AncilMy heart almost stopped as I felt the earth once more start to vibrate with the Lagahoo’s advance and I knew that the wretched creature wasn’t done with me yet. I watched in horror as he raged towards me on all fours with the same kind of aggression that he showed when he attacked Anansi, strengthening my assumption that it was my scent that he had locked onto. I tried to get up and get out of the way but I couldn’t to do so in time. The Lagahoo swung a kick at me, sending me smack-faced into a tree, my body bounced off it like a rubber ball against a wall. I landed on my feet but there was no relief, before I could even look up the Lagahoo swung a kick at me, propelling me high up into the air; so high that everything below me looked miniscule. I felt the wind grazing against my skin and even more excruciating pain as I sailed uncontrollably through the air. I was much more durable than I ever was before, but I knew that it wasn’t permanent and that once the sun came up I’d be a dead man.
I felt somewhat at peace while sailing upwards through the sky. I used that moment to think about everyone that I had lost and what I was about to lose if I died. My death would have been for nothing. I couldn’t be the hero of the day and save the Twin Republic from all the death and destruction. As a matter of fact, I contributed to all the death and destruction with my own hands when I slaughtered an entire village. I became what I most feared; a monster. The faces of all the people that I had killed began to play in my head but they weren’t screaming and crying out like they usually did. They were at peace, lying on the ground in their own blood, clutching their family members. Everything was quieter. The world was quieter and for the first time in a long time I had time to think. Like really think. About the grand scheme of things and how maybe Sergio was right. Maybe if I died there would have been one less monster in the world. A tear fell from the corner of my eye at the thought. After that I closed my eyes and decided to just let go. To stop fighting. To give up. After what seemed like an eternity sailing upwards I finally began to slow in the air, till I came to a couple seconds halt. Gravity then took over as I rapidly rocketed downwards. I kept my eyes shut and relaxed my tensed body, allowing myself to come to peace with the idea of dying. But while falling I suddenly remembered the promise I had made to my father. This shook me to my senses, causing me to abruptly reopen my eyes.
I roughly landed smack in the clearing, right in front of the hut creating a little crater about a foot deep as I did so. I bellowed out in agony as my earsplitting scream echoed out in an unnaturally high pitched shriek, causing the soil around me to crumble and break apart even more. The pain from the drop only lasted for a couple of seconds but my body remained drained. I lay there unmoving for a while, but when I felt the earth once more starting to shake, I jerked myself up. From within the crater I could see the creature looming ever closer to me, as the Lagahoo raged towards my direction. I stomached the immense pain and summoned the depths of my strength just in order for me to get up. As I did, my legs began to quiver uncontrollably and my arms trembled. I managed a slow walk towards the Lagahoo which then gradually turned into a determined dash. We were both now charging straight towards each other at full force. When I was close enough to the Lagahoo I leaped skyward with my fists in the air, ready to swing a punch at the Lagahoo. But the giant beast got to me first. He grabbed me by leg and flung me with all his might against a nearby tree. I slid downwards, somehow landing on my feet, my head hung down from the brutal blow. I was getting really tired of constantly being flung through the air. Really tired. But my tiredness didn’t stop the Lagahoo from ramming me straight through the tree, breaking it in half. After that I was flung, smashed, punched, kicked, and rammed along with an array of much more unpleasant and quite painful things. Just imagine having every bone in your body broken, your head smashed, and your skin bruised and still not dying after it all. It was TORTURE.
It seemed like the Lagahoo’s main goal was to torture me with the pain and then kill me, because I didn’t and couldn’t put up much of a fight. All the Lagahoo had to do was rip off my head and I was a dead man but he didn’t. He kept beating me until I ended right back up on the edge of the clearing, in front of the wooden hut. I wasn’t sure where Anansi and Ray Carter were but they wouldn’t have been any help and I think Anansi knew that.
I lay on the ground, weak, disoriented and wounded but I tried to urge myself to get up by repeating the promise I had made to my father over and over. “I will survive. I will survive. I will surv…”
The Lagahoo grabbed me by neck and began to choke me, his big, cold hands which were bigger than my head, trembling as he squeezed. I looked directly into his reddened eyes and everything around me slowly became blurred. My head felt like it was ready to pop and I was sure it was only a matter of time before it actually did. I tried to remove his death grip by scratching at his hands but it was all futile. I eventually gave up. This was it.
“That’s enough Clarke,” the deep voice of the Midnight Robber bellowed out.
The Lagahoo instantly dropped me to the ground. I managed to get up onto my knees, but I couldn’t stand. I merely knelt there with my head hung low eyes downward swollen almost completely shut. I could feel the Midnight Robber standing right in front of me, I didn’t have to raise my head to know that he was there.
“I sure by now you realize just how durable the Midnight Robber is. During the night you could get run over by a train and still live. But with all them ‘blessings’ there’s a curse. The pain that you feel is multiplied a hundred fold. The sadness you experience is even greater. The despair is a hundred fold. The loneliness is hundred fold. The guilt is hundred fold. The regret and remorse. The shame. The…”
“Anger!” I groaned, my voice gruff and dry.
“That’s right. The anger,” The Midnight Robber said.
“What do you want?” I asked, gritting my teeth and spewing spit. “Why torture me like this? Just kill me and get it over with.”
