Shamiel
- Lola Linuesa
- 1 mars 2023
- 4 min de lecture
- Theme of the Writing Prompt on Reddit.
It’s been a week since I spared this creature. However… I was afraid of her. I can’t deny it. And… I guess if I show myself again to humans, I’ll suffer the consequences of my act.
I can’t get this memory out of my head. Me, facing this creature just with a poor stick in my hands. I was shaking, not even able to hide my fear. I thought this creature would kill me. But when it saw me like this… it just stared at me.
My eyes and its red ones met. It started speaking. I’d rather say… it tried to. At the beginning, I didn’t understand anything. I started shaking even more. And…
« Sha… mi… el… »
That’s what I understood. My body suddenly stopped shaking. As if… my subconscious felt reassured now that I understood something from it.
« Sha… miel? Is that your name? » I asked.
The creature didn’t respond. But I decided to take a step forward. I dropped my stick, in case it might feel in danger. But when I moved on, it fled. She fled.
I was… shocked of what happened. Why did this creature didn’t eat my arm or just… killed me? And why didn’t I… killed it too?
I decided to consider this creature as… a « person ». And I decided to hide myself in this grotto where I met her. I felt happy to spare a creature that was not that dangerous for humankind, but… I knew. If anyone finds out what I did this day, I’m dead.
Because humankind can be more cruel than any other species.
I know daddy will hit me if he finds out. I know brother will tell the camp leader that I spared a creature. And mommy… she’ll just shut up, afraid that ANYTHING happens. I can’t… count on anyone, in this world. But right now… I’m just going to starve.
Shamiel… that’s your name, right? I guess we just can’t communicate and understand each other. I hope you’re good where you are. I hope you fled far, far away from humans. I hope… they didn’t kill you.
—
It’s been one more week. I just feel so… weak. I have nothing to survive now, only water. I guess I should’ve gone back to the camp. But, not only physically, I’m also mentally weak. I don’t want to know what would happen to me. I prefer… to stay here forever. I prefer to be on denial of everything.
Suddenly, I hear a strange noise. With a start, I get up. My weak body doesn’t feel like this anymore thanks to adrenaline. I look everywhere around me and take back my stick.
If a human enters… what should I do?
But… a big smile appeared on my face. Shamiel. That’s her. She came back!
Again, I drop my stick and approach her with too much enthusiasm.
« Shamiel! »
She runs to me too. In this grotto, I couldn’t see clearly what she looked like before. But now, I know. Despite her red eyes that could be scary, she just looks like a big lizard with some fur on the back. I find myself thinking « she’s cute ».
« I’m a weird human now, right? »
I smile at her. Maybe not eating much just made me crazy. But Shamiel jumps on me and starts to lick my face.
Now… I can’t stop laughing. Shamiel is just like a reptile dog, right?
I wonder… is this species really that bad? They’re intelligent. But… intelligence doesn’t necessarily means it’s a menace.
Just behind Shamiel, I see that she brought back some fruits. I don’t know if it’s comestible, but tears come to my eyes.
« You… brought that for me? »
She nods, as she was a real human again.
« Thank you… so much… »
I start to cry like a baby.
—
Days later, Shamiel stayed with me all this time in the grotto. Thanks to her, I could survive. And I got attached to her.
But… today happened what I dreaded the most.
The camp leader is here, with other members of the camp. Is that brother who told them ? No… it can’t be. I didn’t show up since a long time. But what I see right now is that they’re looking at us, in a contemptuous manner.
« Kiddo… what’re you doing here? We will kill this thing. So please, just go away. »
It seems like he doesn’t recognize me. I frown and get up. I take a few steps forward and open my arms, blocking the way to Shamiel.
« I will not let you hurt her! »
I don’t know what they plan to do. Maybe they’ll kill me in blood cold, and kill Shamiel after. Maybe they’ll kill Shamiel first. But she’s now my reason to live and not to give up.
I swear to God… I will protect Shamiel at any cost.
Because, for me… she has a bigger heart than humans. Because humans doesn’t take the time to know and understand Shamiel’s species. And at this moment, I opened my eyes.
Humans … are just cruel.