Chapter Three
It was Thursday night and I was sitting at my desk doing my homework. We had an uneventful supper where my mother just compared me to my older brother, Patrick, and asked why I couldn't be more like him. I was used to it so I just let it pass through me, not letting it to bring me down. My little brother, who's actually my half-brother, was telling my mother and step-father, Rodger, about his day at kindergarten.
My phone binged with a message so I set my pen down and swivelled my chair to where my phone was placed on my bed.
Zachariah
Hey...
My heart hammered in my chest.
You
Hey, you. :)
Zachariah
How are you?
You
Okay, thanks :) Yourself?
Zachariah
I'm great thanks.
You
That'sgood...
Zachariah
I just wanted to apologise for Monday. Our conversation ended really abruptly and that was partly my fault
You
That's okay :)
It wasn't even his fault. My stupid mouth just couldn't control itself. But talking to him brought back so many memories and it just felt so natural. I missed him and his friendship so much, it physically hurt.
Zachariah
Well, I'll talk to you again later. Have a good night, Kath :)
You
Alrighty, talk to you soon.
End of conversation. My heart sunk and I fell into a bubble of sadness again. We used to be able to talk twenty-four-seven, and now our conversation barely lasted two seconds. I put my pen down and decided to just go to bed.
The next morning I woke up to a quiet house. I got ready and went into the kitchen. I spotted something on the table.
Gone for a business trip with Rodger. Daniel is coming with us. Organised for you to stay with Aunty Miriam. Should be back by Monday, maybe Tuesday.
-Mother.
I picked the note up and read through it several times. I then looked at the time.
06:00
When the hell did they leave? And when the hell did they tell me? Did they even tell me? I wracked my brain for an answer but came up short. They did not tell me. I looked at the now crumpled paper in my hand and threw it across the room. I went back to my room and packed. I heard a hooter outside so I quickly grabbed my laptop and stuffed some last few things into my bag. I felt angry tears burn my eyes as I stormed out of the house. I left everything open because I just didn't give a damn.
I got into the waiting car and tried to cool off on the way to school. It wasn't easy and my bad mood lasted the entire day.
I was glad when the bell rang for the end of school. Aaron, my cousin and Aunty Miriam's son, and I walked out of the school building and started to walk to his house. He was a two years older than me and they lived just a few blocks away. He was studying at the local university.
"So when are your parents coming back?" Aaron asked nervously. I could feel him watching me as I opened up a Jungle Bar. He knew I got emotional every time my stupid parents were mentioned.
"I don't know and, honestly, don't care!" I replied, aggressively biting into the Jungle Bar. Tears were burning in my eyes.
"Come on, Kathy. Don't be like that."
"Aaron, you know how it is! Come some stupid important meeting and in the car my parents go, zooming away without even telling me! No, 'Kathrine, I have an important meeting to go to, would you like to come with or would you rather stay with Aaron or go to your brother?' Have they ever asked me that? Huh? Have they? I don't think so! But they take Daniel everywhere with them! Am I also not their child? Huh? They don't give a damn about me, Aaron!" The tears were threatening to fall.
I hated being so emotional but my parents were a touchy subject. I would talk about anything but them.
"Kathrine, you know they care about you. And they're not even gone that often. And Daniel is only five, they have to take him. Anyway, you can't miss school."
"I don't care if I'm seventeen or seventy! Shouldn't they still ask me? And heck, I can miss school. I can always catch up. Why are you even trying to defend them? You're supposed to be on my side, Aaron!"
"Kathy, I'm trying to be reasonable here. You know it."
"Whatever," I huffed, and didn't talk to him for the rest of the walk home.
One day, when they're gone, something will happen to me. That will teach them.
I was still giving Aaron the cold shoulder when we got to his house. Aunty Miriam was my mother's sister and I usually stayed with her when my parents went out of town.
"Good afternoon. How was school, Kath, and Uni, Aaron?" Aunty Miriam greeted us, as we entered the kitchen.
I walked straight to my room without answering. That's how often I stayed there. I had my own. Damn. Room.
"Hi, mum. Uni was fine. Boring as usual," I vaguely heard Aaron tell his mother, "We were talking about Aunty Lacey and Uncle Rodger on the way back. You know how she gets."
Aaron entered my room shortly after he spoke to his mother and sat down on opposite end of the bed to where I was doing my homework.
"You were very rude back there, Kathy," he told me.
"I'll go and apologise later," I replied gruffly.
Aaron left the room again. I knew he didn't want to make me feel worse. But really, nothing could make me feel worse.
*
Crash!
I woke with a start. What the hell?
Bang!
My heart started pounding in my chest. I sat up in my bed and watched the door. After a few minutes, when nothing happened, I lay back down on the bed. I was just being silly. Why would there be noises in the house? I fell back asleep but was woken up again a few minutes later when I heard my room door open. I turned my head to the side. Entering the room were three people. It was dark, so I couldn't see them too clearly. I closed my eyes for a moment, maybe I was hallucinating. When I opened my eyes, still looking at the door, the people were gone. I breathed a sigh of relief and then cast my eyes around the rest of the room. My heart stopped. There, at the foot of my bed were the three people.
I could just make out that they were male. A blood curdling scream came out of my mouth. What are they doing in here? I stopped screaming to take a breath and then started screaming again. Before I knew it, one of the men had my mouth covered with a foul tasting glove. I felt the roughness of the glove scratching my face and tried not to breathe in the nasty odour. Another man grabbed my hands and tied them with a white shoelace. They dragged me out of the bed and forced me to walk forwards.
"Please don't hurt me," I begged pathetically.
"Shh!" one of the men hissed.
I kept quiet but I felt tears prickling at my eyes. As they walked down the passage, one man gripping my arm painfully, I could feel the presence of the two others behind me. The led me to Aunty Miriam's room. I was forced to the side of the bed. I looked on the bed; Aunty Miriam was sitting there, coughing and wheezing. She looked scared out of her wits. A few minutes later, Aaron also came in, looking dishevelled. His eyes were wide with fear. He cast a quick look at me before he was forced to the other side of the bed. There was another man, in a leather jacket standing at the door. He said something to the others in a foreign language and the three men started searching the room. One man came towards me.
"Where's the money?" he snarled.
"I don't know," I whispered.
His eyes fell to my neck as he spied my necklace. His hands went to the necklace around my neck and ripped it off me. I felt a pang in my chest. The necklace was a birthday present from my brother. The man looked at my arms and took my watch off. I felt another pang. The watch was another present from my uncle. I felt anger suddenly blaze of anger in me. How dare they? How dare they come into my house and just take what they want? A few tears leaked from my eyes. My lips felt so dry and cracked. I was about to lick them when I remembered the foul smelling glove. Who knows what they put in that glove or where it has been. I watched as they rounded on to Aaron and took the chain from around his neck. I saw his eyes flash and his hands curl into fists. That chain was his father's. His late father's. One man dragged Aunty Miriam to the edge of the bed, ripping her necklace off and trying to get her bangles off of her wrist. Her face scrunched in pain.
"Hold on a second. Let me take it off. Untie me," She said feebly.
The man hesitantly untied her and Aunty Miriam took the bangles off. A few tears dripped down Aunty Miriam's face. I knew how much they meant to her. The necklace was passed down to Aunty Miriam from her great-grandmother and the bangles were a wedding present from her parents. I felt another surge of anger.
"Where's the money? Where's the gold?" the same man aggressively growled.
"We don't have gold or money in the house. You took the only gold we had," Aunty Miriam whimpered.
"Come with me," the man said, grabbing my arm and started to lead me out of the room.
"Wait! Take me, don't hurt her!" Aunty Miriam protested.
"Don't you move!" another man shouted. Aunty Miriam shrunk back.
Two men, the one who did most of the talking and a light skinned man, led me back to my room.
"Where's the money?" he asked.
"I don't know," I replied weakly.
"Where is the bloody money?"
"I don't know."
He gave me a dirty look and searched the room.
"What's your name?" the light skinned man asked. I considered lying, but then decided against it.
"Kathrine," I said quietly.
"What?"
"Kathrine," I repeated, just as softly.
"What school do you go to?" he asked.
"Northlands High," I told him, changing the name of my school slightly.
"Hmmph," was all he replied.
I looked around the room, and saw the other man take my laptop bag with my laptop in it. Why did I decide to bring it to Aaron's place?
"Is the charger in here?" he spat.
"Yes," I reluctantly told him. Why couldn't I lie to them?
He slung the bag onto his shoulder and came round to me.
"Come," he said and grabbed my arm again, leading me back to Aunty Miriam's room.
He pushed me to the side of the bed.
"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Aunty Miriam asked me. I nodded.
The men continued to search the room. Then one of them found a key.
"What's this key for? Is it for a safe?" he asked in a rush.
"No, it's for an old safe, in my old house," Aunty Miriam said.
"Is it for a safe? Where's the safe?" he persisted.
"It's not here. It's for an old safe," Aunty Miriam told him. He pocketed the keys.
I looked at the men. There were four of them. All of them had gloves on and scissors and long metal sticks hanging from their pockets. I focused on what seemed like the leader of them. They guy in the leather jacket. His clothing was fitted, a bit strange for a thief. His physique looked slightly familiar to me. I couldn't see his face or eyes because of his balaclava but I could just make out a gun in his hand. Tears gathered in my eyes. What if he shot us? I started panicking.
"Come with me," the man who did all the talking said, taking me by the arm and led me back to my room.
"What does your mother do?" he asked me.
"She's a teacher at the local pre-school." I didn't dare correct him and tell him that Aunty Miriam wasn't my mother.
"Where does she keep her money?"
"I don't know."
"Do you want me to bring your brother in here? And show you how I kill him? I can shoot him, slit his throat or spray this in his eyes."
I gulped. He looked menacing as he shook pepper spray in my face. Oh my God. Please don't spray that on me.
"I don't know." I looked at the clock, and saw that it was quarter to three in the morning.
"What are you looking at? What's there?"
"I'm just looking at the time."
He scoffed. He tried again.
"Where's your baby?" he asked.
"I don't have a baby," I said, trying not to sound surprised.
"Where's your boyfriend?"
"I don't have one."
He scanned me up and down slowly. I regretted wearing a dress pyjama to bed. I squirmed slightly and prayed that he didn't touch me. He grabbed my arm and my heart stopped. He pushed me out of my room, taking me to the empty guest room, where Aunty Miriam and Aaron now were.
"The others are angry. They want to kill you because you don't have anything for them. But I won't let them, because I like you," the man said, "My name is Jonny."
I could see that Aaron was getting angry. Another man came in and said something to Jonny in another language.
"I'm going to lock you in the room," he said, turning and leavingwith the other man. We heard the door click shut and the lock turning. Thenwhispers. The lock turned again and I held my breath. Then we heard runningfootsteps and then silence. We gave it a few minutes and then Aaron got up anduntied me and Aunty Miriam. Aunty Miriam untied him and he went to the door,opening it. That's when I broke down into sobs. Hysterical, gut wrenching sobs.