Out of the Frying pan into the Fire
Deadly silence, prevailing in the environment was predicting; something wrong was going to happen. The dark clouds had already covered the sky; the darkness was prevailing all around; despite the fact, it was early afternoon. My sixth sense was alarming me of a devastating storm. My friend Sara had nothing to do with my fears; was she lion-hearted or nonsense? I had a rather low opinion about her.
The silence was broken by the first thunder of the clouds; perhaps the storm had decided to come in action. The deafening thunder accelerated my heart beat. I look at Sara’s face; there were no signs of fear on her face; she was as cool as ever before; deeply involved in the novel she was holding in her both hands.
The darkness had fallen long ago; we had just a wall clock to determine the actual time. It was 5’O’ Clock in the evening. The thunder was getting louder and louder; my heart was throbbing alongside; all of sudden a great blow of wind broke our window pain. Sara gave a loud shriek and ran towards the kitchen. I followed her in the same manner. The storm had come into action. The thunder of clouds and the flash of lightning were adding to the horror of the storm. Our bedroom had been badly disturbed by and large. Both of us had lost our courage; we could not peep into the bedroom to determine the loss the storm had caused; a lot was yet to happen.
Perhaps the forces of nature had decided to attack our village in order to punish us for a sin undone. Both Sara and I were extremely terrified. We were looking deep into the eyes of each other. Neither the storm was lessening its intensity nor was the thunder of clouds taking a pause. The evening had turned into the night; not merely the night but a nightmare indeed.
The clock had long been broken into pieces by the storm. How long would be the nightmare? We knew nothing. The inner conflict, as well as the outer conflict, had suppressed our thinking power. Somehow, I mustered up my courage to talk to Sara; my tone was rather low; will it stop ever?
Perhaps after we had died! Sara replied in the same tone.
My vitals were losing their strength. I did not know what to do; except for waiting for the storm to abate. A lot was yet to happen; my sixth sense was alarming. Nowhere to run!
After a horrifying flash of lightning, a loud thunder of clouds was followed by a jerk; the earth was trembling; it was an earthquake taking its turn this time. Both Sara and I hugged each other in the fit of terror. What was going to happen; we knew nothing. Perhaps, we were going to face a horrible death in a few moments. The earthquake was shaking our house to and fro.
Unknowingly, I held Sara’s hand tightly and ran towards the street; Sara was following my footsteps. Not only we but the people of the whole village had come out of their houses in a fit of terror. The houses began to collapse one after another. The heart-rending shrieks of the children were reaching the sky, but no mercy was descending in return, nor had the earthquake showed any irresponsibility in performing its duty assigned to it by Nature. The forces of nature had decided to turn our village upside down. The American government was helpless at the moment. No quick action could be taken in the middle of a great storm despite the fact; our village was situated in the suburbs of New York City.
It was utter darkness. Both of us were aimless as well as directionless. The flash of lightning was showing us some paths to run on. The houses had collapsed all around. Under the heavy rain, we were running to escape the death which could attack us any time. The earthquake had done its duty. The after-shocks were taking their turn time and again. Both of us were out of breath; but, there was no shelter here and there. We had reached a bank of a river. A wooden bridge joined the two ends of the river. The storm was in full swing. The wooden bridge was being shaken by the stormy winds. I held Sara’s hand tightly to step on the bridge. The bridge seemed to be a swing; moving to and fro. The river was in flood; we were at the mercy of storm; a little thrust of the storm could throw us into the deep bloody river. We had been surrounded by death from all directions. Our throats had jammed owing to raising loud shrieks time and again. We could not utter even a single word. We wanted to save our lives. Could we be able to escape from death or we were heading to the place where our death had been destined already. We were not sure. Every next step taken on the bridge was realizing us of the importance of life. We wanted to live long; we wanted to live our lives to the fullest. We wanted to meet our parents; siblings and relatives. We loved them a lot.
Actually, my family had settled in New York City long ago. It was the native village of my forefathers where we used to stay during summer vacations. That time, none of my siblings got ready to visit the village; nor did my parents come here owing to some business activities. I convinced Sara (my friend) to accompany me in the village for a fortnight.
Both of us, Sara and I did not want to die in a helpless condition. Despite escaping from death, we did not know about our destination. We crossed the bridge but a dark jungle was there on the other end. We had reached the verge of death. We had utterly confused; to be or not to be was the situation in front of us. Stepping into the dark jungle meant nothing except for becoming the morsel of a beast. We could be attacked by a tiger; a lion, a wolf, or by a leopard. Dying being crushed under the debris of the fallen house could be better than to be killed by a lion ferociously. The beasts were going to eat us bite by bite; I thought, looking into the deep dark jungle. The cannibal could also be the inhabitants of the jungle. They could be more ferocious than the beasts; I knew it very well. I had read many stories about cannibals in the past. They follow their rituals wholehearted; the trespasser could never go back on his foot, the history of cannibals tells us. I was in the middle of indecision; I did not consult Sara; she was deadly tired; also most of the time I used to take decisions singularly. I recalled the story of cannibals when a girl lost in the jungle and she was not caught up by the cannibals. She was not eaten by them. However, she met with another saddening fate. Right at the time, the girl was caught by the cannibals; the wife of cannibals’ chief took her last breath. The chief had gone widower. The wife of the cannibal chief was cremated in accordance with the rituals. Later, the chief decided to marry the girl instead of eating her. The girls became a source of bringing so many cannibals to the earth thereafter. She became the mother of twenty little cannibals. In the meantime, she also tasted human flesh; she became addicted to it. One day, she ate up the chief when he had fallen seriously sick. This is how a modern American girl became a cannibal queen. Becoming a cannibal queen was a hope that could encourage me to step into the jungle; nevertheless, I was not sure that the cannibal chief would be a widower; also, it was possible he would have liked Sara instead of liking me; My flesh would have been served on the auspicious occasion of the chief’s wedding ceremony; I would have been eaten by Sara; the future cannibal queen.
Becoming the morsel of a lion was another threat, with no option of becoming lioness at any cost. I turned to Sara; the cannibal queen; she was still moaning with pain. I helped Sara stand up. The storm had abated till then. Both of us were deadly hungry. In the utter darkness, nothing could be seen. The weather was very cold and we were wearing wet clothes. Instead of going ahead, we decided to lie on the wet grass for a short while. The nightmare had extremely disturbed our nerves; we went to sleep for many hours.
I woke up when my belly was touched by a pointed spear. I got up in a hysteric manner. I turned to Sara; she was still sleeping carelessly as if nothing had happened last night. I started staring at the person from foot to head hysterically. It was the same person who had touched my belly with a spear. He was a tribe man; in the same tribal uniform I mentioned earlier; wearing a short panty; with naked body decorated with little colorful feathers. The time had come to become the cannibal queen; me or Sara; it was in the hand of fate to decide. The gentleman did not behave indecently except for touching my belly with the point of a spear; it had to be done to awake me after all. The low cackle uttered by the gentleman attracted so many gentlemen of the same kind; they circled around me. In the eyes of some other gentlemen, nevertheless, I observed some kind of indecency. I slapped Sara’s face so hard to awake her from slumber; I did not want to become the uncontested/unopposed cannibal queen. Sara woke up hysterically. She gave a loud shriek being in the middle of so many cannibals. The gentlemen pointed their spear towards our bellies; what I incurred from their gesture was this that they were asking us to stand up quickly lest they should pierce the spear through our bellies to lift us up above their heads. Sara did not understand; I realized her of the danger. Both of us stood up to lead to the cannibal force. The forest was really very thick and intricate. After walking half a kilometer in the maze (jungle), we had forgotten about all the directions.
Despite the fact, I had fallen into serious danger; I was observing the natural beauty dancing all around. The sweet songs of different birds were touching my heart. Having covered a distance of more than two miles, we were taken to a courtyard surrounded by little huts. It was perhaps the court of the cannibal chief. It was the same place where our fate was going to take a new turn; to be or not to be.
Sara was a little bit afraid; I was relaxed; the reason was quite obvious, I had gone through a big disaster last night. Also, I had incurred that the discipline was prevailing in their way of living. Certainly, they were not the cannibals at least. If they did not eat us; everything was good to go. We had to wait for the chief to set his court. I had realized that the people of the tribe were civilized in their own way. We had crossed their border. As a result, the chief was going to punish us in accordance with their rituals. Nevertheless, I hoped for the best.
In the middle of the courtyard, we were kept standing for more than two hours; once I tried to sit down, the spear was pointed to me by a tribe man. I thought it better to keep standing alive, instead of lying dead. Eventually, the chief appeared from a huge hut followed by a queen; I lost the hope of becoming the cannibal queen right at that moment; the chance of Sara had also missed before she came to know; she was also a contestant in the race of becoming a cannibal queen. Both the chief and the queen was a handsome couple in accordance with their beauty standard. The chief passed a handsome smile to me like Bill Clinton. The queen stared at the face of the chief like Hillary Clinton. I came to know that wives are wives.
The queen’s gesture showed that the chief was holding a supreme office; he should have kept his heart back at home. The chief conversed with one of the senior tribe men in his own language; I could not understand any word; nevertheless, their body language showed; there was nothing to worry about. The decision had been taken eventually. We were handed over to the queen. I had incurred the decision to some extent; I did not discuss it with Sara until the court’s decision came into effect legally.
Sara and I were taken to the queen’s hut at the spear point (gun-point). We had to stay at the service of queen for one month before our release orders were issued. In the meantime, we had to wash queen’s and her family’s dirty clothes; we had to kill the queen’s and her daughters’ lice and we had to maintain their sewage system humbly. The queen was stricter to me than to Sara; I was paying the price of that smile the chief had passed to me at first glance. We had performed our duty honestly; there was no other way either. Our release order was issued despite the fact queen was not willing to release us. The law had taken its course. We were released where we had been arrested. After crossing the bridge we reached the main road and hired a taxi to reach our home in New York City. Stepping into the room, I rushed to my mom who was very upset. It was natural for the parents to look for their lost child after a catastrophic storm and earthquake. Sara and I had been serving the jungle queen for one month; in the meantime, my parents and Sara’s had been passing through extremely hard times. Having tired on their part, our parents lodged a complaint to the police station about the disappearance of Sara and me. The state police had been in action for the last month, but we could not be approached. Obviously, no one could think that during a catastrophic storm, two young girls had reached in the middle of a forest inhabited by the cannibals. Luckily, we remained unhurt.
Sara and I passed the next week sitting in the middle of our relatives, siblings, and friends; discussing the facts, assumptions, and possibilities in detail. We were being given special importance all the while. Nevertheless, the topic under discussion lost their importance after some days and we become common among commoners once again.
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