Why hasn’t he come yet, the receptionist asked himself. What is stopping him causing havoc around the campsite?
Whenever it happened, the receptionist would be ready.
But until then he could have another sleep.
He’ll just go past me, thought Aco as the thing crossed the cliff lower down without looking towards the top. The final reckoning would have to be postponed for another time.
“Hey, boy!” he shouted, “where are you going?”
The child stopped and looked at him. Aco felt a weak pressure on his temples and thought: so that’s what it’s like. He became aware of an image of Raf sitting behind a pine-tree and Aco wanted to shout to him to wait a bit longer until the monster bit into its bait fully. But he managed to control himself and suppressed any thought that could jeopardise the ambush.
The thing walked towards him and it looked so gentle and vulnerable, whilst its eyes got bigger and bigger, completely out of proportion with the rest of its body.
“Come, come!” repeated Aco.
The name collector obeyed.
Now he had to get up and run. He could not delay any longer. He could not.
First the muscles on his hands and arms which were clutching the spear started shaking, then it spread to the whole of the top part of his body. Aco stood right at the edge of the cliff and the child was half way there.
I HAVE TO!
I HAVE TO!
He bit his lip and could feel blood on his tongue. The most earthy flavour possible.
Think of something banal and do what you have to do!
He could not think of anything. He was looking at that tiny back which looked so helpless in front of the figure from which it was now only ten steps away. It was repeating something but Raf could not quite make out what. He aimed the spear at the middle of the dark jacket.
If he had a gun he would only have to press the trigger and that would be it.
A jacket, it was just a jacket; without a head, without a body, without anything.
He leapt forward, a branch hit him in the face, he ran, looking past the tip of the spear at the garment coming nearer and nearer. A wild piece of material, impersonal and belonging to nobody, jumping up and down because of stones, small ridges and thick bunches of grass.
Now he’ll ask me, realised Aco. The pressure at the side of his head did not get stronger, it just spread towards the back of his head. So that was how it felt. He tried to tear his look away from the all embracing eyes, black, nicely shaped and with a small V in the middle.
He’s not as strong as I thought, he’s not!
Somewhere behind, as if behind a thick curtain, Aco sensed a shadow approaching rapidly.
“Dear God, dear God! Thank you. He has found the strength!” Aco thought and suddenly the pressure in his head vanished.
Raf’s nose dug into the grass and because of his eagerness and speed he did an elegant somersault before landing with a dull thud.
He had fallen.
He felt a pressure in his head and the black eyes above him sucked him in. The boy stood above him, looking at him.
I tripped! groaned Raf aloud. It was all over. He lay on his back like a turtle with his arms spread wide, the spear had flown to god-knew-where and there he was – a helpless victim.
He waited for the question and he could not tear his eyes away.
This was the end, everything was finished.
Ana stood at the junction looking down towards the camp. How peacefully the receptionist dozed at his desk! She wished she was there, in the light and the safety.
No, I have to continue with what I have started, I cannot give up halfway!
With envy she looked at the picture of calm in the valley and set off along the overgrown path with the electric wire running alongside.
Aco nearly collapsed. With a single glance he understood what had happened. The thing took no notice of him anymore as it stood over Raf and Aco could see Raf starting to open his mouth to tell it his name.
The spear stuck into the grass far away and the handle was still swaying to and fro.
Aco would have to carry out his task with his bare hands. He jumped forward, two long jumps and felt that the thing sensed him and turned towards him – he’s slow, thought Aco, it had been a good plan and could have succeeded. The thing would not have had time to turn around. A terrible feeling of pressure hit his head and with fingers like talons Aco grabbed at something and pulled.
The foreign body in his head did not go away, but he could sense a great surprise emanating from the monster in front of him.
Aco took two steps back and looked at the thing in his hand. The toy elephant looked back at him with its sad, dark, glass eyes, which looked like a promise of things to come.
“HA!” shouted Aco. “HA! Come, come and get it!”
The pain in the middle of his brain was unbearably sharp. As if the monster had sucked out every bit of fluid from his head with its eyes and now his nerve endings banged against his skull with an incredible force every time he moved.
I can’t stand this, I can’t!
My God, where is the end, how much further is it to the edge, how many steps, how many more blows to the inside of my head?
?
Raf looked up and the child was not there anymore, he was not inside his head either. He saw his back a few metres away and in front of the child Raf saw Aco with a terribly contorted face, offering something to the child just out of the reach of his hands.
“The elephant!” breathed Raf seeing immediately what Aco intended to do. He would lead the child to the edge, grab him and take him down with him.
“NO! NO!” he shouted and jumped up. Neither of the two figures at the edge heard him. He looked around to see where the spear was and saw it very far away. He panicked and he turned around three times. What should he do?
Pull yourself together, pull yourself together!
Aco would know what to do!
A cold voice said to him: this is one more chance to retake the test. Run and push the child over the edge! But Aco was standing in front of the child and he would get pushed too. Aco would certainly do it if the roles were reversed.
No, Raf shook his head, what if. And then realised that it was too late for anything. Aco’s leg waved in the air and his eyes widened. He looked relieved which seemed inconceivable to Raf. Aco lifted his right hand high in the air and invited the child another half a step closer.
Aco opened his mouth and uttered his name, which was followed by a short moment of stillness and after that everything happened quickly and irrevocably.
Aco lost his balance and leant far back, tried to stop himself falling without letting go of the elephant in his right hand, realised that it was too late and then, in the last sway before falling, tried to reach for the creature in front of him with his left hand. The hand moved through the air as if it was moving through honey, lowered itself past the child’s head and moved ten centimetres in front of his face, without achieving anything but a slight breeze which disturbed a small strand of hair in the boy’s perfect parting.
Aco disappeared over the edge and the elephant was the last thing Raf saw. He ran to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Aco’s body hit the rocks and broke apart. The waves immediately washed over him and the merciful night hid the rest in spite of the moonlight.
Raf thought: there’s a murderer standing next to me, looking down there too. Maybe he is mourning for the toy. What if I grab him and push