Aligzander
“Let me go, I say let me go! If you don’t take your hands off me collar I will…”Then there was heavy breathing, the sound of receding footsteps and then a loud, “thump.” Of course it was quite frightening. I froze in position as a hand grabbed hold of my neck, from behind. It was quite cold.
As I struggled, I managed to say, “please, don’t hurt me. I didn’t see anything.”
“What you mean you didn’t see anything?” The voice sounded familiar but I could not see the face of the person. It was pitch dark. Dogs were barking everywhere and then I went blind or so I thought. Something struck me across my head. I knew that this could be ‘it’.
There was silence and then it began to rain. I felt as if pushed against the trunk of the mango tree. I knew my terrain very well. I had ‘lived’ in these trees as a school boy. I used to ‘stowaway’ from school for days on end. The roots of the trees are all too familiar. I hugged the roots of my youth. The voice began to speak again, “you lucky it is night and rain coming!” With that, they left and shouted to someone who was apparently nearby. They grabbed hold of something and shouted, “lift, heavy, steady, let go.”
The weight of something came crushing down on my feet and I managed to ease myself away from it all. They left and returned swiftly and kicked me in the groin. I groaned and then they shouted, “shut up before we beat the daylights out of you.” More silence and I dared not cry.
Photo courtesy http://gistplug.com/
It was a long while before I moved my feet again. I began to realise that it was more than the rain water that had me transfixed to this spot. I realised that I will need to get another good bath soon. The rains pelted down between the trees but the heavy weight was upon my feet which was slowly moving away. I shifted my gaze and refocused.
The moon was up still. There were no more voices. No one. It looked almost like daylight was about to break through, and I could hardly move. I shifted my feet again and this time, I could feel that both of my legs were free; at least I could wiggle my toes. Some relief. From a faraway place there was music or so I thought. The dogs too had gone. No more barking.
