"I promise I will keep it a secret."
He dropped the axe from his hand, cradling my face within his bloody hands and stared at me for long. I shifted my weight from one foot to another when he stared at me with too much intensity for way too long. I hadn't gotten much attention from boys to know what his intense stare meant but what I did understand that there was something wrong with it. The eery feeling crept up through my body but I could do nothing about it but to stare into his soulless eyes.
He smiled, a small smile that showed off his pearly white teeth. His smile wasn't one that you would give to your friend but one you would give to someone when you knew something that they hadn't. "Good," he said as he focused on his index finger as he trailed it along my jawline in thought. I shivered when my mind imagined the amount of blood that covered my face from his touches and almost gagged when the smell of human blood clogged up my senses that I could even taste it. It was ugly and I wanted him to stop so that I could wipe it off but I had to patient because a man who was like him had to be respected. You can't disturb a murderer when he was in his element because you could be his next victim and I didn't want that.
"I have a feeling that we're going to meet each other soon," he whispered into my ear as he held me into his arms. My heart raced at that, wishing it were just a joke that he said to all of the witnesses but something in the back of my mind also wondered if he already plotted to meet me again, which was highly unlikely since he hadn't known my name or anything important that could sift me from the large crowd. Even when I listed all the odds, there was just something that told me that he was speaking the truth. "I need to go, darlin'. Till we meet again." He said as he walked towards a dark car at the end of the alley and kicked the lifeless body with a laugh.
I wiped the hot tears that fell from my face when I heard the car speed off after he jumped into it whilst singing a song. "Oh, Lord." I whispered as I fell onto the dirty ground of the alley replaying the events that happened. "Oh my God," I repeated as I rubbed off all the blood from my face that was mixed with my tears with my shirt sleeves.
I don't know how long I sat in the same position, repeating the same words and sobbed. I cried until I felt my throat dry up, my face heat up and my head throbbing in pain. After a few minutes of sitting in silence, I stood up from the ground, dusted myself off from the dirty substances that came from the gound and walked to the end of the alley- where the murderer left as well.
"I'm sorry," I said to the lifeless man as I jumped over him and walked away. I didn't know why I apologised to him. He might of been from the gang that the murderer came from and done some horrible things that were way worse than what I saw today. He might have deserved his painful death because of his past sins but no matter what he had done, he shouldn't have went through that torture. I'm sure that a gunshot to the head would have given the same satisfaction to the killer. Why go all the way to axing someone to death? Who deserved such a treatment?
My mind kept on replaying the events and the man who orchestrated my soon-to-be nightmares. I have never seen him before. He seemed like he was from a wealthy family, his expensive designer suit and the beautiful black car that pulled up gave that impression. A man like him was always in the spotlight because he wanted to flaunt his wealth, it was normal in this town to do so but this man was never in any show which was frustrating. I wanted to know who he was so that my curiosity could be fulfilled.
I was relieved when I saw the quaint 3 bedroom bricked home. My family was a well off middle-class family, with a mother who was a nurse in a private hospital and my father an accountant for black businesses. Due to their professions, they had provided me with whatever I wanted and enrolled me in the best school. Their high status within the society put pressure on me to be like them or even better so I studied longer until my average reached 95.
I ran into the home, not caring that I threw my bag in a random spot and left the front door open in the middle of the night. "Mama," I scream out into the quiet home. "Mama," I scream once again as I ran around the house looking for her as my eyes blurred again from knowing that my mother will comfort me the way I needed her to. My parents jumped in fright from their slumber when they heard my screaming as I banged their bedroom door open.
"What's wrong?" My mother asked as she jumped out of the bed and rushed towards me. I opened my mouth to speak but all that came out was jumbled nonsense as I began to cry. "What happened to you? Why do you have blood on you?" My mother's breath hitched when she looked over my profile. I'm sure that there was alot going through her mind right now and my sobbing seemed to increase her distress. "Lorna, you need to stop crying so we can know what's going on?"
"I saw a man murdering another man in the alley, ma." I said when my sobs stopped and I looked at the wall in thought. I could hear the hitch of my mother's breath and could feel her body freeze up since her hands still comforted me. The room became quiet, nobody breathed, nobody talked as they tried to take in the information that I gave. "I took a shortcut because it was late and I saw this weird man killing another with an axe. There was so much blood." My hands covered my eyes as the images flashed across me. "He touched me. He touched me on my face with his bloody hands and..."
"We should call the police," my mother said after she tried to calm me down from my hysteria. "This is crazy. What has become of this city where killings are just normalised?" I shook my head in horror as I moved away from her embrace.
"We can't call the police."
"Why not?" My mother was fuming, I could tell from the way her foot tapped aggressively against the tile and the grip on her clothing tightened the more time passed. I needed her to understand the consequences. It was already bad that the police were as useful as newborn babies but telling police would result in the publication of the scene and it would bring him back, I knew it would.
"He made me promise that I would keep it a secret after he killed him."
"So what you made a promise? You can't take someone like that seriously, Lorna. We have to report this, this is the only way that you will be free. Don't you want to have that peace of mind when you leave the house to know that a ruthless murderer is behind bars?" She stopped pacing, rushing towards me with a delicate smile. "Just call them, baby, and tell them what happened. If that's too scary for you, just tell them anonymously and tell them to not broadcast it. I promise that nothing will happen to you."
My heart softened when I looked into my mother's teary eyes but I couldn't do it, not with the threat repeating in my mind. There were more cons than pros with this plan. "Daddy, what should I do?" I turned towards my father, hoping that he would guide me into the right choice.
"Do what you want, baby. Whatever decision you make, we will support it." I groaned at that. It was typical that my father never really gave you any direct advise, he allowed you to make decisions, make mistakes but always supported everything that I done. It was both a blessing and a curse.
"Okay, I'll call the police."
