Black Rays

CHAPTER 38

March 15th 2011 03:00pm

“Dad, I will be late, they will close the gate soon!”
“I will be there in a moment child, I am driving”
“Hurry. I need to catch up on my documentaries tonight” Ivy whined tucking her phone back into her backpack.
Ivy glanced at her watch and huffed, she really hated it when she was the last one to get picked from school. She hated taking the school bus too, the noise in there was unbearable and Dylan; the nosy bully was in there too. She wasn’t good at keeping her anger at check when it came to nosy people like Dylan. She was expelled from her previous school where she used to go with Monica.
She had cut a kid with a razor and the principal had made a fuss about it. Honestly, she was the pitiful one. The girl was messing with her, pulling on her hair all the time, eating her erasers and breaking her pencils on a daily basis.
One day she had knocked her to the ground in the cafeteria and she poured her food. She had to bear the hunger the entire day. As if that was not enough, she missed the school bus because she slept in class and forgot. Then she found out her phone was dead, as if walking through the streets of Nairobi was an easy task she had to walk home.
The next day, she bought a razor and made the stupid Stacy learn her lesson. Then she was expelled. She was indeed a legend. She was ten and she already got an expulsion from school. And now, she was late. Her documentary was airing at four! It was already half past three.
She huffed, looking left and right. Holding tightly to the straps of her school bag, she crossed the road. When she was midway, a black van sped past her on the other lane and the last thing she remembered was a tall bearded man staring down at her with a silly smirk on his lips.

When Ivy gained her consciousness, she found herself sitting in a wrecked room. Stuffy, covered in cobwebs and dirty spare parts of every machine she could think of. She blinked taking in the atmosphere and then it dawned on her. She was not home.

Am I kidnapped? She wondered trying to shift into a comfortable position. She couldn’t. She was strapped down on the chair with ropes.
“Hey… is anybody there? Hello?”

There was no answer, only her voice echoing through the room. She sighed. In those stupid documentaries, this is exactly how it happened, an innocent abduction then boom! The victim disappears for good. A bunch of years later, she is found dead in a ditch or comes back looking like Tarzan.

‘That will not be me’ she struggled with the roped, trying to loosen them up as quickly as she could. But the ropes dug into her flesh instead, bruising her delicate skin mercilessly. She concealed a cry trying again to break free. She continued struggling over and over again but to no avail.

‘I always thought it was presence that those buddies in movies cannot escape at all. Turns out it is so fucking true’ she thought panting.

‘Should I give up? Gosh, my dad is not even a billionaire why are they keeping me here? What can a peasant offer in exchange for his troublesome daughter?’ She leaned back waiting for whatever may.
“Hey! Mr. Kidnapper? Are you out there? Get me out of here already. My dad is not rich, ok? He has nothing to offer so let me go! I will miss my show and that will be on you sir!” There was no answer.
‘Right, now they will set the house on fire and let me die from burning gasoline. Damn it!’
“You are too loud for someone who is abducted” a voice came from behind. A man at that, Ivy sighed.
“Let me go. My dad is a peasant he has nothing to offer”
“I should kill you and ditch you in Nairobi river then” the man tried to intimidate her. But the little girl just rolled her eyes tiredly.

“You wish. Have you called him? I am hungry by the way, I was going to have a bite of my mother’s cupcakes but now see. You have messed my schedule”

The man was surprised by how much the girl was speaking. She should be trembling, scared that she was kidnapped, but she seemed so calm. The man walked to the front to stare at the kid, Ivy narrowed her eyes at the man and leaned back to stare at him from all angles.
“What are you doing?”
“Keeping a record of what Caesar looks like”
“My name is not Caesar!”
“I know that.”
“Then?”
“Have you ever heard of the saying ‘give what belongs to Caesar to Caesar?”
“Yes?”
“You are a kidnapper, so what do you think your reward is?”
“A kidnap?”
“The wages of sin is?”
“Death!”
“You did well; those are not my words you know. You said it yourself”