Kids are weird. They have monsters under their beds, they think covering their eyes will make them invisible, they have imaginary friends (who am I to talk?) and, they talk about how they were older a long time ago.
Cutting to the chase, I was taking care of this kid of my neighbor (let’s call him Bul). The father got admitted to the hospital for about two days and, them being a nuclear family, the mother was the only person taking care of everything. So, when they requested me to pick him up from the bus stop, I couldn’t decline.
At around 5 Bul’s bus arrived and we started walking towards our house. He was visibly upset so I tried my best to cheer him up but none of that seemed to work. The days being short, the moon was quite perceptible, a crescent moon. I told him, “See! The sky is smiling at you.” Aaand, he started sniffling. I asked him what’s wrong, if he is missing his parents or if he is hurt. He just shook his head and said no. After about two minutes of stroking his head and trying to make him drink some water and telling the pedestrians nothing suspicious is going on, he calmed down a bit. Then he looked up at me and said that he will be very sad if I fall asleep again. I was dead confused but just reassured him that it’s not going to happen.
After we reached my home and freshened up, I asked him what was he talking about. He started tearing up again. “It’s okay if you don’t want to say it. There’s no pressure”, I told him. He calmed down soon after and started talking.
“Back then when I was a little older, we lived in the village. Then the bad guys on horses came and my elder sister told you to take me to the city. We took the road through the forest and when I was crying you told me that the sky is smiling. Then the bad people threw a stick at you and you fell down and they rotated your neck around a stick. You fell asleep after that and they took everything and went away. Then I called you so many times, I told you I was hungry but you didn’t wake up. I don’t remember anything after that. This is why I was afraid you’ll fall asleep again and bad guys will take everything.”
I was speechless. There are so many unanswered questions I have. Where did this elder sister come from? When was I his teacher? Why was he older “back then”? Why does this eight- or nine-year-old kid know such a vivid description of how thugs used to kill people back in mid nineteenth century? I have so many questions. But for now, I’m glad I didn’t have to cross any forest.
