The Narrator
The next morning Michael and his family sat down for breakfast. As they were eating, Madelyn had her tablet open, browsing through news outlets. Every morning she would sit and enjoy breakfast with her tablet open, browsing. This time she saw something that would shock her: she read a news article about the incident where Michael and his men kidnapped Scorpion, leaving two police officers injured.
The article did not mention who the kidnappers were, for no one knew who they were. Madelyn was so intrigued by the story that she even played a video of a reporter interviewing a detective in charge of that case. She played the video aloud so everybody could hear it. Both Ayer and Michael heard the detective being interviewed saying that the police are still investigating, searching for clues on who the kidnappers were and where they took Scorpion.
"This is insane," she said, thinking out loud. "What is?" Michael asked randomly whilst knowing what shook her. "In this case, South Africa is being overrun by criminals, so get this: according to the article, a guy came forth at the Cape Town police station (CBD), claiming to be a part of a trafficking organization, which was trafficking women nationwide."
At that moment, both Nicolas and Jordyn were intrigued. "That can't be real," Jordyn said. "I'm as shocked as you, honey. Now, the article continued, saying the police attempted to investigate further on his claims, but he would not speak, nor would he give out the name of the organization he was a part of. He replied to them, saying that he would only speak directly to a judge; only then would he speak of everything he knew."
And did he? Nicolas asking his mother.
"No, in fact this is why there's this huge case on this. Apparently after he spoke to the police, they decided that he quickly needed to see a judge in a courtroom; there was no time to waste given that there's a huge number of girls being abducted daily in this country. If he knew something, then they needed the intel ASAP. So the next morning he was sent to court escorted by three police vans. Somehow the people who didn't want him speaking, the people he worked with, assumingly, were able to stop the three vans and abduct him," Madelyn said, telling all of them.
Nicolas's eyes widened. That's crazy. That's like a movie, he said, still intrigued. "That's really scary. I mean, it was already bad enough that we can't even walk alone in some spaces without being sexually assaulted in this country; now this!" Jordyn said with despair in her eyes.
Michael notices and says, "Hey, nothing will happen to you." How do you know that with everything happening in this place? Jordyn asking him. "Well, what I know is that no one is abducting my sister, never! I'll rip them into shreds like a lion viciously ripping the flesh out of its prey." Madelyn smiles, "Bro, did you not hear the story? Those guys were able to stop three police vans. How are you stopping that? Nicolas is asking Michael.
"Well, I have you, don't I? We'll be like Batman and Robin and teach those guys a lesson and rescue our sister, or are you scared?" Batman and Robin? What!? Are you crazy, of course not…?
"Oh no! He's scared, guys. Oh no, I'm alone." Michael placed his hand on his face, signaling disappointment, making Madelyn, Jordyn, and Ayer laugh.
"Michael is right, honey; nothing will ever happen to you. All you need to do is stay closer to your brothers, well, your brother," Madelyn says, making all of them laugh again.
After eating breakfast, Ayer took both Nicolas and Jordyn to school, as they went to the same school. Michael also left for work, leaving Madelyn alone in the house.
A few hours pass by, and Michael goes to Hunter's Rest, specifically where he and Ayer left Lucia. He reached her room and started knocking. After a few seconds, she opened the door, and when she saw that it was Michael, she bowed, hiding her face, saying, "My lord, please forgive me for responding so slowly to your knocks. I had no way of telling that it was you."
It is fine, you are pardoned. Can I please come in?
"Oh, please do, my lord." She moved to the side, making way for Michael; he entered. How was your sleep?
"Pleasant, my lord, the most peaceful I've had in a very long time." Michael smiles as he hears her words. Well, I am glad I came here to give you this. He hands over two large shopper carrier bags.
"Thank you so much, your grace; truly you have honored your servant," she said as her eyes widened, surprised at the fact that the king personally bought her something. Inside you will find clothes and toiletries. I didn't quite know which clothes you would like, so I picked based on my little sister's standards, and I measured you by her measurements. I'm sure they will fit you perfectly.
"Thank you, my lord; you've been too kind to me." You're welcome. Now, have you been eating? "Yes, of course, my lord, thank you; the food has been splendid," she replied to him.
Good! Well, now that I've delivered these things, I need to get going. May you hopefully have a good day. If you need anything, be sure to call room service. Michael said, walking straight to the door.
"My lord, please forgive me for being forward, but I am curiously wondering, are you always this generous?"
Huh, Generous? And what makes you think that I'm generous?
"Well, the few moments I've met you, you've been kind to me. I know men who would've reacted quite differently, who would've already done the unthinkable to me."
I suppose that I'm not like those men, but make no mistake, I am a monster capable of atrocities, but yet even with all that, I can never bring myself to hurt a child, especially one that reminds me of my own flesh and blood.
"Yesterday when you spoke to the three sisters, you said you will not deflower me at least till I come of age; will you keep your promise and deflower me then?"
Michael remained silent, battling how to answer her; finally, he replied, saying, I will do as I please,he and left her room.
On his way to the bunker, he receives a call from a private number. He wonders what this could be about but eventually answers it. "Hello," Michael said boldly, but instead there's no response from the other side. "Hello!" Michael again said aggressively, Again, silence. This angers Michael; he decides to end the call, but before he could, someone spoke from the other side, saying hello.
"Argh Hi, can I help you?" Michael answered, Yes, you can, the man said on the other side. "Okay with what exactly?" With my current problem, forgive me for not being forthcoming in respect to this conversation, but I suppose I shouldn't beat myself up so much. I am speaking to a king, after all.
Michael, during this conversation, had been walking, but after hearing the word 'king,' it shook him, making him stop walking. He replied, "Excuse me?"
You want me to resay what I just said?
"I want you to clarify what you said. I have no idea what you mean by claiming to be speaking to a king," Michael spoke, attempting to lie.
The man laughs as he hears him lying about who he is. You don't need to bluff, my king; I know who you are and what you do. Michael's heart at this point is racing just wondering, how does he know? He asked himself, "Who are you?" Michael asked him.
Well, that's the million-dollar question now, isn't it? Who am I really? Guess I would say I am nobody, just a guy who knows all your dirty secrets and is willing to sing down at the police station if I don't get what I want.
"What do you want?" Well, what every man needs is money, Your Grace, money. "You said you knew who I was and what I've done; how do you know that I won't do the same things unto you?"
I don't doubt you would, but that would indicate that you know who I am, which both of us know that you don't, so let's cut the nonsense and let's start talking money. So what you are going to do is to go to your local bank and take out 3 million rand from that trafficking money.
"3 million rand? Are you insane?"
No, but if you don't get me what I want, I can be. Michael takes a deep breath, calming himself as he is infuriated by his condescending tone. "Okay, fine, where should we meet?" he said, calming himself.
I will send you my preferred location; all you need to know is that it's far from home.
"How far?" KZN (KwaZulu-Natal) in Durban, the man replied. "Fine, be sure you prepare for me." Michael dropped the call. A few minutes later he receives a message also from an unknown number; he clicks to view the message, and to his surprise, it is a picture in need of uploading. Michael clicked to upload, and behold, he was consumed with frustration; the picture he viewed was a picture of him and his men after an abduction.
After an abduction, Michael and his men would take the captured women to Hunter's Rest and would hide them inside the bunker. Now, because Michael and Ayer would not only abduct women solely in Cape Town alone, but they would abduct them in multiple places in different provinces. They did these abductions simultaneously; his men, who were planted in different provinces, would capture and travel to the Western Cape, specifically to Hunter's Rest in Cape Town.
The picture Michael was given showed both he and Ayer supervising their men carrying the captured women to the bunker; this was happening in the parking lot.
Jordyn's Letter
There is no doubt about how drastically my life changed over the past few years; I often look back at who I was back then. From being an optimist to being a pessimist, from seeing beauty in the wonders of creation to gazing at the worst parts of creation. Nonetheless, I digress. Whenever I start dwelling in my thoughts about my past, I always seem to remember this day I spent with my best friend.
She and I were inseparable. There was nowhere I would've gone without her; it was the same with her vice versa. We literally did everything together. We hosted parties together, we went clubbing together, we had many sleepovers together, and sometimes we would go shopping together. Funny enough, we almost dated the same guy, but even if we did, I highly doubt that it would've separated us.
She (Dian) was the friend that every girl would hope for; she would listen to me for hours on end, listening to my problems, and sometimes would listen to me ranting about absolute nonsense, yet she would stay and listen, probably waiting to speak as she would rant her own nonsense.
Now, that specific day we had planned to meet up just so we could go to the mall and hopefully watch a movie. We had brought tickets prior to coming to the mall; we did so wanting to leave our houses during late hours. If we were upfront about going out to our parents, most likely they would've rejected our requests, so like most teenagers, we improvised.
My mother was direct and straightforward: 'After the movie, call Ayer and come home!'. One thing about that woman is she would not take nonsensical things; neither I nor my siblings have ever done as we pleased, and even when Michael was of age, he would not act unilaterally.
Ayer drove me to the mall where Dian and I were going to meet; after thirty minutes we arrived. Dian was already there. I got out of the car and said to him, "See you later. I will call you when we are done." He responded and drove back home as I went inside the mall. I texted my girl, telling her I had arrived; all I needed to know was her whereabouts.
She texted back telling me where she was; she sat at the restaurant section, specifically where there are plenty of tables and chairs for people to sit and enjoy their food. I walked towards it. Upon my arrival, she had already seen me. She rose up and walked straight up to me with her face beaming with a smile.
Dian at that time loved wearing bright colors; pink, yellow, red, and light blue were her preferred choices. At that time I assumed that it was simply just her style. It took me a while to realize that by her wearing bright colors, it really revealed her personality; it spoke something about her. The reality was that all the time I had known her, she had always been outspoken, opinionated, and fearless, I must add, but most of all, she was bold about herself; this is why she wore and relished wearing them.
That day she wore a two-piece outfit: a light pink crop top and a light pink tennis mini skirt. Yummy she looked, and this is me saying this as a female; it was hard not imagining guys not drooling over her.
She finally arrived where I stood, and we hugged each other as though we hadn't seen each other in months or years, but in reality it was Saturday, and we had last seen each other the previous day—so dramatic we were. After hugging, we complimented each other, took a few pictures, and left for the cinema.
Our movie was starting in just ten minutes; before entering the cinema, we entered a line for popcorn and drinks. As we were standing coincidentally, Dian turned, looking elsewhere, and she said, "No way!" Hearing her, I asked her, saying, What's up? She smiled playfully. "Look who's here," she said as she looked at me. Not understanding what she meant exactly, I started looking at where she was staring before, and when I saw what she had been staring at, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. It was him; it was Katlego. My face was covered in smiles uncontrollably. Every time I would see him, I would smile like a lunatic.
Dian knew this, which was why after seeing him, she started staring at me. "Baby! Look at you; you've been blushing ever since you laid eyes on him. It's so cute. You know what? Let me call them," she said. Kat was with his two friends; all three of them held popcorn and drinks, and they were walking straight to the movie theater. When Dian suggested calling them, I interjected out of fear; I was frightened to even look at him, let alone speak to him.
Instead of listening to me, Dian insisted and called them anyway. She shouted so much that everyone who was standing in line with us looked at us. This girl, I said to myself as I stood there shyly. Kat and his two friends heard her, and they turned, looking at us. Dian and I waved at them, and they waved back, saying, "Hey, girls!" And of course, we responded, saying, "Hey!"
All of this was happening, and I just couldn't get my eyes off him, and as he was gazing at us, it felt like he was staring at me. Due to already being late for their movie, they had to rush into the cinema. Upon leaving, Kat said, "See you guys in school."
We waited in the line till we got our popcorn and left, walking to the theater. A few hours later we came out of the movie, and we decided to go and eat. We chose a restaurant worthy of our liking and sat and ate. We spoke as we ate about the movie and Kat; honestly, we had a wholesome night together.
After eating, Dian called an Uber to take her home, and I called Ayer, telling him that I was done. Dian's Uber arrived early only because the driver was already around. It was a shame that we had to end the night early, but we hugged each other, and she left me.
A few minutes later I decided to walk outside the entrance just to wait for Ayer there. I remember the stars brightly shining and the wind blowing, causing shivers yet blowing not vigorously. I stood at least seven steps away from the entrance all alone, and before I knew it, I heard a voice behind me saying, "Hey." I turned, and it was Christian, a classmate from school. "Hey, Christian," I said, greeting him whilst smiling.
He smiles back, saying, Hi, it's a surprise to see you here and not in class or school. "I know, right? I'm surprised too. What are you doing here?" Oh, um, I am here with Sam. We were watching a movie, and what about you? What are you doing here all alone?
"What? "No way, because I was with Dian, and we were also watching a movie," I replied. In disbelief, he responded, saying, "That's crazy. What a crazy coincidence! So where is Dian?" "She's gone home. I'm just here waiting for my ride to fetch me."
Oh, I see she left you alone? Didn't she? "Yep, she did it all alone," I replied, laughing. Well, I'm shocked. I honestly thought Dian was a good friend, but umm, I can keep you company while you wait, if you don't mind. "Sure, I wouldn't mind, but are you sure that you're not leaving Sam all alone?
Oh no, he's fine. In fact, he's the one who encouraged me to come here while he went somewhere, he replied. "Okay, I see. You know, for some reason I always assumed that you never ever wanted to talk to me or Dian." What? Why would you assume that? "I don't know, I guess it's because all the guys in our classes speak to us but you."
It's not that I just... I'm sort of shy; I'm so anti-social for some reason, and I guess being a pastor's kid doesn't really help my case.
"What do you mean by it not helping your case?"
Well, people tend to be opinionated about PKs; they see you differently and expect you to act differently, no mistakes considered, and that's fine because I am personally a professing Christian, so the burden isn't as heavy, but my problem is that I just don't know what they think of me, whether they like me, whether they don't… I just avoid the conversation altogether, but it's not you guys.
"I see, but I doubt a lot of people know that about you or know anything about you other than the fact that you're smart." Just after saying those words, I remember seeing his eyes light up and he smiled, revealing all his front teeth. I remember saying to myself, I don't know how I hadn't noticed, but he was cute; his smile was so attractive that I smiled back at him.
You think I'm smart? He asked me, "Well, I don't think I've seen it; the pressure you put on us as a class is criminal." I replied, making him laugh, "Thank you," he replied. "Pleasure, you should hook me up with your notes so I can surpass you."
Well, I don't know about surpassing me, but we'll talk about the notes. We both laughed, and before I knew it, Ayer came and parked next to us. "That's my ride," I said to him. His eyes widened. "Whoa, is that a BMW X5?" He asked me. "It's a BMW that I know I don't really know much about cars." He laughed at me and said bye, but before we parted, I said to him, "You know you shouldn't ever allow what people think about you to dictate how you should live your life; it's yours. Be confident in yourself irrespective of how they perceive you."
He smiled and said, "Amen, thank you, travel safely home." "You too," I said, entering the car as he went back inside the mall.