Blurred Past

I stood up in an empty lot. Everything was as white as snow. It was silent, as if something was plugging my ears.

I took a few steps from where I was standing. But since I can’t see anything but white, I wasn’t sure of where to go.

I again stopped and waited. Then something came into me. It was like a film being played at the back of my mind. It was so clear that it seemed like it was really happening right in front me.

Was it a memory?

Then I saw this young boy. He was around 5 or 6 that time. He was wearing an old, loose shirt and it was full of patches. It was so big for him that it covered almost his entire body. He was sitting on a chair and his face was buried on top of his folded arms on top of a table. It seemed as if he was crying due to sobbing sounds I heard.

Then I went near him and saw some hints of dried red liquid stains on his arms and shirt. He had wounds all over his body. Lashes made by a whip. Then he slowly raised his face and there I saw the most horrible thing. He was bleeding… Literally… He had swollen cheeks and badly bruised lips. His eyes were blackish violet and he had a long cut running from his sideburns to his left eye. He was really crying.

I never realized who the kid was, partly because his face was almost indiscernible due to the wounds and cuts, and because my memory was cloudy.

I wanted to approach him, to help him. But when I was about to touch him, he vanished. Where am I? I was confused. I didn’t even know how I ended up here. I can’t remember anything… Nothing at all. Then another figure came into picture.

He was a young man, maybe around 17 years old. He was wearing a cap which was covering his face. There was something about that cap that was very familiar to me. I just can’t remember.

He was leaning on a wall and he was smoking a cigar. Obviously, he looks like a rebel punk, with that black overall, an earring on his left ear and tattoos on his right arm.

A lady appeared in the scene and she passed by in front of the teen, and in an instant, he snatched her bag with great speed. I tried to run after him, wanting to get the bag that he stole. He was fast, but I was able to at least keep him in sight. But something terrible happened.

He was accidentally hit by a speeding vehicle when he tried to cross the street and he fell to the ground. Unconscious… Barely even breathing.

A group of men came rushing towards the poor, young thief. I thought they were going to help the kid but I was astonished at what they did.

They kicked and hit the young lad. They sucked the life out of him… They immediately ran after hearing the sound of the police running towards the accident.

I went closer to the boy. He was gasping for air, but he could not anymore move. Then I saw him… I saw his face… He was looking at me… As if begging me to help him...

I saw a tear roll down his left eye, and it followed the trail of a long healed wound that run up to his sideburns. Then he solemnly closed his eyes.

Everything will now be peaceful for him… And everything was clear to me… I turned my back and and saw that cap that the boy was wearing a while ago before the accident.

I took it and hold it closed to my heart. It was the gift my late uncle gave me for my 15^th birthday and it was the only present I received during that time. Then I closed my eyes. I ran my fingers on the side of my face. And I touched the healed wound that ran from my left eye to my sideburns. And tears rolled down my eyes.