One day, as we were all gathered around our camp, a convoy of vehicles suddenly arrived. The cars parked close to us, raising a cloud of dust that rose into the dry air.

Everyone froze, suspicious glances turning to these new arrivals. Among all the cars, a door opened and a single man stepped out.

He wore a casual outfit, contrasting with the tense atmosphere surrounding us.

"Hi everyone, today's your lucky day!" he announced in a jovial voice, a broad smile on his lips.

The people around me looked at each other, unsure of what this unexpected arrival meant.

After greeting everyone, the man invited all the men present to join him in a meeting, with the exception of the women and children, who stayed behind, watching cautiously.

"Mom, who's that gentleman talking with Dad and the others?" I asked, curiosity piquing.

"Be patient, Tashi, we'll find out soon enough," she replied, a hint of concern in her voice.

Time stretched on. The sun was slowly descending towards the horizon, and minutes were turning into hours. The meeting seemed interminable, and the waiting made my eyelids heavy. Soon I fell asleep, my head resting on my mother's lap.

I don't know how long I slept, but the sound of footsteps slowly roused me from my slumber. I recognized them instantly: they were my father's footsteps.

Even without opening my eyes, I could feel his presence approaching. Yet something was different about his gait. He seemed heavier, more hesitant.

"Darling! What happened?" my mother asked, the tension in her voice palpable. I felt her hand, which had been tenderly caressing my head, stop.

There was silence. My father, usually so quick to respond, took a deep breath before speaking.

"There's something I need to tell you," he said.

My mother said nothing, but I could feel her concern growing.

"The man who came earlier... He made us a proposal," my father continued, his voice becoming more strained. "It concerns our children."

At these words, my mother's hand froze completely on my head.

"He told us he would take charge of our children free of charge."

My mother remained silent, but I could almost hear the turmoil in her mind.

"I hope you asked the reason."

My father nodded slowly, though I couldn't see him, I could feel the heaviness of his answer.

"Obviously, it struck us all as suspicious. An offer like that... It's almost too good to be true. We asked him questions, and finally, he revealed the truth, this man... He's a mercenary. He's here to recruit young boys, to train them and integrate them into his troop."

A thick silence fell over us. I could hear my mother's heartbeat quickening.

My mother tightened her embrace around me, as if to protect me from this world that had suddenly become more dangerous.

"What are you going to do?"

My father remained silent for a moment, searching his words carefully, weighing each syllable as if they could change our destiny. Finally, he took a deep breath and said in a low but firm voice:

"I think it's wiser that we entrust Tashi to this man."

At these words, a cold fear seized me. My heart clenched painfully, and the thought of being abandoned, of leaving my parents to be entrusted to a stranger, sent a silent panic through me.

I remained motionless, my eyes still closed, but my mind was racing, searching for an explanation, a hope that all this was just a bad dream.

My mother didn't react immediately. The silence that followed my father's confession was heavy, almost suffocating, until she spoke up, her voice vibrating with anger and pain:

"Do you really think I'm going to leave my son in the hands of thugs?"

My father raised a hand, trying to calm the brewing storm.

"Just listen to me for a moment, okay?"

Despite the fury rumbling inside her, my mother remained silent. My father, taking this as tacit permission continued.

"Our little group has been walking non-stop for weeks now, but who's to say we'll be safe once we reach our destination? We don't even know where this road ends, or what awaits us there."

"As you said, none of us know, however, Tashi is safest here with us. No matter where we go, he must stay with his family."

My father remained silent for a moment, carefully choosing his next words. He rested his tired gaze on my mother, trying to make her think differently.

"Haven't you ever wondered why we're the only ones moving around like this, while the citizens of the other towns stay holed up at home, despite the food crisis?"

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My mother frowned, struggling inwardly to understand what he was getting at.

"Of course I do," she replied softly. "But that doesn't change anything. Maybe they're staying because they hope things will get better."

"Or maybe they know something we don't."

"..."

"Maybe what we're running from can't be escaped. Maybe they've chosen to stay because they know that moving is just as dangerous, if not more so."

"And you really think handing our son over to this man is the solution?" asked my mother, her eyes bright with suppressed tears.

"I don't know for sure, but what I do know is that we're exhausted, starving, and every day spent on this path becomes an increasingly insurmountable struggle. Tashi deserves a chance, a real chance to survive, even if it means he has to be far away from us."

"…"

"This man," my father continued, "told us he would take care of Tashi, train him, give him the means to survive in this world. This may be his best chance, his only chance of having a future."

My mother lowered her eyes, her hands trembling slightly. She stroked my head, as if to make sure I was there.

Then, after a long moment, she raised her head, her eyes filled with tears she was trying to contain.

"I can't... I can't abandon my son," she whispered, her voice broken with pain. "How can I live knowing I let him go, not knowing what might happen to him?"

"I understand, but we have to think about what's best for him. We have to protect him, even if it means we have to part with him."

Finally, my mother nodded slowly, her shoulders sagging under the weight of the decision. She took a deep breath, as if arming herself with courage, then murmured:

"If this is really what you think is best... then I trust you. But I swear, if anything happens to Tashi... I'll never forgive myself."

My father took her in his arms, holding her close. They stayed like that, united in their pain, while night fell softly around us.

…

…

The next morning, I stood facing the man to whom I would soon be entrusted.

Since the previous day's discussion, I hadn't been able to sleep a wink all night.

Was it hunger that kept me awake? Or was it the bitter cold that seeped under my blanket, biting into my skin despite my best efforts to keep warm?

Whatever it was, my mind was troubled, agitated by a whirlwind of dark thoughts and uncertainties.

Standing in front of this stranger, I could no longer hide the emptiness on my face, the absence of emotion that betrayed the state of confusion in which I found myself.

The man, apparently aware of my condition, frowned before turning to my parents, who were standing just behind me. His voice was low, almost worried.

"Are you sure he's all right? He doesn't look well," he said, his eyes settling on my pale face and slumped shoulders.

My mother, exhausted by the ordeals of the past few weeks, replied with a calm countenance, although I could feel the fatigue weighing on every word she uttered.

"It's just that he hasn't been eating his fill lately,"

My father, standing beside her, nodded in agreement, adding reassuringly.

"Indeed, if you saw him once his belly was full, he'd become a completely different person."

The man looked at them both, assessing their answers carefully. After a moment's thought, he nodded slowly.

"Okay, I trust you,"

With that, he grabbed me by the arm, his grip firm but not brutal, and pulled me gently towards him.

However, without even being fully aware of it, my hands instinctively clung to my mother's dress, my fingers tightening around the fabric as if my life depended on it.

"Don't leave me alone," I whispered, my voice broken by the fear that was finally escaping. Tears began to roll down my cheeks, tracing wet furrows on my cold skin.

"I'll eat less if you like... I can look for food for you... so I beg you, don't leave me alone."

The words gushed out of me in a desperate torrent, a last attempt to escape what seemed an inevitable fate.

I felt my mother stiffen behind me, her trembling hands hesitating between holding me back and letting me go.

My father, on the other hand, seemed caught in an inner conflict, torn between the desire to protect me and the cruel reality of our situation.

The man, perhaps sensing the weight of this moment, leaned forward slightly to look me in the eye. His expression was indecipherable, but his words, though soothing, had no power to dispel my terror.

"I understand that you're scared, Tashi," he said in a voice softer than I could have imagined. "But I promise I'll take care of you. You won't be alone."

But despite his words, the terror didn't leave me. My hands gripped even tighter to my mother's dress, refusing to let go, as if the mere act of detaching myself from it would plunge me into a bottomless pit. The idea of leaving, of being separated from those I loved, crushed me.

My mother finally placed a trembling hand on my head, her fingers gently sliding through my hair.

"Tashi..." she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Sometimes, to protect you, we have to make hard choices."

"But why me? Why can't we stay together?"

"Because we want what's best for you," my father replied in a low voice, full of regret. "And sometimes... that means entrusting you to someone else to secure your future."

As I struggled desperately not to be taken in, my father pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to me, his hands trembling.

"Here, Tashi, keep this letter until you learn to read."

I looked at the paper with tear-filled eyes, unable to understand how this simple piece could make up for all I was about to lose.

Anger and despair bubbled up inside me. "I don't want your paper," I retorted.

But before I could refuse once more, a gunshot ripped through the air, sounding like unexpected thunder in the precarious calm.

The noise was followed by a second of deafening silence, when time seemed to stand still. Then, suddenly, I saw my father collapse in front of me, his head tilting back like a puppet whose strings had been cut. A splatter of blood spurted from his skull, forming a grotesque arc before falling heavily to the floor, staining my clothes.

"They've found us! Get ready, boys!" shouted the man who had taken me under his wing.

At his command, armed men emerged from the vehicle, their rifles pointed in the direction of where the shot had been fired from. A burst of bullets rang out, filling the air with a deafening roar.

Bullets whizzed around me, smashing into rocks and raising clouds of dust.

But I froze, unable to move, unable to comprehend what had just happened. My gaze remained fixed on my father's body, inert, his blood spreading around him like a red tide.

"Run, Tashi!" My mother's voice pierced through the chaos, a desperate cry that reached me like a distant echo.

But my legs wouldn't respond. I was paralyzed with horror. My father had died before my very eyes. It all seemed unreal.

Suddenly, a man emerged from the shadows, his face contorted with hatred, his gun pointed directly at me.

Time slowed as I watched him pull the trigger, the sound of the metal mechanism ringing in my ears.

But before the shot could go off, my mother leapt in front of me, using her body as a human shield. The shot rang out, and I felt her warmth, her weight, as she collapsed on top of me. Her arms wrapped around me one last time as blood poured from the mortal wound she'd just received in my place.

"Mom!"

I could feel her body trembling against mine, her breathing becoming more and more labored.

She slowly turned her head toward me, her once vibrant eyes now veiled by unspeakable pain. "Survive, Tashi... that's all that matters now," she murmured weakly. "Promise me..."

But I didn't have time to answer. The life was already leaving her body, and her embrace became lighter, her hands slowly slipping from my shoulders. She collapsed to the floor.

The world around me seemed to collapse. Sounds, colors and sensations faded away, giving way to an icy emptiness. I was alone, lost in the middle of a field of death and violence, with the bodies of my parents at my feet.