GONE WITH THE GUN

EPISODE 44

14th March, 2015.

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Ivan lay in his friend Nelson's mechanic shop as his bullet wound was being treated. The bullet in his arm had already been removed and the wound was being stitched by Nelson. He could not believe what happened about 15 minutes ago. He could not believe who he just saw. It was Jason. It had been over 17 years when they both were in an orphanage in Edinburg city. He remembered how the eleven years old him had bullied the four year old Jason back then. Maybe that's why Jason became a cop. He later came to hate and regret bullying a lot of boys in the orphanage then. It was just his way of showing how angry he was that his mum abandoned him in an orphanage. But the boys he bullied didn't deserve it.

To think that after promising himself to make up with Jason, he was almost about to kill the same Jason today.

Life had not been easy for him. While in the orphanage, he watched as every month families came to adopt one of the boys and he hoped that one day it would be his turn to be adopted. But luck never shined on him. Not a single family asked to see him, let alone adopt him. Years went by and his hopes went with it.

At first it made him depressed, later it made him angry at his mum for abandoning him in the first place. It made him angry at life, and then it made him suicidal. There was no point being alive if no one wants him.

His life got worse when he suddenly fell sick and the doctors said he had cardiomegaly, which meant that he had an enlarged heart. Such a huge heart yet no one wanted to share it with him. The drugs he was given to take were a constant reminder of that.

He thought about it. No family wanted him before when he had no sickness. It would be hard to find one that would agree to take him in now that he is sick, even though he has a huge heart.

Nobody understood his pain and nobody seemed to care. And he was sure that nobody will care if he lived or died. Ivan was 19years old at that time. He had resolved to take his life.

He sat with the drugs in hand after the few remaining boys in the orphanage had all slept. He wanted to take an overdose and end it all. Life held no promise for him, maybe death would.

He popped about 18 pills in palm and was just about to shove them in his mouth when a voice said.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

Ivan looked up to see Ted standing in front of his room. He was still shocked as Ted walked up to him and took the drugs off his hand.

Ivan tried to hold the drugs tight but Ted out muscled him. 

"Please just let me die. I don't want to suffer anymore." He pleaded with Ted. 

"If you kill yourself, you are just telling whoever abandoned you that he or she was right to do so in the first place. That you don't mean anything."

"Of course I don't mean anything. Just please let me do this I beg of you."
Ivan pleaded.

"You know I wont. Come on Ivan, you have to be alive. You have to be somebody in life. Someone great. Show the ones that abandoned you that they made a huge mistake." Ted said, sitting on the bed with Ivan.

Tears rolled down Ivan's cheeks as Ted continued,

"I just got adopted today by a family from Obiagu. It is a 23hr flight from here so I may never see you again. But I want to know that even though i may not see you, I will be sure you are still alive."

Ivan cleaned his tears. And Ted patted his back.

"Thank you so much Ted. And congratulations too," said Ivan.

Ted nodded as Ivan continued.

"I will surely do great things. You will hear about me from Obiagu. I promise."

The following day, Ivan escaped from the orphanage. He got help from a traveller and ended up in Phanta city. After five days he was left with no money and no place to stay. That was how he got into a life of crime. From pick pocketing to shoplifting. Within a year in Phanta city, he had done more. His rap sheet had numerous counts of battery, illegal gambling, car theft, even kidnapping.

It was on his last arrest for car theft that he spoke with Deputy Police Chief Wilson. The Deputy Police Chief drove him to an alley downtown and when they both got out of the car, he told Ivan that he would make his crime records disappear if he did something for him.

Ivan didn't trust the Deputy Police Chief. How could he make his crime records vanish? 

"I don't understand you sir," he said to Deputy Chief Wilson.

"I can make this sheet of paper disappear." Deputy Chief Wilson said, holding up a file with Ivan's name and picture on it. He took out his phone and showing it to Ivan he said

"Then I would clear your record off the data base. Just two taps and you are a free man. Never committed a crime. But you have to do something for me."

Ivan took a step back.

"What I gotta do?"

"I want someone dead. I would give you his location and time to take him out."

Ivan was shocked. He looked down at the cuffs in hand.

"I am sorry sir. I have never killed before. I cant do it."

Deputy Chief Wilson put his phone back in his pocket.

"That's alright. Back in the car you go. I'm driving you straight to jail. With a rap sheet like yours, you will surely get 25 to life. But I guess it wont be a new thing. Being that you grew up in an orphanage and all."

"How did you know that?" Ivan asked. 
"I know a lot of things boy." Deputy Chief Wilson said stopping and turning.

"So will you do it?" He asked Ivan.

Ivan had thought about it. He can't afford to go to prison. No he can't.

"Okay, who is the guy?"

Deputy Chief Wilson smiled

"I will send you the location and time. All you have to do is take him out."

"How will I know who he is?"

"He will be the only one there. And he is a co, so you get to kill a cop. Which criminal wouldn't want that opportunity?"

"I could kill you right here, you are a cop aren't you?"

Deputy Chief Wilson smiled.

"You would like that wouldn't you? "

He put a hand on Ivan's shoulder.
 
"Imagine what it would be like when everything you ever did is forgotten by the law. Like it never happened. You get the chance to be a free man. The chance to change your life and be a better man. Tell me you want that."

That was how Ivan agreed to kill whoever it was. He was already at Birdview Avenue before the cop entered. His first shot had missed the cop and they both got into a fight after that but he was the stronger man. He was about to shoot the cop when he saw that it was Jason. His mind went blank. Either he killed Jason or he faces a prison sentence.

He was about to shoot but someone else shot at him, and the bullet caught his right arm. The Deputy Chief lied. Someone else was there too. He never trusted Deputy Chief Wilson. He sent him to kill a cop then sent someone else to kill him so that nothing will be tied to him.

Ivan was angry. He made up his mind. A cop will surely die by his hands and it will be Deputy Chief Wilson.

Ivan sat up and said to Nelson. 
"I am off to Obiagu."

Nelson wanted to say something but he didn't. He knew Ivan had to disappear.   

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