THE HIKE
Stan stood on the hill and looked at the lands that lay below. How everything looks small when you are up and how the view changes when you are down, Stan thought. He heard a soft chuckle behind him and turned, he was like a man struck between the eyes when he saw the lady standing with two other ladies. She was listening and laughing with the group but you could see that she wasn't part of the group. The chuckle lit her face in a way that would make one want to be a part of the joke. While he was still mesmerized he felt a tug on his arm and turned, he saw his girlfriend was back.
He blinked away the fascination and turned deliberately to his girlfriend but the image of the lady remained in his mind.
There were at youth camp. He wanted the youth camp to be a time to clear his head but his girlfriend insisted she must be a part of it. She was suspicious, clingy, nagging, suffocating, name it. He resented the fact that she caught him looking at the girl with the soft chuckle. Somehow, he felt that she was familiar but he couldn't place his hand on it.
Night came and they all retired to their bed.
He was ten and she was eleven. They went to same school but didn't walk in the same circle. On that fateful day, he overheard some young guys planning a robbery. He hadn't meant to walk far away from home, and he wished at that moment they wouldn't catch him eavesdropping. When they descend the house, fear gripped his heart, even within his young mind he knew playing heroism will get him killed. So he followed them instead knowing that his father will kill him for staying out late. He watched through the window until he saw one of them trying to force himself on the girl of seven. He rushed to the rear door and banged loudly hoping to interrupt whatever. Hopefully it worked, they ran away with whatever they stole while the small family rallied around to help each other.
Stan heard a shout and woke up, he realized it was a dream or his memory reminding him how the girl with the soft chuckle was familiar.
-VICTORIA UKPAKA