“Theodore…Please wake up… You need to fight now, fight for me. Follow my voice and I will lead you out.” As I was running down a hill chasing a deer I heard these voices whispering through the bushes, and taken away by the wind. For 45 years I lived in an ancient land, and every day I heard this familiar voice that my mind could not quite capture: or even comprehend.

Each morning I would wake up as the sun would rise and I would kiss my wife on her cheek. I would grab an apple from the cupboard and walk out of the door to wash myself in the river and prepare myself for work. Each day was quite the same for my family and I, and we had such happiness. My son Landon became stronger and stronger as each day went by. He was becoming much like me; very tall, hard headed, strong. I tried my hardest to give him the life that I had never had. I don’t recall ever having parents and I don’t remember much of my early years.

Yesterday Landon and I took a trip to the city. His eyes widened as we walked through the gates. I figured since he was so bored at home that I would take him to see the gladiators. We had our favorite. His name was Dragon-Heart and he was something else. He couldn’t be killed. One swing of his sword could strike down a giant with ease. Whenever I could I took Landon to watch the gladiators. His mother didn’t approve of him watching them so we would always tell her that we were going to watch the actors on stage in the middle of the city. In reality we never did that once.

My wife, Clourise, was always a hard ass when it came to raising Landon. She was always butting in on something he was doing to make sure he was doing it the right way. So whenever I had the chance I would take some weight off of Landon’s shoulders to take him out to have some fun. My wife was the most beautiful creature that inhabited the Earth. Boy she was something else. Every night before I would fall asleep she would rub my shoulders and kiss my neck to the point where I was sleeping. She always had a way of making me feel comfortable even in my darkest moments.

A few weeks before the last time I had seen my wife and child I had lost my temper with my work leader. See we did all kinds of things. Since we didn’t live in the city there was a shortage of men who worked at the camp so we did all that we could to be able to make good ends with the people around us. We actually even began to turn our slum into a city. Each
week we would go to each household and collect a tax. This tax was not mandatory but everybody gave money to share a mutual respect and hope that we could rise to be a great city one day. The men cut down trees, mined, hunted, and many other things to ensure the stability and welfare of our slum. As I was saying a few weeks before I had lost my Clourise and Landon I had lost my temper with Agrul, the man who led the working men each day. When we were out collecting the common tax we visited Old Fara’s farm. She pleaded that she didn’t have the money this week. I was in charge of being the man that had to go to the front door and ring the tax bell, I don’t really know why it was me, because Clourise had always said it was because I had the sweetest face. Since my job took the most people skills I told Old Fara that there wasn’t a worry about her tax if she did not have enough money and that I would be back next week. After I had told her this she smiled the most peaceful smile I had ever seen and thanked me. I didn’t understand why she seemed fearful to the tax clan for we had never hurt anyone before. When I gave the tax report to Agrul he became very angry that Fara had not contributed her usual fund. “What the f*** is this? The old b**** can’t lend the slum 3 God damn brigguts?” “I guess so sir, she had told me she didn’t have the money for today, and I told her that I would be back next week.” “Unacceptable Theodore! We need to put fear in their heads or they’ll f*** us over every time we try to run a tax!” “I’m sure she will pay next week sir.” “My ass next week, we’re going now,” “Are you sure this is completely necessary sir? We have never hurt anyone before. This is only going to anger her and give her reason to never pay the tax ever again.” “Theodore, this tax became mandatory long ago. Where have you been? About a month now it’s been mandatory. Why do you think there’s been so many contributors?” “What? Why am I just hearing about this? What is our responsibility if they decide not to pay? Why is it mandatory?” “Relax Theodore, we haven’t hurt anyone, and were not planning on it. I’m sorry that you have failed to hear about this action I hope you understand how hard it is to get word around with the epidemic that’s killing all of our horses, and with you having Diben giving me the reports all of the time. How can you expect to build a city with nothing but contributors? If something isn’t mandatory people will never pledge honestly. Now come we are going to this old hags farm to get the money she owes to the slum.”

“Fara come outside! I believe you have failed to hand to Theodore the money you owe to the slum!” Fara slowly peaked through the door as Agrul pursued toward the front of the house. “Agrul I don’t have the money.” “Then you will hand over something valuable that we can sell.” “Agrul I have been doing that for the past 4 weeks I have nothing left to give.” “No! This is unacceptable!”

Agrul pursued old Fara and he struck her to the ground. Without even thinking he drew his sword on her. Before he had even begun to swing, I had my sword through his back and out of his stomach. I felt a sudden surge of power and curiosity that I had never felt before, and I loved it. “There will be no dictators in my slum.” I don’t know why I had called it my slum, but it worked and the days following, pretty much every one had worshiped me.

Clourise had grown up with Agrul as a child and they were quite close friends. Of course she was struck with grief when she had first heard, but after I had told her why my actions escalated to piercing him she understood why I did it. She always understood everything I would do. Just by looking into my eyes she knew what I was thinking. That woman was something else.

After I would wash myself down at the river I would cook game over a fire that we always had burning near the house. We mostly ate deer, coyote, and rabbit, but Landon just loved it. That boy was quite the carnivore. If you put a piece of meat in front of the boy he would toss it down in seconds. The slum that we lived in had the most terrific scenery that you could imagine. I mean the trees were enormous and nearly the size of the city walls. The way they moved in the wind reminded me of how Clourise danced at night near the fire, so smooth, calm, and easy. The sky was the most dramatizing part of the whole world to me. There wasn’t a star in the sky that you couldn’t see, and the moon was so fantastic and bright. I swear there were some nights that the moon would be almost as bright as the sun. Everything about that place made me think of Clourise. Even when she would be right next to me I would look at the sky and think of her. I had even convinced myself that if I had lost her that I would not be able to move on.

After I slaughtered Agrul I became the chief of the slum, and everybody looked to me to solve little problems, and for advice. It was a huge responsibility but I, for some reason, loved it, even though Agrul hated it more than anything in the world. I never believed in forcing anybody to do anything so I dropped the mandatory tax affair. This made people immensely happy and made people want to make contributions. Every so often people would ask me why I had killed Agrul, and all I could say to them was, “Because he was wrong, very wrong.” I failed to ever mention that the only reason I pierced him with my sword was because he had struck old Fara.

Old Fara became blind in her left eye after Agrul had struck her. He was a huge man and stronger than anyone I knew. One hit had practically made her blind. But her right eye stilled worked as well as it always had. After I had visited Fara and saw the thankfulness that had been brought to her toward me, it made me realize that it was my new responsibility to take care of these people. I realized how much wisdom and willpower it was going to take to be able to keep these people in line and it made me miss my Clourise, and my son Landon. I had to realize that I would no longer be able to spend as much time with them and this troubled me deeply, for even when I was with Clourise my mind longed for her. And even when I was with Landon my body ached at the thought of him growing up and moving away.

Landon reminded me so much of myself it was frightening. I didn’t much remember anything from my childhood, but while watching him I frequently flashed back and remembered things that I never could remember happening. Landon refused to accept defeat, and that was the biggest thing that had always reminded me that he was my son. Landon wasn’t ever a trouble maker, but when somebody had wronged him he would not let them go easy, and he had a tendency for hurting other children very badly. Clourise always told me that he gets his aggressiveness from me, and I wish that I would have listened to her more often. She was always right. I came home from working one day and Landon had been wearing a wolf hide on his shoulders: It surprised the living hell out of me. “Where did you get that from son?” “I killed it father. His meat will make for a fine feast tonight.” “You skinned it too?” “Yes father I skinned it too.” “Well done my son, run off to your mother now and tell her to start getting the vegetables ready: As soon as I wash up I will start cooking this beauty… Actually that can wait. Run along with me now and tell me the story of your first wolf. I would love to hear if the skills I have taught you have really taken effect.” “Oh they sure have father! He came at me and went for my legs, but I jumped over him and tried to find high ground. He was too fast for me though. So I just turned around and swung my sword and it died instantly. I have a great teacher.” “One swing hey? I bet you can’t kill a bear in one swing like your old man here.” “I bet you I could!”

Never In my life did I love any two people more than I loved Clourise and Landon. Still to this day I hold them dear in my heart and will never let them go. You see my whole life was dedicated to becoming a husband and a father. I was a husband and a father, and I loved every second of it. Unfortunately for me when the slum and I had started to become larger the city tried revolting us. We became a threat. There was a revolution and a war. My wife and child were killed before my eyes. They held me down and made me watch Landons blood spew over the wolf hid he had made for himself, and Clourise’s eyes haunt me till this day. You see after the killed I woke up. They made me watch them kill all my people and then they beheaded me leaving me in a basket. People think I’m crazy because I’m back, but how can one be crazy for missing their wife and child. You see I am only seventeen years old. I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the year is 2012. I was in a car accident that induced a coma upon me. I was in that coma for about three days, and in those three days I lived for 45 years in an ancient land that homed my beautiful wife and child. I am now but a small boy who in his head is a 62 year old man.