My Home Town

  I got up wide-eyed, puffing vigorously. I glanced at my room. Shattered pieces of glass and torn papers covered the strips of the wooden-planked floor. I got off my foul bed.

  Ignoring the waste, I rushed towards the half opened-door. I peered out into the isolated corridor. The ceiling lamplights flickered and dust flew into my nostrils. I strolled across the narrow white alleyway while coughing.

  I reached the entrance. Wet paint dripped from the soggy ceiling. I stood upon torn bills. The yawning receptionist called me out.

  ‘Excuse me, are you leaving?’ She said, squinting her eyes.

  ‘Yes madam,’ I replied.

  ‘Please pay your rent for the night,’ requested the young eccentric woman.

  Sighing, I limped towards the desk. A drop of freezing white paint splashed onto my shoulder.

  ‘How much?’ I mumbled reluctantly.

  ‘Fifteen,’ replied the woman flatly.

  I hastily searched into my pockets, crumpling a few tissue papers out of frustration. Along with some dirty tissues and sand, I grabbed some money. Slipping the few pennies I had; I rushed towards the exit.

  The red-haired woman stared at me relentlessly.

  As I approached the glass-door, the towering security pushed me back in. We both looked at each other.

  ‘Pay the money before you leave,’ warned the guard.

  I ignored his call and tried oozing my way out. However, he grabbed my collar and lifted me up. He then grasped my thin neck.

  ‘I suppose a rogue like you will fear the cops, won’t you?’ sniggered the guard.

  My mind boiled, my tight veins elongated! I hastily jabbed his face. He let go of me; I stumbled down onto the yellow tiles.

  I heard the receptionist speaking on the phone, to the cops I suppose. I ran off jauntily into the bustling dirt street. The shouting guard pursued me.

  A cacophonous smell flew into my frantic nose. Soon, I turned back. The tattooed guard was in my sight.

  I ran as fast as I could, knocking a few people down. Suddenly I came crashing into someone, rolling down. I got covered with dirt. And to my misfortune, the pale-colored guard caught up. He pounced onto me and tackled me down. I retaliated and fought back. But my weak body secluded my struggles. Soon the police arrived. They hand cuffed my muddy hands.

  ‘You filthy imbecile! Causing chaos are you! Boys heat the rod!’ ordered a short obese man. Few hurried into the nearby smithery. Soon they came back with scorching iron rods.

  They swung the iron-rod ferociously on my back. I felt my spine crushing into my heart. My pleads echoed throughout the obnoxious street.

  Blood ran from my forehead to my dry thirsty throat. The saltish taste turned my tongue bitter.

  After some time, they stopped from exhaustion. I glanced at my beaten body. I was covered with gashed arms and legs.

  Then, the merciless police made me stand up. One arrogant cop twisted my immobile finger.

  ‘Walk straight!’ he instructed.

  I started limping. My head was low and my swelled eyes burned.

  I walked through the now constrained street. Some people puked, while others covered their eyes in horror.

  My pants and arms were drenched with blood and mud. My heart boiled with the handful of blood left.

  Finally, we reached the jeep. They shoved me inside the large black vehicle and hit the gas. My numb hands flung out of the open-window. I stared lifelessly beneath the railed road. A beautiful river flowed down the valley, giving peace within me.

  As the black jeep stood in the traffic, I felt the whirling of air above me. I peeked out the window. I looked up, there was a black helicopter.

  A few masked black men pointed guns at the jeep. I didn’t bother informing these police maniacs. The man beside me suddenly took a bullet to his chest. The others were baffled. The road sparked with fear. In a matter of seconds all of them were gunned down. Only I was left from the massacre. Suddenly the engine ignited into flames. Glass pierced into my head as I blacked out… Get up… Get up…

  I was not certain of how long I was out but abruptly; I got up. Flocks of birds flew above the limpid sky. I laid on a rocky cliff, looking at the setting sun. I raised my back and held my knees. I cautiously peered over the mountain cliff. My eyes were filled with light. My mesmerized mind pumped beauty into my depleted soul.

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  Tall green trees filled the forest bed, their fluttering leaves widened my pupils. Animals roared with valor. It was like my bad omens faded away.

  A cold breeze flew through the thriving paradise. I closed my eyes, enjoying the moment to the fullest. But when I opened my eyes again, the utopia was morphing into the darkest realms of hell.

  The birds turned into fire falcons; the beautiful trees turned into eternal fire; and the animals changing into prowling demons. My broken mind still couldn’t catch what had happened.

  Then I spotted a small shadow on the bed of the forest. It grew with speed.

  It was the god of hell! His black horns blocked the gorgeous sun. His eyes were burning and his skin was as red as my pain. Sweat dripped from my face. He slammed his giant hand beside me, he smirked at me. I tumbled down the mountain in horror. As I rolled, twigs and rocks teared my skin.

  Suddenly I got up once again. My chest pounded like fire. Hell! It was just… a nightmare. I sighed of relief.

  I looked around myself. My head was surprisingly light and free. However, my vision was quite blurred. I was in a wooden shaft. I heard muffled voices within it, few people were discussing something solemnly. I slowly got up pressing with my withered hands, my arms trembled.

  My ears made out a few awkward words: Sacrifice… Betrayer… Helpless. Suddenly they stopped chatting and gasped as they saw me awake.

  ‘The doctor said that he’ll be out for another hour?’ One man said with confusion. They were spooked and were acting bizarrely.

  Then a young man came towards me. He was quite tall, with brown eyes and a pale skin. His long curly black hair rested on my shoulder, tickling me.

  ‘How do you feel Walter?’ asked that mysterious man.

  ‘Who are you? How do you know my name?’ I replied, disregarding his question completely.

  ‘Don’t you remember me? Don’t you remember any of us?’ he asked in a lenient voice.

  ‘Who am I!’ I exclaimed.

  It was unpleasantly silent. As I gulped hard, a sense of uneasiness plummeted out of my chest.

  ‘Till what can you recall?’ questioned that man.

  I thought.

  ‘When I tried to escape from the cops.’ I answered surely.

  ‘It was a receptionist who alerted them. She looked like…’ I paused, struggling to describe her appearance.

  Suddenly I spotted that same woman in the niche of the hut. She laid back on her chair with her legs crossed.

  ‘It’s her! She’s the one!’ I shouted pointing my finger towards her.

  ‘Hold on Walter! Calm down,’ instructed the man as he pulled me back to my place.

  ‘It was because of her that I lost my memory!’ I screamed.

  ‘No, you have misjudged me,’ replied the curly red-haired girl.

  ‘What mistake did I made! Tell me!’ I shouted violently.

  ‘Walter, it was me who saved you,’ she replied calmly.

  ‘How?’ I asked incredulously.

  ‘You see, I called our towns men to inform them of… you, not the cops,’ she said, the final words were soft and grieved.

  ‘Why? Why do you guys need me?’ I asked.

  ‘Don’t you understand!’ she shouted.

  ‘No?’ I replied.

  ‘You’re also a part of our town! You drowned in the river… And we thought you died…’ she murmured, her eyes looking somewhere else.

  I provoked myself to remember, but no matter how much I tried to I couldn’t.

  ‘Then it was the town’s people who were… in the helicopter?’ I questioned them.

  They nodded their head, biting their lips. I froze still, trying to solve this idealistic mystery.

  ‘Uhm… Walter, I guess… I’ll show you your home.’ He said stuttering.

  I didn’t reply, my fingers fidgeted with the dirt.

  ‘Come on, follow me’ ordered the young man.

  I skeptically followed him out the shack. We were in a long dirt street of abandoned-like house. As I came out, an old bearded man sat on a giant boulder sharpening a slaughter knife. He looked at me dreadfully as he sharped it, sending me a wave of shiver. I stood paralyzed unable to overcome the taunting screeches.

  Then the kind boy held my hands and helped me forward.

  ‘Kind man, what is your name?’ I asked him.

  ‘My name’s Kevin.’ He told seemingly walking forward.

  Small dirty buildings were on both sides of the street. People stumbled out of the houses in mobs with disbelief. Some looked at me with pity, while others with anger. I was puzzled.

  ‘Kevin, why are these people staring at me like this?’

  He was now quite far away pretending as if not hearing me. My breathing grew heavier as their gossips grew throughout the strange street. I quickly paced forward, catching up with Kevin.

  ‘Kevin, where are we going?’ I asked anxiously.

  He didn’t reply once again. As I walked, vivid blood stains appeared on the side-boulders. That was the final stroke. Without hesitation I turned back and started running.

  ‘Walter! Wait, don’t leave!’ exclaimed Kevin.

  I squeezed through the small gap between two houses and ran cluelessly. Who are these insane people! My lungs filled my gaps, my fear overran my courage. I tripped on a rock and fell down unconscious… Get up… Get up… I was in a dark void, falling down rapidly. I sobbed for what felt like years until…

  My consciousness suddenly started shaking, some compelling force opened my closed eyes. A man kept tapping my cheeks. It wasn’t just any ordinary person; he was that bearded man! I flung back in horror, my back hitting the hard rock wall.

  ‘Who… are… you?’ I asked in complete shock.

  ‘Relax, I know it’s quite odd,’ he replied calmly.

  I looked around myself, I was in a cell, with beams of sunlight crossing through the narrow bars.

  ‘Where am I? Why are you here?’ I continued.

  ‘Relax… I will tell you everything,’ he replied.

  I wiped some sweat off my forehead and listened attentively.

  ‘My name is Frank,’ he told.

  ‘Long back ago, we were all going on a raid, including you,’ he whispered with a darker tone.

  ‘Why were we raiding?’ I asked with interest.

  ‘Our town, was banned from the main… So, we steal their food for our survival,’

  ‘Why did they ban us?’ I asked.

  ‘They think that our rituals… are just too illusive and insane,’ he told.

  ‘Like how?’ I asked.

  ‘I will tell you that later, but on that night raid we had to cross the river,’ he replied with a lower voice.

  ‘The water current was fast and the river was steep!’ he exclaimed, his pupils widening.

  ‘It was then that you lost your balance and drowned in the river,’ he told, now with sadness.

  ‘Oh,’ I told.

  ‘Now Jasmine, the ‘receptionist’ was the one to call us,’

  ‘Ok,’ I told, my chin laying on my arms as I sat with half bent legs.

  ‘Now according to our ritual, when we find a native living in the mainland, we behead them!’ he exclaimed with joy.

  I gasped and shouted, my back pushing into the spiky wall.

  ‘Now goodbye!’ he told.

  After his disturbing words, he took the sharpened slaughter knife out from his back. He smirked at me insanely. He then swung the knife towards me. I dodged the swipe by sliding sidewards.

  He charged at me and swept again. I once again slid, but this time the knife got stuck in my shoulder blade. I cried with pain. But now the knife was with me. The clueless man continued charging at me. I pierced the knife into his stomach.

  I fell down with fright, throwing the knife away.

  ‘You people are crazy! I have to report this to the police!’ I told him.

  ‘You see! This is why we perform the ritual! You betrayed us! You betrayed my town!’ he shouted.

  ‘We kept our place a secret for years, until now…’ he muttered and fell down dead…

  -by The Black Crow