“Extraordinary things are always with us, we just have to look a little deeper” I always grew up believing every word of that phrase my grandfather used to say to me on our long walks in the woods, it inspires me to look beyond, to see the strange in the ordinary, to look twice.
But tonight when I came home later than usual and told my grandmother’s old new husband about the peculiar event I had experienced, he didn’t take a minute to consider it. He was furious with me, not only for being late, but also for lying.
But I didn’t lie.It all happened on my way home when I was returning from seeing one of my oldest friends, at about 11 o’clock at night. I can say that I was a little drunk, but I can also assure you for sure that I had not consumed any drugs, now you will understand why I make this clarification. It was a long walk through some of the older businesses on the edge of town. As I watched mesmerized by my walk, I noticed a small animal about to fall victim to the carelessness of my feet. The critter was a cockroach, a big one, shit brown in color and with so many hairs that I’m sure it could shave itself. I immediately jumped back, I’ve never been a fan of insects, much less cockroaches. And although I understand that these little guys should be even more afraid and run even more terrified, this one just didn’t do it. It followed a perfect straight line all the way down the sidewalk, I watched it cross in front of me so engrossed that I didn’t notice another one heading right behind it and behind it was another and then another and another. Until as my gaze roamed and superficially scanned the individuals I noticed that I was witnessing an army of cockroaches, following in a perfect line, undeterred, never stopping.
They started out as ten, then fifteen, until there were forty to fifty of them, where were they coming from? I looked at the end of their path and saw that they were coming from everywhere, from the sewer, grocery stores, hardware stores and even the restaurants I frequented with my friends, and I want to emphasize the “frequented” part until that day. My jumpy fear had suddenly turned to extreme curiosity, I was still disgusted and amazed by the creepy crawlies that walked in front of me. But my strangeness seemed to excel to just stand there, staring in amazement.
Without realizing it at first, I began to take small steps following the route of the cockroaches, if the street was already at the edge of town, I began to move further away from the road, until I noticed that there were no more businesses or stores around me, there were fewer and fewer public lights until the road led me to a fence that served as a border with the forest, a division between the civilized and the wild, a border between the known and the unknown. The cockroaches didn’t seem to mind in the least the change of terrain, they didn’t, but I did, I looked behind me again and again, I took refuge just under the light of the last remaining beacon of light, I debated with myself if I should follow the road or return to my house, maybe I could return another day, one where I wouldn’t be alone, I’m not just talking about people, I’m talking about light.
I was so thoughtful, running my hand through my hair over and over again, until I decided to take a deep breath, relax my curiosity and leave. But it was in that instant when I relaxed my breathing that I noticed something else. Something so faint and insignificant that I had overlooked. Behind that autumn wind and the sound of crickets, I could hear what was clearly a violin. Someone was playing the violin, but it wasn’t from the village, no, it was far enough away from the residential area, plus the singular sound seemed to come from the forest, from its depths, from beyond the fence where there was only darkness. Who? Why? I sat on the border fence for a minute, looking at the unknown and listened. It was a beautiful melody, more than beautiful, it was precious, almost cathartic in nature. It seemed like a call, a call to melancholy, that for some strange reason made me feel safe, maybe too safe.
The endless line of cockroaches was getting weaker, there were less and less on its peculiar route, I had to make the decision now. And as if I wanted to challenge my own limits, I went down the fence, stepped on the grass full of dry fallen leaves and test how far my courage would allow me to go, I started with one step, nothing happened, so I took the second, nothing either, I was incited to take the third and the fourth, here was where the intensity of fear was disappearing. I went into the forest.
I could only see what the moon allowed me to see, I was guided by the touch between the trees, the sound of my footsteps on the leaves and I forced my sight not to lose the path followed by the insects. Although without realizing it I began to be guided more by the sound of the violin, I can’t say that I felt hypnotized like the cockroaches, but there was something in its melody that called me, almost as if it could hear my name, it was a beautiful sound, I had never heard anything like it. Over time I began to not know where I was, although I thought I knew a large part of the forest that had surrounded me since I was a child, I was wrong, looking around I felt more and more lost, more and more alone. So why did I keep going deeper and deeper?
I was about to give up and go back the way I came when in front of my nose I could see what seemed the end of the road, there was a cradle of trees so close to each other that did not even let the faint moonlight to enter, it was like looking straight into the darkest black I had ever seen, that’s where the sound came from, whoever the violinist was, he was resting in that tree guard. Even so, I could observe how all the cockroaches entered without hesitation among the trees, disappearing from any vision in just a second.
I hesitated to approach, I had already advanced too far to stop now, and whoever was hiding in the shadows I am sure that, although I could not see him, he could see me.I’m not sure why this gave me enough confidence to approach, but as soon as I was standing at the gates of darkness about to take one more step to enter, the fiddle stopped abruptly, all the cockroaches inside the shadow scattered scurrying outside, the trance that kept them obedient had been broken. The sepulchral silence did not last long, out of the darkness came a calm and polite voice, but at the same time annoying, like a father who resists the urge to yell at his children, his voice, although it sounded straight ahead, due to the deep blackness I could not distinguish if it was either very far from me, or very close to me.
—What are you doing here? —His voice ran down every vertebra of my spine.
—You shouldn’t interrupt someone when they’re eating dinner —it was then that I noticed two frosty blue dots standing out of the darkness. I had to look up to see them as they were almost twice as tall as I was.
—His… His… violin, I’ve never heard anything like it —those were the best words I could think of to show him that I didn’t want any trouble. —What song is it?
A few seconds of silence followed, I could see that the two blue lights were looking at me strangely, they were analyzing me cautiously and blinking very often.
—It is the famine song, an old friend taught it to me so that I would never go hungry. Many animals tend to be moved by the sound of it, so much so that they forget about their own lives. —The voice had lost its annoying tone, now it sounded serene, one could even say that it sounded wise, as if it thought each of its words.
I remained thoughtful, although the voice sounded thick like that of a grown man there was something in it that indicated to me that it was not human, I did not know what was hiding behind that curtain of shadows, but no doubt I was grateful not to have discovered it.
—You shouldn’t be here at this hour, should you? —He continued. —I’m not the only one who goes out to eat at night, but I am the only one who only eats cockroaches. —You should leave, boy.
His words left me cold, they were frightening and I took them as a solid warning.
—Thank you very much, and I’m sorry for interrupting your dinner. —I told him as I took a few steps back.
—Don’t apologize for your curiosity, but take my advice; there are things that don’t deserve to be known, you’ll live better that way. —Again I was reminded of the voice of a good father instructing rather than scolding. —I must leave here too, now I know this is not a good place to dine.
As he said this last, both lights rose to increase their height even more, it turns out that all this time the guy had been sitting down. This last made me step forward until finally making me run back the way I came.