The Devil You Know
The sound of Herons would always wake me up in the mornings, the sun glistening in my room with illuminating, blinding light. I would stretch my arms and sigh in satisfaction. That was before the war began. Today, I looked anxiously out the window; a blur of savage, spitting flames instead of a beautiful backyard of jade grass. My baby brother was wailing. He was a helpless, struggling maggot that I had to protect. Diving towards the
suffocating grass, I toppled over obstacles. I saw an opening in the cracks of the walls, colours flashing sapphire, lilac, now obsidian black. Crawling past the conflagration, I finally reached my destination, my brother still crying as I leapt with him to freedom. After the escape, life was arduous. We hadn’t eaten anything substantial for weeks and were knocking on doors. No one was generous enough to even give us a grain of rice: they feared that their food would run out. I could see in my brother’s sheepish eyes he was craving food. My stomach growled and my frail face signified despair; holding my baby brother in my worn out arms, croaking to sing him a lullaby. **** I staggered to another town. Just as I was on the point of giving up all hope, I saw a rubbish dump near me. With weak eyes, I saw the most beautiful sight: a paradise of pizza remains. Even though the food was in a polluted environment, I could not resist.
All of a sudden, a snarling monster appeared from the darkness, looking eagerly at the pizza on the floor. My soul split, but I was determined to fight. As the dog paced, I picked up the nearest wooden plank on my right and banged it vivaciously on the floor. It caught the canine’s attention. The animal circled me. I lunged with all my might.
The canine seemed to sneer, baring its fangs. It suddenly pounced, clenching onto my shirt so tight that I toppled. I tasted raw, bitter blood trickling down my mouth. The canine was about to ravish the food. I foolishly threw a minute pebble towards the dog’s foot. With that, the vicious animal was vexed. It began to crawl towards me in an unsettling manner, it’s eyes locked on mine. I posed myself in a batting position like a baseball player. As the dog sprung towards me, I suddenly lost all sense of courage and turned around to flee, throwing the wooden plank far away.
Miraculously, the dog followed the stick, bolting towards the landing spot. I had never considered throwing it. My spirit turned golden with excitement, running towards the remaining pizza slices. My brother and I feasted, joyfully. Just as I was about to eat the last slice, the dog appeared with the wooden plank in its mouth. I suddenly felt sympathy as it didn’t have a family like us. I gently offered it some of the remaining crumbs.