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Theodore's journal entry-1
Well, hello journal, it has been… What? Decades since I last touched you? Yes, it has. I guess I want to speak out my mind to something that won’t need to bother with little ol’ me.
Let’s see… I still remember 1873, you know? It’s the earliest date I can remember from when I was a small tyke, I was almost eight years old. My mother was in the kitchen of our home in São Paulo, Brazil, she was cooking a hearty beef stew that day to celebrate me turning into a man.
I remember being outside playing with a few sticks and whatnot when my father walked up to me, placed me on the back of his horse and took me into the wilderness, we would be back by nightfall.
My father was… A strange man, he never spent time with my sisters, all six of them, yeah, seventh son after six daughters, some say that it is a curse or some, not that my parents cared, they said it was some stupid Portuguese tale. Well, my father gave me most of his attention, he taught me to fish, hunt, make fire, pitch tents, even when I wanted time with my mother; my father would yank me away to do something “manly”, to turn me into a proper man despise… Things.
Anyhow, that day my father wanted me to hunt a big trophy: a jaguar. Yes, jaguars were the beasts of the jungle, monsters, killers, terrifying animals, but I adored them, I have always admired them. Their fur looked so beautiful, their strength was something else, it was like the strength of ten men! As a child I dreamt of being that strong, heh, it was quite a silly thing but I craved that strength to punch the bastards that always talked shit about me.
My father and I set up traps and camp. There was a big jaguar there, I tell you, we heard all about that beast, cattle hunter, maneater, my neighbors all called it “Diabo”, it means devil in Portuguese. We waited for hours, hell, we arrived there in the morning and we only saw that damn thing near the end of the evening! But damn it, it was worth the wait, what a beautiful bastard that thing was.
My father pushed onto me his rifle and we rushed after the cat, stupid idea, really. It wasn’t long before I got lost from my father in the forest there, and the darkness did not help either, I could barely see the full moon, the trees were too dense, like hands covering your eyes.
As any good child I was terrified out of my ass, my heart was beating faster than the gallop of a horse! That’s when I heard twigs snap behind me, I turned so fast I felt a bit dizzy.
That’s when I saw him, Diabo, standing right behind me. That thing could have attacked and eaten me on the spot, but it never did, it kept eyeing me the entire time. It might sound crazy but, it was eyeing me almost as if it saw me as its own. It was a weird feeling, I felt like I understood that cat,like a second language nobody else understood but us, it was surreal.
Next thing I knew Diabo stepped closer and was sniffing me, it sniffed me for a while before pressing that wet nose against mine and vanishing into the night. I heard my father call my name right after and began to follow it.
That night I didn’t feel like a man, I was still a dumb little kid, but I felt special. The seventh son after six daughters is often said to be a beast, a werewolf, but hell, as if there were wolves in Brazil. I know what I am and what I become, maybe I grew to become what Diabo used to be, I like to believe so.
Well, there I go rumbling again, I should get right back to my things, I have an outlaw to meet tonight again, hopefully we spend longer together tonight.
