Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Where were you that day?: The Story of the Assassin & The Ladies of Liberty

"They'd always tell me we were good for one another, an inseperable duo, perfect teamwork, a symphony orchestrated with harmony when put to action"

"...i always doubted that.My main problem is i only think in terms of I, never in terms of We, so i dont care what We are, i am mostly preoccupied with what I are."


" ٍSo are you saying we should both go our seperate ways Josie?"
"No Kate, im not saying that out of cruelty, nor am i trying to belittle the times and great memories we had, nor the successes we acheived, but i think we are two different people who do what we do differently, im sure you will find someone to do things the way you like them to be done, and so will i ?"


"What do you mean? we have great chemistry!"

"No Kate...take Moscow, remember what happened there? we sucked, we made fools of ourselves, not only that but we almost got ourselves killed"

Kate took all the spoken words to heart, knowing not how to respond. What was being said was not only hurtful, but Kate knew that ending this partnership would be the end of her in this market. She can't pull her wieght without Josie as a Partner...

Their dream was finally over. she could kiss her career as a Liberty Lady goodbye. She sulked her way back to her car. stared at it and sized up the yellow sportscar as if evaluating whether she was chasing the right dreams or not. She could see Josie's reflection on the hood, then she was gone...Josie dissapeared.

Kate looked back only to find Josie dropped on the floor...in a pool of her own blood, emanating from a hole between her eyebrows...
she ran to Josie's Body....looked at her in awe...
"Its him she thought...Its Anubis"
She looked around, her eyes in frantic search to corroborate her conclusions...she finds the dark man staring from the rooftops...white as snow, yet darker than the night. grimacing at her in ridicule.

Three Hours Later:

There i was at a street corner cafe, patiently waiting for a business executive friend of mine i was supposed to meet up and make amends with. We sort of fell out a few years back, it was silly and i guess it was about time we sorted our issues out. i was sipping on some evening Earl Grey tea along with a stale croissant that looked like a deformed crab with severed legs...with the white cheese oozing out of it from the other side everytime i took a bite, i was wondering why did i come here in the first place.
I spotted my friend from across the street, he was enthusiastically waving at me in a way that bought attention. maybe a little too much attention. I guess i was lucky something else was about to happen that would get all the attention the street had to offer. remember this is mid afternoon, it shouldnt get more interesting than a guy in suit fumbling with white cheese oozing out of his croissant only to be warmly greeted by another executive from across the street.

Then...I saw him,
They say only a mere few on earth had the chance to make direct eye contact with him and walk away unscathed. He was on the far end of the street, sitting in the driver seat of a champagne colored sedan. Camera in hand and newspapers on dashboard. He was too far away to be spotted by anyone in the cafe, but the afternoon setting sun just reflected and bounced over the lens of his camera. Guess i was lucky, and guess it wasnt my day to die yet. In less than an instant of processing the image i was seeing, i could hear a sudden clatter of cups and saucers, along with cutlery landing on the floor behind me. My instinct told me to duck,
My curiousity told me to look behind me...
Kate emerges standing up as if she was buried alive under that table, and was struggling to grasp a breath of air that would restore her to life. In her hands, the shiniest M-16 i have ever seen in my life...and she starting firing.

Ill admit i love the sound of gunfire, be it coming from a block away or close enough to singe the hairs on my arms, but with my instincts on overdrive, i realized instantly that i was in the line of fire.

I cant remember how many bullets were fired. but it seemed like an eternity. I was face on the ground, ass elevated into the air in a failed attempt to shelter both my head and elbows under my knees. Im sure in any other situation i would have been the cause of a shower of giggles rather than ricochetting bullets and bouncing casings.
The smell of cordite dominated my nostrils, and the tire screeching did the same to my ears...all with a soundtrack of lead projectiles travelling faster than 330 meters per second, shot at intervals less than a second apart.

The moment i rise, feeling its safe enough to run like a chicken that just got its head wringed off by some mexican, i assess the situation to try to make of what happened.

Nothing, gone...
No Anubis,
No Kate....
I run over to my friend accross the street. only to find him riddled with bullets, choking on his own blood. I frantically yell for help while aimlessly shaking him to prevent the life from leaving him.

A few minutes later, he gasps in my arms...and utters his last testimonials, declaring No God but God, and Mohamed as his Prophet.

One Month later:
I'm sitting on the beach chair...right by the shore, reading Ibrahim Eissa's latest book, you can see a straw hut in the background, almost a hundred meters behind me, a hut ive called home for the past 27 days. Havent seen a single human apart from Manolo since. Manolo comes once a week by boat, with supplies to last me till he comes back again. he should be coming from the neighbouring port within the hour.
I hear the humming of an engine not so far away, it must be Manolo...i look to the horizon to find a little boat tugging at the waves. As Manolo approached in his boat, I noticed he had someone on board with him.Yes it was her...
not Kate...
someone else.
By the time Manolo docked on the shore, She was already at the foot of the beach chair, showering me with questions, while struggling with the sand sticking to her now wet shoes.
"Why did you leave?
Im here for you, we all are...
Why are you doing this to yourself?
Why are you doing this to those who care about you?
Do you think he is happy seeing you like this?
Are you okay?
Do you know how much i love you?
Will you let me take care of you?"
"Darling Im here for you" she reassured me...
I answered back,

"Where were you that day? Why didnt you stop the bullets? why didn't you operate on him to save him? why didn't you take him in your car to the hospital on time? why didnt you tell him not to walk on that side of the street? why did you allow Kate to have an M-16? why didnt you prevent her from shooting? why didnt that man die in another way? why did you let my friend die? what were you doing that day...answer me? you were sitting with your friends in college talking about how much i make you happy werent you?"

"Kane, what you are asking for...no human cant provide, i didnt stop the bullets, because im not superman, i didnt operate because im not a surgeon, i didnt take him in my car because i dont have one, i didnt warn him before hand because i do not see into the future, i didnt help because i am human..no human can do what you ask for..."

"Then i dont want to know any humans..."

"Honey, dont do this, dont spoil a good thing, you know what, we'll get through this, together. don't destroy a good thing...we're great for one another, we're an inseparable duo, a perfect team.."

What would my answer be?......

Four Months earlier we had a similar discussion, i was trying to break it off, because i felt i was burdened by her presence, i was going through a rough time, facing trouble at work that followed me home, and at the same time was expected to worry and live with her the burdens of daily college life, and her aspirations for graduating and becoming a career woman. I also asked her where was she that day?

I will always ask her...where were you that day?...



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