The Jungle

The Jungle Allen X

I've thought a thousand times that what if they find us or we find them. And every time I walk, carefully, trying to find something, I can always hear some footsteps of others following us. It's strange and I think I was perceptive enough to distinguish them-- some other people --.
I told Cat this thing but he didn't believe. With a slight smile he told me those were all damn hallucinations.
Are they just hallucinations? I collect those little sounds and dark waving shadows and gather them all in my mind. I compare them with the normal things like insects and plants I meet everyday. And I realize that those strange things are really of some other people we haven't found yet.

I hate footsteps but I cannot stop them. The land in the jungle is so soft that I leave my footsteps behind me through the whole path. I asked Cat that if he hated his footsteps and he answered, "Not hate in fact, but I fear them."
"You fear what?"
"I have stronger and stronger sense that these footsteps I made are following me, keeping watch on me, ready to take place of me and be the master of my feet and even my body."
"I told you that there were some other people following us."
"No, I mean, my footsteps, not the others."

We keep walking. And trees spread thick shadows on the ground like crowds of black birds coming from a mountain far away in fog. Leaves dance in winds, kiss each other in rain and burn themselves in sun. They die and get rebirth. Through tides of time seeds sprout and flowers perish. Killing time by trip like diving in the sea, deeply and slowly and smoothly, we nearly forget ourselves and only remember the verb "WALK". Through the bushes and across little brooks, we've had a long way finished. And now we are still on the way to somewhere unknown. Suddenly something appears in sight and then disappears fast. I want to see it clearly but it didn't give me a chance.
"You saw that?" I ask Cat. He sits by the water cleaning his fur.
"What? What's the matter?"
"Nothing. Thought I saw someone."
"I think you are going mad," said Cat.
I make no reply. It's no use trying to make him understand and believe. I walk. He follows.
"You know it's just us here," Cat continues and sighs.
"It's been so long since I saw another human being, " I kick the stone and turn back to tell Cat.
"I'm not lonely," said Cat.
"But I am, and you are just a cat so you don't understand," I stared at Cat and spit the words bitterly.
"I understand, and I even understand more than you," Cat says,"and you won't be happy to see them I bet."
I give silence to our dear conversation again.
"Come on! Let's catch some food," Cat breaks the frozen silence.
Then I follow him with an "OK" in my mouth. I need some food now.

He knows the way. He is sort of a good jungle-life liver, after all he is a cat who is supposed to live in wild. "This way. We'll find a large place for food. O- in fact, this jungle is a place full of food and you can find food on every inch of the land," Cat wave his thin and hairy tail to guide me.
"You have to learn more living skills," Cat smiles and leans to the short bushes in front of him, "Look, what a huge fish pool we find. Nature can give us everything we want. Look. Our desire is easy to get satisfaction."
Like he said, I hear the water, the fish swimming, leaves drowning. We go through the bushes-wall and see the great pool.
"Perfect, isn't it?" Cat begins his fish-hunting.
"Perfect." I think I am energetic again.

After a big and fresh meal we sits by the fire waiting for the night's curtain to fall. Stars are preparing to show their brightness.
"They are not the main characters I think," said Cat.
"What? The stars?" I'm confused a little.
"The stars. They are not the main characters. They are just wasting themselves only to make the moon more beautiful. The moon is the heroine of the drama of the sky in night."
Those stars sparkle, like diamonds sewed on a dress. Under trees we kill the fire.
"There comes our heroine tonight," said Cat with his eyes darkening.
I see the moon hanging on the sky, between two dark mountains with only outlines in sight, and over the water. It breaks the clouds softly. It has light which ranges a thousand miles, wandering moonlight.
"But it's stolen from the sun. The moon betrayed the sun and stole his part of light," Cat shakes his head and then nods.
We soon fall asleep in the silver night.

I wake up in midnight. No, it's that I was wakened up, by, by what? I was wakened up by a noise of someone. Cat is still in dream. I look around and try to find the person.
Someone is trying to walk away. I can feel him.
----Snap...
According to the sound I run quickly to the west. He must be there. I can feel that he is running faster. Then, I see him.
A black shadow wearing a layer of moonlight. I cannot see him without the moonlight because his body is in all black. Only the moonlight outlines him.
"Hey! Don't run. I just want to talk to you!" I shout out a big voice.
He runs, and even faster. I run after him and try to calm him down. But then I realize that I am the wild one. I toss my body away and let my spirit runs alone for I can be much faster without my heavy shell.
I catch him, and touch him and throw myself on him.
"I just want to talk to you."
He then struggles and hits me with his elbow and I nearly let go of him of my pain. This dark shadow tries to run away. I grab his clothes and carelessly take it off.
It's so bright. Something is so bright to sting my eyes. I took off his dark clothes and only to find a cool, sharp, and strong light. The light covered the night. I feel that I am going to perish in the light like a plant.
Light covers me. I cannot even beg for life.

After a while I open my eyes to see if something has happened. Something did happen. The world has changed. I am in a place where there are many plants. I can't read the words on those signs but I hear someone crying his wares,"Tropical plants, nice plants, on sale!"
The shadow I caught is no more a dark shadow, which means I am grabbing a human being. He keeps struggling and then I let him go. I must have done something wrong.
He shouts at me,"You are mental! You are mental!"
I feel my body sink to the ground softly without any power. Am I mental?
"Someone call the police now! He's mental!" He then shouts again to the others.
Of course the end is that the police come, two policemen put handcuffs on my hand and I say nothing. They take me to the patrol wagon. I go in.
In car they are saying something. Talking about me? Who cares! But am I mental? Am I mental? I've lost my jungle!
And Cat, where is he? I press my face to the window to see the outside place.
I see a cat. But I am not sure if he is my friend Cat.
That cat----oh let me call him Cat. Cat is hiding in those plants with a colorful dead fish in his mouth. He is staring at me too. Our sights meet, and I don't know why I get a little scared. He is staring at me. His eyes are darker than those in night. He places his fish on the ground and, slowly, he no more watches me.
He must pity me. He must be feeling sad right now. And the policemen, who are driving me to the police station, laughing and smoking, turns back to see me and say,"Mental dude." Smoke fills the car and make my sight unclear. After this corner turning, I cannot see Cat any more.
Cat isn't watching me, instead, he walks away, under the dazzling sun.