The children who ran

Once upon a long time ago, there lived a boy in a house that grumbled all day long. The people in the house didn't agree to each other in many ways which led to frequent arguments. So one day, the boy got up in the morning and walked away. He didn't want to live in that house anymore. He didn't feel like he was a part of it. Like he didn't "belong" there. 

There was a girl in the neighbourhood who saw him walking away. She followed him. she wanted to know where he was off to.   

The boy wanted to walk to away to the fields far beyond to be a shepherd. He remembered his mother telling him that shepherds could travel wherever they wanted to with their herd of sheep. He thought that would make him fulfill his desires to be free and do whatever he wanted. The sheep wouldn't understand a thing and they would be good companions. 

The girl was just inquisitive. Her brother had always been a pain in the ass and that boy had helped her once when her brother was beating her. She was intrigued by the boy. She knew he wasn't like the other boys in the area. 

She didn't know the boy had gone, never to return again. She followed him right to the forest. It was dark and scary, but the girl knew the boy was around and she wasn't scared. The boy, well, he had set out to be free. Freedom, he realised is something you have to insist upon and he was determined to be free. 

The boy had no idea that there was company. 

The girl finally decided it was time to confront the boy. They had reached far away from home and the girl couldn't go back. The boy wasn't reaching a destination. He was just walking away.

The girl tapped his back. 

"How did you find me, here, in such a dark place?", he asked.

"I didn't find you," she said. "I just happened to be here as well."

The boy smiled. He needed company. The sheep would take weeks to find and he felt alone.

"Why", she asked? Why did you leave everything and just walk away? 

"I thought it would be wonderful to get rid of everything and everybody and just go some place where you don't know a soul", he said.

The girl smiled. They were glad of each other’s company. They started searching for firewood and berries. They were hungry, ofcourse. 

They rambled on and on about anything and everything, as if tossing stones into a dry well. As they were skipping along in the warm sunshine one morning, they came to a little cottage in the clearing. They went closer, tempted by the smell of freshly brewed laughter and the tantalizing heady warmth wafting out of the cottage. When they peeped in and saw the happy people inside, they watched enchanted. They had never experienced something like this before. 

The bickering in their respective houses always made them think this is how the outside world is. They had lived in their own bubble which had suddenly broken. 

The happy people smiled and welcomed them in. They held hands and formed a merry ring and danced around the other children in the house. The children sighed deeply and never wanted to leave. 

By and by, they grew happier and happier and forgot all about the old house that grumbled all day long. And so, the children lived happily ever after. Well, almost. 

One day, the girl looked into the mirror and saw her mother’s face and knew that time had gone by. She didn't want to leave. She liked it there.

The boy, well, nothing mattered to him. He did miss his mother sometimes, but he thought, 'well, it's OKAY. That's the life she chose for herself. I chose the life I wanted. He never looked back since. He didn't want to return to that life again. He was happy. Nothing bothered him. It's easier to forget things you don't need anymore, he thought. 

The girl took the boy’s hand, breaking his flow of thought and told him it was time to leave. He questioned her why. 

"All good things come to an end, somewhere. As time goes on, you'll understand that time solve most things. And what time can't solve, you have to solve yourself", she said

They bid goodbye to the happy people and started on their journey back home, lugging along a big bag of memories behind them. 

After many days, they crossed the forest and came to their old house and found it shrunk and withered with age. Climbing gingerly up its mouldy, moss covered steps, they entered the big room and standing in the middle of it, opened the mouth of the bag. 

They watched the bubbles of happiness gently float out and settle like soft snow flakes on the sadness of the house and the children hoped they had brought enough.  

They would just have to wait and see. If only future began when the past ended, things would be simpler that way, they thought.