Scars & Knives

Her Bruise

The kind of energy the heavy rainfall emitted seems to be against the dangerous light from the bike, so it went off before getting any close to Keren and Loretta.
"zoom zoom zoom"  the power bike moved with celerity towards them.

Darkness was upon the face of the earth just like the Bible recorded in the book of Genesis chapter one. This time, the emotional darkness of fear preceded that of the absence of light everywhere. Loretta and her daughter were lost in the middle of the whole uncertainty, yet She tried to remain calm and positive.

"Hey" Loretta called out in a faint voice. "Let's hide in that bushy area, I will put a call through to inspector Davies just in case" she muttered.

Mysterious laughter and unknown voices became closer, the approaching bike seemed to be carrying more than three passengers whose voices echoed like the winning team in a war. The clarity showed how close they were. Loretta reached out to her bag as fast as she could, to her surprise her phone was dripping with water.

"Get them, it's the police girlfriend and her patriotic daughter, today must be our lucky day" the unknown man roared like a lion whose breakfast is ready to be devoured.

Immediately, Keren identified the voice as that of Jerry, the leader of the AFI drug gang. She dragged her mother towards a sloppy road in the bush, "It's the guys from the area gang, they are dangerous" Keren said as she panted heavily.

Jerry, Pako and Nguru left the bike so as to run into the Rat hole that Loretta and her daughter ran into. They were combing every aspect of the bush with utmost care and attention. The inscription on Jerry's wear says "no victory, no vanquish" with the picture of a wild, fat, black cat.

"Pako, I think they followed the path to the headquarters" Jerry submitted.

"Wow", Nguru said with a feeling of excitement. "Those fools are walking straight into the lion's den", he said assertively. Nguru is a passionate money maker of the gang, rumour has it that he joined the group 6 years ago so as to raise money for his mother's surgery. The woman later died of breast cancer, since then Nguru has made the members of AFI gang his only family.

Keren and Loretta moved as fast as their legs could carry them, though their journey was with no specific destination in mind but the goal was getting to safety. Loretta kept on trying to power her phone, reaching inspector Davies was all she resolved to as the best and secured option. The thought of the Messiah that Nana has always preached about won't stop roaming on Keren's mind.

"How I wish he would show up to help us?" she whispered.

Turning to the left of the unknown part, an uncompleted building sat majestically, looking all weird and awfully dangerous. Ominous sounds filled the air, crickets and insects joined the crew of noisemakers as well. Keren rushed into the building out of fear without seeking approval from her mother who was still thinking of how to cross the tiny bridge made of rope that led to the building.

"Keren, don't enter!" She yelled. "That looks like a hideout, hold my hands" she called out while stretching her hands forward.

Before Loretta could call her daughter back to her senses, Keren had already dashed into the building like a baby chick in search of the mother hen; she was in search of safety.

Broken bottles, unfinished liquor, reeking smell of urine and odour of other hard substances filled the air. Keren took each step like she was walking on ice. As a smart girl, it became obvious to her that she might not be alone in the building. She placed her hand on the wall in a circular manner and put her left ear in between, her clever method of eavesdropping across rooms. This was Keren's way of knowing if her mother was in trouble or not each time an argument ensued between her parents.