DAY 3: As leader of we few, we happy few, I, Jeff, shall record our incarceration and hopeful release from this living death. We want to be buried in dunghills where the sun shall greet us and draw our honours reeking up to heaven.
But enough.
Manfred has again been showing us his acrobatic skills that cause our enemy so much frustration with their weapons of paper and plastic. Valentina has told us that the plastic weapon is called The Swatter. I hope the evil power does not resort to chemical warfare.
Today three comrades met their maker against The Swatter.
DAY 4: Amelia has set off — she plans to circumnavigate our roomy prison and return soon with detailed plans for our mass escape. Chuck believes the clear wall that shows the Great Outside is the answer. Buzz and Neil have attended carefully to his designs but they have hinted to me that they suspect Chuck has some aspects incorrect.
Today two comrades met The Swatter — they were old and infirm but still we mourn.
DAY 5: Amelia has yet to return. Amy has declared she will set out after her if Amelia is not returned by tomorrow. Manfred and Douglas have been arguing again over ownership of the cat food bowl. Chuck has warned them that if they don’t settle the matter soon he’ll take it. Buzz and Neil are making preparations for their escape via the clear wall; they have not told Chuck. Chuck continues to attack the wall with little success.
The enemy has been quiet today.
DAY 9: So much has happened in the previous few days. Amelia still has not returned. Amy left two days ago and the enemy came out in force. The deathly weapon that swings through the air as if attached to the giant brute hit her mid-flight. Valentina has vowed to avenge Amelia’s death by escaping tomorrow.
So many comrades are dead and precious few are replacing them. I don’t know if we can continue our battle trapped like this.
Our numbers are greatly depleted. The Swatter decimates us.
DAY 10: True to her word and with no help from Chuck, Buzz or Neil, Valentina quietly left this prison somehow by escaping through the clear wall. Ancient legends handed down from our forefather Leonardo tells us this was somehow possible but he was mad and probably wrote under the influence of rotted fruit like some pathetic mini-beast.
The cat bowl has been removed.
Food is scarce.
The enemy was quiet again today — perhaps murdering Amy has sated its mad blood-lust.
DAY 15: Terrible news — an evil resinous trap has been suspended from the ceiling near the clear wall. Manfred and Douglas went to explore and reconnoitre it. Manfred barrel-rolled away successfully but Douglas was caught. He struggled for many hours. We all settled near the light fixture to allow him peace and dignity in his final moments.
Dark days indeed.
The enemy continues to claim us.
DAY 16: Strange and wonderful developments — the clear wall has a small aperture! Buzz and Neil have managed somehow to traverse it and are now, like Valentina in the Great Outside where life is wondrous, food plentiful, and the enemy rarely ventures more than a flesh swat. We all hope to reach this place sometime before our pitifully short existence is over.
Manfred went to pay his respects to dead Douglas only to discover that somehow
HE WAS ESCAPED!
Manfred said that Douglas had left his very LEGS behind. He had been affixed firmly to the surface of the heinous trap by his feet but somehow he had ripped them away and, Manfred firmly believes, Douglas now soars Outside with our fellow intrepid explorers. Today has been a good day.
Still no news of Amelia.
Chuck continues to try to find the aperture. He remains unsuccessful.
The enemy cannot take our freedom.
DAY 26: For the past ten days Manfred has performed aerobatics and taunted the enemy to great frustration. Today Manfred bought the farm. His shattered body lies next to the reinstated cat food bowl.
Chuck has eaten well.
Chuck hopes tomorrow will be the day that he’ll break through the clear wall to final freedom. I remain hopeful that Amelia will return before I shuffle off this mortal coil. I have a further worry today beyond our struggle for freedom from the evil enemy — there have been sightings of Boris. Now we will need to avoid the gossamer traps that spell misery and a long painful death at the hands of the eight-legged monster.
I wonder if it is worth even continuing this battle against our increasing enemies.
DAY 28: I know this is the last entry I’ll make; I’ve not got long now and I’m so very tired. I’ve tried to keep up the spirits of this happy band. We’ve lost so many along the way at the hands of the evil enemy and their terrifying Swatter weapon. We’ve tried to instruct our young in the ways of avoidance but it’s the punishing labour of Sisyphus. If anyone finds this journal I hope they’ll go looking for those few brave souls who made it out of this pitiless prison. Maybe they’ll even find out what happened to Amelia — she was the best and brightest of us all.
Now I hand myself over in sacrifice to The Swatter in the hope that the enemy will leave my children alone.
Yours,
Jeff.
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