THE HIT BACK SERIES (Order From Chaos)

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

“A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green.”—Francis bacon,                                                                               
    {Afattalah’s p.o.v}
The day had ended on a dreadful note for me. And I had the sinking feeling my night would fare no better. After the wild adventure which ended in no victory, I had flown right back with Caleb to the compound, struggling with the throttles and other sophisticated sets of the Heli through the course of the flight.

At this point, I must admit my past with those people I’ve once served, and whom, I now loathed had paid off pretty well. If not, who’d have thought my experience at handling a chopper, though rusty would come in handy in the sorry excuse of a life I was living at the moment.

With daylight burning real fast and having nothing to do but to sit down and while away time. I decided to get some rest, reclining in a metal chair.

Then it began. A subconscious daydream vivid and real as life itself. It was the same scene from a fortnight ago when I was still at the devil’s lair. And the devil herself had chaperoned me all the way to the deeper underbelly of her secret place. She had accessed all doors with the flat of her palm, leading me all the way through a network of hallways till we reached a corridor.

At the corridor, however, she walked up to a metal door and gave a prompt voice command.

I stood there like a statue, watching google-eyed as the scene unfurled and as the door slid open with a groan.

All the while, I was wondering what she was on about, taking me away from my newfound friends. But that changed soon as I walked right through those doors and met the glazed look of my cute, little girl.

Locked up in a 12×8, six-inch-thick, translucent insulated flint glass, she stood there, arms languishly at her sides, flamy red-hair tucked behind small ears, and face tightly pressed against the pane of the glass.

The only difference from the real thing was, I stood glued to a spot, all emotions reined. And an ankle-high pool of water rising within the cell of a place. And just as badly, while she sloshed right through it, beating wildly against the unyielding glass and calling my name, the water level rises.

Then, I saw that smug look on her small, pert face. It was the perfect replica of what I’d seen down in that same room the first time. Also, I saw those rich, plumy borders of flesh on her mouth moved in concert, mouthing the same words as from before.

“She’ll be safe here long as you stay the cause, Afatallah.”

“…You’re a wild horse, which needed to be tamed by all means necessary. And your explosive nature if not used the right way could jeopardize everything we’ve sweat for. I hope you understand for your own good we couldn’t let that happen. Thus, calling for the need for this.” She was saying but I wasn’t listening anymore. Partly because I’ve heard that too many times already.

Instead, my gaze and the whole of my being were for once concentrated on a thing. That being, my helpless girl locked behind a glass cell, and the water that had risen well up to her neck.

Through tears, I could see her choke on the dreary water while trying to make another sound. Abjectly hapless, I could see her flailing arms go limp, upon losing all the fight left in her. Strangely vulnerable, I watched her downcast eyes shut against the light of this world. And her lithe, whip-cord figure sinking deeper into the depth of the water.

Then, as if transported back from a far-off world, I jolted from the out-of-the-body experience in sweats and ragged breaths. I had to rub my eyes couple of times before I can finally get my bearing.