Fallen: Gates of Madness

Chapter I: The Coming of the Mad Hatter

  It was a quiet night, a full moon loomed on the horizon, a few stars shone brightly, a few crickets chirped in the distance, and the wind blew a gentle breeze. Nothing gave hint of the fear that would befall the small community along the Congo in Ingende, Africa.

Derartu Mtala the known drunk of the community was once a gain beating his wife, driven by the night's alcohol fuelled rage. Having received a handsome amount of money from a white man he had met while taking out the cattle to pasture, he had never seen this person before. He wore an all-white suite; which looked totally out of place in the dusty roads of the fields, yet not a single speck of dust or dirt could be seen on his attire, the man just instructed him to leave a briefcase in the middle of the town where Mtala leaves

"Make sure to Place it in Full view when your neighbors awake tomorrow"

the man said in fluent Bantu, the local language, which impressed Derartu not having seen many white men being able to speak their language let alone speak it fluently, in exchange the man gave him money and just left. Mtala being a chronic Alcoholic who enjoyed his alcohol was also a notorious thief and can never be trusted with any amount of money let alone a shiny and expensive looking metallic briefcase.

He took the money along with the briefcase with him laughing at his good fortune to be able to have such luck land before him and at the stupid white man to have offered such amounts of money and trusting him with his valuables that might be sold at a hearty price. He brought the briefcase home with him having had trouble opening it.

He went off to buy himself the object of his fantasy, a bottle of cheap gin sold at a nearby store. He started his nightly binge drinking until finally the spirit of the alcohol compelled him to hit his wife, to beat her, to harm her for being useless to him.

His wife, Fatima a frail woman who had not yet finished any primary education in her youth lived with her abusive husband for 15 long years, enduring the nightly beating and curses yelled upon her by Derartu. She felt powerless while being hit repeatedly by her husband.

But something was off about her husband tonight which she observed after he had finished hitting her, he went into the small kitchen of their house carrying with him a briefcase and went on trying to open the case using a screwdriver, a hammer and even the rusty old knife, but the case stood firm never budging from its locks until finally Derartu fell asleep.

Watching all this Fatima, after cleaning her newly acquired wounds, slowly stood up from the chair she sat from wiping her tear smeared face with the sleeves of her torn dress and slowly edged her way toward her sleeping husband.

One thing that years of abuse had not taken away from Fatima was her curiosity, which in sometimes led to additional beating from her "beloved" husband.

She took from her sleeping husband's side the briefcase that he tried to open. She went back to the living room to examine the case. The metallic case looked alien to Fatima with its sleek metallic features and cold surface, stranger still the markings on the front of the case, two letters intertwined with each other, not being able to read she never understood what the letters M.H. meant.

Fatima tried to open the case, she tried lifting the lid, but it did not open.

She was just about to give up when heard a clicking sound coming from the case in front of her, filled with refreshed curiosity, she held the handle and she tried again.

That's when she felt the sharp stabbing pain creeping up on her fingers. She let the case fall to the floor and stared at her fingers, a drop of bright red blood was forming on the tip of her Right index finger.