Tempest

Friday, 13 April 2007

Innocence Shattered

Her laughter was music to his ears. It warmed his heart and made him forget all things bad. They were walking down a lane in the countryside. The birds were chirping. The sun was shining, its golden rays bouncing off her soft blond hair. They walked hand in hand oblivious to the covert smiles that came their way. One couldn’t help but smile at the warm, tender way they looked and listened to each other attentively. They were arguing about which cottage looked the most beautiful, the kind of house they would live in, the number of children they would have, the number of dogs they would have. She loved dogs; in fact she loved all animals. He had never been fond of animals but her simple joy when she played with one of the furry four legged creatures had slowly infused into his heart and he had begun to pet dogs for a moment grimacing for show in front of her though secretly loving it. She looked at him honestly, openly laying her heart and her thoughts bare for him to see. He loved her open trust and protectively wrapped his arms around her while crossing the road inwardly promising himself that he would protect her from cynicism forever.

They sauntered on, Angela telling him stories that made her eyes dance gaily, while John was thinking your mine and life is beautiful. The couple got distracted because of a slight commotion up ahead. A group of men were arguing, discussing loudly. They were standing around something in a semi-circle. Angela began walking towards them to see what it was about and John followed close behind. They couldn’t see what the men were pointing at. She began skirting the group and reached the far side to have a look. There were two men inside the semi-circle. Both had small Budweiser’s in their hands, both were yelling at each other and looking at something on the ground. One of them began waving his arm agitatedly, exhibiting the small revolver in his hand.

‘What’s going on?’ Angela asked him.
‘I don’t know. It doesn’t look good. Let’s get out of here.’ John replied, while taking a hold of her hand.
‘Wait. Let’s see, what’s that…?’ She slipped her hand out of his grip and started walking ahead closer to the two men, into the semi-circle.
As they got closer, sounds of clanking, growling, a half bark caught their attention but the two men were still blocking from view what was on the ground.
And then she saw it. An Alsatian, its leg caught in a barb wire fence. The wire was completely entangled and wound around its right hind leg which was oozing blood. There was a small pool of blood around it. The dog was desperately trying to pull against the wire and with each pull it whimpered and took two steps back in agony. Each time that one of the men tried to take a step towards it, the dog snarled and bared its teeth. It looked ferocious with saliva dripping down the front of its face.

‘C’mon Mark do it’ yelled one man.
‘Maybe I should wait a bit more. The ungrateful mongrel…fed it for so long and it’s snarling at me now. Teach it a lesson.’ Replied Mark semi-drunk, but still holding the gun steadily aimed at the dog.
‘It’s gonna bite someone, look at it…so aggressive!’
‘It’s never been that way…unpredictable mongrels,’ said Mark beginning to take aim.

‘Stop! Wait! He’s hurt! He wouldn’t bite otherwise!’ Before John could even react, Angela had dashed forward and was between men and dog.
‘You don’t know him lass. Go on your way!’ yelled Mark’s partner.
‘He just said the dog wasn’t like that. Can’t you see he’s in pain? You can’t just shoot him for nothing! He hasn’t bitten anybody yet has he?’
‘Yeah yet. So who’s gonna get him outta there for us to make sure? You huh lass?’ Both men laughed.
‘Angela. ANGELA! Come back here,’ yelled John.
She didn’t reply. She simply walked over to about a feet away from the dog and knelt down. John thought his breath had suspended. He couldn’t even speak for fear of alarming the dog, for fear of what might happen to her.

She sat there and softly began to talk to the dog.
‘Good boy. You’re the cutest dog aren’t you? You have beautiful eyes…,’ she kept on with sweet nothings in a monotone.
The Alsatian continued growling and eyed her with suspicion. Slowly she edged towards him. The dog warily kept snarling but it didn’t make any attempts to get at her as it had done with the men. She continued looking into its eyes and told the dog it would be alright. It was almost as if the animal understood. She kneeled her way diagonally behind him so the dog could still see her. She had never been so afraid. The Alsatian began to sense her slight hesitance, her nervousness. It moved a little restlessly and bared its teeth once more. She had noticed where the wire had begun to entangle and had mentally figured she had to tug just twice to unwind it. She reached forward and gave it a quick twisted tug in an anti clockwise direction and the wire came down two loops. A loud bark, a snarl and the dog had flipped around, its shackles up ready to bite her but she’d jumped back just in time.

‘That’s enough. Come back Angela,’ John said in a shaky voice.
Dog and woman stared at each other. She didn’t let her steady stare waver. Tears were falling down her cheeks as she recovered from her fallen position slowly so as to not alarm the dog again. She knelt down again and continued to talk softly to the dog. Sweet nothings. The dog was agitated now. It couldn’t understand whether to trust or not. The wound was bleeding profusely and it couldn’t stay standing. She knew just one more tug and it would be off. She creeped forward again on her fours and in another quick dash tugged the wire, the whole thing came off. The dog howled and charged as she made a quick retreat backwards on her hands and knees. It could run, it felt free. She was petrified and silent terror was written all across her face. Four paces ahead and it collapsed in front of her whimpering. As if in slow motion she moved towards it and stroked its head and the dog simply let her pet him. John took his first breath. He almost staggered to her and roughly hauled her up and hugged her. They began talking at once. He, shaking her and shouting at her at the top of his lungs, and her, telling the men through the tears in her eyes that they could take the dog to a vet and that would he wouldn’t bite anyone now.

The men stood still in shock and just kept standing there staring as the couple collected themselves and began to walk away as if in a daze. The entire experience was just beginning to sink in and she was feeling overwhelmed. The scene, the gun, the thought of it dying, the blood, the ferocity in its eyes, her fear, her stupidity, it all began to hit her in waves. She was just about to tell John that she was sorry but she was glad because it would not die. She was ok…it was ok. She opened her mouth to speak and a gunshot went off, loud and explosive in the silence of the afternoon. It all happened in a flash. She screamed and flipped around. The men stood over the dead Alsatian with smirks on their faces. She tried to run towards it, but John wouldn’t let her.
‘Let me go. LET ME GO.’ But he wouldn’t. She fought him with all her might, flaying her arms and feet at him but he was stronger. Wildly she tried to push him off and the men looked at them from the yard laughing. He slapped her. Her struggles stopped and she sat there limp, sprawled on the ground in his arms with tears streaming down her face. She couldn’t understand why they had done it. She asked him why repeatedly in a soft monotone as he dragged her to her feet and began walking her away. Few minutes passed and he just held her and told her to forget about it. She stopped her rhetoric. He tilted her face upwards to and he knew he had lost her, a very vital part of her. He couldn’t see that blind trust, faith and openness in her face. He could see nothing, only a closed blank expression. He couldn't read her eyes anymore. She wasn’t with him anymore. He had lost her to the world.

Labels: animals, compassion, fiction, heartbreak

Posted by Pavitra :: 04:13 :: 14 comments