Saturday, January 31, 2015

The First Injustice

This is a short (very short) story I wrote once in a creative writing class I belonged to.


The First Injustice


The first thought was about the surrounding warmth that helped make him feel so comfortable in the place where he was living. The lack of light was normal to him as he moved about it the dark space of his familiar territory. After a short time of moving around to any spot he chose, he became completely in control with his small world. Soon he began to know exactly how and when to push the buttons he needed to push in order to get what he needed and wanted. He never hesitated to miss pushing a single one of them either. He knew without a doubt that he was in full control at the time and he intended to make sure he kept the advantage.

            Yes, it was true that he was living alone, but it never bothered him one bit. This was the only life that he knew and this was the life he had grown to love. Sixteen or more hours of daily activity took just a small toll on him, causing the need for a few hours of rest each night. As he rested, he was comforted by the silence and the lack of activity around him. His dreams were always sweet as he remembered the day just past, and as he yearned for the new day to come.

            It was so comforting to not have to worry about being hungry or having a place to catch up on his rest when he needed it. Sure there were times when things weren’t perfect, but they were few and far between, and even when they weren’t perfect, they weren’t so bad that he complained to himself all that much.

            He never had any particularly large worries to deal with, because he never caused any large problems that had to be dealt with. He just went along as if the world he knew was the hand he was dealt, and he did what he had to do in order to stay happy and contented in that world.

He was always careful with his dietary requirements, never consuming more nutrients than he absolutely required. He didn’t want to overdo it, which could possibly cause a health concern.

            Over a period of time, he experienced various feelings that he never quite understood. There were even times when he was slightly concerned—about the world he knew that seemed to be closing in on him. He couldn’t begin to understand that something really big was about to happen to him—something that would change his life and his world for all time. Even though he couldn’t see them, he could sense and sometimes actually feel the changes that were slowly happening, and he even seemed to sense that he was about to experience something huge that he had never known before. It wasn’t frightening to him at the time, but it was more a feeling of just not knowing what would happen, or exactly when it would happen. He just knew down deep that whatever it was that was coming, it was coming sooner rather than later.

            As the changes happening around him became more and more pronounced, and as the pace of the changes seemed to quicken daily, he somehow knew he was in for the ride of his life. He soon discovered that the proper amount of rest and sleep was much more difficult to get than ever before, and he wasn’t happy about it either. It made him grouchy and testy.

            One cold night in early January, the world he knew came crashing down on him as he tried to get some badly needed additional rest. Lately his rest had been less than what it once was, and he was now tired and grumpy most of the time.

It happened just as he started to fall off to sleep for one of his short naps. He suddenly felt his body being forcibly moved to a place he wasn’t comfortable with, and he fought it with all the strength he could muster. After a while, he was able to stop fighting because it appeared as though he had won the battle in which he had been engaged. But just as he started to feel somewhat comfortable again, and just as he felt the need for another short nap coming on, the battle was back on, bringing him fully awake immediately. The battle ensued with such renewed fury that it caused him to start wondering if he had the strength to overcome again. His opponent was overwhelming him with every second of every minute that passed. His body was pushed, pulled, twisted and stretched almost beyond its capacity to handle. His opponent was also becoming weary and had to stop for short breaks in order to gain back strength before resuming the battle again. Each time the fight resumed it was more intense than before.

When all the extra strength had finally ebbed from his weary body, he had to give in and face up to the fact that it was all over. He had lost the only real battle he had ever had to fight.

            Suddenly, a giant something invaded his territory and forcibly yanked him from the only home he had ever known. He was blinded with light at the same time something was dislodged from his throat. Then he was physically beaten, causing him to cry out as loudly as he could for some help.

            For a short time, he remembered the terribly harsh injustice of being forcibly pulled from his warm and comfortable world, causing him to shiver in the new and chilly place he now found himself. And then he was suddenly tossed from one place to another. Then without knowing what it meant, he remembered hearing someone proudly announce, “Congratulations, it’s a beautiful baby boy!” 

 

Paul R. Meredith   

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