Obscura Fabula (Dark Shorts)

Forlorn Drums

Forlorn Drums

Camping in the middle of the mountains was always fun. We were outside our tents burning marshmallows -yes, most of them were scorched black- while we chatted around the bonfire. The stars were flickering almost rhythmically, synchronized in blinks of white, blues and reds. The full moon reflected its round silvery face on the shallow creek's surface. It was almost midnight and the wind blew chilling to the bones, and yes, that makes you want to pee so bad. I wanted to pee awfully bad then.

While I walked with a flashlight in one hand and the moistened towels pack in the other, a dense fog squeezed through the bushes. The cicadas and a stranded owl joined in a creepy duet but I needed to go. Finally, after a few minutes lope, I found the perfect spot and "Aaaah", I sighed so relieved after releasing the excess of beer in my body.

I quickly pulled up my pants and began walking back. The fog was so thick I couldn't see a foot ahead my nose. The light beam from the flashlight hit the cloudy whitish and refracted and I didn't know where exactly I was going. I felt lost, surrounded by darkness and the thin cold water drops from the foggy environment dampened my face and hair.

I heard some twigs breaking on the floor behind me and I quickly turned around. I pointed with the flashlight to a gap between two tree stems. The fog cleared, vanishing in that moment. A cold gust blew making some leaves swirl and my hair flutter. A chilly current ran up my spine and every hair on my body stood to its ends. The wind carried with it the sound of drums; stumping and dry tribal drums playing in some forlorn rhythm... Then I saw him. His body was perfectly carved and the skin on his body was beautifully bronzed. The dew drops magically placed on his body glistened with the reflection of the bright moon that peeped through the low canopy of the trees above. Wearing only a breech cloth, and holding a rustic spear in one hand, the aborigine-god-like man stood in front of me, staring at me. A pair of onyx eyes, empty eyes glowed me a sad but intense glare.

Taíno aborigines became extinct more than five centuries ago so the only explanation to that was... "A ghost", I whispered. Amazed, I extended my hand to reach him, but he stepped back and mumbled some intangible words to me in a deep voice. "Wait!" I said. But he only turned around and walked away disappearing in the darkness of the foliage.

"Amy!", one of my friends called. "Why did you take so long? I was worried."

"I was distracted... I saw an... owl." I replied, and we returned to the campsite.

I tried to sleep, but the cicadas, the frogs, the owls and the bygone times drums, kept me awake the whole night.