It all began so quickly…
The afternoon sunlight sneakily hits your eyes, as you open the dark mahogany door. Beads of sweat roll down your forehead, from a combination of the excruciating summer heat and the fear and stress of your endeavour. The landscape of the city gradually shifts. From quaint little bungalows of the suburbia, to the sprawling urban jungle of the downtown, and finally the lesser frequently visited and feared neighbourhoods. With each house protected by reels of vicious barbed wire; and equally vicious trigger happy owners who won’t think twice before blasting your head off with a shotgun for trespassing. Pacing forward as quickly as you can, all the while protectively clutching your backpack and avoiding the sometimes quizzical, but mostly plain expressions of the people around you; you make it safely to the drop-off point.
“00D46789”
A black coloured, black tinted sedan parked in an alleyway deep inside the maze of the neighbourhood. You carefully walk towards it, your right hand resting close to the 9mm holstered and concealed inside your shirt. With your left hand, you tap the window three times. A deep female voice responds from inside.
“Code?”
“Lazarus.”
Suddenly, you feel a sharp stinging pain in the back of your head, causing you to fall to your knees. Your vision turns hazy, slowly filling with a void of blackness completely but you manage to turn around and see three vague human-like shapes behind you as you black out completely…
You don’t know for how long you were out or where you are right now. Your hands and legs are tightly bonded to a cold steel chair. All you can see in your vision is a deserted room, with rust and moss covered walls. A single door is directly in front of you, most likely locked. You suddenly hear the click of bolts opening, and the same door sways open to reveal two masked figures.
“You’re awake already,” says one of them in a feminine voice. The same voice you heard from that car.
“I’m sure you’re wondering where you are and what is going on,” she continues, “but don’t worry sweet boy, this is all a part of our safety procedure. We wouldn’t want you scurrying off and revealing our location now, would we?”
“Where is she?”
“Oh, the sweet lover-boy is missing his girlfriend. How cute. Your girl should have thought before crossing paths with us.”
“It’s not her fault you sick bastards!”
The masked woman comes towards you menacingly, and backhands you hard with her knuckles directly on your head. She removes a pocket knife and keeps it on your throat, hard enough that a few drops of blood paint the metallic surface.
“You watch your tongue when speaking to me, boy. Or you’ll regret you were ever born,” she says while holding your head upright with her other hand.
“As for your sweet little damsel in distress, she’s dead. What made you think a bunch of low-life scum like us would withhold our end of the bargain? You were an idiot to even show your face here. If I were you, I would’ve skedaddled out of the country by now.”
A sheer feeling of anger swells up in you, and you spit directly in her eye through the mask of her face.
“Argh! You dirty little bastard!” is all you hear before the cold steel blade is directly plunged into your throat. The pain, the pain is unbearable. You gasp for breath, in a vain attempt, gurgling blood out through your throat.
It is said that in the final dying moments of a human being, all their life events play in front of their eyes before their departure. You always thought that to be nothing but a grandiose charade; until now. In the pain, you see her. Jessica. You see her in a poker game, with a cigarette between her fingers and eyes fixed on her cards.
“ Let’s see what you’re made of little girl,” says another voice, belonging to another player in front of her. “I’m going all in.”
Then, you see yourself. Standing right behind her.
“Jessica, no. Don’t do it.”
“Shut the fuck up Arthur, it’s my money. I can do what I want with it. All in.”
Of corse she loses the game, then the next one, and the one after that too. Still adamant and stubborn like she always was, she kept playing plunging herself deeper and deeper into debt. Debt, that she could never hope to repay. Our possessions, her watch, my family heirloom, even our engagement rings; all were sacrificed but the debt was too much. She apologized to you everyday. Cried on your shoulders, and told you how much she loved you, because you still didn’t leave her. How could you have left her, after all you made her a promise before eloping. A promise that you and her would live a happy life together. A promise that you couldn’t keep.
Then came the day. The day all hell broke loose. The day those dreaded loan sharks broke into the house.
“If…if I could just get another week…arghh!”
She was hit so hard, she fell on the ground.
“Another week, another week…that’s all you say to every single time. You’re coming with us now little girl.”
You ran towards them, unarmed with all the strength you could muster. But were knocked out cold; and by the time you got up, she was gone. What remained on the ground was a note, to bring the owed money in within a week.
If only, if only you could change the past. If only you had some sort of power in you to do that. If only…
Blood seeps out of your neck, and along with it your strength; as you are slowly engulfed into a never-ending chasm of darkness. Never to see the light again. All you hear is a faint repeating voice…
Love, is a disease, a disease of the mind,
Love, has no age,no bias; love is blind,
Love is the fuel, to greatness of the mind,
Love, alas, was your cause of demise.
