The noise in the forest has been a lot lately, there is a man who seems to be cutting and cutting, he has been at it for a while, if I remember my great grand parents told my grand parents and my parents were told by my grand parents who told me that the man started about 15 generations ago to cut the trees. New trees have grown where he cut the old ones and I do not think he has so much help. Occasionally, I see three other younger men come to help him. The other day when I went to get a closer look, a leaf almost fell on me and so since then, I have been observing from a far. Two days now and he has not come to cut more trees, but the noise coming from the south side is so much, I think that is where he took all the trees. Today, my parents allowed me the freedom to move out of the house and so after my duty in the colony, I shall go take a closer look at what this man is doing.
Wow! I did not know how long this journey would take me and I am happy my friend Ann agreed to come along. I would have been lonely as I walked through the leaves and negotiated my way through the thick forest terrain. The sound gets louder and louder now and we seem to see something, there is some dark cloud coming from the horizon. As I press through the thicket to get a closer look, I stumble and start rolling, Ann is so terrified and her voice is now faint as I halt to a stop. A few minutes later, she comes round. “Bannie, are you okay? Are you hurt, oh!, I thought that was blood, you need to be careful.” she goes on and on as she wipes out the drop of muddy water from my forearm. “I guess I was too intrigued by the sight, I will be careful, sorry for scaring you.” As we stop over for lunch, Ann keeps asking questions about what I saw as I peeped into the horizon. Something inside me tells me that this is a legendary journey for Ann and I.
Seven-ant-weeks later, we make it to the sight, with so much Ant-icipation, we cannot believe we finally made it to the man and his three younger friends. It is evening and we hurry to take shelter from the night cold and try grab something to eat for we do not know how long it would take us before we got another meal, especially now that we are not in the forest. Ann is glued to my side and I to hers; she is the only familiar thing apart from the ground on our feet. The man and his three younger friends gather around a fire and four female companions come and join them. Our feet are gripping tight to the marbles, because one blow and we are fried in the fire. The fire reminds me of the last time the forest was on fire and we had to run for dear life. Many of my friends did not make it but for some strange reason my entire family was saved.
The next day, as the sun rises, there is a huge shadow that won’t let the sun warm our cold backs, Ann is fatigued from the journey and I let her sleep on as I go round the fire place to try get us something for breakfast. My quest for food is interrupted by a scream which sounds like Ann, as I run back to her side, she is sweating and holding me tight, happy that I am safe. “I had a dream that you had been blown into the fire and when I woke up, you were not here. Why didn’t you wake me up to go look for food with you?” as I say my apologies, a loud noise seems like a horn been blown pierces the air. The ground starts to shake, tremble, rumble, with every second, the rumbling becomes more and more intense. The marbles that were our anchors are now being thrown into the air. Without much of a choice or else we be crushed in between the marbles, we let go…
to be continued next week