Captured

• Tania Rojanawisut, Grade 7, Caringbah High School
• Short Story
• 2020

Excellence Award in the 'The Inside Story 2020' competition

He looked gloomily around the room. He was practically motionless, and it was only his vacant eyes that moved occasionally to let you know he was still alive. They were not dark glares or looks of realisation just lifeless glances that bared no emotion. His eyes were empty as if he were just a mere doll as if he were crafted to always wear a blank look on his face. However, he wasn't always like this.
It was since that tragic day. The doctor looked down and said one single word. “Sorry”. That was it, his parents were gone. The colour drained from his face. Darkness engulfed him. He was just a young boy. Alone in the world. Three years after that he dwelled in only that single memory. However, the pain was too much, he couldn’t long or hope for them to come back anymore.
Some say he was traumatised but couldn't ever speak of it again because it would bring tears to his eyes, but the truth was much more tormenting. The bitter truth. He simply could not remember. He had erased every thought. Every mere memory. Not a trace left. His mind seemed to be like an empty room. He would wander the streets every day without a purpose, it was as if he were only living because he could not die. The agony had taken over him and there was nothing left for him to do except for forget and erase, start over every day without knowing he once belonged somewhere. Not knowing that he was once a part of something, a family.
However, no one knew that sometimes he would wish that there was something. Just a vague memory would have been enough for him. Just a second of seeing his parents’ face when he closed his eyes. He finally realised that he needed to know, to be sure that he once had a place, that his life once bared something other than misery. Then one night the desire overtook him. He got out of his bed and ventured down a hallway he never did before. Not remembering what he was to discover at the end of his path. He never wanted to know until today. Today, maybe his life would change.
He stumbled upon a box. It was waiting for him to come all these years. His hands hovered above the lid, but without even thinking his insatiable curiosity took his hands forward to lift off the lid to reveal what it had hidden all these years. They were photos; however, they were not just pictures, they were moments of his life. Captured into an artwork that laid his life before his eyes. And for once in many years he felt happiness. It sparked a feeling that overfilled his heart with delight and wonder. A spirit in him had been awakened, his face was radiant and beaming with joy. He was going to change and make this journey of his life beautiful once again.