The loud sounds of panting interrupted the silence of the empty streets. Its origin, an exhausted girl, barely managing to lift a leg forward. As she put a hand on a wall for support, she could feel the burning of her lungs, and this sharp pain on the left side of her abdomen. Trying to catch her breath, the pain began to ease. After a while her mind began to steady with each inhale she took. Looking around, she recognised where she was. Then she realised she was close, if she ran, no stopping, she knew she would be there in 2 or maybe 3 minutes.
"All I have to do is run. …I have to run." She said with a hoarse breath.
Despite the discomfort she began to run. She tried not to focus on the pain, but instead focused on what she was told to do. This time for sure, she told herself, ...this time i'm not going to be useless. She began to run faster, feeling the air quickly filling and exiting her lungs, further straining it. The burning sensation only got worse, but she told herself it was bearable. She zoomed across streets and alleyways, with each stride she pushed herself further, until she imagined herself having wings, propelling her forward, until she surpassed the her just moments ago. Granting her freedom from her shame. Suddenly a smile appeared on Nyangdeng's face, her eyes shimmering with joy and excitement.
"I'm not. ….I'm not useless. …I can do it. I can do it." She said, a chuckle escaping her mouth afterwards.
But unfortunately for her. Nyangdeng's joy was short lived. As she chuckled something struck her kneecap. The pain didn't fully register in her head until she crashed to the ground. Immediately the pain screamed throughout her whole body, disturbing her senses. The only thing she could hear was her own ragged breath and her beating heart. She let out a loud cry of pain, hugging her knee as tears streamed down her face. Suddenly she heard a screeching sound, instantly she could feel her heart plummet to her stomach.
"Hahaha, hey girly. Where you going in such a hurry? I almost lost you."
It was one of the beasts and it has come to eat her. As it draws nearer, the beast dragged its harsh hard weapon against the ground, transforming the entire alleyway into a haunting scene right out of a horror movie. A scene where they are the only ones who exist, where she is the prey and the beast is the predator. She tried to say no, please don't hurt me, but all that came out was a really loud scream. But this did not deter the beast at all, in fact he grinned at her, looking quite pleased and amused by Nyangdeng's pain. As he came closer and closer to Nyangdeng she started screaming on top of her lungs, hoping that anybody, anyone will come to her rescue. Then she thought of her brother, her big brother who she always held in high regard. Even though a few minutes younger than her, she could never bring herself to call him her little brother, she would just make herself look like a complete fool, at least in her eyes. Arop can do stuff Nyangdeng wouldn't even be capable of doing. Whenever she would try, her legs would always tremble in front of the gigantic obstacle ahead of her, but not Arop, he always charges in, as if without a second thought. How, she wonders, how could this boy younger than her surpass her in such a short amount of time. And whenever she looks at his back, she can't even see it, the distance between them is so vast he has completely escaped her line of sight. She wonders, will she ever be able to even see his back again, will she ever understand what's going on inside of his head. But if she doesn't escape, she never will. Nyangdeng began screaming louder, as she crawled on the ground, trying to exit the alleyway so her voice could reach anybody nearby.
"Nobody is coming to save you girl. They are all at the rally?"
This did not stop Nyangdeng from continuing her screaming. She still crawled on the floor, dragging her blood covered leg along with her. She knew that the chances of someone finding her was low, but there had to be some miracle out there that would save her from her nightmare. That's right, she thought to herself, this all has to be a nightmare, this can't be real. All of this can't be real, there is no way I'm going to die. There is no way I'm going to be killed by this man. ….I… I…I don't want to die.
"I don't want to die." She said, her voice low and exhausted, her fingers barely reaching the light outside the alleyway.
"We all don't want to die, girl. There isn't a single human alive who doesn't fear death. At least none that I've met. But that's the beauty of it all. There is just something so addicting about hurting and killing other people, especially the innocent ones. It just fills me with excitement, seeing people who with no evil in their hearts look at me with confusion and fear in their eyes as I take their lives. I know what they must have been wondering, what did I do to deserve this." The man let out a loud laugh before he continued.
"In truth you did nothing wrong at all, nobody has nobody on this green evil devil of a world has ever committed evil. For a long time I blamed the people, then I blamed the government, but ever since that day all those years ago, my eyes have been opened, I have reached enlightenment. Humans are not the source of evil, no, they are not, they are just pawns. All controlled by this higher power. I do not know if this higher power is the universe or a god, but whatever it is, it takes amusement in our suffering. Everything wrong with this world is all caused by it. It bends human morality with the progression of time and have it be reason for war and death to plague humanity. The bending of morality with time could be individual or it could happen to a entire society of people, or it could be both, that's how evil men are born. And when those evil men have finally blossomed into the incarnation of pure evil they will infect others, reaking havoc upon the world, creating a field of gore, blood, sweat, suffering, and pain, isn't that war is. That is exactly what it is, war is this giant cosmic game of the universe, and the victor can stand triumphant, soaked in blood, standing on piles of bodies he had murder in order to impose his own wishes and sense of morality upon the world. Then after that the cycle continues, over and over, and over again. It never stops. Time never stops for anyone. It doesn't matter if your not ready, it doesn't matter if you don't have perseverance, you will just be forced to be a character in a far greater narrative. …So you see girl, a murderer is not evil, a tyrannt is not evil, a selfish person is not evil, a greedy person is not evil, and lustful person is not evil either, because if those evil acts are allowed by god is it truly evil, or are they just doing what they were always meant to do. Maybe in all of us, there is a monster, ready to be unleashed upon the world, whispering intrusive thoughts in your ear, thoughts you never consider doing, and one day you listen, and when you did, it felt good and you start doing it again and again, until you found your self outside of humanity, all alone. You can no longer connect with people emotionally anymore, you do not share their world views or moral beliefs, you share nothing with no one anymore. And all you are is this anomaly of society, forced to blend in with them, wear their moral beliefs, and have conversations with them and opinions that everybody else would share. But you can't keep up the fasade for long, eventually that monster that has been dormant inside of you will pounce, what will you do then, will you take the path of the beast, or will you be killed by society and be forgotten as a monster in human skin. Tell me girl, what path would you choose?" He asked, looking down at her for a response.
Akeer opened up her mouth, she wanted to respond, but she didn't know what he was talking about, but all that came out was a cry of pain, as she held her bloody ankle.
"Sigh. Well I didn't expect you to understand. And you don't need to. Because our president Lual Arok Dengor understands us, he actually understands us. He doesn't see us as the monsters everyone paints us to be, he sees us as actual people, no different from everybody else. …Through him, change will be imposed upon the world, but this change will last forever. It will not just simply fade away with time, it will be engraved in all of us. And to make this change come to fruition, we must climb the layers of reality until we finally find the being that caused all of us to be this way. …But that's enough talking for me. God I yapped way too much. Oh well, I must've really needed to get all of that out, even though I doubt you understood anything I said. …Now, where were we." The man dragged the metal pipe along the ground, creating that same screeching sound, until it passed Nyangdeng's legs and stopped at her crotch, where her skirt was.
"What are you, like 11 years old?" He asked smiling.
"Well even better. I can't wait to hear your lovely screams. …Maybe it will make me finally sleep well tonight." He said, picking her leg up and dragging her on the ground deeper back in the alleyway.
Yeah, I would be angry at the world too. Even though this man is more than twice my age I can relate to him somehow. I hate being the only weak person in a group of kids around my age who act like goddamn adults. It makes me feel weak, it makes me feel unneeded, and it makes me feel alone. That's why I always try my best to be like them, but every single time I try I always get reminded i'm just a little girl. What can I do. What can I possibly do to be their equals. …The answer I always get is nothing, I will always have the body and mind of a child. There's nothing I could do. …And… that hurts, …it hurts so much. …But I don't want to die. I wan't to keep chasing my brother, until I can finally see his back again. Just the sight of it, will be just enough for me, she thought as she began to muster all of her strength, ignoring the pain. Then she let out a loud scream for help. The man dragging her, ignored her. But she kept screaming. But then she clenched her teeth, and swallowed her pride. There was no one coming to save her, but she knows a person who will for sure come to her. Her own big brother, Arop. That's how big her faith in her brother was. Even though she didn't like having him always coming to her rescue, she did not want to die yet. So she screamed for him.
"Big brother, help me. Please, help me." She screamed as loud as she possibly could.
Hearing her screams for her brother, the man dragging her smiled in amusement.
Finally, with the last of her strength, she mustard a final scream.
"Arop."
Her voice had left her, nothing would come out of her mouth other than air escaping her mouth. And just as hope seemed lost, she hears someone elses voice, it wasn't her's, it wasn't the person dragging her, and it wasn't her brother's, it was a voice belonging to a stranger.
"Keiji, take her away."
Nyangdeng's head looked up to the exit of the alleyway to find two people running towards her. She immediately felt relieved.
"Ahh, well you look at that, people did show up to save you after all. Looks like all that screaming you did paid off."
The man let go of Nyangdeng, and retreated a couple of feet back. As one of the men reached her, he immediately scooped her into his arms, and told her she would be alright, before running off with her. As she traveled in his arms she realised her skirt was wet. Oh, did I pee myself, she thought, but she didn't think about it for too long, instead she focused her attention to the man carrying. She couldn't make out his face for some reason. But just as she was about to thank the man for saving her and asking for his name, she could feel her consciousness slipping away from her until it finally did. But before she fully fell asleep, she had this last thought, I wonder, what kind of man is Lual Arok Dengor.