Morphine

twenty five : faded away

It was a warm September day as the two boys played in the pool. They were wearing bright yellow swimming arm bands and splashing water at each other. Bansik stood on the first-floor balcony and watched his children. It brought a smile to his face. A sad smile. If only his wife had been here to see this.    

The older of the two boys swam towards and edge and pulled himself up. The other boy followed. Zahid's brother put a towel around him and gave him a light squeeze as he removed their swimming bands.

"Are you hungry buddy?" The older one asked.

Zahid nodded. He looked to be around three or four years old and his brother was around six or seven. Apart from their black hair and dark eyes there was nothing similar about their appearances.

They raced to the kitchen shedding their towels, dripping water along the way. They laughed and pulled each other fighting to be the first one to reach.

"Go get Sophia. We'll ask her to make us something."

Zahid nodded and ran towards the cook's room. Sophia had been working for Bansik for around a decade. She was a middle-aged woman who was sitting in her room that day and watching television. Zahid peeped in and asked, "Aunty?"

Sophia looked up and smiled. She was quite fond of the children and tried to be as motherly towards them as possible. They needed it.

"Hi, love." She beckoned him towards her. He went closer and shook his head splaying water at her. Sophia burst out laughing and tried to catch the boy as he dodged her hands. He giggled and splayed more water around. Sophia stopped trying to get a hold of him and sat very still. Zahid stopped laughing and touched her hand wondering what was wrong. She grabbed him and perched him on her lap. "Caught you."

He grinned and let her hold him. "Can you make us something to eat? Me and my brother are hungry because we were playing in the pool for so long."

"Of course, Zahid." She let him down and he ran back to the kitchen to be with his brother. But he stopped at the entrance of the kitchen and screamed just as Sophia reached.

"It's the man from the television, Sophia Aunty." Zahid panicked and started screaming more. His father had told him to stay away from this man at all times whenever his face appeared on the news channels. His father said he was a very bad man and he can do mean things to people. Zahid had always wondered why some famous man from TV would ever come to their house.

Mark Esmund stood at kitchen sink, the older boy hoisted on his hips. The boy's head was moving and he seemed to be drowsy. He was trying to get away but the man had the boy's hand pinned to his sides.

"Let him go, now." Sophia snarled and pulled Zahid towards her.

Mark Esmund continued smirking and said, "Who are you? Can I assume you're his new toy?"

Sophia cursed took a step towards them. Zahid had never seen her like this before. Her eyes were wide open and her mouth was set in an ugly line. But she was always so warm and inviting, what happened to her? Zahid was unsure about what to do now. His brother looked like he was sleeping in the bad man's arms. Zahid decided to scream for his dad. His dad would know what to do.

"Papa!" He yelled.

Mark Esmund pulled out a gun just as Sophia took another step. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

Sophia stopped dead in her tracks. Mark held the gun at the boy's stomach and made his way towards them, towards the entrance. Sophia pulled Zahid towards her roughly as he pointed the gun at them asking them to move out of the way.

With the gun held close to the older boy, he walked backwards to the main door. Zahid heard footsteps pounding towards them just as they all moved towards the lawn outside.