The Old Man of The Hill
Chapter 1
A silent day. Only the sound of footsteps can be heard. The steps are smaller. As if a toddler was walking.
The beautiful green scenery doesn't match the absence of sound. People tend to subconsciously think that forests are noisy. Birds chirping, animals walking. But the forest is sometimes quiet.
Pin drop silence.
The footsteps stopped. The man is taking a look at nature. He is really happy to see so. But his facial expressions don't change.
He's not a toddler but a old man.
His face is cold and wise looking. With a well kept gray beard and a bundle of hair.
He doesn't like keeping a mustache for some reason.
He begans to walk towards his cave. Yes... he's a caveman now.
The fairly big cave is right next to a huge cliff. The old man occasionally looks down.
A massive metal behemoth is stuck between the Walls of the deep cliff.
It's once shiny body is now Rusty. It's former pride is long gone.
"Piece of junk"
He said looking down the cliff. Then he entered the cave. And came out after a minute or so. He has his favorite staff with him. He likes to show it off. Rather than use it.
He begans to descend the mountain. Slowly going through a bunch of trees and bushes. Only to stop.
He can feel someones presence. Who could it be?
"Wait? That really happened?"
"Yes! You won't believe what he said after.
that!"
Two ladies were walking down the slope. Chatting. No idea of a third person in the vicinity.
He closed his eyes. He can feel their presence. His eyes started to glow. Giving of a neon green light. His mind started to work at it's full potential...
"So after he said that..."
She stopped midway. Her thoughts started to scramble. So did her friends. As the world suddenly went dark for them. Unable to do anything..
"I'll be taking that"
As he took their bags. The bags were full of food. As he began to walk away. Leaving the two unconscious.
Fish again..huh. I do like fish but not everyday; he thought looking inside the bag.
Slowly returning to his cave. He needs to gather some firewood now.
The car is going slowly. The uphill road is making it hard to maneuver. Aitim is looking outside through the window.
His face is a bit red form the cold. Winter is not his favorite season.
The uphill climb isn't bothering him.
To be honest, nothing is.
He has suddenly changed. His eyes don't have the same light it used to have. He is not HE anymore.
The driver is trying his hardest not to say anything. He doesn't know what happened to his gloomy passenger, but he wants to talk with him. It helps him focus.
They are going to Thanchi. A sub district in Bandarban. It has the highest road in the country. But not the best one.
Driver Sorif starts to talk at last.
"So, young lad. Going for a fun vacation I
Presume?"
"I'm going to meet up with my uncle."
Aitim stops and thinks for a second. And says,
"It could be fun, I suppose"
Sorif laughs awkwardly. His passenger is not
an ideal person to talk. But he pushes through.
Sorif and Aitim talk for a long time. Sorif gets to know a lot of details. Aitim is going to see his metarnal uncle, major Ruhi. He lives in Thanchi. The semester has just ended for Aitim, he's studying in EEE in Chottogram.
The inside of the car felt much more lively after. Sorif laughed and talked about his wife.
Who Beats him up, for some reasons...
Aitim was scratching his head.
He suddenly remembered something and pulled out his personal dairy. He missed today's entry.
His bluish green pen hovered across the page. The page is well made. Has a nice texture to it. Lightweight, waterproof.
The leather cover is quite nice too. It has a premium feel to it. But most of the pages are empty. After a certain time, certain day. The doodles and long paragraphs of day to day story ended. Just empty Pages. Some pages have letters on them.
But the letters are almost all the Same.
'the day was good'
Nothing less, nothing more. And today is same as always.
The car finally stopped at it's destination. A large housing complex.
The people who live here are mostly military personnel. Some bring there families and some don't.
It's a rough ride to reach the place. And the place isn't as developed as the city.
But compared to the enclosed Walls of the busy metal city, this quiet and somewhat Peaceful place feels like heaven.
Aitim and Sorif departed. Sorif is happy to have made a young friend.
He can't wait to tell his wife about it back home. If he gets the chance that is...
Aitim carried his backpack towards the housing complex.
Opon entering through the gate, he observed the place. A few stores are inside. For the people of course. A small playground is there. It's occupied with a few toddlers.
Who are running around like idiots.
The left side has a nice spot for people to look at. The mountains and hills look magical. The clouds envelope all. As if the hills were smoking cigarettes.
Aitim was looking at the smoking Hills as a hand grabbed his shoulder.
The hand has a strong grip. The owner of hand is Ruhi. Ruhi embraced Aitim as he turned around.
The hug was soothing for Aitim.
"You've grown up quiet a bit! You were this
Small last time I saw you"
Ruhi showed him how small he was. Which was equivalent to a stick of bread.
"I suppose I have"
Aitim is 5'10" now. He still looks small compared to his uncle who is around 6'.
The tall heads went inside the house on the right.
It's a two story house, with five bedrooms And a living room space. Although only Ruhi lives here.
The green-ish living room walls look like moss. The red couch seems like a ladybug sitting on the moss.
"A ladybug on moss."
Aitim says. Ruhi has no clue what he is talking about.
Aitim goes inside his room. It's quite large. Sunlight is peeping through gaps of the heavy curtains.
The bed is old yet strong. Aitim leaves his bag on the bed and sits on the desk chair.
The desk is empty, with only a lone penholder sitting on top.
"Nice room"
Hearing that, Ruhi smiled. He went and spread the curtains apart.
The sun smiles at them too. Ruhi says,
"Take some rest"
As he left the room shortly. Aitim stood up and went next to the window . The wind brushed his face.
He closed his eyes to feel the wind. But he cannot stop seeing that person. whenever he closed his eyes.
He sees that person. He cant seem to forget her.
Was their connection that deep?
Was it?
He opened his eyes, he can't stand to see that person anymore.but he can't forget those memories either.
He looked at the mountains outside.
Look at those mountains, so calm yet so mighty...; he thought.
Sometimes he wants to like the mountains.
What a strange desire...
The fish are well cooked. He is impressed by his own skills. His staff is resting by a rock, as he devours the fishes.
The inside of his cave is mundane. There's nothing but a makeshift bed and a couple of firewood.
But he still decides to stay here. His judgements are seem stupid.
Why not just make friends with humans?
He does find them interesting.
Maybe the journey messed up his already unstable brain.
He finished his meal and came out of the cave. His injuries are healed now.
Thanks to the staff.
"We had quiet a rough landing didn't we?
I'm surprised we both are in one piece!"
He said looking at the metal behemoth. Which was once known as the ''seventh sky''.
It was one of most powerful spaceships to ever exist. But even the strongest fall.
The ragged blue rode he wears is the only thing he could save from the ship.
It's quiet nice to wear.
But he doesn't feel that good. Despite having a powerful brain, he cant remember most of his past. The left part of his head hurts after the crash. He believes his abilities have weaken.
The old age and the mental stress is slowly devouring his being.
He doesn't fear death, but losing ones true self is much more frightening to him.
He stares at the mountains in front of him. Sometimes he wants to be like the mountains.
These huge cluster of rocks and dirt amaze him. He believes he has seen them before but doesn't remember when.
The mountains are old, like him. Yet so much stronger.
What a strange feeling of familiarity...
He thinks.
He picks up his staff, he needs more info about this planet. About the people, about the nature. he goes and
he slowly disappears inside the greenery of the hills and mountains.
Looking...until he finds it.