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Short Story

Grains of sand

Published : Saturday, 16 December, 2017 at 12:00 AM  Count : 1011
Tafhim Radita Ali
They say that one small difference is like a grain of sand. You make enough differences, gather enough grains of sand, you can make a beach.
Hope thought it was a ridiculous concept. If everyone contributed to "making a difference" then yes, they could create a beach. A whole lot of beaches, actually. Whoever said that was right, except he or she overlooked one, tiny, detail. Not everyone was going to contribute to the beach. In fact, very few people were going to contribute to create a beach. Furthermore, "one small difference" wasn't going to change the world, now was it? To someone else, it might sound bitter and loathsome, but to Hope, this was the truth.
Hope frowned to herself, not quite liking her train of thought. She didn't like to think these things, she was just naturally pessimistic. And she had every right to be.
The slight breeze blew once more on the cold winter day, making Hope feel bitter inside. As she waited for the bus, she watched the other pedestrians walk by, wondering if they shared her point of view. She doubted it. People who had good lives tended to think there was good left in the world. Hope knew better. There was no good in the world.
A mother and her daughter walked past Hope, making her sneer and withdraw into herself even more. What right did they have to be so happy when mothers and daughters like them were starving and dying out in the world? What right did they have to be happy when...
Hope didn't really want her thoughts to go down that path either, but perhaps she was too late to stop them. She could remember that day so very clearly that it still haunted her to this day.
It had started off as any ordinary day. It was July, Hope remembered, July 27, five years ago. Hope had been happily waiting at the Subway Station for the train that would take her and her mother home. Hope's mother was talking on the phone with her boss. She worked for Samsung. She was not all that important, but she made enough money to provide for Hope and herself and spoil Hope at the same time.
Yes, Hope had a good life back then. Everything was fine, but that day changed her life forever. It happened in an instant. There was a single gunshot, and people start yelling. Men and woman began running, screaming like little children, shoving and pushing each other to get to the exit. People fell but no one helped them up, all too caught up on saving their own lives.
"Everyone, SHUT UP!" a voice shouted. There was another gunshot, and everyone quietened.
Everyone was told to drop down on their knees and not make a single sound, but Hope had started crying. She had only been nine at that time, and she had never, ever faced the real world, always hiding behind her mother's skirt, being protected. Hope's mother had tried to quieten her, but the people who were holding the hostage grabbed Hope's mother by the hair and dragged her up.
"Stop!" said a police officer. He was one of the few that had been on patrol there.
"Oh," said the person who had Hope's mother by the hair, "It's a brave officer here. Do you want to save this woman's life?"
"L-let her go," the officer stammered, his gun trained on the evil man, his hand shaking slightly. Beside the well trained criminals, his shaking hand and stammering voice never stood a chance. Hope knew that. Her mother knew that. The criminals knew that. The officer knew that.
"Tell me, officer," The criminal snarled, "Whose life do you value more: yours or hers?"
Almost as soon as the criminal said that, one of his accomplices had a gun trained on the officer, the barrel of the gun connected with the officer's temple. One effortless shot would be all it took to end a life.
Instantly, as if a switch had been flicked, the officer started sobbing, "Please, no, don't kill me. I have a child at home. Spare me! Take her instead!"
The criminals did take Hope's mother from her that day. They had also taken the officer's life.
Hope sneered. That excuse disgusted her. I have a child at home. So did Hope's mum, but apparently, that had not mattered? Hope had not mattered. She was just an insignificant person in almost eight billion insignificant people in the world. If she did contribute a grain of sand to a meaningless beach, then what would it matter? It would be the same as not contributing, wouldn't it?
Hope scrunched up her nose as a little girl dressed in rags started crossing the road and settled down to watch her, just to keep her mind off of things. Hope saw too late the bus coming towards the girl, and when she did see it, she did nothing.
The bus was coming at full speed, obviously going too fast to stop in time. The girl was already in the middle of the road, her malnourished body and short legs not strong enough to get her from point A to point B without getting killed, even if she went in a perfectly straight line.
Hope looked around. There were two people on the street across her who were also looking on. Hope felt bad for the little girl, but in the end, it wouldn't make that much of a difference.
And then Hope saw it, and it startled her. A man, just a random civilian on the street, one of the two other people Hope had seen, flashed past, grabbing the girl on the way and crossing the road with unnatural speed. It was incredible. Not the speed, but the fact that the man had risked his life to save a girl, and insignificant girl, from an accident that would have cost them their lives.
Hope watched as somehow, miraculously, they both made it across the road and onto the pavement. Hope watched on in awe, unable to understand what drove the man to act the way her did.
Five minutes later, when Hope's bus finally arrived, she came to a confusing conclusion. Hope still did not understand, not even after many minutes of contemplating, why that man had risked himself for someone else. But she did understand one thing.
Perhaps the world wasn't quite as bleak as Hope had thought. Perhaps, there really was good left in the world -- heroes who didn't need to wear capes to be heroes. Perhaps, Hope had been missing the bigger picture all along.
Perhaps, that one, insignificant grain of sand wasn't so insignificant after all.

Tafhim Radita Ali is a student of Grade-08, Kunming International Academy, Kunming, China


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