Beyond The Fence

~~7 years ago~~

The hunger was ever-present. Her stomach would remain empty day in and day out. In fact, it had been two days since Clary had last eaten.

She bit her bottom lip as her stomach snarled and growled from hunger. Rolling onto her back, Clary tried her level best not to yell in pain because she knew that it would only cause her parents to worry, who would only look at her with their helpless, tearful eyes. They would have nothing but their sympathy to offer.

She tried to stifle the scream which was threatening to come out, by digging her canine deeper into her bottom lip. Blood oozed out of it, dribbling down her chin. She could not hold it in anymore.

Sprinting as fast as her legs would allow, Clary left her cramped house and ran through the door. Once she was out on the streets, she ran to the nearest park, threw her head back and yelled. Till her throat became dry, till it could make no more sound.

From their cardboard sleeping bags lining the sidewalks, a few people gave the little girl envious glares. She understood why she was being looked at that way. In Albama, you are considered privileged if you are clothed and don't have ribs sticking out from under your skin.

Clary knew she should be grateful for all she was blessed with, but the hunger was befogging her mind, taking over her emotions. Eating them away.

She clutched at her stomach, pulling it this way and that way to stop it from making the rumbling sound, but to no avail.

She looked up as she felt someone sit beside her, holding out what appeared to be an apple.

It was Nelson. Her next door neighbour, her partner-in-crime, her best friend.

"Stole it from the farm?" she asked him, taking the apple from his hand. He nodded in response.

They sat in silence as Clary hungrily consumed the apple. Nelson interrupted it saying,

"You know, you are the bravest ten-year-old I know."

"No, Nel. Brave people fight wars. They conquer lands. They kill the evil dudes, which is what makes them heroes. I haven't done any of those things."

"Bravery has its degrees, Clary. Sometimes it means laying down your lives for others. Other times, it's nothing more than gritting your teeth through the pain, patiently waiting for it to pass.
And just because you haven't killed any evil dudes as yet, doesn't mean you won't be able to in your near future."

Clary snorted, "Which evil dude is there to kill? Our Maths teacher?"

Nelson chuckled at that.

"I would want to kill the evil dude outside the fence, one day," Clary said, pulling grass off the ground.

"You think it's a dude?"

"Yeah. A gigantic, four-eyed one. It could also be a dinosaur, though."

"Oh, I don't know. Personally, I don't think they mean it literally when they say something 'dark' is out there."

"Then what do you think they mean by 'dark'?"

"Selfishness. Greediness. Corruption. Anything which is...morally dark."

Clary beamed at him. If there was one thing she'd never stop being grateful for, even with hunger deluding her mind, it was having met Nelson.

He gave her hope, in her darkest times. His was the shoulder she would always place her head on, in times of distress. With him around, she felt like a hero. The type who would conquer lands, who would fight forces of darkness with her righteousness.

She laid down on her back, thinking that maybe with him around, she would be able to kill the 'dark evil' outside the fence. Someday, she thought.

Someday.