Illegally Home

In a far away land called Zreon, a wee babe named Midnight, was running around with all of his siblings and cousins on their family farm. Laughter and excited yelling could be heard for miles as all of the young creatures played tag. Midnight looked out across the yard to see his parents in the field struggling to plant that year's peanut crops. The ground was so dry and hard that every time they hit the soil it sounded as if they were hitting stone. There had not been rain for over two months. The local river needed to be rerouted but there were not enough Zreonians to complete such a large task. The adults came home every day exhausted and dropped into bed.  Midnight felt terrible seeing his parents so tired, though he did not know how to help them. He tried to assist them in the field but that turned disastrous when his stomach started to rumble and instead of planting the seeds he started to eat all of them. What a scolding and a stomach ache he got for that. With deep worry he just went to sleep every night having endless nightmares of his parents collapsing and getting sick.

One morning when Midnight was eating breakfast he heard a rustling in the trees beside his tree house. He looked over and found a large group of neighboring Griolace creatures running his way. Midnight set off a loud warning alert to his parents. Immediately his mother and father were in front of him shielding him from the intruders. His father began to speak to the Griolace leader. The leader explained that they came from the farthest borders of the Griolace land, they were exhausted and had been walking for days. He said the land they came from was prosperous but dangerous so they were looking for a new home. They understood they were there illegally and at any point could be caught and asked to leave. But nevertheless they promised to work really hard if Midnight’s father would just let them stay among them. After speaking to the rest of the Zreon group, Midnight’s father cautiously agreed knowing that they needed help rerouting the water supply in order to survive this growing season. Immediately preparations were made to build them houses to live in among the Zreonians. 

Midnight and his family quickly became very close to the Griolace, sharing in all of the daily tasks. The adults working with his mother and father in the fields growing the peanut crops. The younger Griolace played and grew with Midnight building strong bonds. They eventually became like one family unit that flowed smoothly throughout their days doing their tasks. They celebrated holidays together as one big family, shared in joyous occasions as well as mourning together through the sad ones. After years and years of life moving about like this, everyone forgot about the fact that the Griolace were indeed there illegally and at any moment could be caught and thrown out. 

One evening after a hard day of harvesting peanuts, Midnight, a grown creature now, came in from the fields soaked in sweat. He was washing up before dinner and heard a ruckus outside his tree house. He ran outside and saw to his horror that there were large shielded creatures rounding up all of the Griolace. His family was screaming in terror. Everyone was trying to grab those they have grown to love and felt as family. The shielded creatures were ruthlessly throwing them in large bags and carrying them off over their shoulders. Midnight’s mother was beating her chest and crying out. Midnight grabbed a large stick and tried to beat some of the shielded creatures but they did not even flinch at his strike. They were too large and too heavily armored to be bothered by him. One by one all of the Griolace were removed from their big happy family. The void immediately felt as though a large crater just blasted through them. With only the Zreonians left, they huddled together in a large mass holding on to each other crying until there were no more tears left to cry. Unable to bear the pain any longer, Midnight gathered a small sack with food in it and set off to follow the shielded creatures. He tracked them always maintaining a safe distance. He ran for miles and miles before he saw a large fenced in area.  The first thing he noticed was the smell.  It was so rancid, as though other creatures had previously died in there.  A large knot grew in his stomach and he felt immediate terror for those he had grown to love. He saw the shielded creatures gruffly empty the Griolace behind the fences. The sun began to set and for fear of being captured himself he ran back home to let his family know where the Griolace were being held. He thought for sure his dad would know how to get them out and bring them back home. 

Midnight informed his father of everything he saw, smelled and heard. His father with a grim look on his face told Midnight that he has been hearing rumors of this happening. He explained that by morning they would be moved to another detention center at an undisclosed location. They would be held there for an unknown amount of time, allowed no outside contact, and then sent back to the original land they came from. Midnight in confusion and with tears in his eyes said to his father “but this is their home, we are their family, they have been here for over 20 years. They helped us build all we have with their own sweat, blood, and tears.” His father comforted him and said “I know my son but some do not see it this way. Some are out to prove a point and are not willing to seek a better option than this.” 

Written by 

Regina Velius