Chapter 2 – Fate

Those that cross our path were supposed to, we were always meant to meet. Some we recognize and some recognize us. How soon? That is determined by destiny, did you smile when you met? Or did you just pass by each other? Did your eyes find another gleaming pair, or did you feel an inevitable aura? So many times, we don’t acknowledge the crowd. That woman you helped cross the road, was there for a reason. The car you hit and the people you got into a brawl with were also supposed to meet you, it’s all predetermined because somewhere in the crowd there’s this somebody that is supposed to be a part of your life. Did you identify them yet?

The second chapter of the story talks about the other world, called Ustah and all the important characters related to Sarah.

Ustah

Ustah is a quiet little place, the natives call it their world, but the population is less than that of a village. The natives here have permanent job, that has been passed on to them from generations. Ustaians live by rules and follow them religiously. The heads Aksi and Bura have remained in their position since the time immemorial and all their kids have successfully moved away to another world.

The Ustaians are a quite tribe of people that don’t know malice, they are all kind and look out for each other. Ustah is called the world in between.

Ustah is a place that is brimming with children and youngsters because the children, when they die early on earth can’t be sent to heaven, they need someone to comfort them, to soothe them, hence god created this little world for them to grow old in. This is a place that gives children memories that can be taken to the afterlife. This is a place between heaven and earth. This is the place where the deceased understand the meaning of family. Ustah is concealed, as a diaphanous glass ball. Only the dead can see it and the purest of the souls can enter it. Only the Village shaman Esa can bring the kids inside Ustah, wrapped in clouds, inside a corpse lilly and for every kid that’s raised well the Ustaians get to live a longer, more prosperous, and happy life.

Things moved methodically till the time he arrived, he changed the course of the wind and the life of the people of Ustah, they had never seen an aura so bright and the village shaman Esa fell in love with him on the day she went to pick him up. He wore a tag named Brenon, and walked up on his own to Esa, he smiled at her and told her to pick him up, when Esa picked him up he murmured, “mom”. Esa, completely taken aback, told him he could call her his aunt, but he smiled at her and said, “I choose you as my mother.” Ever since Esa was besotted by his small, yet humble appearance.

That boy, Brenon

They say he was beautiful, so beautiful that it was difficult to take eyes off him. When he arrived at Ustah, he was only five. Aksi, immediately fell for the little kid like Esa but Brenon refused to call her mother.

One day, while reading stories to the other kids Esa received a letter from Bura requesting her to journey back to the earth and to bring back with her a kid that had recently met with an accident, the kid was only 5 and was severely injured, which meant that Esa would have to be gentler in every way. She left immediately and when she arrived at the hospital realized that this accident had affected 3 families, the worst hit was brenon’s family because both Brenon and his mother had passed away. She went from room to room and found Brenon inside an OT, he was engrossed looking at a C-section, and just when Esa entered the room, the room reverberated with sounds of a baby crying. Brenon saw the baby covered in blood and immediately Esa covered his eyes and took him outside.

Brenon had the brightest aura of all, he was intelligent and witty. Making him understand things was easy but he was a little rebellious. He would always be curious about things and people and would question everything. He questioned Bura and Aksi and would sometimes even question the creation of God. There were days when he’d vanish, and would either be found meditating or sleeping near a small lake; it sometimes took days to find him and sometimes it even took weeks. Brenon would talk about life and people and had a different perspective on everything. Unlike others he had a gift that only Esa was aware of, he could travel between the worlds and even talk to people on earth in their dreams.

Brenon was seven when he started taking interest in the people around him. Aksi doted on him and would never allow him to go anywhere all alone, he was mostly accompanied by Esa. Aksi had delegated the duty of the village shaman to another tribe member, Ura.  Esa’s only role now was to look after Brenon. Even Bura didn’t understand this obsession, he never let Aksi get attached to any kid before, but Brenon felt special. He could do everything and could go anywhere. Esa followed Brenon everywhere hence she knew his whereabouts and that’s how she discovered his special abilities. She once overheard him talk to a living baby and was shocked, this wasn’t how things happened in their world. The dead shouldn’t contact the living, that would disturb the entire ecosystem, the living person could never wake up from their dreams or may even suffer from the trauma. Brenon was too young to realize this but Esa knew she had to tell him this.

Brenon saw her again, she was such a beautiful baby, he couldn’t get over her. Every night in his dreams he’d sing to her, read to her, realizing little that he was captivating her and was captivated by her. He soon grew so fond of her that he decided to find her. Esa always stayed near brenon as if fearing the worst. Then one night when the entire tribe was asleep, he disappeared in thin air. Soon what followed was hysteria, the quiet place was no longer peaceful the happy people looked remorseful, Aksi had gone into a deep sleep, she refused to get up and if she didn’t their world would change forever.

Esa, was blamed and was banished to enter Ustah again, She would be allowed only if she was able to bring back Brenon and she had to do it all before brenon was 20 years old, she had a lot of time in her hands but Brenon could be anywhere and she couldn’t teleport again, she had lost some of her abilities.