In one of the many different civilisations spread across the world, thousands of years ago, there was a young boy called Rabi. He was the solitude type.

His older brothers and sisters would go off and leave him behind because he was much younger than them. They would go off and play with their friends.

They would run outside the village into the dangerous forests and bush that surrounded their village.

Rabi was under strict instructions from his parents not to follow his older siblings for it was too dangerous for him and they would leave him behind and he would suffer an excruciating death by some mountain lion or sabretooth tiger.

On this particular day when he was about 7 years old, he decided that he was old enough. He was so sick of being left by himself. He had no one else to play with and he was bored.

So today was the day, he decided. He followed his elder siblings and all their friends at a distance. He knew if they saw him, they would send him back. But they didn’t notice him skulking behind them.

Dodging from tree to tree. Keeping them insight but not getting too close. They were laughing and hooting as they ran and jumped around. Play fighting, chasing the girls.

Rabi smiled to himself. He was going to enjoy playing with them one day. But he knew if they spotted him today, they would be angry with him and send him home. Probably punch and kick him to add to their message.

And so he sat and watched. He saw some of the boys and girls disappear into the bush together. He wondered what they were doing. He crept closer to see if he could find out. Others had remained out in the open and were talking and messing around.

They were drinking some kind of drink as well. It seemed to make them louder and more boisterous. This was also odd to the young Rabi. He heard giggles and moans coming from the bushes.

He was worried now that something bad was happening. Perhaps on this day that he came to watch them, he would be the one who saved them all from a terrifying animal.

Imagine what a hero he would be then. They would always want him around to protect them and be the look out. He felt the thrill of this and the excitement as he sat there imagining all of this.

Then, as he crept along a twig snapped and he froze. He stopped breathing and waited for the shout from the others who would have spotted him. However, no one even looked up.

They were too busy drinking and messing around together. He could still hears the moans coming from within the bushes and he grew more worried. He wondered if he should shout out a warning and maybe rush over.

But something told him this was a really bad idea. If some kind of animal was eating the boys and girls in the bush then it would surely turn on him if he made a scene.

He crept further again, being more careful not to make any noise this time. And then, suddenly, one of his brothers and a girl came out of the bush. They were laughing together and their hair was all disheveled.

Their animal clothes in a mess as well. They walked right past where he was hiding but they didn’t see him. They were too distracted. Rabi gave a silent sigh of relief. They were all ok, there was nothing to worry about.

But suddenly he heard a noise behind him. It was very feint but unmistakable. The boy dared not look around. He wondered if it was another one of the friends who had heard him and stalked around behind him.

He started sweating now. What would happen if they caught him. He would run he decided. He would run as fast as he could and they would never catch him. He knew he was probably faster than most of them and certainly more nimble.

However, something again told him this was no person behind him. He smelt the unmistakable odor of an animal. It was dank and smelly. Bit like wet dog and rotting flesh.

He hadn’t moved since he heard it. He waited to hear the rush of paws and then he would whirl away or spring up the tree next to him. It was going to be close but he was confident in his swiftness.

And then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a beast stalking past him. Incredulously, it hadn’t seen him. But it was focused on the group of older kids in front of it.

It was creeping closer and any second now, it would spring forward and surely kill one of the distracted teenagers. He heard that voice inside his head once more. Shout as loud as you can and then run as fast as you can back to your village.

This is where you have to perform the best race of your life. And so, he let out a piercing scream as loud as he could, followed by ‘RUN!’ Then, in a flash he whirled around and ran as fast as he could back to the village without looking back.

He put his head down and pumped his arms and legs as fast as they would go. He imagined being the lead of the most important running race amongst all the villages and towns.

He imagined he was going to win. He filled his energy with excitement and ran like he had never run before. He couldn’t hear anyone behind him but he imagined the Sabretooth tiger running after him, gaining on him slowly.

And so he ran faster. He darted out the forest like an arrow shot from his father’s bow, yelling as he ran, ‘TIGER!’.

He vaulted over the crude fence that surrounded their village and into a throng of people that had come out of their huts to find out what all the noise was about. As he ran towards them, in one loud voice they all screamed back at him.

Rabi was shocked. Why were they screaming at him. What had he done wrong. The villagers started to run towards him, still screaming and shouting. Rabi slowed now, his heart racing, his chest heaving.

Finally he stole a glance behind him and there was the tiger. It had been chasing him all this time. He had not imagined it. It had easily leapt over the fence as he had done and now it stood. Finally uncertain.

It was sure that Rabi was an easy meal but had not expected him to run so fast. It had not expected to be confronted by a village full of people, all screaming and shouting. With a loud roar, it realised this wasn’t going to work out.

It whirled around and leapt over the fence once more and trotted away as if nothing had happened. His mum was in the crowd of villages that now all surrounded him.

They seemed to be all firing questions at him and he didn’t have a chance to answer. Suddenly, there was a thwack and his ear stung. His mum had slapped him hard. Her face was like thunder.

Why where you outside the fence, she yelled at him. It was mostly from fear and shock that her anger came from. Fear she had almost lost her little boy. But before she could go further, the other siblings and their friends arrived.

They too were panting from the effort of running. His older brother told their mum to stop. Rabi saved us, he explained. If he had not followed us and shouted and run away, one of us would surely have died.

They started to thank Rabi and someone put them on their shoulders. They all cheered. Rabi got his wish and was treated as a hero. The teenagers learnt a valuable lesson.

If they get distracted and drunk and then face a terrible danger, they could be killed. They realised that drinking and sex was very dangerous. They needed to be a lot more careful in future.

They owed their lives to Rabi and would treat him differently too. He would be known as the fastest boy in the land from now on.

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