Anthem, Silent

Schalk

I took in a deep breath, sitting on the hood of the open-sided camouflage Toyota Land Cruiser with a sun canopy, while I enjoyed the rays of the harsh sun on my exposed skin. 

“Damn, mosquitoes,” my father complained as he slapped at his thigh, where a mosquito had probably been feasting on his skin as we sat side by side, father and son. 

It was peaceful between the two of us as I sat with the rifle between my legs, a long straw between my teeth and a camouflage hat on my head to shield me from the sun rays. My father was dressed the same as I was as he drank a silver flask of Hennessy like it was nothing, looking out at the massive farm that he had. 

“I thought mosquitoes only come out at night,” I added, thinking a bit, as I creased my eyebrows and tilted my head in his direction and looked at him. 

He shrugged, like he wasn’t sure and he couldn’t care less, “well, something was biting me and whatever it was; fuck it.” We both chuckled, and then he rolled his eyes as we heard the screams, “shut up!” he yelled back at the man who was struggling to crawl away from the cackle of hyenas that had spotted him, and were now making their way towards him. Pa turned to regard me, “you know, you didn’t have to shoot the boy in the kneecaps the moment he started running,” my father said with a smile as he reached for his own rifle that he had placed across his lap. “He’s been crawling for over half an hour now.” 

Pa was an impatient man, I had promised him blood and a show, and at this point he was just dying for one. I placed my fingers in my mouth and whistled loudly for my pets to be drawn towards us. The hyenas perked up at the sound of my whistle and their deranged laughs made their way to my ears as I watched Benjamin claw his fingers into the dirt, pleading for me to help him as he attempted to crawl even further away but he was badly wounded, and losing a lot of blood. He had been in the sun for 45 minutes now and his strength was quickly depleting. On top of that, he was dehydrated and starved because I had kept him locked up since yesterday. 

“Finally,” pa bellowed with a proud clap as he watched the hyenas run towards my whistle. 

“No! Please!” Benjamin yelled, turning his head in our direction. “Please, Mr du Toit! I’m sorry! No!” he shouted fearfully, his eyes wide with fear as the first hyena reached him, a female. She didn’t care to inspect him, she immediately tore her teeth into his leg, ripping at it, swishing her head side to side, and the others rushed to join her, knowing that if they took too long then they wouldn’t get any more of this delicious meal. 

My father sighed, almost sadly, “I’m actually going to miss him. He spoke really good Afrikaans. It’s hard to find his kind that’s actually good with the boer tongue,” my father tusked, shaking his head as we watched Benjamin scream bloody murder as the hyenas tugged and fought over him; eating him alive. 

The sight was ghastly but it pleased me, it felt good to watch it all go down. I would have done it myself but there was a reason that I called pa and Johannes here, this discussion needed my full attention, and besides, I hadn’t fed my beloved pets for about three days now, so they were starved and ready, savage and desperate and it was pleasing to hear the now gargled sounds of Benjamin. 

We heard the sound of tyres on the dirt, making their way towards us and we looked towards the other Land Cruiser, identical to ours, and my brother, Johannes was behind the wheel as he parked the car right beside us. He jumped out of the car dressed in a suit that was slightly dishevelled, his jacket nowhere in sight but his white dress shirt deeply stained in crimson, as he opened the back door of the Land Cruiser and pulled out a limp body. He pulled out the body of his girlfriend that looked like she had been taught a lesson and didn’t pass the test. He threw her over his shoulder and then walked past us, dumping her body a few feet away, not too close to the hyenas since they didn’t like him all that much but far enough from us so that they wouldn’t be sniffing at our feet.