Poison Rose

CH-3 Another Knock

3 days had passed since they last saw Mark. All they knew was that the loan sharks had paid a menacing visit to their home. The exact conversation between Mark and them remained a mystery to both Amara and Liora.

Amara took a break from work. Her primary focus now was on finding her husband, her better half unharmed. She wanted to find him as she had always remembered him: with a beating heart, smiling face and free of bruises or wounds.

Liora, too, had abandoned her school, choosing to stay by her mother's side, offering what little comfort and support she could.

The night of Mark's disappearance, Amara rushed to the police station. She clutched the missing person's photo in her trembling hands as she approached the front desk.

"Please, I need your help," she pleaded with the officer on duty. "My husband, Mark, has gone missing. Someone came home and took him away."

The officer barely glanced up from his paperwork. "Ma'am, you need to calm down. Maybe he just needed some space."

Amara's voice wavered with frustration. "Space? He wouldn't just leave without telling me. Something's wrong. Please file the report."

Another officer, overhearing the conversation, chimed in. "Did you check if he might have run off with another woman? It happens more often than you'd think."

Amara's face flushed with anger. "Mark would never do that! This isn't about some affair. He's missing, and I'm telling you, we heard a knock, and someone came home, and since then, he has been missing. Please, I beg you, please find him." 

The hopes of police helping her find her husband had turned into a heartbreaking disappointment.

She went to the police station for two days. But none of the officers were willing to file her complaint. They dismissed her concerns. Mark's current financial state only added to that list of excuses.

Despite Amara's earnest explanations about the harassment they faced from loan sharks, the authorities refused to take her seriously or lend a listening ear.

The police were annoyed with Amara's constant visits every few hours. Finally, they asked her to give some proof of harassment and paperwork that could prove her brother-in-law took all the money and ran away or took money from loan sharks.

Sven had vanished, taking everything with him. Mark had placed unwavering trust in his brother, never bothering to ask for any documentation.

The neighbours, who had witnessed the events unfold, refused to even engage in conversation with Amara, let alone consider becoming witnesses to the tragic situation they were facing, was out of the question.

With a heavy heart, Amara walked out of the police station. She paused and cast one final glance through the glass door.

When she looked at the glass door, she saw a physical barrier between her and justice.  She's on one side, trying to reach out for help, while the system remains indifferent on the other side.

As a last resort, she tried to reach her relatives for help, both hers and Mark's, but that also led to silence and rejection. Each call she made was met with a blocked number, and every attempt to meet them in person resulted in more insult and humiliation.

After hellish days, sitting on the front porch, Amara gazed up at the sky where God was said to reside. Tears filled her eyes, silently complaining to the one she believed in,

"Why has the whole universe turned its back on us?"

Her tears wouldn't stop any sooner. Her eyes were swollen, yet the sorrow seemed endless. She could cry forever, and yet, there might not be enough tears to ease the pain inside her.