The story of Ruggish 1
Ruggish was jolted out of sleep by the sullen gaze of a Magriza. As he blinked away the remnants of sleep, he found himself seated in a taxi, a place he couldn’t recall entering. The other passengers, their faces etched with stories, stared impatiently.
Eyy!” Magriza’s voice, carrying an air of prophecy, cut through his daze. He turned to look at her – Big, bulging eyes, sagging ebony cheeks, and a wrinkled, freckled face met his gaze. “This is where you’re getting off.”
As Ruggish checked his surroundings, the chimneys protruding from the roofs of precarious shacks became conduits to another realm, spiralling into the heavens and exhaling clouds of grey smoke. The narrow and dusty roads, instead of mere pathways, whispered secrets of forgotten footsteps, hinting at the chaos of memories merging.
Memories flooded in, reminiscent of his childhood spent in a place much like this. Coal for the stove, winter evenings, and smoke that sent them coughing and shivering outside their two-room shack. Yet, the location remained elusive, wrapped in a magical haze. Still disoriented, he couldn’t recognize where he was.
“Bathong! You are getting off here,” Magriza reiterated, her voice now a mysterious incantation. “Okay! Okay!” he replied as he delicately made his way out of the taxi. The taxi driver peered behind his seat and said, “Be gentle with the door, please.” Closing the door slowly, he felt a subtle shift, as if sealing a portal to another dimension.
He closed the door slowly and delicately. The taxi drove off, and across the road, standing with folded arms and wearing a neatly tucked-in white shirt, was a young boy around thirteen years old. Spotting Ruggish, he rushed toward him, making quick, careful steps to avoid rousing the dust. “You are just in time. I hope you had a pleasant trip. My name is Jiza. They said I must show you in when you arrive.” The boy spoke as if he knew him. Puzzled, Ruggish wasn’t sure whether to introduce himself to Jiza. He remembered how sometimes he’d wake up disoriented, unable to recognize his surroundings. His mother would tell him it meant that his spirit had been traveling while he slept. The feeling usually wore off after a few seconds. Ruggish now waited for that moment, for his spirit to return so he could remember where he was and why…