The River Bank

“No. Give it to me! I will never let you throw it away!” a girl, in heavy pant, screamed to her friend. “You will regret it if you don’t let me throw this cursed thing!” her friend screamed back. The latter then took the thing and ran. She asked for the third and the last wish, “I hope this damned thing sends us back home.” After mumbled the wish, she tossed it away into the river. The girl in heavy pant came after and cried, “Why did you throw it away? We can have everything in this world. I thought you are my best friend!” “The fact that I am indeed your best friend so I won’t let you suffer for the rest of your life. You have no idea what it cost to ask for a wish upon that filthy thing!

“I want you to focus. What caused Danny’s death? He was dead right after you asked for a stupid car! He died before our very eyes! How dare you to say we can conquer the world? Danny was my world.”

The so called the thing was appeared to be a branch like shrouded in fabric. With five thin sticks so it looked like a palm of an infant.

When both of them were having an altercation, there suddenly came heavy storm. It swept all of the things on the entire area, including those two girls. It collided before them and forced the two grabbing each other hands. They were screamed to each other, again, but it was not a fight, it was a regret. “What happens, Jane? Why are we in the middle of storm?” said the panting girl. The second girl, which then being revealed to as Jane, answered with trembling voice, “Oh, dear God, thank you. Anne’s back! I don’t really figure it out, Anne. After we were screaming out our lungs and running back and forth and I threw that thing into the river, storm struck us. The only thing I can make it, is that you were under the thing power and you came back right after I put it to an end. I guess it is God’s punishment to us.”

“But why us, Ja…,” the unfinished line matched with the coming lightning. It struck just about two feet in front of them. As the last flash vanished, the two were gone.

They woke up in Jane’s living room with sweat soaked from their bodies. Curious looks were sprung from their eyes. It took about a moment to settle up Jane’s consciousness, finally she yelled, “Thank God, Anne! We’re back!” “What are you talking about, Jane?” said Anne while tried to release her friend’s cuddle, “Where we have been? Didn’t we play so hard ‘til made us tired and fell asleep?”

“It doesn’t matter now. We are safe. We are free.”

“You’re weird. I don’t see any danger around us. The only thing that could kill us is if we don’t clean this mess up I will be grounded.”

“It doesn’t matter, Anne. Doesn’t matter,” repeated Jane while Anne still did not catch her words.

***

In the river just outside a city, there was a boy sitting in the bank. On a dismantled card box, with rough clothes, smearing crabby face he sank his head into the knees, “I was thrown away by my parents. Have no family nor friends. Did I make a mistake?” An eight year old orphan who never tasted the warmth of a family complaining about his unfortunate life. He slowly lifted his head and picked near gravels then threw them into the river. One, two, three. In the third round, his gravel knocked an object. He rapidly stood then paced after it. Using a stick he managed to drain the thing to the edge. Then he examined the thing thoroughly and noticed that it was not an ordinary object though. It wrapped with clothes and had a strange appearance. The fabric was brown of dirt and, somehow, torn away.

“What is this? It looks like stick though, but, why, it covered in bandages. It is indeed such a weird thing.” He slipped the thing inside his pocket then headed back to home.

The house itself was a pile of cardboards that he arranged so it shaped like a house just under the highway. This place was crowded with poor’s houses which much like the boy’s. People were busy with their own business and did not really care to others. As well as the boy’s existence; he was a mere human being. Nothing more, nothing less.

Inside his house, the boy was searching for a last night loaf. It was a leftover which he found in a random trashcan. Took a slice of it then having a dinner: a very luxurious yet simple dinner. After he had had finished his meal, he laid his body on a blanket while staring at his painted ceiling. Yes, he painted his ceiling heavens like, with constellation of stars and the moon. He surely adored them so much. Outside, people’s chattering could be heard surrounding a burn barrel to keep their bodies warm. But he chose to linger inside his bunk rather than to join the crowd and get the warm for his body and heart. He was so skeptical about ‘the warmth’ for he had not felt it in his entire life. The abandoned boy with no family, no kin, and no friends, just he and his empty body in this cruel, pathetic, and miserable world waiting to die alone.

While staring at the sky, the boy took the thing in the air then examined it thoroughly and carefully opened up the bandages that wrapped it. About five inch length, black, scrappy appearance made it more terrifying than before it was covered in fabric. On another side of it, there hung two pieces of charcoal black beads in two threads. The boy then played it while mumbling to himself, “I wish I have a family and friends so I don’t need to play with this eerie object and leave this place for the rest of my life. Well, that’s all I can wish for ‘cause it won’t really happen though.” After muttering those words, the thing fell from his hands and hit right on his face. Shocked by the sudden accident, he turned to his right ribs pulling the blanket then curled under it. When he closed his eyes, in a very short moment, he fell asleep. In his sleep, dreams came with their tempting things. He now—for a night—had a family and friends who do loved him. But it did not last for a long time, he had to wake up and face this sorrow world all alone.

Morning came, and it forced the boy to return to the world where he supposedly to live. When he about to open his eyes, a man was seen in his doorway. He was observing the boy’s body and the home as if looking for something. The lives under the highway started to grow. They scattered out of their houses to seek for foods; little of them had jobs. And, interestingly, this man’s arrival was not disturbed their habit; they just walked off of him.

The boy rubbed his eyes and struggled to picture the man’s feature. He was about five feet height, slender, and wearing a very nice suit; his face was scarcely seen because he stood in the doorway so the sunlight right on his back. When his slim hand tried to reach the boy, he cowered to his bunk.

“Oh, pardon my rudeness. You must be surprised. I assume,” his low and tender voice stole a bit of the boy’s heart yet he still felt the opposite that the man would do to him, “I wasn’t trying to harm you, instead I was wondering whether you were awoke or not.”

“What do you want from me, sir?” answered the boy with trembling voice.

“Ah, yes. I brought breakfast for you: some sandwiches and a box of juice. You must be starving.”

There was a hesitation in him. He knew that not a person would give him a treat. Not a single one. So why he should believe in him though the man was generous enough to give some breakfast. He remained still in his place.

“I see,” the man finally remarked on the air between them, “I am a stranger and you’re not supposed to take what I offered.” He then sat and put the ransom before him, “The name’s James. I was about to make news about this place, the condition, and the people who dwelled in it, when I spotted you slept alone while the others were along with their companies. So I stopped by to take a look and give you some of my belongings.” “I am alone since my mother—if I have one—gave me birth eight year ago, sir. And my birth was not a pleasant one, the infant me ended up in front of an orphanage. Or I should call it Miniature of Hell.” Hence the boy dropped his chin, there was a glimpse of smirk then turned to sad on Mr. James’ face. Vaguely seen. He was quite blest on the boy’s explanation; as if a wolf found its prey. “I am truly sorry for what happened to you, kid. And if you adore so about having a family or friends, of course you don’t mind about it, I am willingly to take you as my son. I know it is so sudden but I am a widower, myself, who had no child on my own and longed for cherish in my life.” Heard this calm, soothing words from a stranger, the boy did not feel suspicious at all, instead he slowly lifted his head and staked his eyes to Mr. James’. He felt like got struck by lightning and yet his life-lasting burdens were ascent from his shoulders at the same time.

“I will not force you to come with me because every decision is a man’s choice. So I let it out to you to consider,” again, Mr. James sulking voice granted him an ability to move one’s heart in a very calm way.

The boy drowned in his thought. He barely could talk or move his limbs. He was paralyzed. An idea suddenly came flooding in his mind: does anything that happen in this morning has something related to the thing which I had played last night or this is a mere coincidence. He could not picture nothing but a wish that he spoke last night. It did happen though. “Patient,” he said to himself, “just take it easy and consider it carefully. He is a stranger who stranded in my hut. And I guess it has no relation to anything I said last night.”

“I think, it’ll be fun for having a family again,” the boy broke the silence.

There was a spark on Mr. James’ face that showed his eagerness and winning in the same time. “So, you’re coming with me, then?”

The boy nodded.

“Thank God. Thank you, thank you. I promise I won’t disappoint you. And how may I call you?”

“Back in the orphanage they called me Jason, sir. So, yeah, it might be my name.”

“Alright. Jason. Please, don’t use ‘sir’ over me, ‘cause I am your father now. So ‘dad’ will be nice.”

“Umm… yes, Dad.”

“Great. Thank you. Now, shall we go?”

The boy gave a faint smile then rose on his feet. Following his new father’s hand he stepped out from his hiding place. When they were about to leave the place, Mr. James turned around then stopped. “Wait, don’t you want to pack up your things?”

“I have nothing left but these clothes that gummed in me.”

“Well, we now have each other. Don’t we?”

 

Shortly, they were in Mr. James’ car and heading to his house. Jason was astonished when the car strolled in the middle of the city. The skyscrapers all the way eyes could see. Buses, cars, motorcycles, and even bikes were sharing the roads altogether. A view that he rarely saw except from the far distance and not joined inside it. Suddenly a yellow car passed them, the boy’s curiousness rose so he asked his newly father, “What is that yellow car? And there are other ones lining up in front of that immense building. Why, there’re lot of them.” Mr. James smiled then retorted to the plain question, “We called ‘em cabs. Just like bus but in mini size and less in the passenger seats.”

“And why it painted in yellow?”

“Why, because yellow is the easiest color human eyes could see. Or in other words, our eyes simply easily attracted to the color.” The boy still stared out of the window and reluctantly nodded to the explanation.

They were out of the main road then took a turn to a district which filled with rows of flats and small houses. The atmosphere changed from sunny, full, crowded, noisy city to dull, vacant, quiet, and almost deserted district. On some of the buildings’ doors there hung ‘For Sale’, ‘Do Not Disturb’, ‘Do Not Trespass’, ‘This Place is Under Construction’, or just ‘Closed’ signs and many more. It was indicating that among the empty places were used to be restaurant, hotel, bar, supermarket, and even hospital. The reason why those places remain unsettled was mysterious and perhaps Mr. James himself could not answer to this question. The place appeared to be abandoned by its tenants and occupied by several amounts of people. As his eyes witnessed this such condition Jason, again, could not hold his trailing thought so he spoke of it, “What is this place?” Mr. James made a quick glance to the boy beside him. “This is where I live. I’d rather to choose a quieter place than the noisy one like downtown that we have just passed. And in this place I can run my business without any intervention from my neighbors. Because these people are in the edge of suffering and caring nothing except how they will survive each day. Rings a bell?” he burst to laugh. A laugh which aroused Jason’s goose bumps and chill down to his spines. He knew something was wrong. He knew it since this strange-looked-nice-man gave him some breakfast a moment ago. But he was helpless.

Mr. James stopped the car just outside a building, which then later revealed to be his ‘private place’, and climbed down of it. Jason watched him walk away to the back, apparently he opened up the trunk and picked his stuffs. This action drove Jason’s mind to nowhere. He knew something bad was coming. Coming straight to him.

With a large leather bag on his hand Mr. James slowly approached to his son’s door then opened it, “Your hands.”

“Sorry?”

“Hands!” repeated Mr. James with higher tone than before. The soft, soothing voice suddenly sublimed from his very mouth. He reached inside his pocket. It was a pair of cuffs.

“What’s that for, sir?”

“Sir? Did I tell you not to ‘sir’ me? I am your ‘dad’ now and you are my ‘son’. Let’s act like what we’re supposed to be. Now, your hands. Please.”

Jason had nothing to do but obey his father’s order. He did not expect that to happen and undoubtedly sure he soon enter another infernal place; for the second time. “Clack!” sound from the cuffs which was safely secured on his hands. Mr. James then dragged him into the flat.

Within Jason could see nothing save for the light from the window pane which barred with planks. After turned the lock, Mr. James led his capture to the stairs. At the end of the stairs there were rooms in both right and left side. A dim lamp in the alley hanged above them creating gloom condition compared to the bright morning sun-ray. Mr. James led the captor, opened one of the doors then stepped inside. As the couple entered the room, the picture was hardly to imagine: there laid a long table in the middle of the room with something on it—it shaped a child’s body—covered with white cloth, and blood soaked from the figure. Foul odor was in the air. It gave Jason disgust and could not bear it so he vomited. “Easy there. Don’t overwhelm it. She was Charlie. My late daughter. Unfortunately she fell off of that stairs last night so I brought her here for I do fond of her and couldn’t let her go,” said Mr. James, “She was nice and perhaps same as your age. I promised to bring her a friend but there she is,” Mr. James folded his face. Jason lost his fear then, unconsciously, lowered his chin to the breast. The so called father lifted his head and looked at Jason, thus he said, “Oh, please. Don’t feel sorry for me. It was me who pushed her because she tried to run out of this house so I had no other choice but prevent her. That is the right thing to do to a person who disgraced me and this house. I’d done lots of good thing to her but she preferred to leave me instead?

“Now, if you don’t mind, please sit on that chair,” he pointed to a chair near the window, “Whilst I give you a proper welcome as the new member of this place.” He then walked to the fridge in the corner of that room. As he opened the door, Jason caught a glimpse of a severed head, hands, and many other human organs wrapped in plastics and dipped in blood. Something struck his stomach, then he vomited again. Mr. James drew a carton of milk from it then poured a glass. He heard Jason’s sound then grinned to it. “Here, a glass of fresh milk. Hope it might help your nausea.” Jason slapped his offering so it spattered all over the floor. He assumed that Mr. James would mad or at least smack him but what happened later surprised him. Mr. James put a very gentle smile, took a napkin on the fridge, and then mopped the spillage. “Suppose you don’t like the milk. Fine. How about orange juice?” while searching inside his paper bag, “Ah! Here it is. C’mon, take it. Don’t be shy. You haven’t had breakfast since we left that place, right? There you go.” He carefully examined his father’s face before sipped the juice, and seemed quieter than before they arrived in this very room. Not a word ran out of his mouth. It was locked inside. How could someone so kind-hearted at first turn to menacingly evil in a very short moment? Jason could not figure this train of thought for he was a new fish in this world and having less experience to rely on. One thing for sure, he must escape from this damned place. He knew he would not be able to use the front door because Mr. James had locked it, so he developed another option for his escape route.

When Mr. James had nearly finished the mopping, Jason intentionally dropped his juice so it spoiled on the floor. “Whoa!” cried Mr. James, “Another round to go, eh?” then chuckled. As what Jason expected, he did not lost his temper. He used this moment to rush to the ajar door—dashed over his squatted father and caused him to fall. Instead of descending the stairs he decided to bet on the other rooms.

One by one he opened every door. “Where’d you go? You want to end up like Charlie?” Mr. James right after him. Until the desperate boy found a large dresser in one of the rooms, he crouched inside it, circling his arms to the knees. From his pocket, he could feel something bulged in it. Apparently it was the thing. Without any hesitation he drew it out, held it in both hands then recite another wish. Because he, now, strongly believed that what happened this morning linked back to last night. “I wish, I wish I’m back to where it started,” he closed his eyes.

The sound of footsteps getting closer and closer till it stopped right in front of the cupboard. Jason noticed that his doors were opened from the outside. A boy yelled, “Gotcha!” he was about six or seven years old. Between curious and doubt Jason emerged from his hiding place, blinked to brilliant morning light which freely trespassed through the window. “It’s your turn now!” the boy ran out of the room where he had found Jason.

(Based on The Monkey’s Paw story)