Out of breath, I stop. I can’t even call on him to wait for me. I just wave and bend forward, panting. My God! He is too fit to keep up with. Crescendo disappeared between the colossal trees of the woods. What should I do now?

The most plausible option is to sit and wait.

I sit leaning against the nearest tree.

Have I lost him?

Whatever happens, I’ll never return. But I am sure, he’ll come back to find me. Crescendo always brings these pleasant little surprises.

                                                     ********

Two months back, I was introduced to him for the first time, on that week when he was the most famous person on the planet, with media coverage of his appearance everywhere:

“A giant caveman found hiding in Jaco island!”

This was the first lie. He was not hiding. He was just peacefully living lonely there, until his nest was invaded by oil seekers. For how long had he lived there? Nobody knew, but probably for most of his life. He did not understand or speak any identified language, instead having his own jargon; he was 2.3 meters tall and barely wearing any clothes; and he did not have any tools of modern life. So, the “giant caveman” part was more or less spot on.

I was chosen to mentor him.

Why me? Well, they said:

“We acknowledge your top communication qualifications and vast experience as a special needs head teacher.”

And this was the second lie; I was selected as an exile to relieve the headache I had been causing for the department due to my protest activity.

The timing was right for me. An “escape”—as described by my psychologist—is what I need to help my hypersomnia[1], which I knew was possibly an early symptom of depression.

Still…What exactly were they expecting me to teach him?

“Everything, Adam, everything,” they said when I enquired about this. “English, manners, the ABC of modern life…”

“But why do we have to remain on this campus?” I asked.

They answered that the campus would be Crescendo’s temporary residence for the sake of protection and research. For me, SEZRAS (The Secure Zone for Research and Science) was just a prison. 

So, I’d ended up escaping into a prison. Well.

“Let’s see how it goes,” my pragmatic mind consoled me.

The very first encounter occurred in his room, a seven-star hotel room luxury, well adapted to his hugeness. They thought this was the way to entice the guy into modern life; I was not sure that this was the right approach.

My room was next to his and exactly the same. Would that help my hypersomnia?

“Mmmmmm, probably not,” I thought.

When I first saw him in the flesh, he was standing there, looking out the window at the open green landscape, probably thinking that was where he belonged. My God, he was reaaaally tall, and muscular by virtue of the nature-immersed style in which he had been living. He had a blend of a natural olive complexion and a tan with few scars here and there. His long semi-curly hair lacked care. I made some clatter to grab his attention.

“Hello. I am Adam, your new friend”. I was talking to myself, as he does not understand English.

The man turned around, started to make very low noises in his jargon language, and then gradually but quickly raising the speed and the volume of these noises until they become really scary; a crescendo. Hence, this was the name I chose for him.