The Merit Birds by Kelley Powell

blaze of pain stopped me. I could do nothing but lie in the stillness and feel my heart rage against my ribcage.
    It seemed like hours passed. Where did Somchai go? I was alone in the dark with no clue about when he would come back, and no power to help myself. It made me remember Julia’s date nights when I was a kid. I tried to deepen my breath, but it hurt my ribs too much when my lungs expanded. I wished I could close my eyes and sleep.
    I would have given anything to be back home; not in Ottawa, but back in our rented house in Vientiane. I wanted to find Nok and tell her how sorry I was for grabbing her like that. I wanted to walk with her by the river and forget all about the drunk guy, the basketball fight, and my mother.
    My bladder felt like it was going to explode. I had to pee so badly, but I couldn’t move. I tried to shift to my right side so the piss would run down the cave path, mixing with its slickness, but I couldn’t do it. Suddenly, I felt a rush of warm liquid and wetness between my legs. I felt anger rising up my body, but I had no way to release it. I couldn’t move. It rose and rose until I felt like a balloon about to pop. I screamed long and loud. Why would Somchai leave me alone?
    I was about to go berserk when I thought I saw light flashing along the ceiling of the cave. A bat whizzed past me. The light started to bob up and down. Then I heard someone calling out in Lao, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying.
    â€œI’m here!” I yelled. “Over here!”
    More indecipherable Lao reverberated off the cave walls. I heard footsteps quickening their pace. I could tell someone was almost upon me. I was flat on my back, my head pointed in the direction of the footsteps, but I couldn’t turn to see who was behind me. I was so powerless. It didn’t sound like Somchai’s voice.
    Suddenly a headlight seared my eyeballs. When it moved off to the side it took my eyes a while to adjust to the darkness that was left behind. I saw a stranger wearing a massive, old-fashioned pair of glasses that looked almost clownish on his small, brown face. I attempted to sit up, but he pushed me back down.
    â€œHe’s a doctor,” I heard Somchai say from behind, and then felt a reassuring hand on my shoulder. A rush of relief flooded my body. My breath returned. He came back.
    We sat in the darkness, Somchai holding a Thermos of cool water to my lips every so often, as he and the doctor debated what to do. I had never tasted water so refreshing and sweet. Suddenly there were more shouts and footsteps.
    â€œSome villagers offered to follow us in case we needed more help,” Somchai explained. “They’re coming now.”
    I could hear an animated conversation happening behind me, but I couldn’t understand any of it. It sounded like two more men were there.
    â€œThey’re going to make a stretcher so we can carry you out,” Somchai said.
    â€œMake a stretcher?” I said in a weak, whispery voice.
    â€œYeah, there’s a clinic in Vang Vieng, but they’re not well equipped.”
    More hours seemed to pass. My body convulsed with cold. Somchai had wrapped a blanket around me, but it didn’t seem to be helping. He patted my shoulder.
    â€œIt won’t be much longer, brother,” he said. He looked worried.
    Finally the men arrived. Somchai lifted me up by the shoulders and the doctor placed his arms underneath me to support my back. Pain shot through my entire body. They laid me on the makeshift stretcher. From what I could tell it was made from some long poles of bamboo and material like a woman’s sin . My brain pounded against my skull.
    When we came out of the cave the sunlight was unbearably intense. The men loaded me on to a long-tail boat and we rowed across the river. Flies buzzed around me as my skin began to slowly cook in the sun. I could hear the rhythmic dipping of the oars into the