Freedom
By Kyle Godin, sometime in 2002
It had been two days since Rhamm had first climbed this tree, and he sorely missed being on the ground. Literally, as he was sore all over. He was not used to sitting in trees for days in a row, and in addition to being sore he was also tired, hungry, and cold. Winter was coming, and the days were getting colder, not to mention the nights. He looked down, and the dogs were still there. "Don't you ever give up? You must be at least as hungry as I am!" Rhamm called down to the dogs. A couple of them perked their ears up, looking back at Rhamm for a moment before lying down again. "...Or sleep? It's the middle of the night for god's sake!" I've got to get out of here... Rhamm sat in the tree for another half hour before falling into a troubled sleep.
"Not much time now! Hurry!"
Rhamm snapped back awake. Where had that voice come from? He looked around, but nobody was near. Momentarily disoriented, he took account of his surroundings. It was dark, but not pitch black. The sun had almost risen above the horizon. He was in a tree, in a row of trees, third from the end. At the end of the row was the gate, where he was trying to get to. Had been trying for the past two days, to no avail. He couldn't even get to the next tree without getting down to the ground first, and he couldn't get down to the ground because of his mother's insane attack dogs which were lying directly underneath the tree he was sitting in. He looked down to the ground, meaning to give the dogs a scornful look, when he suddenly noticed that the dogs were not there.
Where did they go? Voice forgotten, Rhamm turned about in the tree, looking for any sign of the dogs. Not finding any, he decided to seize what little opportunity he had and began to cautiously climb down to the ground. About halfway down the tree, he paused, looking again for the dogs. Again finding none, he began to feel uneasy. He climbed down the tree a little further. His palms were sweating profusely now, he was having trouble holding on to the tree's thick trunk. Rhamm made it down the tree with only a few slips and scratches, touching his feet upon the ground for the first time in two days. God, that feels good. He just stood there on the ground for a moment, a wave of relief washing over him, but the fear of the dogs returning and chasing him back up the tree made him quickly begin heading for the gate.
Rhamm reached the gate, gripping the cool iron with his hands. Filled with a sudden elation, he called out in the morning air, "I finally reached the ga-" But he cut himself short, the fear of the dogs reasserting itself in his mind. He pulled the gate, imagining all of the glorious things he had always wanted to do, and was about to get to. It didn't budge. He pulled harder, but still it didn't move. He looked over to the right side of the gate, noticing the large padlock for the first time. He grew frantic, rattling the gate and kicking it, trying anything to get out of the fence.
After about ten minutes of useless expenditure of energy, the tired boy leaned against the fence, giving up what seemed now a hopeless cause. "This is horrible. I am never getting out of here!" He slumped to the ground, "And I'm so hungry... I should just go home." He climbed to his feet and began to trudge back down the road toward the house in the distance. The sun had still just barely risen, and it was looking to be a cold day.
Rhamm made his way down the middle of the road, now passing the third tree from the gate. It seemed that with each tree passed, a little more of him died inside. Why am I going back? He thought to himself, she probably won't even let me come back... Another tree passed. He stopped, "No! I don't want to go back!" He turned around, and began walking back towards the gate. He passed another tree, and began having second thoughts again. I am so hungry, though. How would I even get out? The stupid gate is locked! He stopped again, turning around and heading back towards the house. He walked a ways further. But no! There is nothing for me here anymore. I need to leave. He stopped again, turning again. He took a single step and paused, thinking again. He turned, and didn't even take a step this time. He stood there, in the middle of the road, looking left to the gate, then right to the house, unsure of what to do.
Rhamm did not have long to decide, nor was the decision made by him. A dog barked, the sound echoing through the trees. It was soon followed by another bark, and another. Rhamm knew his only option now, he made for the gate as fast as he could. Upon reaching the gate, he pulled on the iron bars. He kicked, shoved, and punched the bars, and they still didn't move. He was standing near the gate, rubbing his sore knuckles, when the first dog appeared from behind a hedge at the other end of the road. It immediately spotted him and began to run towards him. More dogs quickly followed, following the sound of the excitedly barking dog that was coming nearer every second. "Not again!" Rhamm didn't want to get stuck up a tree again, but he saw no other options save getting eaten alive by psychotic guard dogs. He bolted for the nearest tree.
"Well," Rhamm said, from the branches of the tree, "this sucks." The dogs were barking madly below him, seeming unable to stop running in circles around the tree. The sun had gotten about halfway up the sky now, no longer shining in Rhamm's eyes as he looked toward the gate. "So close..." He was sitting in the tree closest to the fence this time, the long branches almost reaching over the fence itself.
Almost reaching over the fence... Rhamm had an idea. He began to move away from the trunk, sliding his legs along the branch below him. He let go of the trunk, moving lower to almost sit upon the branch, and began to inch forward. As he neared the end of the branch, it grew thinner. The branch was bending under his weight, but he still moved forward. He was nearing the end of the branch, but was close enough now that he could reach out and touch the fence. He took one hand off of the branch, extending it out further and further until he almost had the cold, black bars of the fence within his grasp.
He lost his balance, quickly bringing his hand back to steady himself before he fell. He took a moment to look down at the dogs growling menacingly below him, then began to reach out his hand again. Almost there... almost there... He had it! He reached out his other hand to join the first, grasping the fence around the top. His feet slipped off the branch, but he didn't care. His feet swung down and hit the fence, leaving Rhamm to hang by his arms from the top of the fence. He scrabbled against the fence with his shoes, finally pulling his legs up enough to pull himself over the fence. He now hung down the opposite side of the fence, and dropped himself to the ground, falling over from the far drop.
Rhamm was outside. Well, that wasn't very amazing, he had been outside the fence many times before. Rhamm was free. Free to do anything. He lay there on the grass outside the fence where he had fallen, watching the sky and laughing. Not only was he free, but he felt free. His whole body and mind was filled with pure and utter happiness. Well, not his whole body, he thought, as he was painfully reminded by the stomach pains shooting through his body that he hadn't eaten in over two days. He got up off of the grass and set out towards the town, leaving the dogs, house, and mother behind forever.
