It was a light and not stormy morning. An uneasiness slinked and festered in the streets; something was coming. The breeze blew tentatively, warily anticipating what it didn’t know. Upstairs a woman, oblivious to the tension below in the streets, hauled her huge backpack onto her petite shoulders, taking a deep breath in as she struggled to do up the clips. Brushing her hair aside, she bid farewell to her sleepy room-mates who murmured goodbyes from beneath their morning hair and half-awake eyes. She clomped down the stairs of the hostel and out onto the street, where everything was eerily still, as if the breeze had held its breath at the sight of this awkward misplaced woman. Her much-loved navy-blue Kathmandu backpack stretched her entire torso, from the bottom of her hips up to the tip of her head, looking as if it were half her weight and ready to topple her over. Perhaps it might, if not for the black daypack situated on the woman’s front, weighed down with her computer, books and other various items that she had collected along her journey. Straps hung from all angles from her backpacks, too lazy to tighten them up on every leg of her journey, making her seem just that fraction more chaotic.
A short gust of wind burst past as if the breeze could no longer hold its breath in apprehension but go along for the ride, just waiting. People hurried along, feeling the tension seep in and the cold beckon with its claw-like fingers; a better day to be inside. Whispers seemed to resonate throughout the street; presumably the locals in their hurried state, but strangely enough wherever the woman looked, she could see nobody talking. Slipping off the clutch of disquiet, she started to make her way down the cobble-stoned streets, thinking of trains and hostels, at times pausing to look at a striking building.
Beneath her it rumbled. They wanted something. They were going to make a move. Not yet, not yet. She walked along the streets, amongst them, oblivious to their plans. Soon……soon……wait for the vehicle. A truck loomed ominously, waiting to turn the corner for the woman crossing the road. Now! If she had listened she would have heard the sharp intake of breath as they launched their plan into action, moving away from each other and opening up a crevice between them that would fit her boot nicely, as she raised her foot. Her foot swung across the open air; the breeze stopped, people faded into the murmuring background and slowly, ever so slowly, the boot made its way towards the crevice. Down, down, down, and jamming into it sideways. The woman gasped in fear, managing to dislodge her boot but not before throwing her entire body off balance.
The cobblestones chuckled, telepathically high-fiving one another as they watched the aftermath in slow motion. The woman was thrust forward, backpacks and all, her centre of balance all but gone and her body hurtling towards the ground. Her short-ass legs ran with all their might to attempt to halt or at least slow the journey towards the ground, her arms flailing like an out of control show-ride. Her backpack weighed upon her back, pushing her down; her daypack yearning for the ground and dragging her down towards it. The cobblestones cheered gleefully as she made her almost inevitable descent down.
But out of the not-darkness, somehow, something…..in her plunge the woman caught sight of the vehicle, giving her one last energy burst to push up towards the sky. She stumbled across to the curb, almost crashing into the wall of the building….but remaining upright. The vehicle stood, watching her in amusement tinted with concern. She stood, breathless, leaning against the wall, nursing her hurt ankle and pride.
The cobblestones gasped…how could she have escaped her fate from their dastardly plans? The woman smiled at their loss, rubbed her ankle and moved on into the cold and away from the bereft cobblestones….
