Dream Catcher

Chapter 13

Amani sat leaning against the nicotine-brown brick wall, with the gore splattered over her. She scrambled as her blood started to pool and mix with the woman's.

" Told you so. It was simply for your safety. Clearly not mine.", Ruben mocked.

The fishy taste of the woman's blood was disgusting. The icy wind blew the single light globe, circling lazily on the ceiling which was blocked with pre-molded industrial leaking pipes. Ruben stooped low to the woman, crouching next to her. His serpentine eyes studied the woman intently. He clicked his tongue and reached his hand into her pockets. Her hips wobbled lifeless into her blood as he dug his fingers to pull out spare cash, coins and an electric lighter. He stood up and poked the woman with his feet all over her back to her calves. She joggled like a slaughtered cow.

Amani felt dread twist in her gut. A yucky pong of the forest pertains the room. Lizards skittered across the crumbling plastered walls. The room homed tall gawky shadows.

A heavy click of the door whipped their attention. A man stood slender, looking like a rag-a-bone in too-short trousers and a grey-flecked hoodie. His leonine eyes scowl at the scene under his grimy olive hair. The idea that he might be with Ruben, the brawny sculpted hunk, was almost laughable.

" Awh! Man. Should've kept her!" he cried. He looked 28-something to Amani.

" She was beyond help " Ruben claimed.

" How do you know that before we test her? " the man retorted, evidently frustrated. " I am sick of cleaning this mess. I am not bioremediation! "

" I decide she was incompetent. And you do as I say," Ruben spoke pulling his words as he emptied the barrel of the shotgun.

The man clicked a light switch, cheap sconces illuminated the room. A mango hue crept their skins. The threadbare carpet on the left corner played host to an unturned table and two chairs with loose handles.

" Who are you? " the man asked, taking careful steps down the creaking staircase.

Amani almost didn't know how to answer this grotesque unpretentious approach.

" Marcelina's aunt, " Ruben answered as if he was forced.

" Hey, I am Haruki. I work for Ruben., " he gently smiled at her with a crinkle of the eye, offering his hand.

Ruben laughed an unabashed bark. 

" Where is Marci?" Amani accused.

" Oh! She's been passed out on the couch upstairs. You can come to see her! ", Haruki volunteered to guide her.

Unknown panic surged through Amani as her eyes widened,

" sound asleep, I mean, " Haruki corrected himself quickly.

Ruben bent over and coiled the fingers away from the plump grip of the woman from the handle. He lifted the baseball bat and nodded to himself, impressed after a thorough examination. He rolled the bat towards Amani. " Here, it's yours. You earned it. "

The bat had three sharp blades of a machete knocked into its barrel. She lifted the bat into her hand, it was a lot heavier compared to how easily the woman whirled it around.

Amani lifted herself up, and she attentively followed, dragging the end cap on the bat behind her.

" She is my daughter, you know? ", Ruben propped his hands on his hips. " Now you be careful. Because as far as I know, I wouldn't think twice to get rid of you. "

Amani swiftly turned to face Ruben, leveling his eyes to her's.

" There is a reason why she is with me. Because her father abandoned her and tried to kill her mother. Now her mother is missing. She is just another forgetful case in this chaos. All because of him" Amani mouthed her words. " And I very well get to decide that you are incompetent, " she mimicked him. Walking away, trailing Haruki.