Status: Slow-ish updates...
Testament
Two
The desert was true to its name that day. Nobody stood on their path as the car swallowed kilometers in a blind raid. David left the speeding wind take him to a world of memories which he hadn’t visited in a long time. Memories rarely strike you all of the sudden. They drift to you. Like messages inside a bottle. And sometimes you even have to swim to them in the middle of the ocean. And search for them like you would search for the face of a long lost friend on a crowded public square…
A line of trees hid a boy wearing a cap and a striped t-shirt. He liked to climb trees and play with his slingshot there. Breaking the peaceful surroundings with youth’s loud innocence. His sister had grown out of the place long ago, so he was alone most of the time. There was a river somewhere around the place. It served as a frontier between 2 neighborhoods. He didn’t like going there much though, water was never his element. Climbing was a lot better. He could scope the landscape and shoot people without being noticed. He had become a terrific shot over the years.
After climbing an oak he looked left and right until he spotted another boy sitting in a bank of the river. Glasses, shirt, book. A perfect target. He squinted his eyes, stuck his tongue out and aimed. It was a rush as big as they get in such a small town. The shot was what legends are made of. It drew a perfect line over the pines and knocked the kid’s glasses into the dirt.
The look of confusion on his face was priceless. So much that the laughter coming from the treetops found its way all across the matted forest. He came down from the tree as the other kid picked up his glasses and cleaned them. He didn’t look mad. Only slightly upset. Just by looking at him you could tell he had been picked on many times before.
The universe runs in wave patterns that sometimes seem revengeful to the eye. When our mischievous friend jumped from a branch onto the floor, he twisted his ankle and fell. Then, in a twist of luck worthy of a slapstick comedy, he rolled down a slope without being able to stop it. It led directly into the river. The weeds hurt his eyes and arms too much to hold on to them and the terror had a firm grip on him, since he knew where the pitch would drop him.
He didn’t remember screaming, but somehow he was heard. He fell to the water and was about to sink when a hand held him by the shirt and then pulled him by the arm, so he could hold on to the edge. His eyes were covered in dirt so his savior was only a blur. But who else could it be? The kid with the glasses helped him up until they were both safe in a patch of weeds.
-Be careful. You could’ve died.
Not the most tasteful thing to say, but it didn’t matter at all.
-Yeah. Thank you…and, uhh, sorry about the…
He took his hand to his head mimicking the previous shot. Only then did the other kid notice the sling on the back pocket of his trousers.
-Oh! It was you…
His face turned into a mow of disappointment, as if he had thought he’d rescued a dolphin and found a killer whale. This didn’t go unnoticed to our first boy, who read the loneliness of his partner and saw a bit of his own. He was in more need of a friend than anyone thought. He offered a handshake.
-I’m David.
The pupils of the second boy lit up in a strange glow before putting a smirk all across his face and replying.
-Eli.
They went on to play in the safer trees for the rest of the evening. When David went home that day he got in his room and put the slingshot in a drawer. He won’t be using it again.
When the flashback ended he spotted the sign telling him to go left and he would be there in 7 miles. Snow Hill, Maryland. A place of farmhouses and dirt roads. The smell of tobacco coming from the plantations intoxicates the visitor just as much as the magic of the flashing green lights of the creek. Eagles fly above the heads like spirits watching over their descendants. The kind of place a sensible soul can grow to love. The place Eli never should’ve left.
David placed his right hand on top of the urn in a gesture even he didn’t understand. Sometimes we have this quirks, especially around those we trust. The air was so fresh; nothing like the city’s. It felt almost too cold in his lungs as if the warm black pollution was the ideal diet for his breaths. He glanced at a tall silo that stood in what used to be the Baker household. Baker had been a lonely old man who wouldn’t let anybody set foot on his property. He would never allow building, David thought. So he’s dead.
He wondered what else had changed. His heart skipped a beat for some reason.
A line of trees hid a boy wearing a cap and a striped t-shirt. He liked to climb trees and play with his slingshot there. Breaking the peaceful surroundings with youth’s loud innocence. His sister had grown out of the place long ago, so he was alone most of the time. There was a river somewhere around the place. It served as a frontier between 2 neighborhoods. He didn’t like going there much though, water was never his element. Climbing was a lot better. He could scope the landscape and shoot people without being noticed. He had become a terrific shot over the years.
After climbing an oak he looked left and right until he spotted another boy sitting in a bank of the river. Glasses, shirt, book. A perfect target. He squinted his eyes, stuck his tongue out and aimed. It was a rush as big as they get in such a small town. The shot was what legends are made of. It drew a perfect line over the pines and knocked the kid’s glasses into the dirt.
The look of confusion on his face was priceless. So much that the laughter coming from the treetops found its way all across the matted forest. He came down from the tree as the other kid picked up his glasses and cleaned them. He didn’t look mad. Only slightly upset. Just by looking at him you could tell he had been picked on many times before.
The universe runs in wave patterns that sometimes seem revengeful to the eye. When our mischievous friend jumped from a branch onto the floor, he twisted his ankle and fell. Then, in a twist of luck worthy of a slapstick comedy, he rolled down a slope without being able to stop it. It led directly into the river. The weeds hurt his eyes and arms too much to hold on to them and the terror had a firm grip on him, since he knew where the pitch would drop him.
He didn’t remember screaming, but somehow he was heard. He fell to the water and was about to sink when a hand held him by the shirt and then pulled him by the arm, so he could hold on to the edge. His eyes were covered in dirt so his savior was only a blur. But who else could it be? The kid with the glasses helped him up until they were both safe in a patch of weeds.
-Be careful. You could’ve died.
Not the most tasteful thing to say, but it didn’t matter at all.
-Yeah. Thank you…and, uhh, sorry about the…
He took his hand to his head mimicking the previous shot. Only then did the other kid notice the sling on the back pocket of his trousers.
-Oh! It was you…
His face turned into a mow of disappointment, as if he had thought he’d rescued a dolphin and found a killer whale. This didn’t go unnoticed to our first boy, who read the loneliness of his partner and saw a bit of his own. He was in more need of a friend than anyone thought. He offered a handshake.
-I’m David.
The pupils of the second boy lit up in a strange glow before putting a smirk all across his face and replying.
-Eli.
They went on to play in the safer trees for the rest of the evening. When David went home that day he got in his room and put the slingshot in a drawer. He won’t be using it again.
When the flashback ended he spotted the sign telling him to go left and he would be there in 7 miles. Snow Hill, Maryland. A place of farmhouses and dirt roads. The smell of tobacco coming from the plantations intoxicates the visitor just as much as the magic of the flashing green lights of the creek. Eagles fly above the heads like spirits watching over their descendants. The kind of place a sensible soul can grow to love. The place Eli never should’ve left.
David placed his right hand on top of the urn in a gesture even he didn’t understand. Sometimes we have this quirks, especially around those we trust. The air was so fresh; nothing like the city’s. It felt almost too cold in his lungs as if the warm black pollution was the ideal diet for his breaths. He glanced at a tall silo that stood in what used to be the Baker household. Baker had been a lonely old man who wouldn’t let anybody set foot on his property. He would never allow building, David thought. So he’s dead.
He wondered what else had changed. His heart skipped a beat for some reason.
♠ ♠ ♠
Sorry it took so damn long. I had an idea for a what could be a full length novel and I've been doing the outline for that. I also have to write a sad one-shot and must be doing really good, because somedays it's emotionally exhausting.Oh, and this is Snow Hill, Maryland. Looks like a cool place...