EPISODE 3 : MEMORY LANE
“I played basketball?” Reya arched her eyebrows. Sita had arranged
for her things to be brought over from her apartment. They had sorted out
clothing items, shoes, bags and now they were looking through pictures and
other items.
“We played basketball.” Sita replied,
emphasis on the collective pronoun.
“That’s really weird. I would never have
pictured myself as a sports person” She stretched her hand to glue the picture
on the picture board then fell back on the bed.
“It wasn’t a big deal. It was for a
volunteer group… the one Annie joined. It was fun though.” Sita said with a
smile.
“Okay, so what time is the movie?” Reya
asked changing the topic. She slid a box under her feet as if to hide it. It
was marked as ‘personal’
“3pm, I need to rush to the office, get
some things done and I then rush back.” Sita replied flipping her phone open
and close for the 4th time.
“That’s alright. I think we are done
anyway.” She sensed her friend needed to take a private call. “Thanks for
helping”
“You’re welcome.” Sita replied quickly and excused herself. As soon
as she was outside the room, she flipped the phone open and punched the
‘redial’ button.
“Commander?” She said to the receiver.
“Hannah?” He called
“I missed your call, is there a problem sir” She asked with mixed
feelings. The commander rarely called except during emergencies.
“Hit the target….this night”
******************************************************************************
The house was relatively quiet. Only the sound of her shoe could be
heard as she paced up and down the moderately fashioned living room. Light
streamed in through the open orange blinds casting a penumbra shadow on the
sofa. He chuckled, she seemed frustrated; lips pursed, eyes tensed, jaw
straight. She had been trying to talk him out of his decision by clearly
stating the dangers like a mother instructing her kid. Problem was, he didn’t
plan on changing it anytime soon. He wasn’t a coward, had never been one, wasn’t
ready to start now- not for her, not for anyone.
“You do realize that you are making a big mistake right?” She glared
at him before collapsing on one of the chairs with a look of defeat.
“No, I’m not; actually I think you are just letting your fear
dominate you.” He grinned slightly
She scoffed. Fear? He dint still get it. All these while and he
hadn’t still gotten t. “Look Brandon, just drop the statement and tell them you
don’t wish to testify due to personal reasons-“
“And what?” He interrupted “They go scot-free? These people are
dangerous Sophia; they don’t deserve to be walking freely. 3 people were
murdered. I can’t just let this ago. I have a duty as a citizen. I have to
testify and you have to trust that I know what I’m doing.”
“What you are doing is called “stupidity” and “pride”
“It’s called ‘doing the right thing’ I’m not going to put someone’s
life in danger cos of some stupid fantasy sci-fi stunt you believe in.” He said
flatly. She knew there was no point arguing, after all it was still the same
Brandon she had known. Sophia shook her head in pity; it was that same “stupid
fantasy sci-fi stunt” that saved his life earlier that morning.
4 HOURS EARLIER…
Luke didn’t have to take a second
glance at Sophia’s pale face to know there was a problem. The call had been
terminated and the tracking failed.
“Who was that?” He asked, his
voice barely audible.
“Chrissa, I think Brandon is dead.”
Sophia replied grabbing her jacket. She walked out of the living room with Luke
following closely behind. He pressed down a button by the door and the curtains
closed shut, lights out. She had brought
her car along but she preferred Luke’s Cadillac Ats because it was faster and
more compact. Opening the trunk, Luke pulled out a 9mm colt gun and a swat hk
machine gun. He threw the latter to her and tucked the smaller gun into his
back pocket. They rarely used guns, however this was an emergency. As they
approached Brandon’s apartment, Sofia made some calls as part of a final
attempt to find about any update on their database. It was one thing to prevent
an extraction, tracking a ruthless killer wasn’t on the list of things planned
on her mind.
“It’s D and C, she told Luke after
she hung up. He slammed the car breaks immediately and it came to a full halt, making
a screeching sound.
“What??? How did he get himself
involved with them?”
“Don’t ask me, you know him, he is
capable of anything. For now, I just hope Jesus appeared to Chrissa cos cwiusly, that’s the only reason
why Brandon wouldn’t be dead.”
When they alighted, they split up;
Luke went inside the apartment and up the stairs while Sophia checked both
outer and inner perimeters. Brandon was more of a loner. He hardly mingled with
friends. Sofia tried not to dwell on the possibility that he may have had other
women after her. A minute later, Sophia
heard her name. Luke had probably found something as he called out to her from
inside the upper room. She held her breath as she walked back into the
apartment. Brandon could be dead for all she knew. Chrissa wasn’t one to joke. Maybe Luke has found his body or maybe he is
injured. She thought. Or what if she
took him away instead? Chrissa had been an archenemy right from childhood.
When Chrissa was “blacklisted” from bluecorp, Sophia knew it was only a matter
of time before she came looking for her, after all it was her fault she got
blacklisted. She just didn’t know it was this soon.
Luke was standing just by the entrance of what
Sophia knew to be the “play room”. She and Brandon had most of their best moments
in the room. She swallowed, Luke’s face was pale ; his eyes on the floor. She
finally reached the entrance and entered. It was nothing like she remembered
it. Piles of clothes lay on top of each other, others scattered across the
floor, sofa and stools. He had converted it to a laundry room. Her eyes fell to
the floor, there were blood stains smeared on the silk brown rug. She turned to
Luke who urged her to go forward. With heavy slow steps, she traced the source
of the blood. It stopped just by the edge of the sofa and she could see a leg. Oh no! Brandon… Still holding the gun,
she craned her neck to get a full view of the body. She paused in her steps and
dropped the gun in shock. Chrissa’s lifeless body lay on the floor; her head
completely severed and positioned next to the body.
…………………………………………………………………………………………....................
Sita couldn’t have been more
correct. “Bucket list” was an amazing movie. As the movie scene played out on
the big flat screen, Reya’s mood was lifted and her feelings clashed. It was
the most familiar feeling she had felt ever since she got back from the
hospital. She felt a flicker of hope that things were going to be better, she
just had to get to that point where she could trust herself with people. So far
Sita had been very helpful and she appreciated how much effort her friend was
making to make her feel more familiar with her environment.
“Are you okay? You seem kinda far
away.” Sita nudged her.
“Yeah, I’m fine…thanks for
bringing me here and for everything. What would I do without you?” She smiled.
“Absolutely nothing” Her best
friend teased and they giggled together.
Sita was the sister she never had.
Areya’s mum had died during her birth leaving her cancer sick dad to take care
of her. He didn’t even make it to her high school graduation. Orphaned at 15,
she inherited all her parents’ properties- some were not released till she came
of age. Sita moved into their neighborhood on Gale street with her parents.
Like Reya, she was an only child. Her parents were the elite type; taking wild
vacations and travelling all over the world. They met one day at a neighborhood
event and became friends easily. They’ve been inseparable ever since. She was
the reserved witty type while Sita was the extrovert with sparkly personality,
more like a life- sized Barbie. Sita would sneak out every night and jog to Areya’s
house then the duo would go to the park and catch some fire flies or just count
stars. Reya was dependent on Sita’s perspective of ‘lifestyle’ while the other
trusted her good judgment. They had applied to the same college; Wesley college
where Reya read marketing. Despite Sita’s bubbly personality, she always had a
knack for chemicals and formulation, hence, studied pharmacy. After college
however, they split up, to garner more expertise in their respective fields.
Reya came home first and got a job in a pharmaceutical firm as a marketer. Soon
Sita returned and everything changed. Now here, she was 2 years later, with no
memory of what happened after Sita came home. It seemed like a dream sometimes,
a very bad dream… All she could do was hope. At times, she felt someone was
missing.- a lover perhaps. No matter how insignificant the relationship might
have been, she still felt a void in her heart. Her mind drifted to the guy she
saw at the hospital with Sita. She hadn’t seen or heard about him since then.
Her friend didn’t mention it and she
didn’t ask…but her instincts told her
that he had some answers to her questions…
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