Written by:
Sayumi Wijesooriya
Illustrated by:
Induwari Wickramasinghe
“BOOM!” “CRASH!” are mingled with the sounds of innocent people screaming in agony and pain as they run for shelter from the gunshots fired by the merciless invaders. The land is red with blood and demolished houses and dead bodies littered the barren ground. People knelt beside their dead relatives, crying until they had no tears left to shed. People carrying children rushed away before the invaders returned to finish the rest of them.
A little boy
A little boy stood still among the chaos looking at the dead bodies of his parents as a single tear escaped his black eye. A kind young soldier stopped beside him and took his little hand in his, gently dragging him back to safety, shielding him from the gunshots that had begun to shower upon them once more.
His paintbrush swirled against the faded wall he was painting on as he drew the scene, still vivid in his mind. A lady had been kind enough to buy him a paint set as she saw him in his dark world. Just to add some colour, some hope. A refugee. An orphan. A boy with no place to call home and no one to call family stood there touching his painting and feeling it with his delicate fingers.
Painting
He knew quite well in his mind that when the owner of this wall saw him and his painting, he would beat him terribly but he needed to paint as it helped him to keep pushing forward, and give life one more chance.
Childhood is a wonderful thing. And it doesn’t end all at once though we hope as children it would. It lingers, a crouched shadow, even when we are adults. This boy who had never had a proper childhood like you or me was left to wonder in wistful silence what it was like to have parents and to be loved. He had heard the joyous sounds that filled the streets as parents lavished love and loaded gifts upon their children. But, he, with no one to spare at least a glance at him sat still.
An empty ice cream carton beside him in the hope that a passer-by with some kindness in his or her heart would spare a coin or at least a kind word to lift his spirits from his melancholy world.
For two years he had been finding shelter on the pavements and having his fill out of garbage cans and rarely some small food item a kind-hearted soul bought for him. Trying to sleep on the hard floors as people kicked at him with their hard shoes and birds pecked at him and dogs tried to drag him away thinking he was dead.
Life was hard and he was very close to giving up completely. But, then it was as though the world had finally pitied him and wanted to put an end to his everlasting suffering. A kind young man spotted him and with a startled cry seemed to recognise him as he engulfed the little boy in a warm embrace.
The young soldier
The little boy took a while to realise who it was. But nevertheless, his warmth and his kind touch bought a familiar and well- loved sensation to him. It was that young soldier! The one who had saved him from being killed! The one who had risked his life to save his! The soldier’s fingertips brushed the boy’s eyes with a gasp. But, that didn’t matter anymore for he was going to take care of this little boy. Adopt him and be his father.
From that day on, the little boy was the happiest child in the world.
The young soldier was a caring and loving father, advising his son and simply loving him. It was then that the little son (as we shall now refer to him) understood that everyone in this world, no matter what, deserved to be loved and cherished, even if they were different or were struggling in life due to certain problems. Or maybe they were, just like this little boy, blind.