It was still where I had left it, on
my bed pedestal.
My dad’s number
was on speed dial and I held the number three button in as I walked
to the front door to get my clothes from Alex’s car. I was about to
unlock the dead bolt when I stopped cold in my tracks: the two
black Mercs had just turned into the driveway.
They couldn’t
have seen me, they were still turning in but by this time I was
already flat on my stomach below the window sill and doing an
award-winning leopard crawl away from the front door. At least my
phone was in my hand and my dad’s number was already ringing on the
other side. With every ring, I prayed harder and harder for him to
answer, but it went onto the answering machine.
I slowly got up
on my haunches and peeked out through the window from behind the
curtain. I briefly made out four blonde men, dressed in black
army-looking clothes, climbing out of the Mercs.
I could never
challenge these intimidating army-looking guys! I would have to
hide or run. I picked run, as they would eventually find me if I
tried to hide. They had parked behind Alex’s car and probably knew
that I was in here somewhere.
There was the
sound of four car doors being shut. I counted very carefully as I
had to make sure what I was up against, but the sound urged me to
get away from the open window. At mach speed I ran to the back
door, which was still open, and motored out of the house.
By the time I
had reached the precast wall, they were already in the backyard.
With the suppleness of years of gymnastics, I climbed up against
the wall.
“Valerie!” one
of them called after me.
Their calling
was like a fillip, only causing me to panic more. I glanced back at
them quickly then launched myself over into the veldt at the back
of our house.
They were
catching up fast.
Something
happened when my bare feet hit the earth. At first, it looked as if
the wind was blowing, but only around me, stirring the grass, trees
and leaves. It was a subtle sound, almost a ‘pssst-here-I-am’
rustle. Then I noticed a pattern to the movement. The leaves would
blow a step or two ahead of me, as if the wind was giving me
direction and the grass was telling me where to put my feet.
Duncan’s voice
came to me. I remembered a little more of what he had told me the
very first day that I saw him.
“ Listen
carefully. She will speak to you when you need her... always trust
her, she is on your side more than anyone else in the
universe.”
There wasn’t
time to dwell on Duncan’s words; both the urge and instinct to obey
was very strong. It welled up inside me and took control of my legs
and feet, but I wasn’t scared. It was rather a feeling of
salvation, an answer to my cry of distress. I followed the
indicated path and the further I went, the more I gained an
advantage on the thugs behind me. And it certainly was not because
I was faster than them, but because the way simply opened up for
me.
It was a true
connection with nature; the earth was talking to me, responding to
my needs.
I continued
running until they were completely out of sight. I thought that I
had lost them, but the grass kept on shaking. It only stopped after
I had reached a small opening in the roots of a massive Baobab
tree. I crawled in as deep and as fast as I possibly could and then
waited.
I tried to get
out once. A red-hot poker right next to the entrance of the opening
caught my attention – it was shaking so violently that its long
slender leaves were flying about. I immediately recognised it as
the earth’s way of telling me to wait a little longer. Moments
later, I heard footsteps getting closer. I pulled my legs in
tightly and held my breath.
The footsteps
were now very close.
The last thing
that I thought about at that moment was my phone. I had completely
forgotten about it, otherwise I would have switched to silent
mode.
There was
simply no escape when it started to ring in my pocket, not even if
the earth swallowed me whole on that instant.
my bed pedestal.
My dad’s number
was on speed dial and I held the number three button in as I walked
to the front door to get my clothes from Alex’s car. I was about to
unlock the dead bolt when I stopped cold in my tracks: the two
black Mercs had just turned into the driveway.
They couldn’t
have seen me, they were still turning in but by this time I was
already flat on my stomach below the window sill and doing an
award-winning leopard crawl away from the front door. At least my
phone was in my hand and my dad’s number was already ringing on the
other side. With every ring, I prayed harder and harder for him to
answer, but it went onto the answering machine.
I slowly got up
on my haunches and peeked out through the window from behind the
curtain. I briefly made out four blonde men, dressed in black
army-looking clothes, climbing out of the Mercs.
I could never
challenge these intimidating army-looking guys! I would have to
hide or run. I picked run, as they would eventually find me if I
tried to hide. They had parked behind Alex’s car and probably knew
that I was in here somewhere.
There was the
sound of four car doors being shut. I counted very carefully as I
had to make sure what I was up against, but the sound urged me to
get away from the open window. At mach speed I ran to the back
door, which was still open, and motored out of the house.
By the time I
had reached the precast wall, they were already in the backyard.
With the suppleness of years of gymnastics, I climbed up against
the wall.
“Valerie!” one
of them called after me.
Their calling
was like a fillip, only causing me to panic more. I glanced back at
them quickly then launched myself over into the veldt at the back
of our house.
They were
catching up fast.
Something
happened when my bare feet hit the earth. At first, it looked as if
the wind was blowing, but only around me, stirring the grass, trees
and leaves. It was a subtle sound, almost a ‘pssst-here-I-am’
rustle. Then I noticed a pattern to the movement. The leaves would
blow a step or two ahead of me, as if the wind was giving me
direction and the grass was telling me where to put my feet.
Duncan’s voice
came to me. I remembered a little more of what he had told me the
very first day that I saw him.
“ Listen
carefully. She will speak to you when you need her... always trust
her, she is on your side more than anyone else in the
universe.”
There wasn’t
time to dwell on Duncan’s words; both the urge and instinct to obey
was very strong. It welled up inside me and took control of my legs
and feet, but I wasn’t scared. It was rather a feeling of
salvation, an answer to my cry of distress. I followed the
indicated path and the further I went, the more I gained an
advantage on the thugs behind me. And it certainly was not because
I was faster than them, but because the way simply opened up for
me.
It was a true
connection with nature; the earth was talking to me, responding to
my needs.
I continued
running until they were completely out of sight. I thought that I
had lost them, but the grass kept on shaking. It only stopped after
I had reached a small opening in the roots of a massive Baobab
tree. I crawled in as deep and as fast as I possibly could and then
waited.
I tried to get
out once. A red-hot poker right next to the entrance of the opening
caught my attention – it was shaking so violently that its long
slender leaves were flying about. I immediately recognised it as
the earth’s way of telling me to wait a little longer. Moments
later, I heard footsteps getting closer. I pulled my legs in
tightly and held my breath.
The footsteps
were now very close.
The last thing
that I thought about at that moment was my phone. I had completely
forgotten about it, otherwise I would have switched to silent
mode.
There was
simply no escape when it started to ring in my pocket, not even if
the earth swallowed me whole on that instant.
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