MUD AND BLUES

THE BOX

Jamal woke up to a sharp pain at the back of his head. He opened his eyes but closed them quickly due to the intensity of the light that hit his retina. He then slowly opened it and let his eye adjust to it. With his head still banging, he sat up and heard his back crack. It made him realize that he wasn't in his room. He was on a hard floor. He looked up and noticed the distance between the ceiling and the ground. The room was a quarter of his room and had nothing except the central bulb and a small window, and the door was locked. They began to recall the events of the previous day: the call, the sound of rain, Bamigboye, the taser, and the force on his head. Stringing together the occurrences, he deduced that he must have been arrested and is currently in a cell. He sat there for three minutes before deciding to try the door. He shook the door, but it didn't bulge. He searched for cracks in the door but was disappointed that he couldn't even pick out the lock position; it was a flat, solid surface, probably made of steel. Instead of squandering his remaining energy, he returned to the corner, sat, and rested his back against the wall, imagining what his grandmother and sibling would be doing at the time. Perhaps the whole community was looking for him at that moment. He thought he must find a way out of the cell, wherever he was.

"Why did you lock him in here?" He heard a voice outside the door and quickly stood up, ready to take his chance. He then heard beeps outside the door, followed by the sound of gears turning, then the door sliding open. Two gallant men stepped into the room, securing both sides of the door, followed by a short man with a round stomach. He wore a smile on his face, which Jamal found strange, adding to the strangeness of the place.

"I am sorry for the inconveniences; we are moving you to another place; you shouldn't be kept in a cell like this," he said, flashing his teeth again, which were as white as the spotless lab coat covering his small frame. Jamal only nodded; he didn't have the energy nor the will to object. With the two agents by his sides, they marched him out of the tiny cell, while the short man followed them at a distance.

They entered a long, narrow corridor with similar cells on both sides. Jamal looked around and sighed; he concluded that he was really in a hot soup. He moved along until they came to an open space, where people sat in cabinets working on their systems. Some of them were typing, while many of them were monitoring surveillance systems, both inside the cells and outside the station.

"Here," the man directed them to a different room than the one they had just left; it was nearly five times the size of the cell, with a bed, a fan, and even a chair and a table.

"This is a better place to talk," he said, but he noticed Jamal touching the back of his head due to the pain he was feeling. He moved closer to check.

"Oh, there's a big lump at the back of your head; I think you should shave your head so we can treat it; they said you resisted arrest; I'm sorry for the pain; you should call the doctor," he motioned to one of the officers, who quickly moved to get the doctor.

"I didn't resist arrest; they came all of a sudden and hit me on the head," Jamal defended, looking at the agent that stood by the door; he didn't even turn to him, like he wasn't even part of the room.

"Well, you can write that in your statement. Just know that you are in safe hands though; my name is Engr. Robert," he said, flashing his white teeth again. Just then, another man entered; he was diametrically opposed to Robert; the only thing they had in common was that they both wore white lab coats. The other man was taller, at least 6'5", and his face was serious. Without asking, he checked Jamal's eyes and nodded; he then gave him a brown pill and a bottle of water, which he took from the tree the agent held. Jamal looked at the pills suspiciously but used them since the men were looking at him, more like waiting for him. The drug started working just minutes after it traveled down to his stomach; its catabolism was so fast that the sharp pain he felt at the back of his head immediately subsided.