The Well of Death (Excerpt)

munazza tahir

 

          "Sitara! Sitara, wake up! Why are you sleeping at five o'clock in the evening?" yells Daniel, my thirteen year-old brother. "Dad says we're going out. He didn't say where but he looks excited. Get out of bed and get dressed! It's going to be fun. Wake up, Sitara!" He starts shouting at the top of his lungs. I mumble and look at him, frustrated, trying to pull myself out of bed. Daniel throws a pillow in my face and runs out of the room. I shake my head. He has so much more energy than I do even though I'm three years younger than him. I don't really care though. I guess people are right when they say I am too sullen for my age.

          I walk toward the washroom, lazily. Looking at myself in the small ivory framed mirror, I frown. My hair is always a mess, being as thick and curly as coiled black wires. I try to smooth them again and again and finally give up. Walking back into my room, I open the closet to find something to wear.

          "Hurry up, Sitara. Daniel is already outside. We'll be late if you don't come out in the next ten minutes," calls out Dad, cheerfully.

          "Okay. I'm coming."

          "What?"

          "I said I'm coming," I repeat, almost sharply.

           "Alright. You really need to speak louder," says Dad, still cheerful.

           I slowly change into something presentable and brace myself for another one of Dad's surprises. Daniel usually gets thrilled because these trips are always fascinating. That is, if you're into that sort of thing. And I am not.

          I walk out the front door and straight toward the

family car. It is empty.

          "Sitara, we're walking," says Daniel.

          "Oh," I mutter in return, mildly surprised. Usually,

these trips are long. I don't really bother to ask Dad how

far it is.

 

          "Okay guys. It's going to take us only about seven minutes to get there. So let's get a move on. We must be there before six-thirty," says Dad as we start walking down our street. It is an old residential area, full of huge oak trees. The houses are barely visible.

          I look at the time on my wristwatch. It is only five minutes after six. We have a lot of time before…whatever we are going to see. We should be taking our time but I see Dad and Daniel hurrying down the sidewalk. I lag behind looking around at the ancient trees. The sky has already set into a pale blue darkness. A few stars are visible but they don't have even a slight sparkle or glimmer. They're just dull white dots stippled onto the sky. Dull. Sullen. Like me. It's ironic, because stars are supposed to shine. And ten year-olds are supposed to be vivacious, ignorant of everything. And, my name means star.

          I notice that Daniel is looking at me, angrily.

          "Come on! Hurry up! Why do you have to slouch so much? Seriously…" Daniel shouts. He always keeps

shouting.

          "Daniel, be nice to your sister. Remember that I said no fighting or we go right back home," says Dad in a calm voice. It's not me who starts fighting with Daniel. Dad always includes me even if it's only Daniel's fault.

          The sight before me finally registers in my head. We walk in a huge field and there are hundreds of people around us, walking in one direction. It is too dark to see what is in the middle of the field, but that is where everyone is going. It looks like an enormous structure but I cannot make out the shape. When we get closer, I see that it looks like a gigantic cylinder, lit up with bright white lights from within. We stand at the foot of the metallic stairs leading up to the top of the structure and I look up at the sky above it. It glows white with the lights from somewhere deep within. Dad urges me to go and I follow Daniel up the stairs.

          We reach the top and walk onto a wide terrace full of people. The terrace seems to be built all around the cylinder and it is swarming with excited screaming people. Their faces are lit up with those same lights but I'm still not close enough to see inside. Daniel grabs my arm and pushes through the crowd trying to get as close as possible. I am too overwhelmed by the loud crowd to move. Daniel pulls himself and me through an opening and we stand right along the wooden wall of the cylinder.

          "Hey kids...got lost back there for a second," says Dad walking in beside us and I jump.

          "Wow! Would you look at that? Wow! That's amazing!" says Daniel all of a  sudden. I finally look into the cylinder…and gasp. It is the biggest hole that I have ever seen. It seems to continue down into the ground, beneath the earth's surface. I stand there looking at the structure, which is entirely made out of wood, eyes and mouth wide open. There are huge spotlights placed along the walls on the floor of it.

          "Kids, welcome to the Well of Death...