The boys laughed appreciatively at their leader’s sparkling wit.
He bent down, bringing his face close to his victim’s. Hate seemed to radiate from his pores like heat. “It’s time people learnt to keep to their own kind, Benjamin. The mixing of whites and blacks is… unnatural. An act against God. And it’s their filthy offspring who will pay for the sins of the parents.”
A heavy foot pounded into Benjamin’s abdomen, his muscles locking into spasm as he struggled to breathe. The blows came again and again, colliding with his chest, his stomach, his face. The pain was now unbearable. Blood trickled down his throat, the tangy, metallic taste making him retch. How was he was going to explain this to his parents? He thought of the last time he had taken a beating. His father had made him stand outside in the rain for an hour. To “toughen him up”, he had said. His mother had often told him that it was foolish to judge people by the colour of their skin, because she believed that on the inside, everyone is the same. He wanted her to be wrong. He did not want to be like these people.
At first he tried to protect himself against the strikes that rained down on him, curling up like a huge foetus. Eventually, he surrendered to them completely, lying limply as he was pummelled from all directions. After a while, the rhythmic pounding slowed, then ceased.
The three attackers stood back and admired their handiwork. Benjamin’s face was a swollen mess of blood and dirt. The tissue around his left eye had inflamed massively, leaving only a tiny slit through which to see. Fat droplets of red oozed from where grit had become embedded in his exposed skin and his shirt was ripped and soiled. He looked like some absurd oversized road-kill.
“Is he dead Rex?” the boy with the drawn face asked nervously.
Rex swallowed nervously and scratched his throat. “There’s no shame in killing a half-breed Lenny. We’re on God’s errand, boys. Ray, you check him.” His tone was confident, but his face looked sickly.
The boy with the empty eyes nudged Benjamin clumsily with his foot. “Yep, he’s a gonner if I ever saw one.” He said in his slow Southern drawl.
Benjamin seized his chance. He grabbed a fist full of dirt and hurled it into the air. It caught Rex and Lenny in the face, making them bellow and curse as the sharp shrapnel scratched their eyes. Ray stood and watched stupidly as his companions stumbled around in a blind panic.
Summoning all his will power, Benjamin painfully pulled himself upright, and then onto his feet. His head throbbed dangerously. The damaged sight of his left eye blurred everything into an Impressionist painting before fading into complete blackness. He hobbled down the road, a bizarre living corpse. Every movement, every breath was excruciating. He struggled down the path for ten minutes before he realised the boys were again on his tail. He could hear their feet pounding the dry earth. They no longer made any effort to remain concealed.
Benjamin dragged himself into one of the fields than ran alongside the road, seeking refuge in the cover of the tall crops. Exhausted, he lay with his face to the sky, praying they had not seen him. The clouds above had turned a gentle grey and occasionally eclipsed the sun as they drifted overhead. A soft shower of rain fell upon Benjamin’s face and ran into every open crevice of his skin. The clean, sweet smell of the wet grass filled his nostrils.
A nearby voice made him tense and alert again. They were coming closer.
“Over there, I saw him!” screamed Lenny “Get that runt!” The triumphant cry rang from somewhere behind him…
Benjamin crawled along the muddy soil until he reached the other side of the field. The exhaustion was unbearable, but fear provided him with a strength he didn’t know existed. He arrived at the edge of a large disused quarry which stretched for half a mile in both directions. The white rock contrasted starkly with the rich greens and golds of the surrounding fields, giving the impression someone had peeled back the earth’s flesh and muscle, drilling into its bone.
The only escape options were around or across. Benjamin chose across.
A chalky layer of paste began to coat the wet limestone as the rain fell increasingly heavily. Benjamin slipped and skidded on the slimy rock as he desperately attempted to put some distance between himself and the others. Looking over his shoulder, he felt a jolt of horror as he realised the boys had also begun to tackle the ashen abyss. The boys were close enough for him to see the expression on their faces. Rex gave him a furious glare and growled at him like a wild animal.
As the quarry became increasingly difficult to navigate, Ray with his large frame and awkward movements fell behind. Benjamin precariously edged along narrow precipices clinging to the rock face with aching fingers. Soon it was only Rex that pursued him. Panic engulfed him as Benjamin came to the end of the ledge. He was faced with a sheer drop and could go no further. He turned to face Rex, bracing himself for what he knew would follow. A vicious smile passed over Rex’s face as he cornered the boy. His hair and clothing had become dishevelled and his eyes, red from the grit, were filled with a manic expression which made him look like a terrifying beast. Suddenly, he lunged at Benjamin, grabbing him by the braces. He pulled him close enough for him to feel Rex’s spittle splatter his face. Benjamin frantically lashed out with his legs, struggling to break free of his assailant’s iron grip.
A look of surprise passed over Rex’s face as he lost his footing and his grip on his prey. He quaked furiously as he hung over the edge of the cliff, his arms flailing wildly, a bizarre human windmill fighting to keep its balance. He clutched at Benjamin’s bloodied shirt but his weight was too great. The boys were pulled into the chasm, tumbling through the cold air.
Rex hit the ground first, his head colliding with the hard serrated rock below, and splitting open like a ripe melon. Its fleshy contents exploded out of his skull and splattered onto the surrounding stone. Benjamin’s body cracked sickeningly as it crumpled under him. His blood-soaked shirt lay open, several of his sharply broken ribs erupting through his chest and sticking up grotesquely. The two boys lay side by side their fluids flowing into one bloody pool. As the last remnants of consciousness ebbed from his broken body, Benjamin looked down at his torso, and over at Rex’s mangled remains. A strange smile passed over his face. “Mother was right,” he thought, “Our insides are just the same.”