The Shaman: And other shadows by Alessandro Manzetti Read Free Book Online Page A

his companions.
    The four begin to run. The stars of Chicka are weak. The covering of her imaginary interior sky turns black: it is the paint of death that is drawing slowly. The Reaper wakes up, stretches out her black cloak. She sits on a rock, enjoying the scene.
    Ga-Gorib is frightened by the wind that accelerates sharply. Chicka tells him what to do, to remian calm. He has to run, right away, and she will reach him further. They’ll meet on the slopes of the Meru. If Ga-Gorib comes across a leopard, he shouldn’t run away, otherwise he will be charged. He must raise his arms, turn into a solitary acacia, motionless. The stains on the shirt will help him: they seem small yellow flowers. The leopard will be confused, will not attack.
    When the four men reach Chicka, Ga-Gorib has already flown away. He doesn't have time to look back at her mother. The cries of Chicka don't slow down his little legs, he promised her to continue to run no matter what happened. Now, the Hell is ahead or behind? He must do as he was told. Never mind the rest. She will reach him, she has got the right stars in her head.
    Chicka was struck, she falls to the ground. The kanga is torn to pieces. Purple butterflies of cotton, with too small wings, are flying towards the Mount Meru. The same direction of Ga-Gorib.
    The four men begin to hit hard, and take turns fucking the woman. There is no need to hold her; she is already immobile. Chicka uses the same tactics of defense with men and leopards. She turns into an indifferent plant.
    The raiders’ jaws are deformed, their chemistry messed up. The silver tinted glasses hide their eyes, while they are pushing some dense, boiling stuff inside the woman's cunt. Strong backs that flex to unhinge the Chicka's matrix. Hands holding the ankles as clamps, her toes toward the sky, the pink and orange outlines. The sunset above.
    The big one, at the end of the party, tears down his pants and pees on the stony face of Chicka. The woman continues to insult him with her indifference. He's sure that she enjoyed silently, she liked it, but she doesn’t want them to win. He loses his mind and the others try to restrain him, in vain. He grabs a big black stone and crushes it on the indifferent face of Chicka. Her eyes are elsewhere now.
    The bones are crushed, the blood is mixed with the soil. The black stone is now painted with red and yellow. It remains only a dark mask, beaten, with no more lines. Chicka has no longer a face, a kanga, her magic ceiling. The Mount Meru has witnessed the scene.
     
    It’s night. Ga-Gorib has been walking for long. He arrives on the knees of the Mount Meru. The stones around it have been spit from the volcano. They are darker and darker. A grenade of leaves, broken roots, and someone is coming. Steps with two legs: are humans, are noisy. Ga-Gorib hides behind a bush, checks the area through a jagged rectangle of three inches. It isn't Chicka. It’s two of those bastards. They're looking for him? The two men sit on the ground, panting. Coarse laughs. They are sniffing a white powder. They fill their wide nostrils, leaving that stuff to get to the bottom of their brain
    They’ve got a lot of watches, cameras, and Chicka's ring. It seems that they are discussing how to divide the spoils. Then they get up to continue to the South.
    The trees become alive, wriggling furiously. There is no wind, something big is coming, running towards the two bastards. Ga-Gorib can't see it from his small rectangle. He should move sideways, behind the rocks. Who, what? The infamous raiders don't laugh anymore. A horizontal hail of stones, dense bullets. The two men try to protect themselves, but they are hit. The stones turn red, now. The Mount Meru still keeps up the sun, extending its masses. It wants to see how that story ends.
    Ga-Gorib comes out of the bushes, now he can watch the open field: two broken human bodies are on the ground. More tons of noises are moving. Then, here it is.
    A creature