CHAPTER SIX: A PAINFUL REMINDER

The other girl wasn’t with them—what was her name again?

Of course. He finally remembered. Natasha

As he sat in silence, listening to them talk, he began to understand why she hadn’t joined them, the numb expression on their faces. It had something to do with an assault of some sort, but then he berated himself not to concern himself with her—she was not his concern.

Landry noticed how frequently he looked in their direction. “Are you okay?”

He turned to look at him. “What?”

“Noticed you staring at those girls over there, and thought—”

“I only met them yesterday. In school.” He brought his voice low. Just as he listened in on their conversation, the girls could also do the same.

“You know that’s a bad idea, right?”

“The girls? Or school?”

“Both”

He didn’t answer him.

Landry took his silence to mean that he agreed. “Imagine my surprise when Cedric told me you enrolled in a college? College? How could you be so unreasonable? You’re a danger to everyone who gets close to you, including myself.”

Just then, the girls stood up and walked past. He noticed how they kept avoiding his gaze.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, and went after them. 

“Haven’t you been listening to anything I’ve been saying?” he said, slightly raising his voice so that he could hear him. “You cannot be seen with anyone?” Then he noticed some people in the park staring at him, probably wondering what he meant.

“Hey, ladies,” Kevin’s voice came from behind, startling them. “I’m sorry if I scared you girl. It wasn’t my intension,” he apologised in what they took to be the most charming voice.

“It’s okay.” Madelia cracked a nervous smile at him. “You must be Kevin?” 

He answered with a smile and an affirmative nod, and was a bit surprised at how they knew his name only a day after he met them.

“I’m Madelia,” she said and motioned towards Dreda. “—and this is my friend, Dreda.” 

Unlike Madelia, Dreda was always on her guard whenever he was around. She gave what she hoped was a convincing half-smile when he turned to look at her, which quickly vanished after the introduction was over. “What do you want?” she asked.

Kevin was taken aback by her abruptness. “Umm. About yesterday—”

“Let’s all put all of that behind us now, shall we? It’s now in the past.” She brought him short. “Any other thing you want to talk about?”

Kevin took a moment to look at Laundry, who sat looking at him with disapproval. Then he returned his gaze back on the girls. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do next.

“Thought so too.” Dreda turned away from him and continued towards the park exit. “Let’s go, Madelia.”

“Wait.”

They stopped, but didn’t turn to face him. He walked to where they stood. He understood that they were still mad about yesterday, and wanted to explain why he behaved the way he did, but stopped himself. Instead, he said, “I overheard you girls talking about your friend. Is she alright?”

“No. She’s not.” Dreda hesitated for a moment, as if contemplating whether to go into details. “Some thugs attacked her last night. She’s presently at De Laurel hospital.”

Kevin immediately regretted asking. He would have avoided the conversation and go join Landry on the park bench. It was too late for that now. He couldn’t ignore what they’d just told him without further ruining his image. Distorting his face into a sufficiently concerned expression, he said, “I’m really sorry. How bad is it?”

“How bad is it?” Madelia said, terribly upset. “How bad is it? Six of those filthy bastards attacked her! They robbed her of all her possessions and took turns to beat her.” She was on the verge of tears, but Dreda patted her on the shoulder.

He felt a flash of dismay, his expression slowly becoming one of genuine concern. “Six of them—” he uttered breathlessly, his eyes widening.

“She’s in critical condition,” Madelia said, wiping tears off her eye with a finger. “The way they treated her was so shameful and humiliating. It is less likely that she’ll ever live a normal life again.”

“Can you take me to her?” he said, surprising himself.

###

A nurse escorted them to the room Natasha was receiving treatment. The hospital room was sizable with a transparent window the size of a whiteboard. The bed sat low on the ground; the frame bearing signs of rust, and on it laid Natasha.

She lay unconscious. IVs, heart monitors, and oxygen tanks were attached to her. There were multiple bruises across her face, and her upper lip looked swollen. She seemed to be in a critical condition. The steady beeping from the monitor was the only indication of life.

While Dreda and Madelia went in, Kevin waited outside, standing in front of the window which gave him a full view of the room inside. Even though they had insisted that he come in with them, he had bluntly refused. 

Glancing at her swollen lips brought back painful memories of the past—a past that always seemed to haunt him at every eerily similar event. A tear spilled on his cheek as his brain went over what had happened a year ago.

Kevin looked over at T-Murek, a puzzled look on his face. Loretta had been missing for two days. He wondered who T-Murek was and how she’d ended up with him. When he looked at Loretta, he saw that she was fast asleep as she stood there with both hands tied to the pole. T-Murek, clearly impressed, came and stood beside her, smiling at him. Then he punched her face squarely, breaking her nose.

Loretta came awake with an awful groan, her lips swollen, and blood dripping slowly from her broken nose. T-Murek cupped her jaw, forcing her to look straight at his face. She whimpered as he squeezed her jaw, intensifying the pain she felt from her broken nose.

          “No, no—” T-Murek smiled, leaning forward. “We wouldn’t want that sobbing once we have begun.”

He walked to a table in the corner of the room. Placed on top were several medical tools; a scalpel, a syringe, some long needles, a knife, a bowl containing oil, and several vials. Some of them contained a white colourless liquid, and the rest contained dark fluids in it. Kevin watched him pick the gloves from the corner of the table and put them on. T-Murek took a vial, examined its contents under the light, and then turned to gaze at Kevin. 

“Ever heard of hydrofluoric acid?” he asked, pouring a little of its contents into a spoon. Faint vapour rose from the bottles as they dropped onto the spoon. “An acid listed as a weak acid yet has the ability to melt glass within minutes.” He dropped the bottle gently on the table. “Of course, it has to be kept in a special vial for its preservation.”

 T-Murek shot a glance at him while walking to where Loretta stood. “Imagine what this would do to a person’s skin,” he smirked. “Imagine what this would do to her.”

          Kevin’s eyes bulged. He sweated profusely as he watched T-Murek struggling to get Loretta to open her mouth. He cupped her cheek and squeezed her mouth to open, then emptied the spoonful into her mouth, forcing it down her throat.

Loretta gurgled and gasped as her throat burned, her cries were slowly fading. She coughed violently, sending a thin spray of crimson onto the clean white tile. Thereafter, she became choked by the endless stream of blood that gushed from her mouth, her eyes wide and wild. Huffing and puffing, she struggled to breathe. Tears flowed from her bloodshot eyes, and her breath fell short. 

He turned to Kevin. “First, it will burn her tongue, then the acid will flow down her throat and severe her windpipe. Her voice box would be damaged in the process. At this point, she would feel intense pain down her oesophagus. She’s going to have difficulty breathing, and will lose her ability to speak permanently.”

T-Murek turned to look at Loretta with so much excitement. He watched her breathe noisily, her chest heaving rapidly. Her insipid eyes were staring down at the linoleum. Tears spilled over her cheek. His expression showed he enjoyed every bit of it.

 T-Murek turned to look at him, a wide smile on his face. “Imagine feeling this much pain and yet having no real way of expressing it. All she can do right now is spill tears until she has none left. Good thing I didn’t give her too much of it, else it would have killed her right away.”

He came too close to Kevin and spoke to his face. “—and we wouldn’t want that, would we?” he muttered, smiling mischievously.

Kevin glared at him, the tears in his eyes blurring the darkroom from his sight. He had never felt this helpless in his entire life. As he forced his arms to relax, he felt the belt go slack.