The Stranger

I thought nothing interesting would happen to me until that day I met him. It was a usual pleasant yet boring day. I was aimlessly loitering around feeling quite lonely. Dad was at work and mom was routinely doing her washing today. So you can imagine my pleasure when the front doorbell rang. I dashed inside and up the front door. For a second I stood there panting and gasping for breathe. Then regaining my composure, I flicked my long hairs back and opened the door.

    The first thing I saw of him was his one iron leg that stood strangely against his real one. His mouth was twisted in an uncanny smile and his eyes were so deep that they penetrated into mine. A small scar could be seen above his left eyebrow. I gazed at the stranger paralyzed. Somehow it didn’t seem as if he had only come to say hello. Then after an awkward silence he spoke, “can I speak to your…um...Mom?” His voice was hard and gruff. He reminded me of a shipwrecked pirate. Why a pirate would want to visit our home, I thought.

“May I help you?

I whirled around. Mom stood in the doorway peering over my shoulder at the unwelcome guest.

“Yes, I need to speak to you about…err…some matter.” The stranger replied in his rough voice. Suddenly I could feel mom stiffen beside me. “Oh!” she answered “then why don’t you come on in.” the stranger shuffled past me to the living room, his iron leg clicking noiselessly on the floor. “Pete” mom whispered as soon as the stranger was out of sight, “Go up to your room stay there until I call you down.” I stared at my mom. This stranger had an air of mystery around him and no way was I going up to my room while he was down here. “But mom….” I started protesting but stopped when I saw her upstairs deliberately slowing down on each step. From the living room I could hear that man talking to my mom.

      After what seemed like eternity to me, I was called downstairs. I saw dad holding mom who looked like she was sobbing. “Dad?” I wondered “what was he doing here? Isn’t he supposed to be at work?” suddenly something crossed my mind. What had this man told my mom that was so bad that she had to call dad from work? Considering the tense atmosphere I knew it concerned me. Clenching my fists I went up to my parents. “What’s going on dad?” I asked. Dad motioned towards the stranger. I turned to face him who was now grinning at me.

“Maybe I should introduce myself first” the strange man began. “My name’s Ben and I am your uncle.”

The last part of the sentence made me cough violently. “My uncle?” I asked disbelievingly. “Yes. Perhaps its time for you to know that these are not your real parents. Your real parents died in a car accident years ago. These people adopted you out of kindness but they are not your legal guardians. I am your uncle and your father left you in my care after he died. I’m here to claim you.”  I winced slightly when my so-called uncle called my parents “these people”. I did not reply and waited for the story to sink in. Once I was sure I had a grip on the situation I remarked “and here I thought my life was boring.” Ben laughed loudly and gruffly. I took a glimpse at my parents. They were sitting rigid on the sofa looking intently at me. Maybe they were waiting for a reaction maybe a tantrum but I remained calm. In addition I found myself asking “is it true mom?”She nodded slightly before bursting into a fit of tears. Dad got up and took me upstairs to my. “We wanted to tell you earlier.” He explained as he packed my bags “but we had no clue that you had an uncle. He even had an identity so he must be your uncle.”

                    A little while later I was standing on the doorstep waving my parents goodbye. Not even in a thousand years I would have anticipated this moment to come. Ben stood beside me holding my baggage with one hand, the other resting on my shoulder. My parents bid me good luck. Just seeing their smiling faces made me guilty. A part of me wanted to stay and a part of me was dilled with curiosity about my new family.

  Finally I decided to bury my past and move on. I got in a shabby old car my uncle brought with him and let my mind wander on possibilities of my new home. After a ride of about twenty minutes, Uncle Ben turned left into a narrow dirty street. Suddenly my heart started to beat faster against my chest. “Where was this man taking me?” I thought. The car came to a halt outside an old broken-down building that seemed to have been a factory once. “Why are we here?” I questioned turning towards uncle Ben , “what’s going on here ?” uncle Ben grinned twistedly displaying a set of  crooked yellow teeth. Gruffly getting out of the car he hobbled over to my side and pulled me out. Then firmly taking hold of my arm he shoved me inside the broken down building. All this time I was too tense to retaliate.

  However when Ben grasped my arm I was jolted back to reality. I tried to squirm free but with no visible success.

“Works every time.” Ben commented as we entered the building. A sick stench greeted me making me want to puke. “You’re not my uncle, are you?” I replied through gritted teeth. “Yeah a couple of fake identities and a story help me every time I want a new recruit in my team. Somehow adopted boys seem less dangerous than kidnapping he normal ones.” Well, I thought, at least some part of the story was correct.

                          I stayed there at the building till it was night doing work for Ben and his goons. During my stay there I met a lot of other adopted boys who gave me a lot of handy tips on how to survive. Never make the boss mad. Do not ask for extra helpings of food. Do your work without complain. Never ever talk of your previous family, were some of these handy tips. Our rooms were at the basement of the building where rats scurried and strange voices shook the floor. As days passed I thought about my parents, yearning to go back to them. Sometimes these thoughts were frequent and sometimes I was too tired to even think of them.

      Then the next day I decided to escape.

As usual at 8:00 in the morning the boys were huddled out of the basement and made to do work. My work included digging up the cement ground behind the factory for a reason I couldn’t understand why. Then collecting the cement, I had to go back to the factory, fetch another bag and then fill it up. I went to work early that day carefully planning my escape in my head. As soon as I had filled up my first bag with cement and made sure it was hard enough, I got on with my act. Pretending to faint, I caught the attention of the guard on duty. As soon as he was close enough I shot up and threw the heavy cement bag on him. Making sure he was pinned to the ground, I ran for it, not daring to look back.

                        Every second felt like danger but soon I could see my home from a distance. Ah! Safe at last. Choking and grunting I raced inside to face my startled parents. The next minute we all were driving down to the city police.  I explained my story again a second time giving them the exact details of the address of the factory and the men. Mom hugged me over and over again apologizing a thousand times.

                  As I got into bed that night I felt safe and comfortable. “That’s enough of my little excitement” I thought wryly “and I’ll be happy to live my boring life again.”