The Lands of the Rising Sun

Invisible Walls

I woke up before Mur'ring the next morning. I was so well rested. I grabbed an apple and did my morning stretches. Still no one was awake. The cell door swung open. I walked out into the courtyard and saw no one, not even a guard. I wandered around for a bit, then the main gate opened. I walked through it and saw a girl; she laughed, and then cried, then the explosion. I died again.

I woke up sweating. These dreams were becoming abundant. I had never seen explosions that big, or any explosions at all really. They seemed so real.

Mur'ring was up doing his stretches. I kicked Ra'dok and waited by the door for the guard. "So what's the plan?" Ra'dok asked. "Today, find a way to get a spot mining near the Master's house." Said Mur'ring

"They put you back there if you fuck up or something," said Ra'dok

"Well then... fuck up."

"Okay, then what?"

"Then tomorrow you'll be by the Master's house."

"Then what?"

"We'll get to that tomorrow." Mur'ring walked up next to me and rested his arms on the cell door. "You get all that?"

"Yeah, I got it." I replied.

A guard walked by. "Good morning you ugly mother fucker." Said Mur'ring. The guard grinned, opened the door and punched him right in the stomach. Mur'ring fell to his knees and groaned. I shook my head at him.

"Fuck you." He said glancing up at me, barely able to breathe the words out.

The guard escorted us to the back gate of the camp. He handed us our breakfast, which was the usual ball of whatever it was and to my surprise another apple. I had grown to really enjoy these things. The gate opened and sand blasted us. I fixed my goggles and wrapped my scarf around my face. Ra'dok was coughing, choking on the sand trying to spit it out of his mouth. We were escorted to our mining spots in deep trenches overlooked by a group of guards, next to one of the towers. I looked to the back of the field at the Master's house towering over the land with the day's first sunrays silhouetting the house. The guard pushed a pick ax into my stomach while I was daydreaming. It knocked the wind out of me as he pushed me onto the ladder. The descent to the ground was about thirty feet. I never forgot the feeling, the noise. Pickax slamming into rock, dirt flying everywhere forming a cloud of dust. After a while all you could see was the rock in front of you but the noise never left. The pick axes created a melody almost soothing to the ears. Almost. My hands ached; my limbs were sore. I felt the anger grab hold of me. Mur'ring always told me to harness it, to not let it overcome me. He said I should use anger, but should never allow anger to use me. I hated the Master for destroying my life, but now I hated him for the fact that he thought he was better than another man. In the mining pits we were all equal.

Lunchtime came and the guards dragged our half dead bodies out of the pits for a break. A team leader monitored the guards. The leader for the group today was truly inspiring. "You dirty fucks aren't shit!" He yelled as he threw another disgusting food ball of whatever it was and an apple at our feet. He looked each one of us in the eye as he walked down the line. "I don't know why the Master even wastes his time making sure you fuckers eat... If it were me you would all be eating each other's shit." He drew closer to Ra'dok and I. I turned to him and gave him a nod; he knew what was coming. The man stopped at me, leaning his head in my face. His eyes drooped to the sides of his head, they barely held on by the purple skin they were attached to. Though we were the same height he had at least fifty pounds on me, about twenty more than the usual guard. I gave him a glare as he threw my lunch at my feet. "What the fuck are you lookin' at?!" He yelled at me. Spit misted my face. I threw my head right into his nose busting it open. He stumbled back but met my cheek with a solid hook. Ra'dok caught him in the temple with his left hand; the man gut checked him and slammed him on his face. "You mother fuckers must be out of your mind!" He put the bottom of his boot on my face and ground it into the dirt. "Get the fuck up!" We rose to our feet and he pushed us to the guards. A river of blood descended his face. "Take these scragglers to the back of the pits, and I want double their quota for the day." We did as Mur'ring said but doubling the quota meant we were going to be in the pits after sun down, though we still laughed with satisfaction.