Sunday, May 4, 2014
The Journalist
He pulled on his snug suede jacket that fitted well around his broad shoulders. Righting his identification tag, he stepped confidently out of the white van, armed only with his camera and a notepad.
He had worked hard and long for this opportunity. 2 years of unpaid internships, 6 years of covering small local news before he was finally sent out into the field.
It's tough out there. You have to be mentally strong. He knew that but he also knew that he could do it, if only he was given the chance. So he was sent to the harshest place as an international correspondent. Right smack in the war-zone, he was to write what he saw and not what he felt - something that should be relatively simple for him.
Awesome, I've made it.He was overjoyed to start a career that would be fulfilling and promising and everything that he could have ever imagined.
He walked on past the numerous other writers waiting at the edge of the fence for a chance to enter in. Special clearance was only given to the best in the field to enter into the zone. He held up his tag to the gunmen blocking the entrance.
Johann Tan, Journalist, Special Clearance granted. He stepped right on through. He would only have 12 hours there before he had to report back to that very same gate. He glanced back at the other rookies - pity they would not get the cover story that could make their career. He hitched his camera strap onto his shoulder and moved forward - he had a job to do. Tucking the ball-point pen behind his right ear, he silently chewed his minty gum even as he maneuvered across what was left of the war-zone.
Just get the main gist and type it. No need to add gruesome details. No need for emotions. He was good at that. At that he gave a small smirk.
His ex-wife would have agreed with that. Probably the only thing they would ever agree on.
He hiked up his expensive camera, a pale comparison to where he was standing. Everything that used to have life and value in this place had evidently decayed over past few days. Or weeks. Or months. Not that he really cared about the timeline. He was an international correspondent whose main purpose was to see the third world through a first world perspective. Nothing could go wrong with that right?
Some houses burned away with small fires while others had smoldered to become a heap of debris. Johann tried his best to avert his eyes from those that had once been alive, whether their limbs have been caught or whether they had been murdered, what remained was a rotting corpse in various positions of fear. No matter at all. He bent down to take a picture of a man who had his roof collapse on him, leaving him scratching the ground in a vain attempt to pull himself to safety.
He still looked whole, censorship would probably accept it. Johann's finger pressed down on the button, locking the gruesome scene in a still picture. Time to move on, he had to leave the area in 12 hours. He winced at the thought that many of these people probably wished they had that deadline to reach.
No emotion, put a wall between you and them. Shaking off the goosebumps, he smoothly stood up and continued.
He saw something glistening in the distance.
What the heck? He inched closer to the small object. Reaching, he gingerly bent down to inspect the tiny doll. It was crudely sewn together with makeshift eyes in the form of tiny beads. He flipped it over with a flick of his extended index finger.
It looked almost as bad as the other marred bodies around him. Maybe it belonged to an adult, the way some adults collect troll babies - though he could never figure why the hell people collected something so ugly. Not a child. No. A child would be too young to be lost in this way. To his surprise, he started feeling anxious. Was he actually worried about the safety of a child he had not even met? He swiped his face to wipe away the sweat and found that his hands were shaking. He turned his head aside to breathe and that's when he saw it. A tiny arm stuck out of the crevice of a pile of rubble nearby.
His mind fizzled. Every bone in his body told him to reach out to the arm and pull her to safety whereas his brain warned him that getting emotionally-attached would get him permanently removed.
(Work in progress, I'll slowly edit this post)
Mona ♥
Sunday, May 04, 2014
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