Black to Blue

I. The Innocent Witness

The rich families of Saint Field gather in the Green Park to celebrate each one of their wedding anniversary every year. They had booze, toasts; kids run around with their friends, slide on the sliders, swing, and play hide and seek. It's all one day and night celebration like a camping area. Eric used to attend until his son was affected by chickenpox this year. Catherine pushed him to join the families. She claimed that it was their only hope to hold on to dignity being among the richest in the town. He interrupted her with a French and moved on to the sofa and then to the bedroom. He likes her more when she is unnecessarily mad.

The night was messed up the with the noise from the park. He drove his passionate man into her igniting her vocals with sweet melodious moaning. Ben is asleep in his room. Eric wanted to cuddle after the sex but she was too tired and also had to ready up tomorrow's class files. She covered herself with a night dress and went to the living room. Eric dizzily walked to the kitchen for a beer. He fall on the couch and took a sip. Watched her write the nursery notes.

'Cat, take a leave from this. We can go on a trip some where'

'Sweetie, it's not that easy like your cop thing. I always wanted to go with you, but, this is work. Not until a vacation I can go for a picnic!'

'Alright, I'll find someone for that... then' He turned gloomy and sighed deeply.

'Don't be such a baby. We just had a great time'

'You mean sex? Oh come on. You can do better than that'

'I feel awful discussing sex with you'

'Who's the baby now?' Eric stood up and sat closer to her. Kissed her on the cheek and said 'Just one night, we can go for a movie'

'What about Ben? He's not supposed to go out'

'I'll tell mother to look after him. She have had it once'

Catherine put down the pen and turned towards Eric. 'You're such a sweet husband. How about we have a date tomorrow?'

'Oh, no. Not tomorrow. I've got to meet Hassan and talk about the investigation. The suspect must be traced quickly'

'It's so sad what happened to them. Is Farra fine now? Is she taking the lectures?'

'Nope, she's still in shock. She haven't had food that much since that happened. That poor kid. Why do they always target these innocent kids?'

'They must find peace. You should help him recover from the pain'

There was a long silence between them, a moment for the Rasheed family for their murdered son, Nuhman. He was only eight.

It happened two weeks ago when Nuhman and his sister Ridha was returning home from the school. A four wheeler squeaked in front of them from behind and a man stepped out of it. The kids where scared. They weren't alone. The man was heading towards the stationary shop owned by a local drug dealer, William Jones. He was masked and had a pistol in his hand. There was shouting and screaming inside the store. And suddenly a shot fired; shocked Ridha ran crying and Nuhman stood still didn't know what to do. The man walked out of the store and saw Nuhman. His mask was off his face and the kid saw his true nature. He pointed the gun for the kid and shot him at his face; got on the vehicle and drove away. Rick Jones, William's brother, suddenly called the cops. He hastened towards Nuhman and saw him lying on his blood on the ground. He held his head with both hands in anxiety. Sweat dripping all over his face. William was not there. He called William and explained the situation. Nuhman's face was disturbingly shattered. The small innocent life scattered on the town disrupted the peace among the people. Everyone started talking about the incident. His body was washed and buried in the Church graveyard by Imam Rizwan. The whole Saint Fielders were in pain. But, they gathered to avenge his murder.

The neighbours were threatened by the grieve incident and since then, they refused to let the children out of their sight. They set up CCTV s along the street corners.

Imam Rizwan did the Islamic funeral procedures weeping quietly. When he was finished and Nuhman's body was covered with white clothes, people saw him wiping his tears away and they all broke into mass grief all over again. The whole town grieved his death and silence brought darkness and emptiness in the streets.

Catherine stuffed the notes in a file and came back to her husband. He was depressed remembering the incident. She drove her fingers through his hair and held his head on her breasts. She recalled the time when Nuhman was playing with their dog, Sam. He dressed the dog with his t-shirt and was laughing when Sam kept running circles trying to get it off. And when he saw Catherine watching him through the window, he ran to his home half-naked screaming 'I'm sorry'. She smiled taking a sip from the coffee she was holding. There was several moments of the boy's little naughtiness making her want to have a child. Ben wasn't hers. Just before she met Eric, he was in pain loosing his first wife to a car accident. Ben was with his grandma at White Field. He was a year old then. He is five now.

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