Patty Liu - Silent Reflections

There was tall grass all around in the field. There weren’t many places to hide for Bon and his two companions that he had brought with him. They crouched low in the field and watched from a far distance Wolf and his traveling partners. They had finally caught up to them a short while ago and had been secretly watching them from afar. Bon didn’t know when to make his move without being seen. His patience was running low.

He hated Wolf just as much as the sire hated Wolf’s father. Bon and Wolf had used to compete in annual contests at school when they were younger. That had been when the tazzies were still allowed to roam the lands above the ground. Wolf used to always win every competition and Bon had always came in second after Wolf. It had became an obsession for Bon to try and beat Wolf at everything.

He remembered that last day quite well actually. Wolf had just beaten him in the triathlon competition. Wolf had been oblivious to Bon’s hatred towards him and had actually considered Bon a good friend. That’s what Bon had used to his advantage. He was growing insane from jealousy and after the triathlon he decided he couldn’t take it anymore. He was going to get rid of his rivalry once and for all.

He had planned to get Wolf into one of the barns in a nearby town and set it on fire with Wolf inside. Wolf had figured out the deception and confronted Bon. They’d struggled and Wolf had finally given up and left for he hadn’t wanted to put up with the horrible betrayal. Bon had roared with outrage and thrown his kerosene lamp into the barn. The barn had burst into hot flames that licked at the rafters. That’s when he’d heard horrible screaming coming from inside. It had been the screaming of small children. They were being burned alive. When he’d realized what he had done, he’d fled the scene.

The villagers had discovered the fire and eventually put it out. But they’d also found the remains of the charred bodies of three little young children. The residents had been devastated. People had slowly came forward and claimed that they’d witnessed a tazzie setting fire to the barn. Outraged parents of the children and their friends had gone on a rampage to find the culprit and in the process they’d murdered several tazzies and tazzie families.

Bon had gone into hiding and so had many of the tazzies. The lives of the tazzies had been ruined for they were now being hunted down like animals. None of them had known it had been Bon who had set the fire. Wolf knew, but he had kept silent.

If it hadn’t been for Wolf, none of it would’ve happened, Bon thought to himself. To him, it was all the fault of Wolf. Because of him, the lives of all the tazzies were destroyed and they’d had to live in hiding all these years. Bon had to get rid of Wolf to avenge his people. And also he needed to get rid of him for he was the only one who knew about Bon’s part in the whole disaster.

The sire’s son had been killed in the process of the whole massacre. He had thought Wolf’s father had killed his son because that had been what Bon had told him. But it was actually Bon who’d murdered the sire’s son because Tad had found out it was Bon who’d set fire to the barn and he’d been going to report him and get the whole situation under control. Bon wouldn’t have it and he’d slit Tad’s throat without a blink of his eyes.

Now Bon crouched low and watched the travelers come up to a small dirty lake. There were trees and bushes growing nearby and he quickly hid behind them with his companions.