, we would be living like them. None of us would be alive. But doesn’t that make us selfish? I couldn’t say that out loud but I had thought of it all along. Maybe it was my chance to help them!


         ‘But what if all the adults were right,’ a part of me thought. What if the adults were right and going to the other side would…… Kill all of us? Destroy our village? Was I willing to take this risk?


         “Fine,” I whispered to him as he grinned even bigger at me. My sense of adventure couldn’t be beaten. “But you’re going to owe me, big time.”


         Robin just quietly chuckled and started to search for the chink in the wall as I went down on my knees and did the same. I could hear Robin humming under his breath as he kept searching. I rolled my eyes and my hands started to roam over the Wall.


         While I was concentrated on my own search, I felt Robin tapping on my shoulder.


         “I think I found it,” he told me.


         I followed his lead and crouched down to where he stopped. Sure enough, there was a hole big enough for us to go through on the ground.


         I took a deep breath and looked up at Robin.


         “Shall we?”


         We grinned at each other and I started to crawl through the hole first, bracing myself for whatever was on the other side of the wall.


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         Had it been a week now? I had lost track of time as I longed for proper food and water as well as shelter. The other survivors and I had started our search for a new land, a better one that we could live in.


         Some nights were fine but those nights were when the wind and the cold was bearable. Most of the time it was so cold some would wear all the clothes they had. Others would huddle together, trying to stay warm, even though it didn’t really work. We survived every day like this. In the day time, we would be walking and occasionally stop for breaks or to find food. Every day was hard work but I knew why all of us kept going. We all hoped that all of this would be worth it. We desperately hung onto faith, hoping to find a new home where our lives would be easier and better.


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