The bell rang, signalling
the end of another day of school. I elbowed my way through a wall of kids
to my locker.
"Hey Allie, when you gonna call another
Green Club meeting?" Hanna called from a few lockers down. She was one
of the most
active members of our club, always
finding areas that needed fixing up.
"Oh, I don't know. Next week maybe?
The school grounds are looking pretty good right now, so we don't have
much to do."
"Okay...see ya!" She started off
down the hall to find her brother. I opened my locker and scooped up my
stuff.
As I walked outside, I was blinded
by the sun. The sky was a deep blue, the grass emerald green and the trees
bursting with the first leaves of spring. Wandering along the edge of the
school yard, I realized with a start that one corner of the field was brown
and yellow and cast with shadows caused by nothing I could spot at the
moment.
Since I was head of the Nature Restoration
Committee, I figured I had better check it out.
As I neared the area, a sudden unexplained
feeling of sadness overwhelmed me. The air became thick and humid, holding
my
senses captive and making me cough.
I surveyed the area slowly, still
wheezing on the rancid air, and discovered an abyss filled with brown fog
emitting a stench more
powerful than a hunk of rotten Limburger
cheese.
From out of the mist came a voice
that made me cringe. It sounded like a thousand people dragging their fingernails
down a
chalkboard. "Who are you? Get lost!
Leave! Why are you prying in other's business, imbecile child? GO AWAY!"
There was a flash of light and the
wide blue sky beyond the fog became black. A cloud blotted up the sun like
spilt ink and the
schoolyard was bathed in darkness.
With a sudden clap of thunder, a creature appeared.
Pockmarked skin the color of old
tea bags, covered his emaciated figure, showing all the bones underneath.
Veins stuck out like blue strings of spaghetti. His feet were covered in
ragged leather boots tied up with sinew, looking much like lunch bags with
twist ties on top. His hands resembled an owl's talons; muscular with long
sharp claws that dripped blood. The creature's mustard yellow eyes were
covered with a film of scuzzy tissue. His hooked nose oozed green fluid,
exuding the message of "no personal hygiene".
Shaking with fear, I tried to flee
but was horrified to find that my feet were rooted to the ground. I opened
my mouth to scream
but no sound would come out.
"So my friend, do you like my little
disaster?" The creature smiled with a crooked grin and then furrowed his
brows, seriously
contemplating something that took
a great deal of concentration. "There...ahh...that's better. Do I sound
okay now? The voice I was using before takes so much energy, I use it very
sparingly and only for scaring people". His voice had now morphed into
a human voice while the body unfortunately had not.
A number of questions rolled around
in my head, as I waited for my voice to return.
"Oh dear, I forgot something!" he
said attempting to look apologetic but succeeding only in looking even
more revolting.
"My name is Enoch. I am a muta-troll,
the name used for trolls which don't fit the normal standards. I am from
the realm of
blackness, the city of Wroclaw,
past all living things inside the heart of evil. I was born in your most
frightening nightmares, waiting for the moment when I could emerge from
hiding and feed upon your unsuspecting soul to fill the void inside me."
"Do you like my introduction?" he
asked, obviously quite impressed with himself. "It's mandatory. I suppose
it's used to invoke fear. It doesn't even describe me! Oh dear, I forgot
something else didn't I. You can't talk. I'll fix that!" The troll took
a deep breath and then made some kind of bizarre gesture over my mouth.
"Thanks." I quavered.
"Tell me your name!" he demanded.
"Allie."
"Humph!" he sneered, obviously expecting
no less of an introduction from me, than he had previously supplied.
"So, when are you going to eat me?"
I asked, feeling my stomach start to churn, and my lunch rise in my throat.
"Oh no!" he exclaimed. "Remember....
I told you I'm not like other trolls. I can't bear eating meat. (No pun
intended) No! Not
child-meat, pig-meat, cow-meat,
not anything meat!"
"Well then why do you have blood
dripping from your claws?" I asked doubtfully.
"Oh that! That's just ketchup. I
was in a hurry and stopped at a fast food place for some fries."
"Okay, but why do you have pus dripping
from your nose?"
"I have these terrible allergies."
he snuffled, wiping his nose on the back of his hand, carefully avoiding
the claws. "Occupational
hazard I guess."
"How can you even see with all that
scuzzy stuff over your eyes? That's disgusting!" I was feeling much braver
now. Come to think of it, why are you even here?" I was feeling more than
a little annoyed at this point. The thought occurred that a stuffed and
mounted troll would make a great "show and tell". I bet I would get a lot
of extra points for it.
"I am a Nature Conservationist."
the troll said smugly. "I was working on this area when you interrupted
me." He seemed a bit
miffed at the interruption.
"If you're a Nature Conservationist
why did you create this horrible pollution pit right where my school's
Green Zone project is?"
"Well....I figured it would be an
ideal place to create a disaster what with it being so ecological and all.
I'll clean it up again. That's my job but to clean up areas I have to learn
how first. So....I make a mess then experiment on it. This area is now
a cross between a war zone and a landfill. I found the perfect solution
just before you showed up."
"Then use it now please!" I grimaced,
holding my nose in protest as my stomach wrenched, overcome by it all.
"Oh yeah, sure, everyone wants a
quick fix. Well it isn't always that easy you know." Enoch snapped his
claws two times, sang a slightly off key C major scale and stomped the
ground three times. Before I could blink, the site was back to normal.
"Hey! That's amazing! Listen, maybe
we could work out a deal?!" I smiled at the thought of having all that
power at my fingertips.
"Uh, sorry, 'fraid not." said the
troll. It's against the rules. But I can give you pointers on how to keep
the school grounds clean if
you let me use this area for testing
once in a green moon."
"Sure! It's a deal!" I said, carefully
shaking hands on it.
"Hey Allie. Wait up." I turned to
see Hanna waving to me from across the field. When I turned back, Enoch
was gone.
I caught up to Hanna and as we walked,
I told her about my encounter with Enoch.
"Oh Allie. You've been listening
to the little kids too much. You've just described the Oogey Monster they
say lives in the school basement!"
Trolls live under bridges; basement
you say?
Do you think maybe Enoch... hmm...
Nah!