The Nostalgia Diaries

Farther as they go

The masked man held his gun downwards with his two hands. He was dressed in a black outfit but the mask he wore made him look less like a burglar and more like a Goth rock star.

"Who are you?" Benjamin bellowed coldly as he tried to sound tough but failed, only to sound more like an exhausted pigeon.
The man walked and stood close to Benjamin and pointed his gun at him.
Benjamin felt a cold chill run down his spine. His hand shook with fear as he stared at the masked man. He thought the man looked familiar as he reminded him of someone.

The man wanted to shoot Benjamin but delayed as he noticed the way Benjamin was looking at him. "Do you know me?" He chuckled as he asked.

Benjamin recognized the voice immediately .It was an old friend of his ex-wife. "Reign!" He scuffed.

"Hey Ben." The man said in a sinister voice. "You know me too well, don't you?

"Obadiah" Benjamin groaned.

Aisha heard the name her father called the man as she was listening behind the shelf. She whispered the man's name repeatedly so she wouldn't forget. She lightly pressed her ear in the small space at the back of the shelf like that would enable her to hear the conversation better.

"Have mercy on me, I'm just a scientist" Benjamin stuttered. He knew clearly well the man wouldn't spare his life but he thought it was the right thing anyone that was held at gunpoint would say.

"Mercy is a luxury I can't afford you, Benjamin" The masked figure said and shot Benjamin in his head.

Aisha trembled when she heard the gunshot. She knew her father had been killed. She saw her father's body fall on the floor like a bag of rice. She was left alone inside the pitch dark tunnel which she had no idea where it led to. She wanted to scream but didn't for her own safety as she didn't want the man to know where she was hiding. She rubbed her hands on the wall of the tunnel so she could find her way to the surface. She walked slowly and carefully like a blind man walking on a bridge suspended hundred feet above the ground.

A dim light glittered at the end of the tunnel. Aisha became more hopeful when she saw the light at the end of the tunnel but as she walked closer to it, she was already used to the darkness and as she got closer to the light, it was nothing but blinding. She guessed the light was the exit out of the tunnel.

As she walked, she hit her right foot on a pipe and tripped and fell face flat in a small puddle of mud. She stood up miserably and wiped her face clean with her hands. She sobbed and ran towards the light and came out of the tunnel only to find herself in the middle of a busy market. She limped as she walked because her toe was swollen.

Traders rushed to pack their goods and return home. Those who still sold till night covered their goods from the rain.

Aisha's shirt was soaked in sweat and she looked like a complete mess.

In the market, nobody paid attention to a beggar. Customers who came to buy goods stood with their umbrellas while others stood under a shade.

Aisha turned around in despair, lost and confused as she didn't know who to ask for help neither did she know where to go. She walked through one or two alleys, asking for help but no one answered, some of the traders chased her away from their shop and called her a beggar. Aisha looked for a way out of the market like she was in maze garden.

"Help me! Anyone" Aisha cried at the top of her voice. She forgot how messed up she looked; she even ignored the pain that came from the swelling in her foot.

The rain fell heavily as it got dark, sweeping kiosks and dirt from the ground.

Aisha found her way to the main road but she was too scared to cross. She staggered and decided to take on the sidewalk, shivering and rubbing her palms as she walked under the rain. She spotted a Chinese restaurant across the road, painted in red and white. She decided to go there and seek shelter. As she crossed the road. A lorry sped behind her and splashed water on her back as she got to the other side of the road.