Vanishing in Moonlit Night: Elsa’s Tale

The rainstorm was so intense that everything was flooded, strong winds caused destructions everywhere. In the midst of this rainfall, a girl from village reached the shores of the river. Some people passed by the river where Elsa was laying drenched, hiding her face with wet hair, wearing animal skin clothes. She had a swollen stomach and was in pain, struggling to breathe. The people who passed by were Half-humans. When they saw Elsa, they recognizing her as one of their own except from her dressing style. They spoke something in their own primitive language, but Elsa was in too much pain to pay attention to who was around her. The Half-humans picked her up and took her to their cave. They treated her as one of their own, but their treatment only caused her more pain. Her condition was delicate, she cried out in agony.

Within moments, she found herself covered in blood with a womb containing a baby. Instead of helping her, they saw baby as food. The scent of blood enticing them, upon seeing the baby, they started arguing among themselves, claiming it as their own.

Elsa witnessing this chaos, shouted: “Enough! This is not food, it’s my baby, living creature like us!”

Half-humans appeared more like men with large bodies, unkempt hair, scattered body hair, small hands and feet and wearing handmade clothes from tree leaves, truly wild.

One of them said, “this is food, just like how birds lay eggs and we eat. If you’ve given birth to it, then it’s meant for eating! Isn’t it?

No, no! This is like us. It will grow up to be like us. Do you people eat each other? said Elsa

 “when there is no food available for months, then we eat the weak of us.”

My god! That’s too terrible. Could you guys give me some privacy so that I can clean myself and my baby. You all seem to be reluctant to help! Said Elsa

“Privacy?” They asked in a curious manner

Elsa replied, “when someone wants to do their own private work alone, we call it privacy”

Everyone gave them privacy and went out in search of food. When the sun sets, these people returned to the cave. It had been weeks since they had found any food. They had all made a pact that if the hunger persisted, they would eat the baby one day. When they returned, they saw that Elsa was holding the baby close to her chest, completely covered. Seeing this, Half-humans started asking, “where is the baby?”

“He is hungry and I’m feeding him” Elsa replied

The Half-humans again asked, “Do you have food?”

“Yes, but this food is meant for babies” said Elsa

Why can’t we eat it? Asked one of them.

Elsa said, “It is meant to drink not to eat and it’s called milk. It gives energy and fills the stomach.” You are not allowed to drink this, understand!

All of them insisted and pleaded to let them drink just once. They hadn’t eaten anything for weeks and their energy was running out. Upon hearing this, Elsa felt mercy and that night she fed all four of them. They became accustomed to it. Elsa used milk as an excuse to bring them in line, they built a tree-house for her and she taught them jungle survival skills like starting fire, catching fish in the water and ways to stay alive. The Half-humans knew from beginning that they were only allowed to eat eggs, but Elsa taught them how to live life. Their condition improved significantly while living with them. It had been one year since Elsa starting living with them.

One day, there was an attack on the place where they were staying. The Half- humans became angry and attacked them. Elsa stood with them to protect their territory, as she recognized them as her own tribe from the village she came from through the river. She was actually the wife of the tribe’s leader and had accidentally ended up in their village due to heavy rain that night. When she saw the leader, she went up to him and hugged him.

The leader asked Elsa, “How did you come here? We thought you were no longer alive…”

Elsa smiled and replied, “I met them by the riverside. They took good care of me. Yes, they are cave people, but they have good hearts and they took care of our baby too”

The leader filled with joy lifted his son upto the sky and spun him around.

 He thanked the cave people by giving them supplies for food and drink in return, then went back to his tribe with his wife and son.