STORY TIME!! “BLIND” [Chapter 5] – By IMYOTI

“BLIND”

[CHAPTER 5]

Civir quivered when she felt the chilled, sandy water on her face. Her heart beat hard and fast and although the room was cold, strands of sweat trickled down her face. She panted for air, but only got the dirty, damp rag that smelled of urine and dust from the floor on which she lay in her mouth and nostrils. She couldn’t move. Or speak. Or do anything. Every joint in her body had been tightly secured to a strong wooden chair. She could feel the blood surge in her tied hands behind the chair. The pain and frustration were as present as the thick ropes that had been used to tie her up. The same rope she could feel in her mouth between her teeth. Rage and frustration boiled in her, but she couldn’t express them. This handicap seemed more painful and terrifying than all the ropes and knots. She started to wriggle and moan as much as she could in hopes that somehow, someone would hear her and save her from whomever this enemy was. The enemy walked out just then; Civir could tell from the banging of the door and the disappearance of the rays of light that trickled through the thick rag covering her face.

A renewed fear visited Civir with the banging of the door. She began to see things that she didn’t want to see in the stinky, dark room. Who could it be that wanted her to suffer so much? Why would anyone maltreat her so much? These questions, harmless as they seemed, terrified her. For if she didn’t know who was out for a pound of her flesh, her family didn’t know either. That was what bothered her the most – the safety of her children. She was sure that this enemy was a close friend. How else could he have known that she was at that club especially since she’d never gone to that club before? Or was it one of those rampant kidnapping cases where criminals captured people and demanded ransoms from their families for their safety? This made a little sense because of the number of missing people that had been announced the past few weeks. But something in her assured her that this wasn’t about the money – how much was her family worth anyway? It had to be a grudge. But with whom? She couldn’t think of one person who would be so thirsty for her blood. It would’ve made more sense if she was still practising, but she stopped practice almost a decade ago. Why, then, was she so certain that this was a grudge or vengeance ploy?

The more she thought about it, the more desperate she became. She had to escape. She had to ensure that her kids were fine; that her husband was fine. This dark room wasn’t the place for her. She began to wrestle with the ropes and chair again; wriggling and wriggling until it became undeniable that she was utterly helpless. A tear ran down her nose ridge to the floor unlocking a stream of tears. She sobbed silently while sniffing the mucus back into her nostrils from time to time. She needed something to hold on to – a lifeline. She needed reassurance that she could be set free. That her family would be safe. In a dark room far away from everybody she knew and cared about, she had just one person she could turn to. So she closed her eyes and prayed to God silently: for the safety of her kids; for the safety of her husband; for the enemy, that God would touch his heart and make it clean again. Clean enough for him to set her free from the tight ropes, aching joints, and fear.

The door creaked open and she could tell from the footsteps that there were at least two people in the room with her. She could also hear the clattering of metals and one of them with a deep male voice whispering directions to the other to put this here and screw that there. Civir’s tears had dried up and she just lay still, paying very close attention to every little sound they made, listening for answers to her questions. After a few minutes, when the men appeared to have been done with their work, Civir saw a light much brighter through her mask. The two men walked over to her and dragged her and the chair up to their feet. Civir’s feet, which were secured to either front leg of the chair, had become so cold that once in sitting position, she felt blood surge like a thousand needles in them. She heard a third footstep in the room. Footsteps belonging to one who wore stilettos. The ‘koi-koi’ of the heels echoed distinctively in the empty room. “Remove the scarf,” a female voice said a few seconds after the ‘koi-koi’ of the heels stopped in front of her. A pair of hands loosed the knot behind Civir’s head and removed the ‘scarf’.

All was blurry to Civir once the scarf was removed. A yellow bulb was above the one door in the room. There was a silhouette of a woman in front of her. A certain familiarity hovered over her unfamiliar silhouette like a cloud, but Civir couldn’t associate it with anyone she knew. As she searched her mind for answers, the woman walked out of the room with the two men leaving behind a room filled with shadows. Civir was very frightened now. Her heart was racing so fast that she feared that it might pop out of her chest. Her body began to shake and her teeth clattered away. Her face was wet with sweat and tears. Saliva began to drip from her mouth. Who were these people? What did they want from her? What would they do to her?

The door creaked open again, and this time, only the lady emerged with a big pair of scissors in her hand. She stopped to look at Civir for a few seconds.

“Why did you do it?” The lady asked calmly. Rage took over Civir once she heard her voice. It was indeed a friend that had put her in these ropes. The disappointment and bitterness Civir felt were conveyed by her eyes which fixated on this woman she knew.

“Why did you do it?” The lady barked again. Civir said nothing. The lady suddenly pounced on Civir: slapping and cursing till she was panting for air. Tears flowed generously from Civir’s eyes, as did sweat, and an unusual rage. An inexhaustible rage that was so dark and ugly.

“You don’t want to talk, abi?” She said. Civir looked at her without even making a sound to suggest that she couldn’t speak. “Hmmmm…. So you think you are stubborn, abi? I will show you real stubbornness today,” she said and pounced on Civir again. Civir began to growl and shake her head violently when she could no longer bear the pain from the hair tugging and slapping. The lady stopped her attack and cut the rope in Civir’s mouth with the scissors she was holding. She walked over and squatted in front of Civir yanking the scissors. The urge to spit on her was strong, but Civir maintained her calm – her time would come, she was sure.

“So, why did you do it?” She asked calmly. She was so close that Civir could smell the alcohol on her breath; alcohol Mimi had paid for.

“Water,” Civir whispered.

“What?”

“I need water,” she replied, a little louder. The lady looked searchingly at Civir wondering whether it was best to let her die of thirst or grant her request. She dropped the scissors on the floor and left the room.

Stay tuned for [Chapter 6]