RAIN DANCE

One

 

As far as I could tell all the lights were off in the building where my father worked. I wanted to see dad before heading home, maybe even catch a ride with him. I waited outside for a little while gathering courage as I watched Jason drive away and around the corner where he disappeared. Asking my dad for permission to go to a party while mum was around meant that I wouldn’t go -  that much was fact. The topic would go into a discussion which, from experience, meant dad would lose no matter what he said to support me. Mum had a way of getting dad to reason better. Praying that my divide-and-conquer plan would work, I sighed and walked into the building.

This was a dream, of course; a nightmare, to be precise. The actual incident had happened two years prior this night. I was getting my head around being finally sixteen, which meant everything to me and absolutely nothing but headaches to my parents. Every so often I revisited this night, I guess because it was the night I stared death in the face. Well, not quite so literally. I faced the great possibility of it when a gun was pulled to my head and my petty, short life flashed before my eyes. I could feel my blood running cold but it didn’t bother me half as much as the fact that my dad didn’t rescue me as I had hoped.

I must admit I really wanted to see my dad to ask him to go to a party and that’s pretty much all I thought as the events unfolded. Come to think of it, the only reason I wanted him to rescue me was because I really wanted to go to the party. Irrelevant in the face of death but I guess at sixteen it was acceptable. But that’s not why I was bothered. Dad is always there for me whenever I’m in trouble. I suppose so many years of seeing him as my hero can do that. All I could think about as my heart galloped in my chest and almost out my mouth was that dad was going to come in and tell me it was a bad dream or at least save me and clear the mess I’d walked into.

Because I knew what awaited me as I walked into the building, this being a dream and all, I felt a huge sense of dread. I took each step hesitantly. The breath got caught in my throat and for what felt like an eternity, the only parts of me functioning were my legs and accelerating blood pump. The rest of me felt like I was awake but my mind had me trapped in this bad place. I could hear voices now, voices I hadn’t heard on the actual day. They were talking but I couldn’t tell what it was they were saying, I think it was a different language or maybe it was just the dream. And they say growing up in a multilingual society is awesome! I thought to myself. Out of not so much as curiosity as just the general direction of the dream, I walked to the office with the door slightly open. That’s where the noises were coming from. I stopped at the door and peered inside.

I guess we don’t have as much control in our dreams as we’d like to think because this time I felt him coming from behind me. I could hear his footsteps, smell him and I could even hear his quick breaths. I knew I had to escape but I only felt fully able to move when his hand grabbed my shoulder. At that moment, the familiar heart-stopping fear swept over me. My mouth flew open, intending to scream as loud as I could, but all the came out was a soundless gasp.
“Look what we have here.” The masked man shouted. He shoved me into the office. It was then that I saw the other masked man talking on the phone. The third voice I’d heard was a man on the other end of the line through the speaker. So I was facing two masked men; Boss, the man who’d found me at the door (The name came from the fact that he smelt like a Boss deodorant my uncle used) and Ay, the other masked man in the room.     
”Where did you get her?” Ay finally asked. I was looking at the ajar safe in the wall off the office. It was clearly a robbery.
“She was playing detective by the door.” Boss explained, his hand massaging my shoulder. The feeling of his strong fingers massaging my bare flesh was the most repulsive feeling I’d ever gotten.
“Do you work here?” Ay asked, I assumed that was directed to me so I shook my head. “So what are you doing snooping around?”
“My dad…” I said. The words were barely audible. I was petrified
“Well, you can call me ‘daddy’ if you want.” Boss whispered into my ear. His hand slid to my neck and at that moment I truly wanted to die knowing what was running through his mind.
“This is not the time for that.’ Ay spat from across the room. “We’ll find you a call girl on the way home. Let’s just gather the stuff and leave.”
“Come on. I’ll be a few minutes.” Boss protested. I couldn’t stop the tears streaming down my face.
“My dad…” I said again. This time it was in sobs
“We’re done here. Just tie her up and let’s go.” A said his tone heavy with annoyance.
“You’ve always been a killjoy, Ay” That’s why I call him Ay; Boss called him that on the night. I caught that even as Boss stood in front of me, his eyes mentally undressing me. He traced my lips with his finger and I could hear him smile. “You’ll have your turn when I’m done.”

That was when I lost it. I couldn’t imagine these jerks having their hands all over me. Suddenly, as though the anger had renewed my strength, I kicked Boss where, according to television, it hurt most. The plan was to distract him so that I could run away but he recovered faster than I expected. I was by the door when he caught me by the hair and flung me around to face him. I screamed in pain. Obviously, I hadn’t hit him hard enough for the desired effect.
“Nice try.” He commended me, like it was some kind of move in a sick game. Before I could apologize and beg, he slapped me and I flew across the room. The slap didn’t hurt as much as when my back hit the corner of a filing cabinet.
‘Hey!’ Ay shouted. “Hey! Leave her alone. Play time is over, we have work to do.”
“No, this one deserves to be taught a lesson.” Boss dragged me by the legs, ignoring my kicking and screaming.
“Stop it!” This time Ay was attempting to restrain his partner. Then in a painful blink of an eye, a gun was being pointed at me.
“What the hell are you doing?!” Ay screamed
“I told you, she needs to be set straight. She has seen and heard too much.” Boss said coolly. His hand was steady, his eyes were threatening. This was no bluff. He was going to pull the trigger without as much as a second thought.  
“You’re not serious. She’s a kid for Pete’s sake!”
“So? As you said; we have to go. The little slat tried to make me infertile.” Boss said without taking his cold stare off my face.
“Put the gun away. Look at her, she’s really sorry. She probably won’t be able to speak after this.” Ay said
“After I’ve done my job. No loose ends, remember? She’s a loose end.”

I watched him lower the gun to my heart and then after a second back to my head. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited. I waited for the peace that accompanies death to envelope me. I wondered if it would hurt for long. Then I thought about Lizzy, my sister in all intents and purposes. She had to face every day with this feeling. But she carried this burden so well, with a smile on her face…always. The idea of dying in these few minutes was so heavy, crushing me in an unexplainable torture. I found new respect for Lizzy that night. I also found myself wishing I could see her, tell her goodbye. I’ve always loved her ever since the first time I saw her. And then I heard it.
Bang!

For a second I wondered if it was like lightning. If you hear the thunder it means you weren’t struck by the lightning. Was that the way it was with being shot in the head? I opened my eyes, drenched in sweat. I sat up in my bed as I remembered hearing Ay’s pained voice saying “I’m sorry.” I rubbed my eyes and tried to catch my breath. The light was coming into our room. Just a few more minutes and mum would be coming to wake me up.
What a way to slip into a new day…