The Traversing Book I

Chapter 5

"When will you have the baby, Mumma?" I smile up at her, rubbing her large belly.

"Soon, sweet pea. Very soon," she said, giving me a kiss on the head.

"So I can still name her, right?" I ask, folding my hands and pretending to pray. "Please, please, please? I have a good name, I do."

"Yes, Kokia, you can name her," she said. "I have been afraid to ask this whole time since we found out it was a girl, but what is the name you have picked?"

"OK. So..... I want to call her Sepa!" I said, smiling.

"Sepa?" she said, kind of making a surprised face and steps back. "Where did you find that one?"

"I don't know, I just like it. Do you like it mumma?" I question, smiling wide.

"Sepa. Hmmm," she said. "You know what, I do like it, sweet pea. Soon we will see little Sepa. Soon, very soon."

____________

This is it, this is the end I think, looking over at Lolly, who looks just as terrified as me. I love you Sepa and Daddy. I love you so much, I whisper in my head. I was surprised to find that I was more mad than scared. We are forced to walk a bit, with them pushing something in our back to make us move along. I assumed it was a gun, but tried to put that thought out of my mind.

"Go," they say. That is all they can say. Just "Go! Go!" I thought seeing my fellow classmates gunned down in cold blood was terrifying, but this was worse. I was surely gonna die. We are then picked up and put in the back of a van. The soldiers then turn on the invisibility rays around the van entrance, making it impossible for us to escape. 

"Lolly? Lolly, are you OK?" I whisper to her.

Lolly is weeping silently and doesn't say anything. I squint in the dark and look over on the opposite side of the van and see Magzi. As my eyes adjust to the darkness, I see that she is also crying.

"Magzi, where were you when they took you? Did you see how many men there were?"

"I was. I was...I was running on the highway. I was trying to find some place to hide," she got out in between sobs. "Do you think they are going to kill us?"

"They would have already done it by now," I say to her, trying to put such thoughts in my head.

The van drove what seemed to be about 20 minutes, then they turned left onto a very bumpy road, and I found myself knocking into something in the seat beside me, but in the darkness I could not totally make out what it was. With my hands tied, I couldn't reach and feel it.

Immediately we came to a stop, and I fell over onto the floor of the truck, hitting my head near my eye and I suddenly felt dizzy. I pulled myself back up in the seat moments before the back doors opened and the rays disappeared. I counted fifteen of us in the van; some of the girls, though, seemed to be medicated or they were injured in some way. I also did not recognize them from school. The one man that was outside the van spoke to us. 

"Get out and stand there in a line!" he yelled, spitting as he spoke, but it was still in pretty good English.

I climbed out and obeyed and stood next to Lolly.

"Turn around and face the building!" he commanded.

I felt my first wave of terror. I thought we were surely dead. I closed my eyes and tried to envision Sepa and her smiling at me and that I was anywhere but there. Anywhere. I then feel the sensation of tugging on my wrists, and I realize that he is taking off our handcuffs, which was a relief. Then they spin us around and pointed at the entrance of what I now can see is the Bridgeport Arena and told us to "GO!"

I quickly take Lolly's hand and we begin walking down the hill toward the Arena. I had been there a few times for events and once for a concert. But there were no happy moments going through my head as I reached the multi-entrance glass doors. There were about twenty guards around the entrance, and I notice that our escort said a few words to them in Arabic and they nodded, and we all entered the building. Why would they kidnap us, then take us to the Arena?

Once I step inside, though, I begin to feel afraid. There was blood on the floor and it seemed like the electricity was only working faintly. It was very dark and I could hear the soft drip of a faucet. Lolly was squeezing my hand so tight I actually had to shake it free a little bit.

"Come," one of the guards said, and we went into a large room with a colorful rug that seemed to be void of furniture. The man stands at the front of the room and begins to speak.

"Ok everybody. I am Commander Achmed Khan. I need you to understand what is going on," he says as he opens up his coat and shows us that he has 2 assault rifles and a belt of ammunition. He then points to them and raises his eyebrows.

"Do not try to escape. There are guards all around, at every possible entrance and exit," he said and we all looked around, and agreed silently it would be foolish to try and run for it. I do not dare say or do anything that would cause attention to myself. I scan the room and see that it is filled with teenage girls like myself. All girls. Teenage girls.

Achmed then waved on some more guards, and they escorted us to a larger room that had two bathrooms and sink in it. I'm assuming a bigger conference room for a wedding or something. I put myself in the darkest corner I could find, sit on the floor with my knees to my chest. I sat there for a bit and just looked around. Some of the girls I knew, some I didn't. Lolly sat near me, and surprisingly, Magzi stayed close to me as well. The room smelled damp and I could hear a lot of crying and whispering. 

As I was scanning the room, my focus landed on the guard that was sitting on a stool by the door. He looked uncomfortable and shifted his position on the stool several times. All of a sudden, he turned around and his gaze has stopped on me, and I stared right back. I don't know why he did that, but in that moment, I felt some sort of connection. I then looked away and put my back more against the wall, trying to stay calm. I thought that we would all be dead soon, and I thought I would be more scared than I was at the thought of that.

I find that being in this Arena brought backmany fond memories of my mother. When she was pregnant with Sepa, we all wentto the circus, and I just loved watching the acrobats and seeing the liontamer. Then she took me to a country music concert; my favorite singer, and Iwas so excited. It was my first and last concert. We had such happy timesbefore she died.

I put my hands in my jeans and realize that my cell phone wasn't there. It musthave fallen out in the van when I stumbled and didn't notice. I swore silentlyin my head. I really screwed myself now, I thought. I then looked up atthe ceiling and saw that they had shot out all of the AI cameras and robotsthat were at the reception desk and the food court and saw out the window therobots in a pile, with their backs pried open, disabling the battery. I havewatched these TV programs on my tablet of women who were kidnapped, and thatthe best way to survive is to not be difficult, and figured that is what I needto do. I look over next to me and see that Lolly is still crying. I reach outand pull her to me, hugging her, then lay her down in my lap. I pull the hairaway from her face and stroke the top of her head, just the way I did withSepa. I rock Lolly a little and told her we would be OK and that we will makeit through this, even if I didn't truly believe that myself.