Thursday 5th December

22:30 There was a loud scream from the first year dormitory followed by a thump and then silence. Then I could hear footsteps in the doorway and then the creak of floorboards. Somebody or Something was approaching. Rambo leapt on the intruder and tried to wrestle him to the ground. In the end the intruder wrestled Rambo to the ground and then growled like an animal. Vern’s torch illuminated a figure dressed in black with a balaclava pulled down over his face. There was a loud swoosh and suddenly a hunting and filleting knife was gleaming in the torchlight and an old friend’s face was revealed.

Mad Dog was back!

There was chaos when it was discovered that the Dog had appeared out of nowhere. After massive hugs and a long and vicious session of backslapping, Mad Dog said, ‘Jeez, okes, I spent two years thinking about how to break out of this place and now I’m breaking in.’ Mad Dog told us he had caught the bus to Mooi River and hiked the rest of the way. His folks think he’s visiting a friend in Pinetown.

I knew I should have refused to go but with Mad Dog having travelled over a thousand kilometres to join us on a final night swim, pulling out would have been impossible. Vern conducted a thorough search for Anderson and discovered that he was at the Leavers’ party in Pietermaritzburg. Rambo gave us the all-clear and we all filed into the first year dormitory.

Mad Dog was amazed that the final Darryl was still at school and congratulated him for showing courage and sticking it out. He then dangled the poor slave out the window until he’d wet his pyjamas.

Once in the chapel I started getting flashbacks to the Mad House night. It seemed like it had happened so long ago. In fact with Mad Dog around it felt like the night had never really happened at all.

Mad Dog led the charge across the field and vaulted the fence. He smashed his way through the bush and long grass before leaping into the dam with a gigantic splash. Boggo told Mad Dog to keep the noise down. Mad Dog started climbing the big tree and shouted, ‘What they gonna do, Boggo – expel me again?’ He then threw himself off the branch and his powerful body swooped through the air like a giant bat before gracefully arching itself into a slow backwards flip and crashing into the dark water below.

Rambo made us all jump off the high branch as a final salute to Mad Dog. Climbing up a tree in the darkness is no easy feat and this time there were no nails and planks to help us up. Vern reached the branch but then got scared about jumping off and started reversing along it back towards the trunk of the tree. He was muttering loudly to himself when suddenly there was a snap followed by a screech. Vern hit the ground and rolled down the bank and into the water. Rambo pulled him out the water with one hand and plonked him down on the bank. Vern gave us all a thumbs up before having a nasty coughing fit. Miraculously, the only injury he had was a bitten tongue.

Once everyone had swum out to the middle and back, jumped out the tree and had been dunked at least twice, it was decided that it was time to head back to school. Mad Dog said goodbye to everyone and said he was leaving. ‘Where you sleeping?’ asked Boggo. Mad Dog pointed in the direction of the forest and said, ‘Where do you think?’ Vern (who had spent the entire night swim with his tongue sticking out) started sniffing and rubbing his eyes. Fatty shook Mad Dog’s hand and asked, ‘Why did you come back?’ Mad Dog shrugged and said, ‘For this.’

We watched Mad Dog run off into the bush and then followed Rambo across the field towards the school buildings that looked like giant ships anchored in a dead calm sea of darkness.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 702