Chapter 1 — Seeds of Consciousness

The ARRIVAL In A MOMENT OF DESPAIR.

By the time we arrived there, it was past midnight, 
everything had a shade of pale red because the blood moon was partially obscured by the heavy clouds.

The night was long and weary.

We have been walking for three consecutive days, surviving on dates and dried meat.

My legs were sore, enriched with blisters of erupting pus. 
The soles of my feet were shredded like the leftovers of lasagna.

The thirst had infested my entire consciousness and dried my throat like a desert.

After trial and error, I can certainly conclude that;

In this society to think of the ‘self’ is in itself a crime, the kind of crime that would get you killed.

A person must never think of himself.
Individuality doesn’t exist and one must not like this self. 
Thinking of the self is an abomination,
a forbidden pleasure one must never indulge. 
I can only compare it with the last puff of a cigarette, a dying cancer patient craves.

If you asked me why we couldn’t just use a donkey, a camel, or an elephant to get where we are,

I would tell you;

“Intelligence is a thing of inheritance, and reasoning is a privilege they are stubbornly not willing to accommodate”.

For all I cared about was to arrive safe and sound, but fate had something else in mind.

The journey was full of miseries, misfortunes, and filth. 
It was as if someone was passionately, patiently, and intentionally making our journey a living hell. It was as if this demonic villain knew exactly how all of this is going to end.

Hiding behind the shadows injecting treacherous traps covered with gold and rubies only to suck you deeper into the belly of hell.

I still can’t fathom what kind of squirrel chases a group of grown-up men with a sign of no fear or remorse!

My soul is still troubled by the experience soaked within me by those insidious, bully and creepy monkeys. Their teeth were hanging out like a crown of death. Openly telling you;
 “Hey, Buddy, your life isn’t yours anymore.”

They walked beside you like they are guarding their captives, intentionally harassing you as if you owe them everything, and that they are not here to collect the interest from your debt, but to see the progress of their investment.

They attentively and intensively sniffed every part of you as if they have found the specific type of scent which is going to be “The Next Big Thing ”.

The malevolent type of look they’d give you is accompanied by a squawky-screaming, overdoses you with the feelings of misery, spreading internally like a wildfire, colonizing your whole being with fear and anxiety, while you are bathing on your sweat, urine, mucus, and tears.

I swear to God these guys are the true originators of an ‘Evil Eye’. At that very moment I could have written a novel titled;

“Those who kill with a stare”: ‘malitentious’ .

Not knowing what they are going to do, and certainly, you don’t wish to know what lurks at the surface of their instinctual minds, exhausts your spirit. Who would want to imagine being devoured by a swarm of monkeys? The experience itself leaves you like a living carcass.

And how about those maliferous bees?
In my entire life, never have I seen the kind of bees persistently seeks to avenge with a burning rage of grudge to the point of diving several meters deep down in the river to specifically handpicked their target, stinging them to death, covering up their mess by lifting them high on a cliff, mummifying their bodies with their excretions of wax.

I am always in a scenario where the goat doesn’t rhyme with my themes, ending up hugging the wind.

“It could have been easier for me to call it off, but because of my stubbornness and my persistent nature, look where it got me.

Believe me, it is way safer to meet a stranger from Tinder than dealing with these people, these people are beyond the definition of a stranger. you can always predict how many ways a stranger could harm you, but these folks; I am not even sure they are human beings. I would assume a serial killer would rather watch ‘stranger things’, than standing up against these people.

A man of my age, you would think I could be wiser, my whole life is a trail of disappointment and betrayal. Always running, hiding behind humor, just to exist in this thing called life. 
What can’t a desperate man do? 
Become a superman? 
This doesn’t look like a kidnapping scheme but has a smell of malicious intent towards my very own existence, it smells worse than death.

Those who have crossed over always talk about the light at the end of the tunnel and all these wonderful experiences they encounter beyond the tunnel.

But what they never tell you are the expenses that come after the experiences.

As I was inner dialoguing this, the old guy shouted!

“We are here!”

I suspiciously put down my backpack, there was nothing there, well except for some trees, some rocks, and bushes. I could also see some hills afar but that was it.

Suddenly I saw a group of people joining us, emerging from the bushes. They started talking their language, no actually it sounded different, they were looking at me suspiciously. The kind of look which reminded me of those malevolent monkeys.

Suddenly I was engulfed by fear, my emotions got the most out of me making me feel like prey in the claws of its predator.

I am not going to die today, 
I have worked so hard to be here, 
I am not leaving my daughter to a junky, 
Tracy is useless.

It was as if I was alive again! 
My heart pumping in my chest. 
Thrusting the blood through my veins.
I ran as fast as I could without knowing where to run to.

Screaming:
“Help, they are going to…” 
I tripped and fell to the ground.

Ha-ha!
They all laughed at me.
The old guy shouted: 
“Rudy!
 Why would anyone want to kill you, ah.? 
Come on Rudy.
Get up, we are ready to begin.”