Loyalty Girl

2. Family

School is  over for  the day. I pack some of my books in my bag and I head out of the class.  I walk past the school  administration  block and out of the school  gate.

Every  single  time I do that I feel so relieved, as if am out of jail and in to the free world.

I usually walk alone  from school  to home home. Most of my friends  are picked up by their  parents. And some of them go the different  direction.

Two years  ago,  it wasn't  that bad to go home  on foot. Well, I used to go walk with my brother home. I would  pick him up on my way home from school. Or he  would be waiting  for  me at our school  gate.

Until the day death knocked  on our doorstep. I feel a little  pinch of hatred  sorrow  and regret  hit me.  I always  feel hot burning  tears in my eyes when I  think about  it.

It was a Sunday  morning,  as usual,  we went  out for a walk or a picnic, as a family . My mother  had already  prepared  everything  for the picnic.  My brother  had  started  to  pack everything  into the car. I came  down stairs  to the living  room, already  showered and ready to leave

With in a split  of a second  we were off to go. I was a daddy's  girl and my brother  Shane was a mummy's  boy.

When we reached the picnic  site we did our usual  stuff. The picnic  area  was near,  a basketball  pitch. Lucky for us we carried  the basketball , so my dad and I went  to play. Shane and mum remained to set up the table.

We played for over an hour. I started  wondering  why they hadn't  called  us yet. Plus I  was pretty  hungry since I didn't  have breakfast. So I jogged back to the picnic area. And to my surprise  they were not there. That was unusual . Where did they go. I called  dad to come. He tried  calling  mums phone  but she had left it there.

We started  calling  out for them.  We looked  for them all  afternoon . But we didn't  find them. My mother  was a detective and she always  told us not to worry  if one  day she got lost. She always  said this as a joke but I took it serious. As I  remembered   her words,  I knew something  was not right.

Evening  reached and we didn't  find them. I started  to  become  scared. Where did they go? My dad packed everything  and we drove  home  in silence.
We reached  home  before  the sun went down. " Dad where could  they have gone without  telling  us?"  i blurted  out feeling  really  afraid. For the first  it hit  me that I had not seen  the despair  and confusion  in my dad's  face.

He didn't  even  reply , he just  came  and hugged  me. I felt tears burning  my eyes but I  couldn't  cry,  I  needed  to  be  strong  for Shane

I didn't  eat that  night neither  did dad,  we sat in the  living  room . Waiting  for them to come through  the  main door.   And surprise us. We looked hopeless and in despair. Suddenly  I heard a phone  ring. But it didn't  sound  like  my phone  neither  did it sound  like dad's. It was mum's  phone, i jumped  up from the arm chair and went to receive  the call. My dad rushed close  to  me. I gave  him the phone. He received  and put it on loud speaker.

"Hello," He said in between  his breathing.  "Come for their bodies,  at Central  avenue,on the fountain  or you can just leave it there where people  can see them dead. This is  a warning don't   meddle  in our business  anymore."  Before  the voice  finished, tears rolled down  my face. I couldn't  control  myself  no more.

They are no more.  They are gone.  I can't  believe  this. But why did they take my brother  too. I looked  up, to search  for my dad but he was long gone. I heard  the roar of a car  engine. I ran outside , crying out for him to wait for me. But he didn't  see me. He just  drove away.