Hard Luck

chapter 1 Normal Life

"...you are fired! ..."

"You can't fire me! "

"Why?"

"Because i quit"

I stormed out of Mr. Jones' office, angry, at whom or what I'm not sure, but definitely not at Jones. He's done the best he can for me. Maybe I'm mad at life itself, because it hasn't been fair to me. Then a little voice in my head, which I think is from my good side, my selfless side, I couldn't help but give a faint grin of sarcasm at the latter, the selfless part. "Nature has its own way of doing things". As I enter the apartment which I've always promised to move out of, but never got the chance to. Briefly interrupted by the beautiful layout of the rooms, from the art work to the orderliness of everything, but my favourite was the living area, i dove into its comfortable sofa, my eyes moving around the carefully placed paintings on the wall, the one that always drew my attention was that of the landscapes. Then i resume my thoughts, like some kind of paused movie. "Let's see, I never knew my parents, grew up... "on the streets, the longest I've ever been in a job is three weeks.

"And you think life hasn't been fair to you?" interrupts Aisha

The friend, the mother, the sister, The one who had given me a place to stay, when i first moved to "Frinna" from "Kobra" a small town also in "Drachi". She's kind, honest, the strongest i know and a career woman.

"Hey you" i said with my widest grin.

"Hakeem, What is it, this time?" she asked with a somewhat sardonic expression on her face.

We both couldn't help but let out a burst of laughter.

Then with a straight face i said "lost my job..... Again"

"Aaww". With a facial expression which is like a mother to her baby.

She reached to me and gave me a hug and as we held each other i saw a reflection of a man with a gun aimed at us in a louver glass, instinctively i screamed down, and as we go down, shots were fired. We moved from the living area hiding behind anything that could shield us from the gun shots. Finally we settled behind the kitchen counter, which felt like the safest place to be at that moment.

"Are you okay?". I asked her.

"I'm fine". She replied

"Shit"

"What is it?" she inquired

"Do you have your phone here?"

"No" she answered with an expression of fear in its crude form. I couldn't help but to unleash my male protective instinct. "We both couldn't be afraid at the same time, at least one of us should be brave for the both of us, and that person should be me," I thought.

"Wait here so i can try and get to my phone, so we can call the cops and find a way out of here". i instructed, and she nodded with tears running down her cheeks. I held her head up gently by the chin, looking straight into her eyes, and with my most sincere honesty, i told her, "we are going to be fine. I promise."

I turned to check whether the man is close.

"Hakeem!" I turned to face her again, and then she said

"i trust you".

I nodded and turned back. What she said stirred up thought in my head.

She trusts me? No one has ever said that to me before. "Focus Hakeem" I pinched myself back to reality.

I proceeded, crawling towards my bed room; i heard sounds of someone trashing something.

I knew it was the man, so I slowly straightened up, tip toeing toward the sounds. He is in my room. I hid behind the door, peeping through the key hole, trying to see what was going on and it seemed like he was searching for something. Breaking everything, wondering what he was looking for when my mind hit on what, a crazy guy told me, when I first moved here about a year ago, regarding my "medallion". At least that's what he called it. "They will come for it, for you, for the medallion", and the series of crazy dreams I've been having over and again every night, about a woman giving me the "medallion". "It will protect you." It felt so real almost as if it was a memory.

A buzzing sound interrupts me, and then i realized that I've held on tight to the medallion around my neck and quickly I release my grip on it.

"No, he's still alive"....

"No medallion."

"Are you sure he is the one?"

"Okay".

The phone call I heard, it couldn't help but to stir up multiple questions in my head, with feelings of confusion and uncertainty

Who was at the other end of the phone?

What do they want with me and my medallion?

Let me get out of this first.

A beep drew his attention towards my direction.

Shit, it's my phone, in the living area.

To be continued............