CHAPTER TEN

By nine o'clock that morning, I was sitting up on that same hill, next to the old, ruined building, looking over the land as I had on my first day of arrival. Everything looked the same as before. It was a beautifully green world, filled with the laughter of those simple people, the Eloi. But my knowledge of this place was now greater, so, this time, I was not so easily fooled by the beauty around me. I saw things as they truly were. The Eloi were nothing more than animals, fed and cared for by the same people who would later kill them for food.

I noticed that some people were bathing in the same part of the river where I had helped Weena. Tears came to my eyes, and I thought to myself, "My poor girl." What a horrible death she had suffered. However, it helped a little to think that maybe it had been less horrible than the one the Eloi usually suffered at the hands of the Morlocks.

I knew that nature made it necessary for people and most animals to eat meat. I, myself, love a good steak as much as the next person. But I could not accept the Morlocks making meals of the Eloi. I decided to make one last effort to save these people; or rather, I decided to make one last effort to get these people to save themselves.

Walking back down to the village, desperately tired, but determined, I gathered all of the people that I met on my way. They all happily followed me, laughing and playing with one another the whole way. Once in the village, I tried to pull everyone together in the center of town for a meeting. To do this, it was necessary to make them all sit down, for if left standing, they would forget what they were doing and start to wander off. After about an hour I managed to collect almost everyone. They all seemed confused, thinking it must be time to eat or sleep. My next task was to get their full attention. I clapped my hands and started to shout for them to be quiet, but this only scared those closest to me and went completely ignored by those furthest away. Not knowing what else to do, I started to sing an old English children's song. A silence then immediately fell over the crowd, and they all turned their heads to look at me. Still singing, but with much greater confidence now, I then untied Weena's gown from around my waist, and held it high in the air. They did not seem to understand. Noticing that the bloodstains were hidden from them, I turned the gown around so that the front faced them. Still, they could not get what had happened. I placed the gown against my own body to show them where the blood would have come from, I imitated the movements and sounds of the Morlocks. I did everything I could think of to communicate the horrible news to them, but they only seemed to find my behavior amusing. Many started to laugh, while others began to imitate me. I became more and more desperate and ran into the crowd, pushing the bloodied gown close to their faces. This only drew more laughter from them. However, soon the people lost interest. Seeing them begin to wander away I started to sing louder, but this failed to get their attention. I then grabbed the person nearest me and wrapped my arm around his neck, as if to choke him. He did not struggle and no one seemed to notice. I shouted angrily at them, "Look at me! Look at me!" and tightened my grip around the poor Eloi's neck in order to convince them of my seriousness. This finally got their attention, and silence once again overcame the crowd, for I was no longer singing. They looked at me, confused, trying to understand what was happening.

I, of course, had no intention of hurting this little man. I only wanted to see if these people would help each other. I did not have much hope in this, for I remembered how Weena was left to drown in the river after accidentally falling in, but this was a slightly different situation. This was one of their people being attacked.

Unfortunately, my behavior did not have the effect I had hoped it might. I noticed one woman toward the center of the crowd slowly coming toward me. I shook the little man in my arms to remind the people of the danger he was in. This did not stop the woman's approach. She was wearing the same confused expression that everyone else did. As she came closer, she reached out a hand toward my prisoner. I cried out to try and scare her. She paused for a moment, her eyes widening a little. Then she placed her hand gently on the little man's stomach. I looked down and saw that Weena's gown was hanging from my arm, against this man's body, and the area covering his stomach was also the area covered in Weena's blood. I looked back at the woman standing before us. Her eyes had changed, looking now more frightened than confused. And suddenly from her mouth came a high scream that immediately woke everyone else from their confusion, including the little man in my arms Now everyone began to scream and run in the direction of the great dining hall. I let go of my prisoner and he followed them, as well.

Soon I was standing alone in the center of the village. It truly was hopeless. I had hoped to teach them to fight, to resist the Morlocks, but it seemed that things were as nature had designed them to be, once and for all. With only myself as the single intelligent being in this world, there was very little that could be done to bring any change.

With two days of sleeplessness behind me, I desperately needed rest. I knew that I was not welcome in any of the buildings, so I decided to find a comfortable place near the river. Once there, I laid my jacket out on the ground and fell asleep as soon as my head felt the soft grass underneath.

I awoke just before sunset, feeling very fresh and rested. I felt very capable of taking on the Morlocks by myself, if I had to. Putting my jacket back on, I noticed something fall to the ground from my pockets. They were matches! I quickly picked them up, now even more encouraged, and started to make my way toward the bird-man statue.

To my surprise, I found the walls of the base slightly open in one part. I laughed out loud at this, for up until then I had planned to fight it out to the end, but now I had nothing more to do than simply walk through. In a dark corner of the space inside the statue, I saw my time machine! At once, I knew what the Morlocks had planned for me. I smiled, and feeling the levers in my pocket, began to approach the machine. After only a few steps, the wall suddenly closed loudly behind me. I laughed at how smart the Morlocks must have thought they were. They believed I was trapped. Then I could hear the sound of their disgusting little voices coming toward me in the darkness. I reached for my matches, but then realized that I would not be able to light them, for I needed the box to strike them against. All of my confidence suddenly escaped me and I immediately started to feel my way toward the time machine. Little hands were soon pulling at my clothing and I began to beat them off with my fists.

I found my way to the machine and jumped inside with the levers in both my hands, but the Morlocks were trying to take the levers from me. I managed to attach one of them properly, but the other fell from my hands, and immediately there was a struggle between myself and the monsters to get hold of it. I kicked at them and struck them with the front of my head. I felt a couple of bites sink into my arms, but soon I had the lever and within seconds it was attached. Kicking the last of the Morlocks from the machine, I started it up and pulled back the lever. Before me the darkness quickly fell away and I found myself once again traveling through time.

(end of section)