Calamity Hoppers ~Reprise~
by Christopher R. Martin
Chapter 4 – Alive, yet Dead
Darkness is the only thing my eyes can find, without a crack of light nearby to break the monotony. It is my only form of company along with the musings that freely roam in my head. This pitch blackness is a form comfort as well as a form of suffering. Having come to know it as both, I have also accepted it as both.
Here in this place, time is a concept that is most foreign to its inhabitants. It carries on with its march on the surface above, leaving behind those trapped down here. What may seem to be seconds for such souls—souls such as my own—are probably days, weeks, months, years, decades or even centuries to the unversed.
Making things worse is the fact that I am by myself, prisoner to my own thoughts. Of my own failings when I was once part of the outside world. And to compound this torture is my suspended posture. I am afloat in this realm, my body hunched into a ball for protection. I cannot move. I cannot even inch a muscle.
But that's all going to change soon. I can feel it in my bones, in my nerves. In every fiber of who I am. What I am.
At last, the opportunity presents itself. A cracking sound is registered in my brain. Slender beams of light sneak their way into this realm. The warmth from them is also an alien concept, one that I have not felt in so long, but it doesn't make it any less inviting. If anything, it makes me want it and appreciate it more than I used to. Bordering on ravenous.
The illumination bestows me a most welcome freedom, the third and possibly last foreign concept. Slowly I glide my limbs from their prone posture. The sensation of being able to move my body once again is akin to a newborn baby who is about to enter the world.
"It's about time," I say as I look up towards the source of the light. My paws take hold of something solid – a wall on one side of this realm. I begin my ascent. At the apex of the climb is the magic seal that has kept me locked away down here. Or at least, the now fragmented remains that still dangle.
Cautiously I pull myself into the earth, where the warmth of sunlight welcomes me. Just when I thought that my returning ability to move every extremity of my body was the last of the surprises to come my way. Spreading my arms wide open, I bathe in this luminescence. I guess it is true that you don't really know what you have until after you've lost it.
Besides the sunlight, I notice the general emptiness of the place. There is only stone and dirt within miles of here. I could have sworn that this place was once a battlefield, where the envoys for good and evil were locked in conflict to enact that eternal struggle. And right here was supposed to be some villain's stronghold, or something along those lines, caught in the crossfire. I'm not sure. Eh, whatever.
Having indulged myself long enough, I cast my eyes on the enormous hole behind me. The Pit that I was sentenced to. Looking at this makes my blood boil. It is all of my mistakes, all of my imperfections, made visible for everyone to see, not just for me. Mistakes and imperfections that will be embedded in me until the day I die, and I will no doubt revisit. If I could, I'd erase this place forever.
With my most trusted weapon, an iaidō blade the same length as my arm, I swivel on my feet, the coat on my back flying with my motions, and stare at the distance beyond. You've got a job to do, so best not to waste any time, a voice in my mind speaks. Walking away from the Pit, I shut my eyes and find other, less taxing musings.
Darkened clouds began to amass in the once clear sunny skies. As the first drop landed on her fair head, the beautiful maiden instinctively hurried across the asphalt with her arms draped over the child in the protective pouch that was slung across her back.
She needed to get away from the rain. And with how fast and heavy it poured, she had to be quick. But little did she know that in her attempt to find shelter, the straps of her pouch were about to break from the strain put on them.
Coming to a certain junction on this part of town, she breathed a sigh of relief at what fell before her eyes. Her destination was close. The cars that drove by lengthened the delay, but were cleared out in a matter of seconds to grant her passage. From one side of the district to the next, she ran and ran, her upper body arched above the baby, her bosom brushing against his soft skin. His crying throughout the trip would be silenced soon, she reminded herself, and her role in this life would be fulfilled.
Her destination was very close, and soon she found herself striding across the front lawn. At the doorway of the dojo she knelt down, undid the pouch from her person and settled it on the doormat. She knocked on the door twice, hoping that the response she had expected would immediately follow.
There were footsteps approaching inside, a prompt for her to leave as soon as possible. And so she did, but not without first moving the top of the baby's bundled cloth and planting a kiss upon his forehead. The last that the pup saw of her was the tail flickering behind her back. A vision that would be buried as he grew older.
In a matter of seconds she was outside of the dojo's limits, now taking solace—or a semblance of it—by hiding behind a streetlight at the opposite side of the intersection. She watched as a middle aged panda in disheveled fur appeared through the parting doors and cradled the pup into his arms before taking him inside.
In her observation, she felt her heart grow heavy. It had been heavy for a while, ever since she knew what she had to do, and every action taken up to that point only added to the cumbersome weight. But this was for the best. This would be for his sake, she reminded herself. Her part was finished. Her role in his life had been fulfilled at last.
Now it was the panda's turn to play his role…
I shake my head then and there. That wasn't exactly quite what I expected. Of all the memories I could've revisited, it just had to be that one. An account of where I came from, told to me once before, in the form of moving pictures rolling in my mind.
Not that I really give a shit about it. I'm here, standing tall, with the entire world waiting for me. Nothing more, nothing less.
Storing the thought away into the depths of my mind, I divert my eyes from the dirt ground to the distance beyond me. The sun in my eyes is a welcome feeling, and it reiterates to me that there are duties that require my attention. Loose ends from a time long past that need to be tied. That will be tied.
An image of the panda blossoms in my mind in place of the musing that it came from. I almost believe that it's there to mock me, and I suppose that's one of its purposes, but really it's there to spur me on. A drive to tell me exactly what these responsibilities of mine are.
"Yo," I say in a hushed tone, feeling a growing breeze blow my fur into erect strands and my coat in place. "I believe that there's some unfinished business we need to take care of."
Clenching my hand into a fist at a blinding pace, I proceed towards the direction of the wind. Towards the town that I once called my home.
Walking in a leisurely manner, I remind myself of that musing just now. What truly matters is the here and the now. The present, plain and simple. What matters is that I am alive and kicking, which is good. The rest of the world may not be aware of this, but what's there for me to do to change that? They'll know in due time. All of them. Every last one of these cretins. They will know my presence. They will feel it.
They will fear it.