Chapter 47

"Rachael," Vivian said the name casually. Vivian took notice of how Charles' face had ran out of blood when his eyes met her. He still feared her like he should've.

Rachael was working her mouth. No sound came out. She knew what to say, but her tongue felt like the world sat on it.

At first she had had doubts that Steve would really do such a thing to her. Her anger from the night had left. Seeing Vivian at his house reopened the tap of her wrath. The truth was standing right before her.

The reason that Steve spoiled her wedding— because of a crazy girl that rejected him in the University of Liberia, UL— was the main thing that unleashed the anger in her. It was just stupid.

"So it's true?" Rachael managed to say after several minutes of speechlessness. "You're even staying at his house."

Vivian didn't know what to say. She didn't know what exactly Rachael was talking about. Being quiet is very essential, especially when you don't understand. It pays. She had learned that over the years of her existence.

Vivian's eyes went from Rachael to Charles, asking him the question: what is she talking about. He turned away immediately. The discomfort was clear in his posture and on his face.

Rachael didn't want to talk to Vivian. Seeing Vivian's face made her angry. She didn't want to see the woman who spoiled her wedding. She had thousand of reasons to hate Vivian. And she hated her for all of them.

"Where is Steve?" She asked, walking past Vivian into the house. Vivian glared at Charles when Rachael went in. He shrugged innocently.

Rachael didn't see Steve inside, so she came back. Her steps were heard in the hallway as she walked back to the front door.

"Where is Steve?" She asked Vivian directly this time, filled with adrenaline. She had to hold herself from pulling out Vivian's hair. She was an educated woman. Too, educated for fist fights.

"He went to jog," she replied, rolling her eyes, after a while. "What do you want Rachael?" It was her time to ask that exact same question they had all asked her on the wedding.

Rachael looked at her from head to toe then walked out of the house without saying another word to Vivian. She didn't want to talk to that woman. She wasn't going to gain anytime by talking to her. All she did was remind her about what she did on her wedding.

Charles gave Vivian one last look before following Rachael to the car waiting for them. The bodyguard opened the door,  then closed it when Charles got in. He had given Vivian another uncomfortable look before getting in.

"Weirdos," Vivian murmured, rolling her eyes. She sighed and went back into the kitchen to start making breakfast for them. She hadn't asked Steve what he liked for breakfast so she had to use her discretion.

♦️♦️♦️♦️

Jane Redd, after having a long, terrible day, decided to attend the first mass of church. She didn't usually go to church, but she wanted to go to church that particular Sunday.

The point that her life was at, she knew that anything could happen anytime. She needed her salvation. She needed to ask God to forgive all her sins. Heaven and hell, she had been told, was real. And the only way to salvation was through Jesus Christ as it is stated in John 14:6, she had also been told.

When working with bad people, always know that bad things are inevitable. You could even die in the process.

Aware of the mistake she had made, Jane knew that something bad was going to happen to her. She didn't know what exactly Benjamin was going to do to her when she is found. She just had to stay away from him for the time being. She wasn't hiding. Just staying low-key.

Dressed in a satin, white dress, black heels and bag, and a light makeup, Jane walked out of her house into her garage. She greeted her neighbors from across the street who were also going to church.

She put the key in the ignition hole and turned it. The car made a loud choking noise until she stopped forcing the key to turn. She did it again. And again. And again. Then she gave up.

Something finally told her that the car was not going to start. She had to find another  way to get herself to church. What baffled her was the car had been just fine when she parked it in the garage yesterday.  It didn't give any problem on the way home.

Believe in salvation. Believe in eternal suffering. The two work together like the four wheels of a car. They were parallel. As long as you believe in heaven, you had to believe in hell. Hell technically makes you believe in heaven. If there wasn't hell, you wouldn't give a shit about your way to heaven, would you?

Do good, you go heaven. Do bad, you still go heaven. Who will even care about doing good if there was no hell. So a choice had to be given. Do good, you go heaven. Do bad, you find your ass kissing the devil's butt.

Jane had that strong feeling that the devil didn't want her to go to church. He didn't want her to get her salvation. He wanted her to suffer with him eternally. That was what he wanted. She wasn't going to let that happen.

She got down from the car and walked out of the garage onto the driveway. Then she took a right turn on the pedestrian Street. The road was empty. The neighborhood quiet.

Jane hadn't walked fifty yards or completed her block when a black van stopped right next to her. The door opened. She took notice of the rifle pointed straight at her chest.

"Get in," Benjamin said, putting the cigarette to his mouth.

Rio already had the magazine of the rifle in place. His hand was eased on the trigger. He was ready to shot at any moment. All she had to do was one stupid thing that was going to be the last stupid thing that she was ever going to do.

Running would be the most stupid thing  a person would think about, especially when they had a .22 caliber pointed at their chest. The bullet could travel around 1.5 miles in 12,000 foot altitude.

The body works very systematically. The brain has to transfer the message, taking few seconds, to the muscles, then the muscles take few seconds to perform the action. A bullet works faster than the body system.

Jane looked left. She didn't have much of a distance to run into her house. But she didn't have much time either. She looked right, she still had a long way ahead of her. If she'd run, she wouldn't take five steps before the bullet reach her.

She got into the van. The door was closed by another guy. They drove away.

The devil indeed didn't want her to get her salvation.

♦️♦️♦️♦️

Saturday morning, Jeremy had waken up on the most comfy mattress he had ever slept on in his entire life. Sunday morning, he woke up in a hay, in a barn that smell like horse urine and shit.

There wasn't any horse in the barn. The place still smell fresh with urine and shit, but the horses had been moved to another barn during the raining season so the roof could be fixed.

The barn door opened. For a minute, all Jeremy could see was a pasture. He didn't know where he was. One of the maniacs who had kidnapped him brought a tray in his hand. He placed the tray down and ordered Jeremy to eat.

"Rice and Stew? I don't want that!" He said loudly. He never wanted anything since he came. He was hungry but didn't want to eat. "Infact, don't you know what hygiene is? Do you expect a human to eat  in this place that smells less stinker than you?" He yelled behind the man who kept ignoring him. The man walked out. Locked the doors again.

Jeremy was alone in the barn with only the light from the sun creeping through the small window. He began to cry again in panic.

What did they want from him? What was they going to do to him? He didn't know.

He missed his grandparents, Rachael, Thomas, and Gibson. Jeremy hoped that they were looking for  him. He wished Thomas could find him already. Thomas was tall, strong and brave. Though he wasn't built than any of those men, Jeremy believed Thomas could kick their asses.

He didn't depend on his grandparents. They were old and didn't even know where he had been on Saturday. He didn't depend on Rachael. She was a woman. As for Gibson, he had already seen what those men could do to him with just one blow. So Thomas was his only hope.

Jeremy stared at the rice and Stew and the water on the tray. In the movies, or book, the food would have been spilt by the character. But Jeremy was in real life. He knew those men weren't going to give him food if he waste the one they brought. So he started to eat.

The food tasted like it had been cooked a week ago. It was hot. Like it just came out of the microwave.

"I hate all of you!" He yelled so loud, hoping they could hear him. "My best friend, Thomas, is going to whup all of you smelling pigs. That's a promise, assholes."

His grandma would have glared at him if she had been there, he knew. But she wasn't there, so he was free to use any word on those maniacs.

First it was his aunt, now it was strange men that he didn't know. What did they want from him? He was only a kid.