The colour was indescribable and it looked (oddly?) evil, unnaturally poisonous. Who was it who had said that?
The boy stopped and looked at it.
“Well, can you see now?” said Luka. “Do you understand now?”
“Yes, I understand. Are you coming with me?” replied the boy bravely, even though he did not feel courageous. He was tingling from the inside of his arms through his armpits and across to his heart.
“Holy Mary, be with me,” he said to himself, stepping onto the grass and starting to approach the house.
It was probably some stupid thing. Brandy making? That’ll be it! Or…? What could produce such a colour? He thought hard but could not think of anything.
He stepped into the light and when he looked towards its source he was not blinded. He could make out the window frame and occasionally, just for a split second, a shadow moving around. Or shadows?
A silly thought: he was spying on people whose names he did not know. Then he recalled he had heard the name of the Indian woman, but like the rest of the villagers he could not remember it. It was too foreign and difficult to pronounce. He had never seen the child either and did not know his name. Nobody in the village did, even though nobody found that strange or at least they never talked about it. But they talked about everything else, oh yes!
He could sense the looks of those in the woods. To go back, like Luka did? To be his equal? Never! After all the trials of the day he had already surpassed him. He was not aware of the fact that in the morning when he had started the whole thing it was only to become their equal, and now it was all about proving that he was different, superior.
A shadow, this time he definitely saw a shadow behind the glass. A raised hand? Holding something? How strangely it was lowered! So… He could not quite see, he had to go nearer.
He started to count his steps. Ten. And the shadow crossed the light again. Another ten steps and again the shadow.
Another ten steps, the shadow.
Another ten steps…
…he was by the window.
He looked through.
Adriano was the first to lose his nerve.
“What the hell is he doing?”
Nobody answered. It did not matter, the question sounded rhetorical anyway. They were each pressed against a pine-tree, looking towards the green cellar window. The boy stood in front of the window, motionless, like a foreign body in the rays of light, staring inside. None of them had a watch but they knew quite a lot of time must have passed already. The knees of those who were kneeling were beginning to hurt. Bruno leant his cheek against a sticky patch of tree sap and — a mistake! — tried to wipe it off, ending up smearing it all over his face and hand.
“Maybe one of us should go and get him?” said Luka.
“Who?”
Luka turned abruptly towards Adriano.
“You’re always taking the piss! Just watch it!”
“I’ve just about had enough of you,” said Adriano and they all felt he meant it. Even Luka himself, who started flexing his muscles whilst searching for words.
Not a sound could be heard from the villa. The crickets kept on singing, a gentle breeze started blowing from the sea, and the green blades of grass trembled in the shadow of the tree branches in rhythm with the needles above them.
“I’ll go for him,” said Adriano.
He got up slowly and his stiff knee-joint made a cracking noise.
“I’ll go,” he said again as if hoping that somebody would try to stop him.
Luka was looking down at the ground, feeling that his position was collapsing without a sound, even though he had taken so long to build it.
Slowly, hesitantly Adriano left the shelter of the woods. After a few steps Bruno joined him. They looked at each other and walked on side by side with a trifle more courage.
Bruno tripped and put his foot down noisily trying to catch his balance.
“Shhhh!” hissed Adriano and grabbed his elbow.
“Can you hear anything?”
“No.”
“Me neither.”
“Let’s walk half way and then crawl,” whispered Bruno.
“Yeah, that’ll be better. Let’s not look inside otherwise we might freeze like the boy.”
They nearly turned round and ran back.
“We’ve got to save him!”
“We’ve got to!”
“Shall we go?”
“Let’s go.”
They started walking again and after a few steps Adriano realised that he was still holding on to Bruno, who did not seem to mind at all. Adriano let go, even though he immediately regretted it. Feeling somebody else’s pulse under his fingers had calmed him.
They fell to their knees and then onto their stomachs and started crawling. The light was spilling out above them.
“Don’t look inside!”
“I won’t! I won’t!”
They were pushing their faces into the grass and suddenly found themselves next to the boy. Adriano reached out with his hand and grabbed him by the ankle. The reaction was instant and loud. The boy screamed:
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
The light went off instantly. They expected voices, shouting, signs of excitement and pressed themselves into the ground. But apart from the screaming above them, there was no noise. The boy suddenly stopped and then there was a complete silence.
They waited and did not dare to move.
Adriano slowly raised his head and looked up. Bruno followed. The boy was still staring ahead with his eyes wide open. He looked enormous from the ground as if his head was right up in the clouds.
Bruno mumbled to himself.
“There’s something very strange, something….”
“What?” hissed Adriano. “What?”
“I don’t know!”
“Adriano, look, look! LOOK!”
Bruno grabbed his shoulders, digging his fingers so deep it hurt. Adriano was looking around, his eyes scanning the walls, meadow and the wood, but he could not see anything which would justify Bruno’s horror.
“LOOK! LOOK!”
Bruno turned onto his side, looked up and screamed.
“WHAT? WHAT?” started shouting Adriano. “What?”
How their voices carried across the open spaces! They filled the night.
“LOOK! THERE! LOOK!”
Bruno’s finger was drawing big lines in the air finding it impossible to point in the right direction. Adriano finally managed to wriggle out of his hands.
“CAN’T YOU SEE? CAN’T YOU SEE?” Bruno carried on shrieking and his horror slowly started giving way to despair and panic at his friend’s stupidity and unresponsiveness.
Adriano looked towards the motionless boy. He strained his eyes to pierce the darkness and find the cause of Bruno’s terror. He could not see anything. Nothing even remotely suspicious. Just the whiteness of the rescued boy’s T-shirt and head.
The whiteness of his T-shirt and…
…and…
his head?
HEAD?
Adriano grabbed Bruno with all his strength and pulled him up. They stood a foot behind the boy, who did not even flinch. His hair was completely white.
“I’m scared…, I’m scared…” Bruno kept repeating.
Adriano shook him.
“Me too! ME TOO! CALM DOWN, DO YOU UNDERSTAND! CALM DOWN!”
“Yeah, yeah… I’m calm… I’m… I’m… I’m…”
“What are we going to do? What?”
Bruno tore his eyes away from the white head for the first time.
“One of us should…, one of us should turn him round…, this way…”
“Yeah…”
They were pressed against each other and they both thought how much the other one trembled.