The Wooden Box

"Saer Saer! Hey Saer Saer! Look what I've found!"

"I've is not a word. I have, please. Now would you shut up, you are going to get us into trouble." Saer Saer turned around irritably, his overcoat dancing about his heels as he looked down at the younger boy. His fair eyes blinked sullenly against the chill air of the evening, and he cursed under his breath at what he saw. "Merky, what the hell is that?"

"It is what I found!" the boy cried, brandishing it out in front of him like an emperor would his finest jewels. His blonde hair fell into his eyes and his cheeks flushed with excitement. "See? Do you see it, Saer Saer? I have never seen anything like it before! Not anywhere at all!"

"Give it here," the older boy said, his voice dripping disdain. Ducking his head against another chill blast of air, he took the little thing within his hands and pressed it against his chest. Sighing monochromatically, he motioned for Merky to follow him. "Come on. It is too cold out here. We will go home and look at it there."

"Aw! But…. Don't you want to see what it is first?" the boy cried, trailing behind him obediently. His flaxen hair blew out behind him in the breeze.

"Don't is not a word. Do not, please," Saer Saer replied automatically. Tugging his overcoat more tightly around him, he hastened down the street, pressing as closely along the lines of the buildings as he could. Darkness was falling quickly around the city, and if they did not hurry, they would miss curfew. He shook his head at the thought. Another meeting with the Guard was not something that was particularly high on his priority list.

Being one of the two former leaders of the mounting revolution, keeping to himself was something that simply needed to be done. After all, in the city if you were questioned by the Guard, you were most likely only waiting to be taken in, and jail was not a pretty place. Saer Saer shivered. He had seen those bleak walls more then once in the past year, and even the memory of the torture that he and his friends had endured, was enough to give him cause to clench both fists in pain.

"Hayden…." he breathed, his voice cold with mourning.

"Did you say something?" Merky wondered, quickening his pace to catch up with the older boy. He gave a slight, 'humph' when Saer Saer ignored him.

Hayden had been the true leader of the revolution. A strong willed boy of nearly sixteen, he had built a name for himself in the desolate streets of the city, and in no more then a year, even the upper levels heard tell of his truly anarchic ideas. Saer Saer still remembered him with a deep affection. His bright eyes, lively laughter, the ringing, powerful quality of his voice, and his gentle, meticulous hands. It was those hands that had given him strength, those hands that had given him the will to move on, when all had been lost.

"You know," Merky began, as he looked up through the buildings. He twisted his hands behind his back as he spoke, and his little feet tapped a steady cadence against the concrete. "This city looks as cold at night as it does in the morning…"

"Nothing changes really," Saer Saer replied stonily. Merky's little treasure dug into his palm. "The sun goes up, then down, and then up, then down again, and on for eternity. We wake, we do what the government tells us to do, we bear their burdens, we make their weapons, and then we marry the girl that they pick for us and raise our children in the same way. We raise them in this constant sameness. No choice, no freewill….. If they so much as speak an idea of their own, they will be forced into silence….."

"Like Hayden…." Merky sighed, biting the side of his cheek and then hugging his arms around himself as the wind picked up again. He lowered his eyes. "It isn't fair what happened to him."

"Isn't is not a word. Is not please."

"Saer Saer, are you really alright?"

"Come on, we're almost home."

-

Melissa opened the door for the two of them when she heard them knocking, and she glanced reprovingly at Merky as he burst into the house, yelling about something that he had found. She dismissed it as him acting out, and promptly fell into her usual routine of nodding and pretending like she was listening. Wiping her hands on her apron, she motioned Saer Saer inside, and smiled apologetically at the mess, "Sorry about the dirt. We have all been so busy around here with grandfather and the baby. I have not had any time to devote to the cleaning."

Saer Saer nodded, and moved passed her wordlessly. The woman glanced nervously out into the street before quickly closing the door and locking it behind her. From somewhere within the house a baby whined, and she immediately disappeared down the hallway to tend to it.

Merky's residence was nothing more then a little apartment flat on the outskirts of the city. It was modestly arranged beside a run down bar, and placed directly across from a makeshift hospital. In the night, one could sometimes hear the screams of the dying, or the roar of the Guard's militia marching down a nearby street. It was little wonder that the baby cried constantly.

"Now who is this, barging into my house just a smidge before curfew?" an amiable old voice wondered from the adjoining room.

"Grandfather!" Merky cried. He wasted no time running to the old man's side, and he immediately went into detail on what he had found. The little boy fawned over his grandfather, paying more attention to the old man then his doting daughter in law. Saer Saer had a feeling that Merky was using him as a father figure, to make up for the father that he lacked. He faintly pitied the boy.

"Now what is this?" the old man asked softly, in his droning voice. He was seated in the living room on an old metal flyer seat, no doubt taken from some older aircraft model or another. He looked over his shoulder at Saer Saer and then smiled a toothless smile. "Could it be the fabled Saer Saer himself?"

"Grandfather! You are not listening to me," Merky whined, sitting at the old man's feet with a grunt.

"How are you sir?" Saer Saer asked, nodding his head respectfully.

"Holding up," he said with an airy chuckle. "A few of the revolutionaries came by here earlier, looking for you. I told them that I had not seen you in nearly a month. How are things?"

"No better then Hayden left them, I am afraid." His voice was muted, and he moved beside the old man, taking a withered hand in his own. "Your son lay grounds for something far more spectacular then I have even begun to comprehend. I am fearful that nothing can be accomplished in my generation alone."

"Hayden was quite a boy. I do not doubt that he could have done anything if he wanted it badly enough. The revolution is something that he really wanted, and if I know my boy, it will come to pass ," the old man shrugged. He gave Merky an affectionate pat. "But who really knows? You certainly can not expect someone of my age to know anything of politics."

"Grandfather!" Merky sighed, tugging impulsively on the man's trouser leg. "Grandfather, I found something today. When Saer Saer was taking care of some business, I was kicking up dust outside of that place near Haersis, and I found this thing. Show him Saer Saer."

Scowling morosely, he drew the thing from beneath his coat and handed it to the old man. "I do not know what it is. I have never seen anything like it before. I mean, it resembles a box, but it is made of something that I do not recognize."

The grandfather looked it over with wizened eyes, before his lips quirked into a smile, "It is made of wood. It is a wooden box."

"Wood?" Merky wondered. He scratched his head. "What is wood? I've never heard of it."

"I've is not a word. I have please," the old man corrected gently. "You know that your language will not be tolerated if someone outside hears you. I can think of many an occasion that Hayden was beaten for speaking imperfectly."

"It is a stupid law," Saer Saer scoffed. In his mind's eye, he could still see Hayden's face covered in blood as he was pushed into their shared prison cell. He shook the memory from his thoughts.

"Yes, well, as I was saying, what you have found is very old Merky," the old man went on. He stared down at it and turned it around and around in his hands. "I have never seen wood myself, but I can tell you what I know of it."

Merky nodded.

"Long ago, our world was filled with trees and other living things. They showed up all over in ancient artwork, before the government's campaign for sameness. You know of that, yes?"

"The book burnings," Saer Saer nodded.

"That is right. Many years ago, we were forced to burn all of our books, paintings, music, and clothes. In return we were given clothing all of the same color and texture and a book of laws that we had never seen before in our lives. It was what the government called the beginning of a new era. This era was to be one of complete simplicity. No one was supposed to have more then anyone else and no one was supposed to be better then anyone else. They said that it would make for a safer community. One where children would be brought up the same way in each family."

"And then the Slaughter…." Merky growled under his breath. "Melissa told me about that just last night. Back when the Era first started, those who did not conform were killed immediately and their children were killed too. Branded deviants, like Saer Saer."

"Just like Saer Saer," the boy's grandfather said, glancing up at the dark figure leaning over him. His hand still lingered above his own. "Well, before all of that, our city's leaders put up the great walls that surround our city, and keep the outsiders from entering. Then, they cut down all of the trees within it, tore down all of the parks, and replaced everything with concrete and metal. They claimed that it was simply more practical. This was all so long ago, that my father's father was not even born yet."

"Then this box must be…." Merky trailed off, counting his fingers and mumbling to himself.

Saer Saer shook his head, "How has it managed to survive for so long? How has it managed to escape the burnings? And even so, how is it that it has not decayed from age alone?"

The grandfather looked down at it and stroked it tenderly, "Certainly Hayden would have found a way to keep something this precious from being destroyed. He always was very gentle with old things."

Saer Saer's eyes widened.

"This box belonged to Hayden?" Merky asked, blinking in question.

"I do not doubt it for a second," the old man said gently. "Every night before bed, he would gaze down at the little thing and run his fingers along the corners. I do not know what he kept in it, but whatever it is, it must have been very special to him. He never carried it with him, for fear that it would be found on his person, were the Guard to take him off to jail and commence a search of his garments. He always kept it in his spare coat. I wonder how it is that it managed to find it's way out of the house."

"I found it in the heart of the city!" Merky exclaimed, no doubt delighted by the mystery.

"The execution…" Saer Saer whispered, his eyes growing dark. "The last time that he was in the middle of the city…. It was the execution."

The old man nodded quietly to himself. Saer Saer's hands were trembling.

"Saer Saer, I think that of any of us, this box belongs mostly to you," the grandfather said softly, pressing the little box into his hands.

"But I found it!" Merky cried indignantly. "I found it, and he didn't even care about it until he

found out that it was my father's!"

"Merky…." the old man sighed. He shook his head and put a finger to his lips. The younger boy glared reproachfully, but said no more. "Please, take it my friend. I am sure that Hayden would have wanted it."

-

"You know, when I'm dreaming late at night, I always seem to find time to do the things that I've always longed to do. My every desire is fulfilled," Hayden laughed, tugging on his coat youthfully. "I realize that… when I'm dreaming… I'm more of a man then I am when I'm awake. I can always say the things that I want to say, I am never fearful, and I see the world in a way that it should be seen."

"Do you dream a lot?" Saer Saer wondered, his lips turning up into a casual smile as he listened to him ramble on.

"Every night," he said in a sing song voice. He sighed happily as he looked up at the stars. "You know, sitting up on this rooftop with you, I can just sort of breathe a little. It's like my dreams. I mean, I can see with more clarity…. But then again, I suppose that anyone would be able to see more clearly without the fear of being caught out past curfew."

"Of course. Being arrested for deviance isn't something that I particularly enjoy," he grinned.

"You're telling me! Another beating for speaking improperly and I would have snapped!" Hayden threw back his head and burst into laughter. "My shoulders are still hurting from the last one. Thank goodness, there's no one to hear us making a mockery of our government's precious rules, from up here!"

For a moment the two sat in a companionable silence.

"You know what Saer?" Hayden whispered. "I've been outside of the city…"

"Liar," Saer Saer scoffed, whacking him playfully on the head. "No one's ever been outside of the city. You know that. What do you take me for?"

"No no! I mean it, I really have been outside of the city! Come on now, don't hit me for it! I told you my shoulders hurt!"

"Alright then, what did it look like outside?"

"Hmm." Hayden's face puckered in thought. "Well, it's a bit hard to explain… It is much brighter… and green, very green as far as the eye can see. Just a little ways from the wall there are these things that are brown at the bottom and green up top, and they have long arms that reach up to the sky. Not far from them, I saw a person. A little woman, wearing colorful clothes! They were nothing like the clothing that we're wearin', they were very beautiful. She asked me where I'd come from, and I told her that I came from the city. She said that she'd never seen anyone come out of the city before, and so she invited me to sit with her and we exchanged stories. Then, when it was almost night, I told her that I had to go. She was very kind and she gave me a little trinket to remember her by. She said that whenever I needed strength, I could hold it in my hands and think of the outside world. She said that it would give me the strength to go on, so that I could change my city, back to the way that it should be."

"So if you really left the city, then show me this trinket that she gave you," Saer Saer replied skeptically. He gazed over at Hayden, and made a face.

"I'll tell you what, when I'm at my final hour, and I know that I'm not going to live much longer, I swear to you that I'll find a way to get it to you, but not until then," he grinned. "Besides, in my little trinket, I left the plans for my revolution. How to start it and , you know… all that stuff. I expect you'll keep it going if I end up hitting the bucket."

"As if that would ever happen. I hardly believe you as it is, why would I believe you about you dieing. We both know it could never happen." The boy sat up and looked down at the cocky boy beside him. "And how exactly did you say that you got out of the city again?"

"I didn't say, and I sure ain't gonna! Who cares about the outside of the city. It's the inside that really matters to us. I mean, who cares about that world out there. This is our home, and we should be working to change it, not worry about leaving it. After all, that's what we're fighting for, right?"

-

Saer Saer strode down the street, the moonlight cool on his back. His long coat trailed out behind him like a ghost in the wind, and his eyes remained focused on the road ahead. Within his hands, the little wooden box exerted a warm pressure, and within his chest his heart began to beat fervently. The street unfolded before him in a new, inspired light.

All alone beneath the lamplight, the dust blew in a frenzy about his feet, and his shoulders straightened as he walked. Hayden was and had always been the leader, but really, what was a leader but one person who stood up for what they believed in? Together the two of them had been through hell and back. They had been through beatings, through speeches, through rallies, through underground rebellions, through the executions of their closest friends, and though Saer Saer had not been the one who had died, he had remained by Hayden's side up to his last moments. He was sure, that as they were walking through the heart of the city, as a bullet had streamed through Hayden's back, he had pushed the little box out of his coat pocket in hopes that Saer Saer would find it.

Hayden had left the city, and Hayden had seen a world that Saer Saer had only dreamed of, and yet he still returned. He had cared so much for the city and her people, that he had come back, knowing that he was bound to die, simply to go on trying to bring about change.

"Halt! Under code five six five five one, you are breeching curfew! Halt!"

Saer Saer's pace did not falter, and as he moved into a familiar doorway and pounded on the heavy metal door, his lips turned up into a smile. This was where he belonged. This was his future, this was Merky's future, this was the beginning of a new era. One that was not governed by corrupt political parties, but one that was governed by the people.

The door opened with a burst of light, and all at once four pairs of hands welcomed him in. Hayden's friends, his friends. "Welcome back, my brother. We've missed you."

Saer Saer grinned, "I've returned, and with a means of turning the tables of our revolution. Here, I've a gift from Hayden."

And with that, he brought out the little box, and neatly flipped it open.

Fin.

By: Lauren Hatch

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