Saturday 18 August 2012

After

a millennium of being locked in a small metal cage the size of a shoe box (shoe size 41.5) , I decided to make a run for it. In the long nights that I have spent in this jail I have managed to chew through a dozen steel bars that blocked my way to freedom. Not even the fact that I wore my teeth down to the bone stopped my chewing on the metal bars, I just started gnawing with my jawbones.
Anyway, this afternoon, at a carefully selected moment, when I knew my guards were having their (what they thought well deserved) afternoon nap, I knocked the steel bars out of their place and made a run for it. I haven't seen the sun and the outdoors world for over one thousand years and I found it incredibly hard to label anything I saw. It all seemed so dark, foreign and most of all terrifying. I was not sure whether I can survive outside, but now I was here I decided to give it a shot. I looked at the people, and as there was no sparkle in their eyes I couldn't decide whether they were all robots or just a new race of semi-dead people. (I did wonder about my eyes, have they lost their sparkle?)
I decided to head out of town, into uncharted and unclaimed territories, marked on maps only with the words 'There be dragons'. As I knew no better, I decided to follow the river upstream, in the hope that it will lead me out of the dangers of this city and into the dangers of There be dragons land.
I walked upstream and the river was becoming narrower and faster. I was enjoying the cool, fresh air that smelled somewhat differently to the stale air I had at disposal in my little black box. No more black smog, no more guards spying on my every minute move (couldn't do much more than minuscule moves in the small black painted cubicle, with no light once the sun went down).
I ran further up, splashing through the cold freshwater, feeling the joy of the cold water hitting my skin (I forgot how good it feels as cold freshwater covers your body), not knowing where it will lead me, but just enjoying the newly found sensations of freedom. I came to a clearing





and saw three cows in the field. Roaming around freely. The last time I saw another living being was... well... who knows how long ago this was... The only living being I saw during my involuntary stay in the metal shoe box were the guards, but even for them I was not sure if they were not some sort of hybrids between people and steel, carbon fibres, a few microchips and some faulty electrical wiring. I had to stop and consider this for a moment. The idea of having space, walking, strolling around, grazing in the sun, with no worries (at least not immediate ones). I am sure that is what life should be all about (does this mean I should be a cow (or maybe a bull?)). But I knew I had to press on, I knew they would be looking for me with all their devices and gadgets.
I ran towards the mountains. Down the long and winding road (but not yellow mind you). I learned from the von Trapp family that you should always head for the Alps, for that is where freedom is (or is this just something my brain  made up in the darkness of my (ten times) a hundred years of solitude (in an attempt to preserve my sanity?)). I ran as fast as I could. I could hear the helicopters behind me coming ever nearer. They were on my tracks. I ran for my life, I could no longer breathe, and yet I kept running. Blood was trickling from my ears, but my brain still my kept yelling: 'Run, run, this is your last chance.'
This is how close I came to the Alps. To freedom. To starting a new life. To living outside the small black box. But then they caught up with me. Locked me in and drove me back to the huge buildings full of small black boxes. After weeks of painful torture, they threw me into a new black box. This one was the size of a shoe box for toddler's sneakers.
But still, I had my five minutes, and now I can plan my next five minutes in a few thousand years.

This post will not mean a lot to most, but to those who will see anything in it, think of it as my message in a bottle (for a full understanding of this you will have to listen to The Police's song Message in a Bottle).

1 comment:

  1. This is one of those gem-like combinations of writing and photography which makes your blog such a joy to read.

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