Dead Diamonds

‘Thump’

Something hard hit Worubu at the back of his head. He shook his head, to recover from the shock and his eyes sought the perpetrators of the attack. From across the stream a group of boys looked at him with anticipation and fear. They all were hardly a summer over 15, almost Worubu’s own age.

Worubu rose up slowly, using the support of his AK-47. A homemade football, made up of old rags and plastic and tied up with pieces of rope, lay near his foot. His eyes went instantly towards the stump where his left leg used to be till the land mine explosion. Usually, he tried to ignore the pain which kept him up most nights and blank out the anguish of loosing his whole family in the blast but the constant itching in his missing leg didn’t give him that respite.

“STOPPPPP”, a voice filled the grey sky.

A figure dashed by Worubu’s side and ran towards the stream. At that moment, Worubu forgot everything. The pain, the sufferings, the grief, the sorrow, all took a back seat as a tidal wave of anger and hatred rose inside him. Later he would regret his actions but at that instant he had found the way to channel his anger & anguish to.

His face contracted into a vengeful half snarled expression. Without uttering a word he raised his gun, aimed and fired.

Each one of the bullet found its way into the target.

Worubu hopped across to the dead figure but a small child beat him to it. The child showed Worubu three uncut diamonds he had taken from the half clasped fist of the dead man.

“They would shine more if we wash off the blood from them”, said Worubu.

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Had this story in mind since a long time, got inspired by a lot of things. Dafur, Soccer World Cup, Africa, Blood Diamonds, Child Soldiers to name a few.

I love the title though. So many connections and I can feel dwelling deeply into each of them.

Reliving Nightmares

Eduardo opened his eyes to see shadows playing on the ceiling. He woke up from his fitful sleep and tried to find the bottle of water. She hadn't put it by his bedside, again. he looked at her side of the bed, still empty. For how much time I'm supposed to apologize, he thought.

Eduardo was drenched in a cold sweat and shaken to the core of his soul. He was reliving the same nightmare again and again and again. He tried to stand up on his feet but his knees kept buckling. 'Inches away. Inches away from me' he thought. He tried to calm himself down but every time he got close to peace, the red figure came back in his mind, charging towards him. And then he shot.

No one had blamed him at first but then at that time no one had got the time to mull over things. But now everything had changed, everything was different. Someone had to be the scapegoat. No one remembered his past achievements, the applauds he had earned. The shadow of this failure had cast an eclipse on everything he had achieved.

He went to the window to see the lights of Lisbon beckoning him. It was a common phenomena around the world. The cities never sleep.

He went downstairs to get some water. He saw the lights coming from the living room. As usual she had forgotten to switch off the Television.

The highlights of the earlier game were playing across the screen. Puyol leaping across the German defense and putting the ball in the net.
The faces of the German players flashed across but it was the German goalkeeper whose dejected face imprinted in Eduardo's heart. Eduardo could relate to his state of mind. He picked his cell and typed, 'It is alright Neuer. Good game.' and sent it to him.

With a heavy heart Eduardo looked at his wall where his Portuguese jersey was framed.


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Goalkeepers are an unsung lot. Confined to their 18 yard boxes, under total pressure to save every shot fired at them and ALWAYS overlooked. David Villa, Ronaldinho, Muller, Klose, Messi, Tevez , Sneijder may have cult following but hardly anyone sings laurels in the praises of the Goalkeepers (except maybe when they can't hold onto the ball...remember Robert green of England??) Once in a lifetime maybe one can hear of names like Buffon, Oliver Kahn or maybe Van der Sar. The silver lining??? The best best goalkeeper in the world, Spain's Casillas, has the HOTTEST GF of all the WAGS. Beat that Beckham. :D

On an ending note the above post is inspired by the goal scored by Villa against Portugal in the WC-2010.