Hello Beautiful!!

PART THREE- HOPE

TRIGGER WARNING: INSTANCES OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE
"Take the boy upstairs," The leader commanded his scrawny colleague who glanced at me briefly, almost apologetically, as he took my brother upstairs.
"Remove your clothes," He commanded, staring at me with leering eyes that sent a shiver of disgust running down my spine.
"What the hell? No!" I retorted angrily.
Suddenly, I felt a change in the air as his palm came flying at me, slapping me across my face. My neck reeled to the side as my cheek throbbed painfully. I bit back my tears and turned to face him, spitting blood from my mouth and onto the carpeted floor.
"I was not asking, girl!" He growled, in an almost animalistic manner that evoked terror in me. My heart pounded furiously as I felt my ears burn at the embarrassment of taking my clothes off in front of some stranger, a rogue and villain who had entered into my house unwelcome.
As I slowly took off the socks on my feet, cringing in embarrassment and shame as I did. From his mask, I could see his eyes lustily exploring every inch of my body. It took everything in me to not gag and retch in irritation.
A teardrop fell from my eyes as I shakily took my sports bra off, leaving my small, perky breasts on display for him.
More tears followed as I removed my sweatpants and was left bare, except for the boy shorts I wore.
I had been reading about many cases such as this from the time I began watching serial killers and crime documentaries but never for once had I imagined that it would happen to me.
The next minutes were hell for me. For most of it, I had buried my consciousness in a happy memory of when me, my brother and my mom went to see the Buckingham palace and many other tourist sites in London. My mother had been over the top, buying almost everything the tourists' shop owned and my brother had run off to play and feed some ducks that we had come across earlier.
The memory put a happy smile on my face, shielding me from the violation that was happening to my body. When he was finished, he buckled his trousers and ordered me to the bathroom to wash up.
Shakily, I rose from the couch, my center aching with each step I took.
After using the bathroom, I spotted the scrawny kid with my brother and knew that if I didn't approach him at that moment, I would not get another chance to.
"Hey, excuse me. Can I talk to you for one moment?" I called out to him from the door of my brother's bedroom. Eze shook his head at me, his eyes pleading with me to not do anything thoughtlessly.
Though my plan was a bit flawed, I had thought it out before even thinking of its execution.
"What is it?" His voice was soft and a bit shaky as if he was trying to hold back tears.
"Look," I inched closer to him as I spoke. "I know that you don't want to do this. I mean, I heard how you responded when your boss asked you to take everything you could find up here.
"Please, I need you to help us. You have your entire life ahead of you. This isn't the way to live out such a young life," I said softly as I stood right in front of him.
I could sense his resolve weakening and the wheels in his brain turning in his head. Fluidly, I took off his mask before he could realize what was happening.
I was correct in my previous analysis. He was a kid, perhaps a year or two older than I was.
He had a round baby face that screamed innocence despite the company he was involved with.
"Why did you do that?" He shrieked, snatching the mask from my hands and shoving it down his face. Without warning, he raised his gun and pointed it at my forehead.
Was I wrong? Could I have mistaken his shaky voice to have another meaning than what he had in mind?
But the manner with which he held his gun was what renewed my hope that he wouldn't shoot at me. His hand shook badly, causing the gun to not point directly at my head again.
"Get out of here," He said coldly.
"But— "I tried to say something but he wouldn't let me.
"I said, get out. Now," He said calmly but with eyes as hardened and cold as a winter night.
With a glance at my brother to remind him that everything would be fine, I marched out of the room and down the stairs, wincing as each downward step sent a painful shock from her center to her legs.
Just then, the robber who looked like he could be a champion body-builder strode into the living room with a big, black bag strung across his shoulder. He had found all the valuables my family had.
"Ready to go?" He asked the leader.
"Yes, just one little thing has to be done," The leader said as a sadistic smile spread across his face.
He whistled a high-pitched tune and a moment later, the scrawny one whose face I had seen and the robber holding my mom in the kitchen emerged.
In the blink of an eye, he raised his gun and shot my mom square in the head.
"No! Mom!" Eze and I screamed in unison, rushing forward as her body fell to the floor.
"Mom, please open your eyes. Mom!" I wailed, hugging her limp body to my chest.
I was so engrossed in trying to get my mom back that I didn't notice that the rest of the robbers had disappeared until I felt a gun's barrel at the back of my head.
Gently, I laid my mother's body on the floor and turned around slowly to meet the scrawny robber's brown eyes.
"You were right, I don't want to do this, but if I don't, then I'm done for," He said.
Where I had felt a bit of sympathy for him before, I felt nothing but pure hatred for him at that moment.
"I'm so sorry, Francine."
"Wait, how do you know— " I began to ask before I heard a gunshot go off and a white-hot pain searing through my thigh.

January 21st, 2026.
5 p.m.
I typed in the last word of the final diary entry that my therapist had told me to write to try reliving the horrible experience from seven years ago in a bid to finally move on.
I let out a huge breath as I saved the entry, but on second thought, I deleted the whole entry and shut my laptop.
I left the house I shared with my husband of two years, got into my car, and headed to The Primrose restaurant where my husband, Aaron whom I had met while I was an intern at the pharmaceutical company where I currently worked.
Aaron became a beacon of light and hope ever since he entered my life. He was a breath of fresh air to my otherwise dreary life and I loved him to bits. He had shown me so much love despite the scars I carried from my past, and because of him, this was the first time I would celebrate my birthday in seven years. As I stopped at the red lights, someone standing by the side of the road caught my eye.
That face had been ingrained in my memory for seven years since the incident. It was one I could never bring myself to forget no matter how hard I tried.
That round, baby face had matured into chiseled features but I could recognize that face anywhere. It was a face that haunted most of my nights.
However, the lights turned green and the cars behind me began to honk impatiently and before I could consider cornering him, he had crossed the road and disappeared into the streets to the right of the road.

THE END.