The Price of Dawn
Sacred Heart Canossian College, Kary Ng, Fiction: Group 3
M
y parents and I lived as a part of a clan of Mongolians in the Gobi Desert. Benjamin,
my father’s brother, a young muscular man who has cropped hair and grey eyes,
lived opposite to our yurt. He had been the closest person to a friend my parents
could have had. I remembered being raised up sky high in his strong lean arms
when I was five, ten years ago. In recent years, I have not seen father having a conversation with
Benjamin anymore, when I asked, my father said something bad happened to him. It put me in
anxiety whenever I wondered what it was.
I have thrown on a white cotton dress when my father came back and put a little jade-crafted
scalpel necklace around my neck; he said it was for luck and he found it in the grasslands outside
the desert borders. “Goodnight, Sara.”
Mother and I laid ourselves to sleep on a rough lattice mat while my father dozed off in his
wooden chair. I stared at the heathery yarn blanket I crocheted for him placed in his lap and
dreamt of a thousand snakes crawling over me.
Then I was soon awakened by victorious cheering outside. I sat up in a daze, noticing my
mother was no longer by my side. I glanced around the room, the wooden chair was empty.
Without further thoughts, I exited the empty yurt in hopes of finding my parents outside.
“Lady Aguzani,” Benjamin said to a tough-looking woman with high cheekbones and full lips,
“it’s done.” Aguzani was the leader of our clan, known more for her inhumanity than her beauty.
Then what I saw held my eyes and burnt into my head. Next to Aguzani’s feet laid my mother
and father, their heads twisted all the way around with the eyeballs gouging and bleeding, their
bodies mangled and limp.
She turned her gaze on me and showed no surprise at my presence. I opened my mouth to
scream but no sound came out. The vile noises left were the crowd’s glee and snickers. Aguzani
quieted them down with two raised hands.
“Take her, Benjamin,” Aguzani said, “we have signed a contract with our new comrades across
the borderline and promised them the healthiest girl we have.” She crossed her fingers and strolled
my way. “And it won’t be long until they come and get you.”
Receiving a pleased nod from Aguzani, Benjamin dragged me by the arms to the barn none
too gently.
One late night Benjamin nudged open the barn gate, “I give you a night out, you stay quiet,”
he said stiffly.
I stood upright, kicking the fence he used to lock me in. A look of hurt passed his
expressions, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. As I walked past him, he stopped me with
a hand on my shoulder, looking me in the eyes sternly, “I apologize for your mother and father,
but I had no choice.”
I jerked away and sprinted, silent tears rolling down my cheeks. I went away as far as possible.
When I reached the darkest shadowed areas, I stopped and collapsed on my knees.
I heard a woman cry piercingly of terror from far behind me. I froze, dry tears still lingering
on my face.
I decided to turn around, the woman screamed for a second time when I did. An armored
