Running From The Shadow Of Death

"Tell me. This is a joke. Right?...".

"I mean come on. What else would I call a situation where I start to hear a voice in my head?...".

"Madness".

"Is that it?... Have I finally gone mad?...".

There was no other way to explain this except for me running mad.

If I had known it would come to this, I would have reduced my working time by an hour.

Five hours should be enough time to rest and stop me from going insane like I am about to.

<{ Ownership Transferrence Complete }>

<{ Granting New Owner Raul All Entitlement Concerning The Oduduwa Lineage }>

"Yep. Mad I tell you".

How wrong could I have been?... What came next was enough to answer my question.

I felt an indescribable form of pain surge up from my head and instantly, it crossed over to every sensitive spot in my body.

My heart included.

In pain, I convulsed before collapsing on the floor. It wasn't something I could bear with a sane mind.

<{ Entitlement Has Been Attained }>

<{ Commencing Oduduwa Bloodline Awaken }>

<{ Awakening Procedure Akin To The Oduduwa Bloodline Will Commence }>

"Arghghhh!!!!!!!!!".

A new wave of pain attacked me, and I screamed at the top of my lungs, wailing louder than a dolphin at childbirth moment.

I could feel my heart tightening up like someone had gripped it and was now squeezing it in between their palms.

Forget fainting. I couldn't even get my thoughts together much less force myself to faint.

If things went on at this rate, I was going to die.

Honestly, it is not as though I am scared of what death has to offer.

If it was entirely up to me, I wouldn't mind dying right now.

But!!!...

I can't.

Anytime I think; oh, it wouldn't be so bad if I were to die right now.

When I think that, I see the last expression my mother made before she left me.

Her smiling expression and her will to give up her spot so that I could live on.

No! There is no way I would allow her sacrifice to go in vain.

I promised myself that anytime soon, I won't be dying.

I mustered up my will, barely bringing my thought fragments together as I started to crawl toward the door.

The goal is simple. I was going to go outside where hopefully I would be spotted by someone who would take me to the hospital.

I could feel the light in my eyes, but I wasn't going to let that stop me, nor was I going to let it die down.

I... I had to keep on fighting if only for the sake of my mother.

As I crawled weakly, a voice of imagination surged up in my mind, reminding me of how useless my efforts were.

I did the best I could, holding on to my sanity as I reached my goal.

The pain however did not make it any easier on me as it intensified with every passing second until finally, I felt something snap.

It was a feeling of my mind disconnected from my heart.

---

With heavy panting, hurried foot abruptly graced the sandy ground, head faced to the front with a face that expressed utter horror.

"I!!... I have to run". Is the intent my gut was wildly screaming at.

Without taking a moment to perceive my surroundings and understand where I was, I ran.

Like a man gone mad, desperation overwhelmed me with only one purpose in mind.

TO GET AS FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE!!!!!

I could feel it, how near death was to me as if telling me it did not matter how far I could run, it would eventually catch up to me.

Often, the human mind can turn out to be very fickle and wavering. The thought knows, yet the mind feels the desperate need for curiosity.

I made the mistake of developing a curiosity concerning the figure of what I was running from.

And out of curiosity, I turned my head to the back for just seconds that can easily be counted in one palm.

Those seconds however cost me the courage and will to continue running.

Why?...

Because I have come to stare at death face to face and have been enlightened that no matter what it was I did, there is no escaping.

My body unconsciously slowed down, and I fell to the ground with my face flat and buried into the sandy soil mixed with remnants of falling leaves.

It would be too late for me to get up and hope to resume running.

Instead, I dragged my body to a nearby tree and took shelter at its front, shied away from the eyes of what was chasing me.

I hurriedly sealed my mouth and nose shut by placing my hands there and squeezing tightly.

As I did so, it got to my range and stood still, with its nose sniffing and its eyes searching around for where I might have hurried off.

It stayed there for a while and during those times, I was praying intently to whatever God was out there to come and save me from my predicament.

Of course, it is not as though I truly believed in the existence of a higher being watching over us from above.

But as a human in desperate times, I did what any other vulnerable person would do.

I tried believing in a higher existence to be my knight in shining armour.

Perhaps my plea had gotten to this existence or it was simply out of luck of hiding myself well, because soon enough, it started moving. And not in the area that would jeopardize my hiding place.

After a while of searching and sniffing around, it moved west of where I hid.

At that moment, my heart felt at ease.

"Alright. This is the time to catch my breath and figure out what had just happened to me".

I muttered silently as I let down my hands from my nose and mouth.