Through it all, the child stared out into the limited amount of the world revealed beyond. After a while, Zertzese thought he had encountered a language the child understood because the waif crept fully out of the shadows. With furtive motions, he crept across the few open stride lengths between the manger and the door, ready to scurry back at any unexpected movements from the blur or pain-causing light. The sounds Zertzese made were familiar to him from the noise that erratically made its way into his cell from above, but they still had no meaning to his mind. He did not realize the sounds were words or that the Zertzese was trying to talk to him. With no exposure to speech or other forms of verbal communication, the gamin classified the noise as unpleasant, but not threatening. He continued to ignore the remaining blur as he crept closer to the captivating new sights, sounds, and smells coming from the corridor beyond the heavy wood wall of his stall. Returning to the common language, Zertzese looked at the boy sadly, “Shame that you are deaf. If you were not, then perhaps there might be some hope for you after all.” He paused, and tilted his head in thought, “There is one more thing to try. He does not respond to the spoken languages, perhaps he can hear, but cannot speak? If that is so, then perhaps if…” Zertzese’s words trailed off as his thoughts raced. He left the child’s range of sight suddenly. This sent the child scuttling back to the shadows behind the manger in fear. He cowered in the deepest shadows, his eyes continuing to devour the sight of the strange wall across the corridor from his cell, as if he were memorizing the rough-worked granite’s contours. Even with his full attention focused on the wall, the rapidly approaching footsteps caused him to ball up even smaller where he hid. He pulled himself into the smallest bundle possible, so that his form was fully surrounded by the limited shadow cast by the manger. Abruptly, Zertzese’s form returned, followed by a second. The child, crept out of the shadow towards the fascinating window while Zertzese had been gone. His return beyond the barrier caused the child to scramble back into the shadow. Zertzese faced into the stall, the light skin of his face glowed above his dark robes in the torchlight and was surrounded by an even lighter corona of hair. The second form, stood where it halted – facing the first. The highly reflective surface of its hair caused a new spate of tears to leak out. This caused the two forms to once more become barely discernable blurs as they arranged themselves in the hall facing each other across a small distance. The blurred form of Zertzese, barked a word, and waved a piece of its blur-shrouded form at the other. The child held his breath in silent curiosity and was released in an explosion of excitement from his scrawny chest as he saw the prompt actions that followed the word. The second form crossed the distance that separated the two. More curious now than apprehensive, the child blinked his eyes furiously which forced his eyes to clear enough to clearly see a repetition of the scene. The child watched a few more repetitions before he crept out of his hiding place in imitation of the bright haired form. Each time the word was barked, he crept a few steps closer to the pair painfully introducing him to the command “come” and miming the proper response. The child heard the tone of the commander’s voice change, from a harsh bark to a more welcoming approval. Soon after, he grasped the idea of what they were doing.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 02:30:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015