Short Story #2 - Misunderstood

10 Short Stories Challenge from a friend: She picks the topic/genre, I write it in one day.

--- Misunderstood Villian ---

When you’re different, things are always tough. It wasn’t like that when I was a kid. For all pretenses I was absolutely normal. It wasn’t until puberty that things started to go haywire. I guess that’s what led me to this journey I’m taking right now. I only hope it has a happy ending.

I was born in 1909 and like all the children on the island in those days I dreamed of one day seeing the world. However, unbeknownst at the time, unlike most of my mates I would actually get the opportunity.

My childhood was pretty average and boring. My mother was a sweet and caring homemaker, my dad a regular joe who hung out with the fellows most afternoons. Food and drink were plentiful. The island had yet to be westernized. In fact, none of us even understood the concept of westernization in those days. No, life was rather simple. Our biggest fear being wild creatures that inhabited the jungles. Every so often one of the various beasts or sometimes a pack wandered upon us, usually searching for food and the men would have to either scare them off or in extreme cases, kill them. Once in a while someone would be hurt during these encounters. Rarely a death among us occurred. But, it was scary, especially when your dad was in charge of protection like mine was.

I remember being about five when I made the discovery that my mother was different from the other mothers in the village. She had taken me swimming at the lake. There I was in the water splashing around with my buddies and I glanced over at mom who was with her own friends; all the young mothers. I noticed something that for five years had completely eluded me. My mother was blonde. I know what you’re thinking: Big deal. Except all the women around her on the shoreline catching the afternoon rays were brunette. And my dad; black hair. And all his buddies; dark. And me and my friends; the same.

Now, I loved my mother quite a bit, but suddenly with the realization that she was so unique I added to that love the feeling of pride. My mother was special and that made me special as well. It also became the bane of my existence when I arrived at the age where a youngsters hormones kick in and he discovers females. Brunette simply wouldn’t do for me. I’d never heard the phrase that blondes had more fun at that point, but I knew I wasn’t gonna have any fun unless it was with a blonde.

Of course those weren’t the only hormones that kicked in at puberty. If we would have had real scientific doctors on the island at least I would have known the name of the disease that ravaged my body: Acromegaly. It’s painful and basically causes the sufferer to grow. And grow I did. From an average height as a preteen to enormous as a young teen to gigantic at eighteen to the ridiculous size that I am now.

You might think that in the uncivilized island society that I hailed from I would have been shunned for my deformities. That was so not the case. Actually, I became something of a celebrity. Things were difficult since I needed more food to support my weight. I had to move to a cave since nothing could be built large enough to accommodate me. In fact there were all manner of ways I needed things a little differently from everyone else. But, to the credit of my friends and neighbors, everyone always chipped in to help and make me feel a part of things.

Yet, I couldn’t help feeling different and no where did I feel it more then in social situations with women. As if my size wasn’t a handicap enough I was also incredibly shy to boot. Add to that the fact that I just wasn’t into the girls in the village on account of none of them being blonde and it’s strike three for me.

Then on my twenty-first birthday the men of the village gathered around led by my dad for my coming of age ceremony. I won’t go into details since it’s a private affair, but afterwards they told me something that my buddies and I had considered wild and fantastic rumors that we discussed often growing up: That there were other villages on the island. They were distant and hard to reach, but according to a few of the guys who had been around the block so to speak, there were not only some larger women, but blonde ones as well. My father even told me with a wink that he’d met my mom while traveling through the town on the South side of the island.

From the second I was told of the wonderful bounty the land might hold for me I was unable to think of anything besides making a journey to sew my wild oats. It took a while to prepare. I was still growing even at this point and the physical pain in my joints and bones went through an excruciating period for most of the next year. When it finally settled down I decided to make my move. There was a tearful goodbye with my friends and family, but I knew in my heart that I would not only see them all again, but that when I returned it would be with my beautiful bride and maybe even a few kiddies in tow.

My voyage was filled with many hardships. The biggest of them being the wild bloodthirsty animals that literally filled the jungles. I went through areas where food was hard to find and I was never sure if a particular water supply was suitable for consumption or not. I became violently ill not once, but twice in the first month of travel and at one point acquired a nasty cut along my forearm from a vicious cat that was nearly as large as me.

And then it happened. I found the village on the south side of the island. It was horrible. It was empty. I’d like to believe that everyone packed up and moved for pleasant reasons that I am unaware of, but I can’t. Though there were no bodies to be found, I have reason to assume that a colony of miniature animals living nearby had wiped out everyone in the town. Whether it was for food or merely their evil nature I’ve no idea. I left the empty village and hid on the outskirts of their community to watch them for a while. These creatures do have some intelligence. Alas, when I went to meet with them, the language barrier was impossible to overcome. I couldn’t understand a word they spoke and they certainly couldn’t understand me. I’ll admit that I got frustrated and bellowed at them a little, but you have to see what strain I was under at the time. Still, I was completely unprepared when they grouped en masse and attacked me.

It was terrible. I barely escaped with my life. Especially since I was still getting over the last of my sickness and my strength was low. I hadn’t eaten properly in days. Yet, I somehow managed to outdistance them and hide out in the jungle.

I found a cave large enough to hold me nearby with a good food supply of fruits and vegetables from the now empty village of my missing neighbors. When I felt strong enough I returned to the animal colony with a gift a foodstuff to show as good will hoping to achieve some kind of communication with them.

It didn’t happen. They immediately confronted me with their primitive weaponry. Again, I tried to escape, but to my dismay they had set some traps up that tangled my legs. I fell and became panicked; rolling and flailing. I accidentally destroyed a few of the little buildings that they’d erected, but to my undying shame I came to the horrific realization that I had crushed and killed a score of the tiny beasts. I felt awful. I burst into tears and screamed how sorry I was to any who would listen.

At that point I would have welcomed a swift death by their spears and arrows when the strangest thing happened. One of the creatures who I assumed to be the leader crept up close to me and dropped his spear at my knee. All the others of his company followed suit. Before I knew it they were all on their knees bowing and humming. I stood and quickly made my departure unsure of what was happening.

Two days later I spotted a short distance away from my cave on a cliff side that the animals had chained a female of their species up to a hastily made altar. I didn’t know what to do. Clearly this was an offering of some sort. I gazed at the little thing who cowered from me. As crazy as it sounds I found her quite attractive. Her features, though tiny were delicate and smooth and there was something about her smell that was intoxicating. I broke the chains and returned to my cave expecting her to go back from whence she came. I can’t tell you how guilty I felt when I found her remains the next day, the leftover supper of some wild animal or another.

From then every month the creatures left another woman chained up for me. I don’t know why. I don’t know what they expected me to do with them. If I left them they wouldn’t last a day in the jungle. If I attempted to return them to their own people the savages made a huge show of slitting the unfortunates throat and placing another one out the following day. I’ve taken to bringing them back to my cave, but it’s ridiculous. I mean what am I supposed to do with the little things? Keep them as pets? Usually they only last a few days before something or other kills them. I had one that lasted two weeks before it starved itself to death. I’ve no idea why it wouldn’t eat, but it wouldn’t.

Anyway, I had just decided to leave this place and head for the village on the Western side of the island when low and behold there was yet another women left chained up for me. I remember clearly thinking that I’d free it from it’s chains and leave it to it’s own devices. I’d become somewhat numb to their deaths. Then I saw it. Now I’ve already told you that I was rather fond of the little females appearance and scent however none of them had looked quite like this one. What struck me immediately was the gorgeous shock of blonde hair on her head. She was beautiful. She reminded me fondly of my mother. Though clearly terrified of me she made no move when I held her in my palm and stared at her.

I knew: I could not let this pretty animal die like all the others!

I took her back to my cave and kept her with me bringing her all sorts of edibles to choose from. My god was I exhilarated when she ate some of the fruits. She’s a mischievous little sucker and is always getting herself into trouble. A few times I’ve had to save her from all manner of beasts of prey.

Again I decided to leave for the Western village and that this time I would take the little girl with me. I went to collect some things I thought she might need for the voyage and when I came back she was gone. This wasn’t the first time this had happened of course, but when I went out looking for her worried as hell that some beast might have gotten hold of her, what I found was that she’d been kidnapped by some of the other animals from her colony. I chased after them trying to get her back and even save the stupid fools from other wild creatures in the forest. What did I get for my troubles? They used some sort of drug to knock me unconscious and when I awoke I was chained up here in this boat.

I know I’m in a pretty bad position, the slave of these savage creatures. But, I also can tell that the ship is heading west and that the folks out there are supposed to be of a more civilized nature. You might think me mad, but I kinda feel everything is gonna work out well for me when we get to wherever we’re going. My little blonde girl is somewhere on the boat with me. I can smell her. AND, I have a secret that makes me not worry too much about my present circumstances. I’m pretty sure if I strain hard enough I can bust these chains. Worst comes to worst I can out run these little creatures and hide out in the jungles of the West just as easily as the jungles of my homeland. Maybe the animals out there will pay me homage with a little blonde girl every month like the animals did back home.

I suppose I could get used to that kind of treatment….


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