Week 11 Story: Left Behind
This is how it always happened. I was always the one left behind. Never trusted enough to go out and do the big boy job. Who would want to steal this rusty old car anyway?
"Yo, pipsqueak," I heard from behind me. I guess this guy would want to steal this rusty old car.
I turned around slowly, trying to appear calm and confident. The person behind the voice walked up to me with his chin held high and his pants sagging low. Typical.
"What do you want, bro?" I questioned, adding emphasis to my strong demeanor.
"Don't play dumb. Gimme the car."
"No."
"No?"
"No."
Next thing I knew I was laid out on the ground, car missing. So this was why I was always the one left behind.
Before I knew it, Ethan was back. And man was he pissed.
"Where's the car Troy?" Ethan's voice boomed as he strolled up to me.
"I'm sorry man. I tried to fight him off but he had like fifty pounds on me, I couldn't do it."
Ethan just stared at me for a minute before punching me straight across the face.
I had no fight left in me. If this was what he wanted, he could have it.
"Go ahead, bro. Finish me off. I dare you to kill me," I antagonized. I knew he would take the bait.
With that, Ethan gave me one final strike straight to the nose, and I was knocked out cold.
I woke up in the back of a truck, going about ninety on the highway. Immediately I knew Ethan was the one driving and this was the time to go for it.
I laid low and maneuvered my way into the back seat, giving myself the perfect set up to do to him what he thought he had done to me.
I pulled out my knife from my back pocket, and pierced through the cloth of the driver's seat straight to his heart. Immediately his body tensed up and then went limp, confirming I had finished the deed.
This will teach people not to leave me behind ever again.
Author's Note: This is my adaptation of "Elephant and Tortoise" from South African Folk-Tales by James Honey (1910). This is definitely my most grim story I've done for this class, but I feel it matches the tone of the original. In the original, the tortoise is left behind by the elephant as he goes out looking for resources. As the tortoise is watching the elephant's water, he gets attacked by a tiger and the water gets stolen. The elephant become infuriated and swallows the tortoise whole, thinking that he killed him. But because the tortoise was swallowed whole rather than chewed up, he lived inside the elephant's stomach where he then ripped out his liver, kidneys, and heart, killing him from the inside out. I retold this story from the perspective of a weak member of a group, sticking to the same storyline but personifying it with human details. I hope you enjoyed it and know that I normally am not this dark, haha!
Wow that was a lot darker than I was expecting but you did a great job with the story and I definitely sounds like you kept with the tone. I felt bad for the character and I like the strong ending with him thing that he will never be left alone again. I think that it was very creative setting the story in the world that you did.
ReplyDeleteHello Emma, I really liked your twist on the “Elephant and the Tortoise.” I also do not think it was too grim considered half of the movies and books that come out these days. I liked how you did turn it into a more relatable story by making the main character a weak team member. I’m sure we have all been in a situation where we thought we may be the weak link. Overall, good job!
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