Its shouting becomes so loud that Jack cannot hear the GPS’ voice any more.
“Jack, we are on the wrong way! The GPS wants us to take that path!” Amoran shouts at him, but Jack has heard Delinquency’s name and that is all he hears.
“We‘ll come back later. I just want to learn how to free Delinquency first.” Jack hurries along the path that is indicated by the trees. The others follow reluctantly.
Soon the group of young refugees enter a spot in the woods where the trees all seem to have wooden hands and wooden hearts. Many of the hands are painted red. These trees all look like young women who have taken much trouble to improve their appearance. There are leafy dresses of every imaginable variety; from autumn colours to tender spring greens. The flowering types have gone completely overboard. In colourful shocks, they prevent the children from passing.
“Are you here for the competition?” the one tree enquires. “Are you here to be served Delicious Monster ?” [I don’t know whether or not it is delicious; it IS extremely poisonous; that I do know.]
“Is that other woman coming? That Yersinia? We shall teach her a few things if she dares,” calls out an Oleander -clad sapling. [The same applies to Oleander. This was a bad decision, Jack.]
“Sure. She will never be the same again,” replies a tree with some climbing poison ivy around it, and a nest of tree snakes in its crown.
“What competition?” asks Jack.
The tree that has persuaded a mangle of tree snakes to stay put in her crown, bends down to Jack. The snakes come uncomfortably near to his face.
“This is the Lady-Macbeth-look-alike competition, you urchin! If that Yersinia woman turns up, I shall tear her eyes out!”
“Oh, well…you certainly look a lot like her, madam!” Jack takes a step back.
“You think so? Well what do you know! Did you hear that, Virginia Creeper?” she addresses another tree who has donned some climbing plant. “I look just like Lady Macbeth!”
“Actually I meant…”
“Yes, dear boy?”
“You look a lot like Yersinia Pestis!”
Suddenly the atmosphere turns chilly, and then icy.
“What did you say?” The snaky tree hisses. “I shall strangle you and feed you to the vultures!”
Jack whips out his sword. He rips off some of the climbing ivy when the tree’s red hand grabs at him. “Stay away from me!” Jack shouts. “I shall kill every single one of those snakes if you don’t!”
The tree gets a fright and bends over to the other side, away from Jack. All the snakes start slithering out of the tree and disappear into the bush.
Jack looks at the sword in astonishment. For the first time he sees the words written on it: Word of words.
He turns it around. On the other side it says: Parakletos. But Jack is just an ordinary guy. He does not understand that. [Sorry, this is Greek to me. Do you mind googling this for me? I’ve got Jack, and 06 and that wood and the fact that Jack made a wrong decision. I ‘ll appreciate any help I can get.]
“Why now dear Poison Ivy, you have ruined your entire costume! What a shame!” Virginia Creeper spitefully croons over to the tree who has lost her snakes.
“Go away! All of you little beasts,” the snake tree cries. “You think you are so clever, Jack Gullible; you have probably heard that you are to be a king; but I know something that you don’t; Doubt and Fear – not Delinquency - are on their way, you little fool!” The tree makes a sound that must be a cross between a snort and a spiteful laugh. “Delinquency will never be free again! And Yersinia will never be Lady Macbeth! And you, Jack Gullible, you just don’t have what it takes! A king? Like Macbeth? Pah! You’re rubbish!”
Two pairs of glowing eyes become visible in the darkness of the woods. A single cry of panic ascends from the group. Jack hurriedly pulls the GPS from his pocket.
“..and leads me to quiet pools of fresh water…” it starts, but this time nobody waits for any directions from Jack. There is a stampede through a nasty shock of bramble bushes towards the sound of a flowing river.
Into the trap
The four boys are bleeding badly. Those brambles are being all but merciful, and the bleeding adds to the effectiveness of the crocodiles’ tracking abilities. They have smelt the blood and are going mad with excitement, envisioning an entire troop of children in front of them.
Doubt lunges forward into the thorny undergrowth. Fear accidentally steps onto Jack’s dropped skateboard. He is thrust, with the skateboard under him, into the back of Doubt. Both of them are swooped up by the skateboard and are catapulted downhill, in a rough and tumultuous ride, following the hazardous route that the water team have taken a few minutes earlier, when they followed the directions from the GPS.
Some way further down, the boys have reached a small clearing. The brambles around it seem impenetrable, except for the eastern side, where all land seems to dissolve into a thick, but somehow bright, fog. When they go over to inspect, it becomes all too clear that they are at the top of a cliff. Its depth seems to be endless. There is no telling what lies at the bottom, except for the calming sound of water rushing over stones, a little further below. It must be a waterfall.
“This is our only way out. Those brambles are so thick, the thorns so long, we shall eventually kill ourselves if we try to go through them!”
“Jack, this is no way out either. How can we ever go down here?”
“Just jump,” a voice coming from the waterfall tells them.
“JUMP?!” That’s crazy!” Jack looks at the GPS in shock, but it seems to agree. It indicates a direction that will lead them straight over the cliff. “How can anybody just jump into sweet thin air?” He looks down over the cliff again. The bottom seems to be non-existent.
“I can’t even see the end of it!”
“... faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” the voice from the waterfall whispers again.
“When you hear my voice, do not hesitate….”says the voice, but before Jack can answer, another voice interrupts. It seems to come from a tree that’s growing right on the edge of the cliff, and it is loud and boisterous.
“Oh, pardon me for chipping in. Of course that is crazy. How can anyone just jump down a cliff? Don’t jump, Jack! Whatever you do, don’t jump!” A vuvuzela is sounded, loud and clear.
Suddenly the brambles break apart and the two crocodiles end their bumpy skateboard ride in the middle of the clearing. The brambles had no effect on their thick, scaly skins.
Yersinia and the MRJ support group
At school, everything seems normal, i.e. Yersinia is yet again out of air time. There is a problem, though. She cannot send anybody to Pop stores, because there IS no one to send. The blood team deserted her the moment they realised that the gate was open, taking Amoran’s sister Shamare with them as a hostage. They had seen Goody-two-shoes running for his life, and promptly followed. It seems everybody managed to sneak through that gate at longer and shorter intervals. There is no saying where they have ended up in the wood of words, or what has happened to them. Worst of all, nobody has yet answered to any of her posters. She is beginning to feel lonely and depressed. Why are Doubt and Fear tarrying for such a long time with those little misfits? They should have had them rounded up and brought back ages ago!
Her own telephone starts ringing; its number is displayed on the posters. At last; someone is responding to her commands.
“Yersinia Pestis. Good afternoon.” She tries to sound calm and efficient. Jack will be back under her command soon.
“Hello Mrs. Pestis! I am phoning about your runaway Jack.”
“Yes! Did you cat…I mean, did you find him? Dear lady, thy nature:
It is too ful o’the milk of human-kindness ” [Lady Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 5, Line 14]
“No my dear, I haven’t found your Jack, but take heart. I am phoning to invite you to our support gr
oup called Mothers-with-Runny-Jacks; MRJ for short. We’ll help you cope with chores…”
“Jackass! Get off my phone!”
And another phone gets hurled against a wall.
“The first three months’ membership is free!” yells the phone.
Brave Decisions
Doubt and Fear jump off the skateboard just in time. The next moment it is gone, and the only evidence that it ever existed are the bumping sounds it makes as it tumbles over the cliff. The sound becomes softer and softer until it dies out completely, but there is no indication that the skateboard has stopped falling. Soon everything is silent and the atmosphere is heavy with ominous doom.
Jack and Amoran are standing at the edge of the cliff. Lefty and Gugu try to hide in the brambles, but these are now locked into a thick, thorny mesh that won’t let anybody through. The crocodiles are closing in on Jack.
“Jack!” shouts the tree. “That little sword is far too light for their thick skins! [Liar! He knows he is lying through his filthy, rotten teeth! Oh why must Jack always be so gullible?] Why did you not listen to the wood? You were warned to go back, Jack!”
Jack looks at the two advancing monsters. Fear is about seven metres long and Doubt may be even bigger. His sword does seem very small compared to them.
“You are a sensible boy, Jack. There is a way out, you know,” croons the tree. “Hand over your weapons to them, and go back to Yersinia with them. How will you ever help Delinquency, if you jump over that cliff?”
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