Beating The Odds – Episode 11

Beating The Odds – Episode 11

© Brian Ngoma

Kani hesitated. He looked where the car had come from and saw no trace of any car coming. The woman kept screaming and he was getting nervous. He looked at the car from the distance and could see some smoke. He stepped forward and stopped when he saw two men come out of the fields running to the car. He stepped back slowly going into hiding.

When the two men reached the car, they ignored the lady in the car and this startled Kani. Instead of helping her, they were rooting the car. They removed things from the car and that angered him. Thinking about how far he had ran from the house, the police were very far away from him. He slowly crawled to the car like a predator cornering it’s prey. The two men were busy getting what they could from the car they didn’t see him.

While the other one had gotten a bag from the car turning around, he met with Kani’s angry face. He was scared he dropped the bag and shouted his friends name and asked. “Boy who are you?”

Kani didn’t say a word. The man was nervous but tried to act tough. He walked to Kani and touched his shoulder. Kani looked at the man’s hand and stepped back. The woman screamed again. She was obviously in pain and in need of help and Kani knew he had to act real fast. These men’s interest were on the things in the car. “Help the lady,” he said.

“Or what?” the other man came. “Run along young boy,” he said.

Kani peeped at the lady who was screaming. “She’s in pain,” he said. He wanted to step forward when the other man blocked him.

“I said run along street boy!” he yelled at him.

Kani turned around. “Okay iam going,” he said.

As he turned, the two men dropped their guard and were fooled into thinking he was leaving. Ascertaining that he had fooled them, he turned around and they had cowardly dropped their guard. He leaped off the ground kicking one of the men sending him to hit his face on the car. The other one shockingly looked at his friend on the ground and Kani. Thinking he would outwit Kani, he threw a punch at him but the boy was too quick to be hit, he slid aside and grabbed the mans hand and twisted it making him fall to his knees. He slapped the man across the face with his open left hand making him feel like Chili had been thrust in his eyes.

“My eyes!” he screamed painfully.

Kani was angry. He had lost his family that night and people playing with another person’s life angered him even more. He dragged the man to the other one and grabbed both their heads banging them against each other it sounded like a car had hit into a building. He pushed them away. “Get up!” he shouted. “Go away!”

The men stumbled to their feet avoiding his evil stare. They helped each other and moved into the fields unsteadily from side to side the other one bitterly crying for his eyes.

He watched them disappear into the fields. He rushed to the woman’s aid.The car was heavily smoking. He quickly unstrapped the seatbelt from her and dragged her away from it. He laid her off the road and saw that she had hurt her head and was bleeding. He removed her sweater and tied it on the wound. After ensuring she was much better, he sat beside her planning where he would run to as soon as he saw someone to help her.

The silence of the night brought temporary peace in his heart. He watched the sky with interest and wondered what was beyond that. His mind took him back to Greg and Veronica and he felt a tear escape his eye. He remembered what Veronica had said about Mayi and Tasha. He knew where Mayi was but where the hell was Tasha? The dream he had about her gave him the chills. He wondered why she had never returned to the orphanage to get him. It was her fault he was in this mess, he thought. Had she been there for him, they would have been probably be somewhere safe together. Now he was alone with a stranger in the middle of the night not having a single clue as to what his next move would be.

He was thirsty, he decided to check the car for water. As he got up, the woman got hold of his hand. He fearfully looked at the woman’s hand tightly holding his. “Don’t leave me,” she said before passing out again.

He felt needed and that prompted him to stay. “I am not,” he said letting go of her. He walked to the car and luckily, found a bottle of mineral water. He drank it rapidly quenching his thirsty. He returned to the woman and found her awake. “I cannot stay any longer,” he told her. “I think those men won’t return.”

“I saw what you did,” the woman said faintly. “Who are you?”

“I am nobody,” he answered.

The woman looked at him and saw a lost boy in him. Even though it was very dark, she could see how disturbed and alert to each and every sound he was. “Come sit here,” she said sitting upright. “Those men are pure evil,” she said. “My phone is broken.”

He looked at the lady suspiciously. He walked to her and sat down. What he needed was someone to talk to and he felt like he could trust the lady. He planned if she tried anything funny, he would take off as fast as he came.

“What’s a young boy like you doing at this time of the night all alone?” she asked him. “Where are your parents? Aren’t they worried?”

He didn’t answer.

“Okay let’s not talk, since my phone is spoiled let’s wait for the Firefighters or civilians to come to our aid…… Or perhaps the police because i heard a siren from a distance.”

He jumped to his feet. “No, No police,” he stammered looking around. “No police please.”

She looked at him and saw how afraid he was of the police. “Why no police?”

He stiffened. There was no reason to stay, he had to leave. He looked at the woman and stepped backwards. He had already seen the way he was going to run to. The woman was safe but he wasn’t, he had to keep running. As he started sprinting, the woman shouted. “Please don’t leave me Iam scared!”

He stopped. He turned around and looked at her. He saw himself in her. She was as scared as him. She felt safe with him around and so did he. “No police?”

“No police yes,” she answered.

He walked to her and sat beside her. They all sat quietly hearing the birds sing as it was slowly reaching dusk. They both fell asleep and were awoken by voices of men. Kani opened his eyes and it was the police. He looked around and the place was filled with mist which made it cold. The lady woke up too and was shivering due to the cold. Kani looked at her clearly, she was an old woman probably in her late fiftees.

The lady caught a glimpse of him too and thought about her conversation with him earlier. She could see how scared he was. He couldn’t even breath properly. His eyes were everywhere and he was shaking.

“Mam, are you alright?” an officer asked.

“Yes,” she answered.

“How about the boy?” the officer asked.

“He’s fine too, i lost control of the car and hit a tree but iam fine.”

“We have to check you,” the officer said. “You too,” he looked at the stiffened Kani.

As she stood up, she got his hand and said. “Walk with me. Don’t be afraid.”

Kani had already counted the officers. They were three and not a single one had recognized him. Two were busy checking the car and the other one was tending to the woman. He followed the woman as she walked to the officers car. “Can i use your phone?” the lady asked the officer.

“Of course madam,” the officer handed her the phone.

She talked to someone on the phone and told kani to hold on. They sat in the officers car for thirty minutes and Kani was getting nervous each second that passed. He told himself to run but there was something about this woman, he trusted her. He decided to sit beside her.

After a while, a car pulled up. “That’s our ride,” the woman said. “Let’s go.”

The lady and Kani walked to the car and got in. As soon as Kani closed the door, another police car pulled up. Kani peeped through the window and saw the detective who earlier shot a blank at him. He got more nervous that he moved away from the window. Unexpectadly, the lady held his hand again. He looked at her breathing heavily. She smiled at him and looked at the driver. “Drive Yohane.”

Yohane started the engine while keeping his eyes on the strange boy in the backseat through the rear view mirror.

To be continued

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