Chapter 1:

The dark surrounds me. Minute after minute. Hour after hour. Day after day. All I see is the darkness. How long have I been here? Two days at least. They bring me food once a day, a small piece of stale bread and a glass of milk. It's not much, but I'm guessing their own people don't get much themselves. Sand people can't afford much when no one will sell to them. Unless of course they're being held at gunpoint, which they often are.

But that's more rare now. Sand people shootings have become less common in the last ten years. Ever since the Jedi came they've been too scared that one might be lurking behind any corner. We've all heard the rumors that they're still here. Or that they left one behind. The Jedi. The bringers of peace.

Personally, I despise the Jedi. They took everything from me. Bringers of peace? More like bringers of destruction. At least that's what they did to my family, what they did to my mother. My mother who only wanted to protect her son. But they took her son and left her in slavery. That's what Owen told me, my real brother.

I was cleaning the house, mom and dad's room. There was a box on mom's night table. I opened it. I know I shouldn't have, but I did. The box was small and wooden, with an engraved "X" on the top. I sat on the bed. There was a picture inside of a little boy with sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. "That's Anakin." I turned around to see Owen standing there with a broom in his hand. "That's your brother."

Owen went on to explain what happened, it's strange that it was only a few months before me. Ten months before me did Anakin leave my mother to become a jedi. Owen told me what happened: two jedi came to Tatooine after their ship broke down and they took Anakin back to train with them.

They left Shmi. They left her to be a slave for life. Thank the stars, dad found her and bought her only to save her. Dad saved mom and married her, all within the span of a month. If only Anakin had waited one more month, things would have turned around and he would have been set free.

I would have another brother.

At least, I would know my other brother.

No one actually knows if Anakin is still alive. The jedi aren't allowed to have attachments or connections with their old lives. I guess that includes breaking promises to come back for the ones that you love. That's what Owen told me, that Anakin promised to come back for mom. But, it's been ten years so I say the odds of that happening are slim.

Maybe that's why I am here, because my stupid older brother couldn't keep his promise to rescue us. Maybe if he had come a few years ago, I wouldn't be here, tied up on a stick inside the home of a sand person. They haven't killed me yet, which I guess is a good sign, or a terrible one, depending on what they want to do to me.

We were tending the gardens when it happened. Owen and Beru were closest to the house, they were the ones harvesting the lettuce heads. I was in the next patch over, picking strawberries; they were red as roses and so sweet they tasted like pure sugar. Mom and dad were furthest out, harvesting carrots and beets. That was when we heard them, or more their calling card: the cry of a bantha.

We could see them, out in the distance with their long hides and curling horns, it was then that I knew it was too late. The sand people were fast, and they were smarter than most gave them credit for, they knew how to strategize. Others who have been attacked, or have watched others, say that when you hear the cry of the bantha, you're already dead.

I started running for the house. Owen and Beru were running too, I looked behind me to see mom and dad as well. That was when I heard a gunshot ring out into the fields. I looked behind me, and saw my father fall. I felt like my heart had been shredded inside my chest. I started running back to my parents as fast as my legs could carry me. The sand people were still a far way out, though their guns had long distance. Mom was struggling to lift dad up, trying to get him to hold on to her shoulder.

"Acaica, no! Run back! Go home!" She screamed at me, but I wouldn't leave my father. I hoisted him up so that he could hold onto my shoulder, but he was heavy and we were slow in crossing the fields.

That was when I heard another gunshot ring out and consequently, my mother fell down, taking all of us with her. "MOM!" I screamed, running over to her. "Mom, please, please no!" Tears sprung from my eyes, as my already shredded heart disintegrated and my chest was empty. I checked my mother for blood, and saw the gaping black hole in her lower back. "Mom, please!" I begged pulling her head into my lap. I knew I wouldn't be able to get both of my parents back to the house. But how could I leave one of them behind?

The rest of it went by in a blurry haze. The sand people caught up to us. Both of my parents had passed out, but not me. I was lucky enough to see it all. For some reason, they left my dad behind. One sand person locked our wrists with rope, it cut my wrists every time I tried to move.

I was thrown over one of their shoulders, and my mother was picked up by another one of them. We were carried a long while and thrown onto the back of the bantha. That was when they hit me on the back of the head with one of their clubs and I blacked out.

If Anakin had come back, this never would have happened. He should have kept his promise. If he had, my parents would be alive, and I wouldn't be here. It's his fault.