just give it to him. The money was for her, to make sure she had a comfortable life.
”Son, let me make this a little clearer, if you don’t hand over that code I’m going to take this size 11 snake skin and drive the heel so far down your eye socket you’ll shit out your own eyeball!”Shock and courage mixed within me, I had to ride this out and face the pain hoping someone would come and check up on us. I mean after all the chaos that was happening around u surly someone would pop in to check if we were okay. I could see the anger boil within him, he got up and paced back and forth right in front of me, then unbuckled his belt wrapped it around his fist and asked me once again. This time calmer more passively.
”Please give me the code.”
Still I sat in silence, “Remember before I do this, I tried.’’
“I tried reasoning with you Cairo, I tried being civilised but I guess some people don’t appreciate hospitality the way us southern folks do.”
He took a step back, and then swung the belt to my face, the buckle hit my cheek and split my flesh open. I could hear the bone crushing under the impact of the buckle, repeatedly hacking away at my face until all that was left was a crimson mask and deep gashes from cheek to cheek.
The feeling of cold water surged though my body as he dumped a bucket over my head,” wakey wakey time to get up sunshine.”
”So have you thought about giving us that code yet sunno?”
He came close, so I lifted my head, looked him in the eye then spat straight onto his face. A ball of congealed spit and blood sprayed directly onto him, now the demented man was even more furious had I just thrown petrol onto the already wild fire. He wiped the blood and saliva from his face.
” You are one stubborn S.O.B aint you boy, well hell that’s okay I know how to deal with uncooperative mongrels like you.”
The glittering shine caught my eye, the large knife he drew now dug into my throat, I could feel the cold steel of the blade pressing against my trachea. The lack of blood and head trauma I had caused me to slip into an unconscious state once again.
”No, No you aint falling asleep on me again.”
”You giving me that damn code, or I’m taking that uncooperative little tongue of yours Boy.”He forced my mouth open, I tried to scream but my calls for help were only heard by the walls.
At this point I could feel the sharp edge of the blade as he pried my mouth open with one hand and ran the tip across the surface of my tongue.”
”Oh well I guess you going to have to write down those numbers down, either way I’m getting what I came for”
“STOP”, His partner screamed from across the room. A lady! He was a she and with such a familiar voice.”You said you wouldn’t kill him”,
Jacob sarcastically replied,” does he look dead to you?”
” more dead than alive, how are we supposed to get the code if he’s too injured to cooperate?”
She turned towards me. Instantly my heart dropped into my stomach, how could this be? Was I dreaming? This could not be real; she could not be here right now.
“I’m sorry Cairo,”
She dropped the hood and I saw it was really her, there was no denying the fact that she was standing right in front of me. She walked towards me than gently wiped the blood from my face. She ran her hands through my hair.
Cairo, please, please listen to me” She placed her hands under my cheeks and held my head up. ‘You have to give us the safe code.”
”He will kill you if you don’t “I sat in the pool of my own blood which was as thick as my disbelief. I was so confused it made my head pain even more.
”Please give me the code and ill explain everything to you.”
Overwhelmed I tried to answer her,
“But you let him do this to me?”
“Cairo, please, the code.”
12 right, 2 left and 22 right,” My head argued with my heart, why could she manipulate me so easily.
I had to know why she was doing this, surly there was an explanation for everything that was going on, she must have been doing this for a reason. But before I even had the time to ask what was actually happening, she was at the safe,”12 right, 2 left and 22 right, Click, the door sprang open she grabbed the money and threw it into a leather bag.
” Why Layla?’’. She stopped and turned to face me, I could see the hurt in her eyes, or at least that’s what I wanted to see ,my view was soon blocked and Jacob was in the frame,
”You don’t get it do you, you really think she loved you?”“You pathetic little boy, you were a mark from the beginning.”” What makes you think anyone like her would settle for an average life with an average man like you?”” Come on man, six months and you already wanted to marry her, my friend that’s just pathetic!”Jacob enjoyed the taunting he fed on the fact that he had just emotionally destroyed me, to him it was all a game, a way to shut out the fact that he was in the same situation as I was.
She allowed him to think he was in control, knowing how violent he was and how quickly situations with Jacob could become volatile. She manipulated him the same way she did me, but with him it was her only way of protecting herself from his psychotic demeanour. I was certain he knew the truth, he’d do anything she told him to, and like a love sick puppy she had him in her pocket.
It baffled my mind, how good this women was at manipulating men, there were so many situations, clearly she had to love me a little bit, how could our whole relationship be such a facade? The times we walked for hours in the park laughing making the lamest of jokes or when we sat in bed just enjoying the comfort of each other’s embrace. So the whole time she was with me she was playing me waiting to get to her hands on my money. She was a black widow, waiting to prey on clueless young victims like myself; it sickened me to think how many other guys went through what I had just endured.
”We played you sonno, you actually thought you had something special, aww how adorable, no my friend you are just a victim of our little investment scheme, you invest every cent you own . . . and we take it ha ha ha.”
’’Enough” She tried stopping the persistent man, but Jacob just continued.
”you sad, sad little man.”
“The city aint made for all of us boy, go back home, go back to the south were things are slower.”
”Go back to your folks and forget about this place.”He stood up, they were about to leave.
I just had to know one last thing, “the tremors, how did you know about the tremors?”
”Well hell that was just lady luck smiling down on us, we had an opportunity and we ceased it, call it a lucrative coincidence who says good things don’t happen to bad people.”
“Anyways we got places to be and suckers to scam so I bid you a due Mr Cairo a pleasure doing business with you.”
I looked at her for the last time, she could not do the same, she could not look me in the eye, and with a swift kick to the head Jacob put me to sleep, a sleep I would have to endure for a very long time.
Northern Exposure
Luken Du Pont
Copyright 2014 by Luken Du Pont
Northern Exposure: Episode One Page 8