Savannah

30

Chapter Thirty: Part 1: Taken

Meriam never contacted Aarav again, even after the six months had passed. She often got to wondering what he'd meant by saying he'd put a group together. One Saturday evening, when she was walking along Lime Street waiting for Mr Bean to take her to Point Fortin, a strange vehicle pulled up to her. Two men emerged and grabbed her, pulling her inside the vehicle. They bound her hands and mouth and pointed guns at her. Meriam shook with fright, wondering if what she'd heard so often on television would be her fate. Strange, she never thought it could happen to her.

One man spoke so hard he almost burst her eardrums. "Look, bitch. You tell us who Nuts Cake is, you hear."

"I don't know any Nuts Cake."

"You lying. You reported Nuts Cake to de police and you get money."

Meriam shook. "No. I reported no one. I know nothing."

"Let me see your bank card, then. I will know if you get money."

Meriam looked shocked as the man grabbed her handbag and searched through it for her debit card. He found it and held onto it. He held it all the way till Point Fortin. Then he emerged and went to use the fast service. He returned a short while later. "What yuh do with the money?"

"I have no money."

He turned to the others inside the vehicle. "It don't have any money."

"So wat we go do now. She done see we, we have to kill she."

Meriam froze.

"No. We have to carry she for Nuts," he said.

One man began binding her eyes with a piece of cloth. The blindfold was so tight she couldn't see a thing, plus it hurt her eyes.

They seemed to drive for hours. The blindfold was soon soaking with her tears and she kept her whimpering low as every time one man heard her crying, he grew furious.

After what felt like hours, the vehicle stopped and they exchanged vehicles. Two new men took her. They were quieter than the first. Meriam felt increasingly fearful, for she couldn't see or hear them. She expected them to kill her soon. Too afraid to cry, she remained quiet and shook with fright. She couldn't stop her knees from shaking, and she prepared to die, for she felt this was the end. The time passed slowly. Every discomfort she experienced lasted for an eternity. She felt like she was waiting to breathe, and feared imagining herself out of this for fear she'd lose her life. And she feared thinking she'd lose her life, for fear of facing the possibility. She felt numb and time was endless.

Eventually, the vehicle stopped, and they led her out of it and one man hustled her into a building. Perhaps, it was a house.

She heard one man talking to someone. "We bring she."

Silence.

Then the man spoke again. "I taking back de car now." Meriam heard his footsteps recede, and the door clicked close.

"So. Who did you tell?

Meriam froze. She thought the voice sounded familiar. "I didn't tell anyone... anything."

"Don't lie to me."

She heard footsteps approaching and moments later, they stopped in front of her as hands reached her blindfold and pulled it over her head.

Meriam froze, holding her breath.

Standing before her was Aarav, his face tense and unsmiling.

She stood in an open room with a few chairs. Looking through the parted curtains, she saw coconut trees. She could not have gone far. Maybe they'd gone to Point Fortin and returned, she thought.