I first discovered it while walking up the stairs from dinner.

Small, minute and utterly adorable in every way possible. It sat on the nanister, the slight grey of its coat contrasting sharply with the dark brown wood of the handrail, the little tail held banner-high, each tiny ridge standing out in the darkness.

Then, it began moving, probably sensing my all too menacing presence, each tiny bone in its body twisting and turning to suit its purpose and owner's desire. Swiftly clambering up the wall, scaling the mountain, for all the world like a mountain climber or Spiderman in his later years.

Little black button eyes stared at me, rather curiously examining my human features. A forked tongue flicks in and out, and that arrow-shaped head turned from one side to the other. That particular move reminding observers of a child crossing his first road. When all was clear, it took a few careful steps across the banister, scurrying forward; a mother on a trip to the grocery stall.

I notice how each section of the scaly skin is perfect in every way, the contours of it suiting the owner's purpose, like chain mail to a soldier. It is so delicate, so beautiful, like shiny rocks picked from an ancient pool. A small silver streak scuttling along its cobbled pavement, wearing a silky cloak...

To think that something so small could have held me fixated and enraptured for so long. You must all think that I have either gone mad or am very observant; or both. Such a small thing, that had me crouching in the most uncomfortable positions for a good half hour. For those few moments, my entire world narrowed down to the banister and that little tyke nestled in his own world. I was aware of other things going on around me, but those sounds and intrusions had faded, gotten softer, as all my senses attuned themselves to the tiny being who was clambering slowly up the banister.

It was like watching a strange, tribal dance to a god or goddess in the ancient times. A sleek streak from the past padding to and fro, the banister that is so small to us, such a large barrier to it. Almost amusing, to watch it slide from one end to the other, dancing, almost, to unheard music.

It's funny, how with our exams and all our problems, we forget all the smaller things (or greater things) that do matter. Things like love, friendship, care, hell, even the insects that help us! Funny how we can be so quick to forget all of this, or to sweep it all aside in our rat race to reach the finish line, to get to the top; or simply because at that moment, it doesn't seem to be as important anymore. Like in business, how many friends have joined the same company or the same course in university so as to stay in touch only to find that they are betrayed, their secrets revealed, or are backstabbed? Sacrificed so that the other may advance or gain on the other person, forgetting that that friend had ever existed, forgetting all they had ever shared, ever given each other.

Sad, isn't it?

This place has become so cruel, so cold, so heartless. As the stars grow older, our hearts turn colder. Many of us would readily forget or forgo friendshup in order to get that bigger car or that which we have always wanted, or in order to get the best grades. Admittedly, grades are important, but are they that important? Is getting a degree all there is to life? Do parents spend close to eighty thousand dollars to raise you only to watch you lead a clockwork life? I'm sure they don't, and I'm sure it isn't. Doesn't friendship mean more than that?

It seems to me that we have grown heartless, almost forgetting that the Earth is our only home, as it is drilled into us every Geography lesson (for the sake of the exams). It seems to me that we are turning into robots with artificial intelligience ere they have even been properly created!

Wouldn't it be ironic, but also very true, if Mankind's resulted in his downfall?

I pity those people, the people who may be at the top of the corporate ladder, but who are devoid of human emotions or, hell, any feeling, and would readily sell his relatives to earn more money or seal the next deal.

I mean, what point is there to life if the only goal there is is to reach the top of the market, turn around and find that all you have ever loved have left you? Or for us to look around one day, truly see, and find the world dying, slipping away like a HIV patient, only to realise, too late, that we are the viruses attacking it.

And odd, how the dance of one little lizard bravely crawling its way up a wall brought all of the above to my attention. Funny.

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