Resurgence

21. Blood Truce

“Sacrifice is a part of life. It’s supposed to be. It’s not something to regret. It’s something to aspire to.” – Mitch Albom.

•••

The ragged state of the wall, pretty much mirrored Tari’s heart.

Most of the paint had peeled off, and its dried scarps hung to the wall like curly ribbons. There were writings of uneven size and varying handwriting, scrawled on the wall and tiny slurps of red fluid that he knew wasn’t paint. Probably blood, he thought. He wondered which unfortunate soul, had been involved in the brutal business that resulted in their blood being splattered on the wall and the notion made his throat bob in fright. He could only hope that his cellmate who had been asleep for most of the time, that he had arrived yesterday wasn’t a sadist or barbarian of some sort. Although, now that he paid more attention to the body across him, lying on its back with its face to the ceiling perched on the low mattress—he couldn’t help but wonder if it was alive and wasn’t just a corpse. The only reason why he wasn’t so sure was that it wasn’t reeking of any odd scent.

How did I get here?

His hands raked through his hair in dismay, sobriety haven already swallowed his entirety. The entire situation still felt surreal. It had been like a nightmare, that he thought he’d snap out of, but now that he had been locked up for the past fifteen hours—he knew it was every bit as real, as the previous nightmare of his project being raged to the ground by fire. It had happened so fast. Twenty four hours ago he was an elated man, bursting to the seams with joy after the completion of his most strenuous and capital project, with the prospect of igniting a new flame in a relationship that meant the world to him—but everything had gone sideways in only a couple of hours. It was truly like they said. The rate of reaction of tragedy, was thrice that of a jubilee one.

He still couldn’t believe he was here. Clad in prison uniform wear, behind bars with another convicted man like him, labeled with a number and not his actual name and also restricted from the outside world. The only thing keeping him from breaking down was the hope that Tiolu was going to awake soon and recuperate rapidly, leaving no reason for him to be punished anymore. But what if she didn’t? What if she had suffered life threatening injuries and couldn’t find her way back to the land of the living anymore. What did that mean for him?

Tari shook his head, vehemently to shake off the thought. There was no room to harbor thoughts of such glum nature in his head. They didn’t make things better, only worse. Even if his fate was going to result in a bleak ending, he wasn’t going to spend the remaining time of uncertainty wallowing in despondence. But still, there wasn’t much he could do in his surroundings. It wasn’t like he was in an amusement park.

But did he regret his decision? That he didn’t. But that automatically didn’t put him a good mood. If he had gotten a chance to relive the events of the past twenty four hours, he’d pretty much make the same decisions he did before and end up behind bars once again. Because as much as prison was without appeal, it came with a choice that wasn’t negotiable. Him or Lani? He had made the choice in a heartbeat, and wasn’t going to turn back on it. Right at that moment that she confessed to him in the car, he had known that if it came to offering his soul in exchange to save hers—it was the right call to make. It was the sort of thing people did for love, make sacrifices. No matter how costly, no matter how grave the consequences. It was love’s iconic definition.

And now he thought about her. How astounded she’d have been at that moment, when he had offered himself as the sacrificial lamb? When he had lifted her cross from her shoulders and ended her torment. When he had made her sorrow, her tribulation – his. She definitely wasn’t taking it well. She’d probably thought he was crazy and way out of his mind and would be seeking out measures to free him from his covenant. But he had planned for such contingency. Nothing and no one could save him now. Except the person that put him here.