K: Back of Your Hand

Timony waved the flag wildly as the car went by, he wasn't fanatical
about the new regime, but how much worse than the last one could it be?
The long black bullet-proof Mercedes glided past oblivious to the
potholes and the cheering crowd. Inside was General Topu and his wife
and two children, Agu aged seven and Nilea aged twelve. They were
General Topu's pride and joy and as he looked at the surrounding
Capital he now controlled, thoughts of the future drifted through his
mind.

Nilea sat and looked at the jubilant crowd, he knew it was for his
father, and that his father was an important man, that day, he promised
himself, he too would be important. The sun baked down on the scene as
the Mercedes and its outriders pulled into the Governmental
complex.

Three months later Nilea, Agu and their mother fled the country. Topu
had been assassinated in what turned into a peoples revolution, General
Topu and his family were demonised when the UN revealed just what it
took to get to power ruthlessly. Nilea and Agu's mother was determined
to get her children to safety and she thought she had when the plane
touched down at Heathrow, but after two weeks in a refugee camp and
uncertain proceedings in motion as to their future she planned their
escape into anonymity in English Society.

Days before they were due to go, Nilea had been aware of a number of
the other refugees watching them closely, he didn't realise why though
until it was too late. The night of the escape Topu's family crept
through the grounds of the camp, but they were not the only refugees
outside the containment building. Three men of the opposition were
close behind. Before Nilea realised the men were there, they had sunk a
knife in his mother's back, she tried to scream but the assailant held
his hand over her mouth. Nilea got up and ran, then thought of Agu, he
stopped but Agu was already dead. Nilea ran on with the three men
finishing their work. He climbed the fence and was gone.

Days later, Nilea sat under the bridge in North London where he felt
most safe and watched the men approach, they were just tramps but Nilea
was too weak to fight them off. Now in darkness of the night, Nilea
wandered, abused, hungry, cold, scared and alone, he didn't feel
important now. Now he felt wretched and he wanted it all to end. If
only he had the courage to make it all end. Nilea sat down on the
corner and wept.

Dorothy saw him on her way back from work, she went over and smiled,
Nilea flinched away at seeing her, she was heavily made up and Nilea
had seen women like her on the streets before. "Are you OK" asked
Dorothy. Nilea didn't understand, but her tone was gentle and he
couldn't help the tear from rolling down his face. Dorothy held out her
hand and Nilea took it. "Your hands are soft, I can't tell the back of
your hand from the front, you haven't been out here long, have you."
Nilea smiled and Dorothy took him home.