Bewilderment

[adriaan]

Hier dan ook maar het kort verhaal wat ik voor mijn studie voor het vak Reading Literature heb moeten schrijven



Bewilderment

"Are we completely certain we want to do this?"
"No, we are not. But it is a big, big opportunity. For both of us."
The boys were walking at the borders of a dark, distant forest. They seemed a little doubtful about entering it, but it was obviously their destination.
It was already past eleven, and in the small village of West Orchard, which is adjacent to this forest, there would not be a soul out of bed, let alone in the forest. The air was pitch black, and the boys carried only a small lantern to provide them with some light. They had been told to be careful in bringing too much lights to the site. This meant they also needed to be quite careful not to get hurt during the upcoming walk.
While they did not want to doubt about it, the boys certainly did. All of a sudden, from the nearest farm (which was a mile away but could clearly be seen because of the lack of things in between) there came a small light heading their way. The boys jumped up and ran into the forest, forgetting about all of their doubts. "We have to, now." one of them said to the other, while running. They must have known where they were going. In any case, one might hope they did...
While climbing down a hill, rapidly but carefully, one of them said: "If someone had told me, two years ago, that I would be here now, I would never have believed him. But now I am. It is confusing."
"I know." the other one said shortly.
When they had crossed the hill, the latter of the boys gently climbed back up to see if there was still a light in the distance. He could not see it.
They probably did not even know whether the person holding the light had been looking for, or trying to chase them. Still, it had frightened them. The boys rejoined each other and took a moment to catch their breath. "If only Mom could be here...", "If only Dad could be here", they said, nearly at the same time.
For that moment, that was all they said to each other. They continued walking, at a slightly slower pace.
As they walked, thoughts were piling up inside their heads. They did not seem willing to share these thoughts with each other. One thing was certainly true: they were not having the same thoughts...
While they got nearer and nearer to their destination, they slowed their pace, without conferring about that. Slower and slower. Until they stopped.
"What are we doing? We are peaceful. We always have been. And now... We are doing this. We can not possibly..." "We have to. There is no point in cancelling our plan. Think of the life we can build up after this. And think of what he has done. There is no point in feeling sorry for him. After what he has done. We should feel brave now."
The former speaker did not reply to this, but he closed his eyes and put his hands together for a quick prayer. The latter speaker did not. His eyes were still moving rapidly, trying to see whether or not any enemy had approached them. After the prayer had ended, they continued walking, with extremely reduced speed. They knew that they were getting close. Suddenly one of them whispered: "Whatever happens... Know that I am right behind you. In everything you do.". There seemed to be some tears in his eyes.
As they approached a large open field, they had moved closer to each other. As far as they could see, by the light of their small lantern, the field was empty. The green grass was all that could be seen from their point of view. "You walk round the field that way, and I'll do so that way. We will see each other again, at precisely the other side of the field, in three and a half minutes."
The listener shivered, but nodded.
And so they split. However, they did not quite walk at the same speed. While one of them was walking determinedly, the other was walking carefully, watching his every step and stopping at every suspicious sound. He remembered the purpose of their visit to this forest. He knew that there could be danger coming from every angle, not forgetting the angles that he could not see. His companion did not care for all of the natural sounds, which are always present in a forest. They just needed to figure out whether or not they had already found their target. He had already made it clear to himself that there was nothing else here to be afraid of. Or should that not be more of a thought for his fellow hunter?
They must have more in common than one might think at first sight.
And so they continued walking to their meeting point.

At a given moment, he thought he had reached the other side of the field. He did not yet find his fellow traveller there.
He waited for what seemed a very long time. Several possible scenario's popped up inside his mind. He had still got the lantern, his companion did not have light to guide himself. Could he have been caught by their target? Or by the man or woman from the farm? Or by some wild animal? Or was he just slow, being too careful? Just tripped over something and fell down? He had already started walking nervously around in small circles when he saw something appear, in the far away distance. In an immediate reflex, he dropped himself on the ground, to prevent himself from being seen if he was right about it being a person. He saw it coming a bit closer, it seemed to be wandering around. But it certainly was here for a reason. He could see the human proportions on it now. He was rapidly becoming more certain that he was looking at their target now.
"Sorry, I lost track a bit... What are you doing?"
No verbal answer immediately came. Instead, he pulled the speaker down by suddenly lifting his leg, still, he caught him to prevent any accidents from happening. He now whispered: "He's there...". The fallen boy shivered again, as they now both saw the person walking around in utter silence. It was difficult to follow him in the dark. The lantern had to be hidden behind a bush to prevent it from being spotted.
Suddenly, the figure in the dark had disappeared. The boys did not seem surprised. "It still was a relief you returned. I was getting worried. I did not really feel like losing another family member." "No, you are absolutely right. But what do we do now?"
"You know we had a plan..."

The boys did know the whereabouts of the man they were looking for. "We need to be slow and calm. First we need to find it, find out how to open it and afterwards get him." The other boy nodded. "Remember, we are doing this for the monetary reward, and, consequently, a better life."
The listener already wanted to depart, but the other boy stopped him. "We probably need to wait until he is asleep. Or until the time we expect him to have fallen asleep."
After this, they waited for a full hour. In this hour, they continuously looked at each other, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say. They really had nothing to do but wait. The only thing that they wanted to do was nervously picking grass out of the ground. This repeated itself a lot of times before the time had finally come. They rose from their hiding place, and both produced a small but sharp dagger out of their pockets. Keeping close to each other, they calmly moved towards the place where they last saw the man. They seemed less nervous now. They walked and walked, to near a side border of the field, where they saw a rock. This should be it. They nodded at each other, put the dagger down but within reach for a moment and lifted the rock from the ground. They quietly put the rock down some inches away and indeed, they saw a hole in the ground where the rock had been. One of them leaded the way into the hole, which was not very deep. The other one immediately followed him. By the light of the lantern, which they still had with them, they could see what was inside the small hollow. At one end, there were some eatable things, at the other, a man was sleeping on a dirty blanket. The boys came closer to the man, with their daggers readily in their hands, when all of a sudden the one which was closest to the man turned around. His face showed signs of heavy despair. He whispered: "That man... it's Dad!"

"Yes. Go on."
The boy looked flabbergasted at his brother who had just said this. In an unbelievable second of adrenaline, he managed to lift him and drag him out of the cave, without making much noise. "How... could you? You knew this all the time? That Dad was not dead?"
"Yes. I believe he killed Mum and ran off. The fact that he is now being sought by the police, dead or alive, for a number of other crimes only confirms that. Now, shall we go back in before he wakes up?"
"No, it is not true. They were both killed in an accident and you know it. That is what they told us. But he is here now, so I do not really understand what has happened."
"Come on. Do you really believe the stories they tell us? They think we are just children and cannot face the truth. Our father is a criminal, let us make him pay for our mother's death."
"But... how do you know this? You cannot know this either! What is this? You are just presenting your theory as the perfect truth, while there might be a perfectly acceptable explanation for this. I cannot believe I did not ask before why you wanted to chase this specific criminal, and what his name was. This cannot be true... Dad would never do such a thing... I..."
The boy was obviously confused and ran into the forest.
They were never to meet again.