Samson
*Ranked 2nd place in Short Story Competition*
This morning started out as any other. I hit my snooze button on my alarm yelling at me to wake up. I turned the news on to channel 205 and walked out of my bedroom to the kitchen like a zombie. It was a cloudy day here in San Francisco. The cold fall breeze crept in through the window, and a chill went up my spine as if to motivate or persuade me to keep moving and get ready for work. As I was getting my eggs and toast ready and had my coffee brewing, I heard the news in the background saying something about animals and zoos but I was too tired to pay attention to it.
Getting ready, I put on my clothes, put my sweater over my clothes, put on my boots, and brought my umbrella just in case. I grabbed my keys and files since I was a crime scene investigator, and headed out the door.
When I stepped out the door, the air was damp and cold and once again sent shivers up my spine. Why does the cold have to bother me? Why can’t it go else where? I ignored it and that seemed to help a little bit. Strangely, I sensed a chilling presence around me. Probably because the news reports had given me a strange suspicion, but I wasn’t sure. I could’ve swore I heard heavy breathing somewhere as I reached for the car door handle on my Prius.
Just as I was about to pull the handle, there he was. I felt the presence of the beast behind me, scanning me, his warm breath on my neck gave me chills causing the hairs on my neck to stick straight up. I wanted to turn around to see the majestic beast, but fear prevented me. Unfortunately, curiosity killed the cat. In this case, vise versa because he was the cat, and I was the curiosity. With my eyes closed, trying not to shake and drop my items, I slowly opened my eyes as I turned around, and what I saw paralyzed me. We were face to face, his eyes seemed to stare into my soul. He was a lion. The lion. The reports on the news weren’t fake. They were a reality. He was the lion that had escaped from the zoo. The weird thing was, he wasn’t attacking. He just stood there. His gentle trusting eyes staring into mine. A gentle giant, but powerful. I was so confused as to why he wasn’t attacking because he was a predator, silent but deadly. Maybe it was because he was a bit domesticated at the zoo? Whatever the reason was, I was in awe. He was beautiful.
Suddenly, there was a noise to be heard in the background. His ears turned in that direction before his head did, and it was an owner walking his dog. The lion started backing up toward me, protectively. The hair on his back stood up, he crouched down as if he was ready to pounce at any second and I could hear his deep and intense growl. I could see the corners of his mouth raising, showing his large canines used to kill and eat his prey. The molars were used to shred their prey into smaller pieces since they don’t chew their food. The man looked over at us, looked at his bottle of whiskey, looked at us, then back at his whiskey again. He just chuckled, shaking his head thinking he was hallucinating. The dog on the other hand, a blue-ish grey greyhound was scared to death with his ears back and his tail between his legs. When they disappeared around the corner, Aslan turned to me, now relaxed.
I was so tempted to reach out and touch his soft, wispy mane that reminded me of the grasslands of the safari. But I resisted. I wanted to respect this gentle giant for he was respecting me.
Amazingly, his nose inched toward my hand. He nudged it gently, wanting me to stroke his large bulky head. But I misinterpreted his actions because on my hand, I felt his teeth gently grasp my hand. He started to pull me somewhere. He took my hand and put it on the car door handle. He wanted to come with me. He was so intelligent it was unbelievable. How was he so smart? I opened the doors to the back seats and he hopped in like it was his home. Maybe he couldn’t speak, but I knew that he was trying to tell me something. This was unreal. I didn’t know what to do. Was I supposed to take him to work with me? Call the zoo? That might have been the best decision, but what I did next, I must have been out of my mind, because I got in the car. I started the car. I put the car into reverse and slowly rolled down the driveway and down out of my neighborhood. I didn’t go to my job, nor the zoo. I was heading out of town.
Driving for what seemed like forever, he started to pant. He started to growl hungrily and impatiently. I knew I had to do something. In the corner of my eye, as if God himself heard my prayers, I saw roadkill. And a big one in fact. An adult stag. I stopped the car, in the middle of the forest with no one around, and let the lion out of the car. He bolted to the road as if it was the first meal he’d had in years. He shredded that thing like there was no tomorrow. His jaw strength was, well, jaw dropping. I heard crunching and it made me cringe a little, but it was fascinating to me. I looked away at some parts of him eating the carcass. This wasn’t a kill that was very old. It had to have been from early this morning. But now I was worried. His muzzle was now the color of blood, a true face of a predator.
He finally finished and looked very satisfied. I was a bit cautious because he was still in feeding mode, but he was calming down. There was a pond nearby so he went to go and get a drink. He crouched down, his shoulder blades protruding from his back. His tongue curving in to lap up the clear pond water. Then he stood back up, licked his lips and walked back. When he returned, his mouth was mostly clean from the blood. Aslan hopped back into the backseat, and we continued on our journey. The forest was such a peaceful place. I wondered to myself why I never came here more often. I was immersed in autumn. The vibrant, breezy season, ushering in the winter like an appetizer before the big meal. Just a taste of what is to come. Beautiful and temporary. The big lion was mesmerized by the orange, yellow and red colors of the leaves on the almost bare trees.
As we were driving, I thought about everything. I thought about everything that had happened today. There was a 600 pound predator able to suffocate me by simply grabbing my neck and crushing my wind pipes. He could kill me in a matter of seconds but he wasn’t. His paws were as big as my head. He could crush my skull but he didn’t. In the corner of my eye I saw an abandoned log cabin up on a hill. It seemed so familiar and I didn’t know why. It’s like I wasn’t in control of myself today. My curiosity and my intentions controlled me and yet I was still aware of what I was doing. It’s as if something was pulling me, urging me to the cabin.
We pulled up to the cabin and I got out of my car. I opened the door for the lion and he hopped out landing on his huge paws. The moist, crisp air flowed through my body, and it felt like home. I stared at the front of the cabin with the lion standing by the doorway, and I had a flashback.
The trees were green and the house was furnished and had a nice finish. The biggest or smallest thing that caught my eye was the lion standing by the doorway. But he was a little cub.
Before I saw anything else, I returned to reality and the lion was looking at me with his big brown eyes waiting for me to follow. It’s as if he’s been here before. He knew where he was going and he knew his way through the house.
It was musty and damp in there and parts of the ceiling was on the ground covered in dead crusty leaves. I heard a crack. I looked down and lifted my foot. It was a picture. I picked it up. I brushed off the dust and cobwebs on the glass. The picture was me. A little girl. A little girl with her father. My father worked for the NPA (nature protection association). He worked with all sorts of different animals. Monkeys, parrots, tigers, bears, reptiles, and lions. I was paralyzed. All of the memories came to me all of a sudden. Now it all made sense.
On June 17th 1992, there was a fire at the NPA headquarters. My dad managed to rescue a few animals from the fire including a lion cub. I remember I named him Samson. My father told me Samson was my responsibility. I felt an immediate connection with Samson. I loved him so much and he loved me. I remembered we used to sit by the fireplace on the cold winter nights. But one night my father went to go get firewood from outside. I heard gunshots, yelling, sirens. I held Samson close as I peeked out the window. There my father was lying in the now red snow. I remember screaming but not hearing a thing. The police knocked down the doors hitting me very hard in the head. Hard enough for me to forget everything. I guess the police were the ones who took Samson to the zoo. I now know why he didn’t attack me. He was my childhood companion, my best friend.
When I looked up from the photo, Samson was right in front of me. He had something in his mouth. It was a muddy turquoise-y felt object. I held out my hand and he gently placed it. It was his favorite toy. A toy I made for him as a child. It had 5 limbs two button eyes and a red nose. I remember I named it Thimble. A salty tear rolled down my cheek and onto Thimble. Samson knew the whole time who I was. That’s why he was so protective of me. I wrapped my arms around his thick mane. He put his paw around my back hugging me. I was so happy but so sad.
I got myself together and we continued on in the house together. There were so many lost memories here I thought I would never find again. Memories of holidays, birthdays, family memories all on dusty pictures hanging on both sides of the hallway walls. It was all right here. At the end of the hallway I found a room. Well, it was more like an office with a small library in the left corner and a big desk in the middle. Everything was really dusty and covered with leaves there was no telling what could be in this room.
Before I could touch anything or study anything I heard cars pull up. The dirt crackling underneath the tires. I walked over to the one window in the room and peered through the wood slabs because there was wood nailed to the window like what you would see in the movies. The people got out of the car, their keys jangling around as they closed the car door. “Search the house. Holler if you find somethin’.” An older guy said.
We had to get out there, but the house was surrounded. My breathing got heavier. I didn’t know what to do I was panicking. I looked over at Samson. He walked away and turned left. Confused, I followed him. He stopped in the middle of the hallway and put his paw on the floor. It looked like there was a circular handle. I walked over to it and instantly knew what it was; A secret tunnel out if the house. I lifted the handle and sure enough it was a passage underneath the house. I let Samson go down first because he knew where to go. I closed the hatch and we here off. It was so dark and gloomy down there I couldn’t see my own hand. I put my hand on Samson’s back and he lead the way out. It seemed like forever before I finally saw bits light ahead of us I squeezed past Samson and rushed to open the hatch. I opened it as slowly and as cautiously as possible. We were in the middle of the forest. I slowly hopped out with the leaves crunching loudly beneath my feet. I set the hatch down gently and signaled Samson to come out. I slowly let the hatch down watching around us to make sure we weren’t being watched.
Then something amazing happened. I turned around and Samson was kneeling on one leg. He wanted me to get on his back, like a horse so we could get around faster. I was shocked at how domesticated he was and he wasn’t even trained to do that. At least I don’t think. I put both hands on his back and hoisted myself up and threw my leg over his back so I was sitting upright. I could feel the muscles in his back. He was powerful. I know I’ve said that more than once but I have no other words. I closed my eyes. I felt his heartbeat, his breathing. I felt at one with this lion.
“Alright boy, let’s go” I said quietly. He started off slow to make sure I didn’t fall off and we were gone. Disappeared into the gold, orange, and red forest. Off to adventure. I looked back to see if those people were still back there. Sure enough they were still searching the house. What a day. I thought I was going crazy and I pinched myself just to make sure. Nope. I wasn’t dreaming.