Wild at Heart

The sun had risen on the morning of June 21st. Sunlight speared at passing heads. The hay meadow was lush with lizards, bees and grasshoppers prowling around. They were like principled terrorists, pleasant to you if you were to them. The sunflowers stood erect. The only problem was that there was something obese and excessive about them. It was too indulgent. The stale odour from human bodies that walked nearby merged with the smell of lawnmowers, barbecues, and even disinfectant.
Stanton cleared the spider’s web of sweat from his face as he ran. He was fit, small, and thin. The 15 year old careered into a tree hitting himself dead centre in his forehead. He cursed and spat out something lodged in his gum. He held out his palm to steady himself against the tree. Then he removed the water bottle from the rucksack slung over his shoulder. He took a long, greedy gulp before pulling out his IPhone to check the time. The screen was blotted and blurry. Stanton did not know that the universe had made its decision of his future this day. A decision that he could not fight against nor change. He simply had to accept.

The gaping woodland stood north of his resting point. It was a good exercise he thought. At least there weren’t people from school to run into. 45 minutes on the Xbox then do Crowther’s boring Shakespeare essay.

The woodland was a convenient shortcut to Stanton’s home. Number 7 on Ashwod Street. His mother would be waiting for him to scream at him again for the excessive clothes piled up in the washbasket, and his stepfather would sneak him another Assassin’s Creed that he had got from one of the stores on the High Street. His mouth had seemed to use up its supply of saliva, as his feet made rhythmic beats on the grass as he entered through the patch then humming “Creep” by Radiohead.

The birds made their familiar chortle, but it felt more of a warning than an exclamation of joy. He hurried on, climbing a thick lawn like clumps of matted hair and tree branches akin to deer antlers. He went in the North-Western direction along the path, because he liked to run into the pretty girls from time to time. Not that they often came. But sometimes he run into the brunettes with their ballet shoes and tank tops. He loved to see their iPod wires snaking along their neck and down their shoulder. They wore it with pride and defiance.

He could just make out the house of the Grimlys, nearly directly opposite to his own in the distance. If he stretched, the thin body of their six year old daughter Margot could be seen as she spun next to their Ford Fiat.
There was a noise behind Stanton as he turned around and saw four teenagers walking towards him, dressed in plain, ordinary clothes that were well-ironed and respectable. There was something odd about them though. The way they pressed their clothes into themselves tightly suggested that they were trying to stop something coming out. It was almost as if they were covering their nakedness.
“I’m Adam,” the probable leader said. He was very short, probably 5ft 2 with a rodent-like frame. “This is Barry, Lisa and No-Name.”
Stanton tried not to laugh. What kind of idiot had the name No-Name? Adam seemed to read his mind.
“You should be careful about expressing your thoughts.”
“What?”
“Don’t talk if you can’t improve the silence.” Adam continued. “There was no need for you to say that. So you know what you’ve just done now? You’ve wasted my time. Do you have any idea how heinous that is? Worse still, you’ve caused offence.”
Lisa began to laugh, then whispered into the ear of Barry, like a kid expressing feelings of flirtation.
“Can I go?” Stanton said, gradually feeling uncomfortable.
“Why are you asking if you may?”
“What?”
“There it is again. It’s ill-advised to waste the minutes of your fellow man more than once.”
Stanton started to go but then Lisa called “Hey woodpecker!”
He turned around and gazed at her. “What do you want?”

Adam walked around to No-Name and slapped him hard in the face. Then he yanked his collar towards him. “Why can’t you learn to discipline yourself to take responsibility as her older brother?!”
Adam walked slowly towards Stanton, eyeing him like a divorcee does a solitary girl in a nightclub. “Can I apologise about her behaviour to you?”
“It’s fine really.”
“Don’t offend me again. Please answer my question.”
“Yes, you can apologise.”
Adam gave a slight bow and said: “So, what would you like to be done about it?”
“Sorry?”
“I will accept the fact that my language may have been vague. What penalty or action would you like to see taken?”
“None I’m absolutely fine.”
Adam exhaled through his teeth and looked at Lisa, an unpleasant look in his eyes.
“So you have no thinking process do you?”
“No I do-“
“Do you even have any purpose in your life? Do you even understand what you want? Or are you just stumbling blind, completely weak and ignorant?”
Adam raised an accusing finger. “Why does your life even matter? How important is it?”
Stanton couldn’t talk. Lisa was playing with her hair as Adam spoke. It seemed more taunting than seductive.
“I think Woodpecker’s really fit” Lisa remarked. “It’s a shame that he has to learn his lesson. But actually, perhaps it isn’t. Motto? S’long the lesson is learnt, process is-
“…Irrelevant” the quartet said in unison. They sounded like a group of reception kids or a religious cult. Stanton couldn’t decide.
“Please,” Stanton said starting to panic. His eyes widened. What kind of hideousness had he stumbled into? Suddenly he fought back tears. The smell of his bed was now a distant memory. The toothpaste, the familiar shoes of his sister that would greet him as she was coming back from university today was becoming a mirage. Oh why? Why did he have to be here? What he done wrong?
“Easy to condemn” Adam said sadly. “You start to blame a higher being for your problems and your own causes?”
“I haven’t done anything!”
“No? A terrible sin. Refusal to take responsibility. But you will learn soon. One very day. You know why it’s important for every human to live at least ten years? In those ten years life will teach them significant lessons that they carry. To the next life.”
Next life? Were these maniacs some kind of… No it couldn’t be.
Adam smiled and laughed pleasantly yet it was artificial. “Fear not Stanton. You’re among friends. You have somewhere to go?”
Stanton’s hands started to shake and plunged his hands in his pockets. He began to walk away.

“Oh Woodpecker!”
“Lisa why don’t you leave our friend-“
“I wanna pay him a compliment.”
Stanton stopped. Lisa tilted her head. “Your sister’s really pretty by the way.”
Stanton froze. “What?” he whispered.
“What’s wrong? I jus’ think she’s pretty. On your way.”
Adam cleared his throat. “Actually Stanton-“
“Wait how’d you know my name?”
“Please keep your self-control. Why didn’t you offer us anything?”
The other three began to move more quickly towards Stanton. He backed away.
“You know,” Adam began, “Matthew 25 tells the story of the King who rejects those on his left, saying ‘depart from me those who are cursed, for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink.’” He fixed an empty, cold gaze on Stanton. “‘I was a stranger and you did not invite me in.’”
And then without further ado, Lisa walked over to Stanton and put an arm around him. Adam nodded slowly.
“Why don’t you show Stanton here the power of lesson-learning?”
*

Stanton emerged with Lisa from behind the stinging nettles. He had a wide-eyed gaze. Each blink was a painful effort. His face was older.
“Listen woodpecker. We know you love your sister. It’s exactly because of that you’re going to do the right thing. Just like we talked about.”
Stanton said nothing. He had never felt so cold. So distant. So exposed.
“I’d rather we did it simply,” Lisa cautioned. “As I said, we know that you appreciate your sister so much. Other people and beings would love to appreciate her with as much dedication as you do.”
“It’s truly commendable,” Adam added. “You appreciate your mother as well so much. I’ve never seen so much love for all the time I’ve been here. And that’s pretty irregular.”
Lisa embraced Stanton, drawing him into her body. Only this was different. This was not an embrace her could ever escape from. This was not an embrace that would end. This was not an embrace that was voluntary.

This would not let him see Ashwod street again.