Past Memoirs-2

Kat left before the end of winter, along with half of the population of the valley.

There now we're only a few number of people in the valley now, the ones who found it too comfortable to leave.

I wanted to leave too, but her words from that night kept bothering me.

"The ones who leave the veil? They die"

What did that even mean? Why would they die?

Nevertheless it had only made my resolve more stronger. I now had no reason to hold back now.

I was going to stay.

Not because of what Kat had said. I had always wondered what would happen to be if I ever left the valley. I had no place back home since grandmother might be dead. And the villagers weren't so enthusiastic that they'll bother to even remember me….

That said, I could always go to the city. But that option too seemed like a pretty exhausting one. To be told the truth. I was too accustomed to the life I've been living here for the past 6 years that it felt like I would just plainly die if I ever were to try something new.

And so I finally decided to stay back. Kat's words finally got to the better of me I felt like I was doing a favour to the next generation of kids who were supposed to arrive here. If I never left then they wouldn't have any reason to come here now, would they?

2 months passed

Not because of what Kat had said. I had always wondered what would happen to be if I ever left the valley. I had no place back home since grandmother might be dead. And the villagers weren't so enthusiastic that they'll bother to even remember me….

That said, I could always go to the city. But that option too seemed like a pretty exhausting one. To be told the truth. I was too accustomed to the life I've been living here for the past 6 years that it felt like I would just plainly die if I ever were to try something new.

And so I finally decided to stay back. Kat's words finally got to the better of me I felt like I was doing a favour to the next generation of kids who were supposed to arrive here. If I never left then they wouldn't have any reason to come here now, would they?

2 months passed

People were quick to leave which always surprised me. I always thought that there would be a lot of them staying back, like me and that perhaps they would leave the next year or so. But unlike me, I guess they had a family of theirs waiting back home.

Thinking about it made me slightly guilty for some reason and I shrugged the uncomfortable feeling away.

Of course there was a lot of hugging and crying when people left. It made my head spin a lot since I always didn't know what to do when people started crying. This list included a lot of my own cabin mates that choked me to death with their bear-grip hugs.

They all hesitated whenever I told them that I wanted to stay. Some were even kind enough to invite me to their homes but I had already made up my mind. I had decided to stay, besides how bad can it actually be? I knew how to do almost all of the work around here. Also, since I had been alone almost all of my childhood I could easily cope up with being alone.

Can't I?

**********************************************

7 months passed. More people left.

There were suddenly times when I was tempted to leave, coaxed by my peers to join them in their journey. But every single time I walked towards the veil covering the hill, every single step I took towards it, I remembered Kat's words.

"Will you stay?"

"….I was wondering that if you were to ever stay, you'd be saving countless lives of people who would never be forced away from their homes and sacrificed by the veil"

"Why you ask? Because I'm an extremely selfish person"

She really was a selfish person. Entrusting her stupid ideals to me and then leaving me here all alone. Call me a hypocrite but I felt frustrated watching people leave me, not knowing whether they would leave the veil alive or not.

**********************************************

12 months passed.

By now I had gone into a small frenzy. There were less and less people every day, like leaves that fell from a tree. I was feeling strangely what would be called as a guilty emotion.

What if what Kat said had been right? Then wouldn't that mean that I had killed all these people who left?

Wouldn't I have sent them off with a smile plastered on my face, right out to their deaths?

I tried to fight off these negative emotions I was feeling. I knew that in the end they would only end up destroying me. I panicked every single time someone told me that they were leaving. I even told my cabin mates about what Kat had theorized but they just laughed it off. I was sure that they didn't want to believe me. They would rather walk happily towards their deaths than believe that we had no hope left.

The guilt kept eating me alive and I started trying to stop those who were leaving. I spread rumours and spun a few false tales and it rapidly worked for a while.

But rumours were just rumours and they had power only during a certain time.

People still left.

**********************************************

Like the last thundercloud in a clear sky, Jinn came to say goodbye.

He and I were the only ones left in the valley now.

He stood at the entrance of my empty cabin which was once filled with the roaring laughter and cries of my old cabin mates.

I was huddled underneath the bed. The smell of old clothes and empty furniture was making me crazy. I was slightly hallucinating and didn't want to go outside. Ever again. Of all, I blamed people. I blamed the friends who left me, the ones who didn't even say goodbye to me, and the ones who didn't persuade me to change my mind to stay. I cursed Kat regularly for planting such a poisonous seed in my mind. I would've been much happier to die than face this ordeal.

Jinn bent down to peer at me and I immediately flinched. "It's time for us to leave Eli. It's just you and me now. You'll really go crazy if you stay here all alone like this", he advised for the last time.

"N-No. The V-veil", I stammered. I couldn't think properly. Nor could I understand why Jinn were leaving either. Why was he so eager to jump to his death like everyone else? He knew about the veil didn't he? He knows what will happen-

"Do you want to know why others left even after listening to you?", he asked his blue eyes shining wisely.

That question stopped my roaring train of thoughts.

I wanted to know. I wanted to know oh-so badly.

Jinn smiled as he answered; a smile that lit up his whole face. "It's because they'll rather die together, than die all alone. They knew what you said might've been the truth. But they chose to die nevertheless.

"Do you want to die all alone, Eli?", he asked slowly.

No I didn't.

Oh no, no........ I didn't.