THE STORY: in love and in war (4)

3

 

plus 7years

   Present day.
 

                   Susan’s ears pricked up, waiting to hear the sound again but she did not. She walked shakily to the door and paused behind it for a second just in case there would be a break- in. “I’ve been watching too many Jackie Chan movies.” she thought in spite of herself. She reached for her phone and beeped Vivian. She hoped with all of her heart that they’d assume the message was that she needed their attention urgently. That had always been their signal to her. She’d never beeped either of them before then. She beeped again. Then she heard the sound of running feet.

      “Hey. open up! I hope it’s a good surprise or else, we’ll both have your head split in two.” She sighed a sigh of relief at the sound of Tola’s voice. “Oh, am I so glad to see you.” she said, opening the door a fraction of an inch before opening it wide. She was still shaking slightly.

“What’samatter?” she heard Vivian ask. “Don’t mind me. I thought I heard someone stop at my door and trying to open it. You didn’t happen to see anything out of the ordinary, did you? Anything, anyone?” Vivian and Tola looked at her in astonishment. She hardly said so many words at a time. “Well, we did see a cute guy on his way out. I was somewhat hoping that that was why you called us. Thought you needed a hand of rescuing from being smothered by the hunk. It may be that he missed his way or something.” said Vivian, laughing. Susan opened her mouth to protest, thought the better of it and shut it. Instead she said “thanks so much. I guess I overreacted. It’s just that we all have these funny feelings sometimes. Like a premonition or something, you know?”   “Yeah, we know” they said in unison, stepping outside her door.

   “Good night, dear and take care of yourself. On second thought, why don’t you come and sleep over at our apartment?”

   “Yeah, maybe some other night. Soon, I promise.” she replied. She locked her door with key, bolt and latch before turning in for the night. She slept a moment later and lapsed into dreamland.

 

*        *        *

 

                 Susan was in a house, the house she grew up in. she was in her room. On her bed. She got out of bed and walked outside to the tiny corridor. She just couldn’t sleep and everywhere seemed too quiet. Susan tip toed down the corridor and was about to enter that familiar door to the left as she had often done whenever she couldn’t sleep, when she heard the voices. Low but audible. She moved slowly towards the sound of the voices and stopped outside her parents’ room. She paused just as she felt a hand on her mouth, clamping her lips on her teeth. She struggled and tried hard to scream but no sound came out. She felt herself being lifted off the ground and carried into the room.               


      Once inside the room, she realized that the voices were not here after all. The man went to the other side of the room, away from the bed and around the corner. He bent and did something. Pressed something. The whole room seemed to move. Susan struggled again. Scared out of her wits.

      An opening appeared in the floor, revealing a flight of steps she had never seen before. Not the knob the man had pressed- which she could see now that she was in front of it-, not the stairs and definitely not the opening. As they descended the stairs, she could not only hear but she could see the source of the voices. There were a number of people scattered around the room, men and women alike. It seemed that they were having some kind of meeting.

      They all quieted and looked their way. The men in black robes and the women in red ones, all donning yellow sashes. It looked more of a cave though richly carved or chipped out of marble in a spherical shape except for the slab in the middle which had metallic cuffs- two on either side of the slab- one mid-length and the other much lower. She was gagged and the man that brought her in then carried her and deposited her on the slab. Her arms and feet were cuffed to the slab.

                     A man came forward and handed over a scroll to the man that had just cuffed her to the slab- the same one that brought her into their meeting. He unrolled it and said to his audience.

      “Now, the prophecy will no longer hold. Although she went away, she will not join forces lest we be smeared in dirt. We do not know the ways this prophecy is to work, no shape or form but our goal is to cut short that incubation time so the fusion never occurs.” Suddenly, the place was in an uproar. The people were chanting and cheering. She was to be their sacrifice. She was sweating profusely and thrashing; trying to scream but the sound couldn’t get beyond her throat.

      Two individuals, a man and a woman stepped forward. She recognized them immediately. Her parents. They both looked grim- like they were in trance. She tried to signal or call them with her eyes but they didn’t look at her face at all. They went to the man holding the scroll and he presented them with something. She tried to twist her head so she could see. She only saw that the cloth was lifted high and the people once again cheered. She saw it then. A long knife. They moved towards her. It was a sword! She thrashed harder.

 

*        *        *

 

                 Susan awoke with a start, soaked through and through with her sweat. She clutched at her chest with her hand, right where her heart was threatening to burst with its pounding, as though doing so would slow it down. She wondered if she had been screaming aloud.

                      She got up and peeked through the curtains. The sunlight was just starting to lighten up the sky. She smiled. That was the only consolation she could have asked for right now. At least she wouldn’t have to go back to sleep or pretend to. She got out of bed, brushed and went out her room and up the corridor to her friends’ apartment. She hadn’t bothered to change since she slept fully-clothed the day before. She smelt the sweet aroma of coffee as she neared the door and found that she was smiling in spite of her fears. She knocked and was ushered in with a mug of coffee thrust in her hands along with a plate of biscuits; and after the usual early morning pleasantries, they lapsed into their fantasy world for the week. They both never failed to thrill Susan. No better to start the day.And in spite of herself, Susan wore a smile.