Day 32

It is a cold basement.

The walls are solid concrete, with no windows. Stone steps lead upstairs to a door.

There is nothing else in the room except a rickety standing fan, a water closet and a single 100-watt bulb that burns in the concrete ceiling.

The basement has an unpleasant odour.

Chris Bawa is sitting on a metal chair. He is still wearing only boxer shorts, and his hands are tightly tied to the metal arms of the chair. His feet are also tied to the metal legs of the chair. His face is so swollen that his eyes are almost closed. There is blood on his chest, around his nostrils and on his lips.

Standing over him is Sergeant Ato McBaiden, who is wearing military fatigues and has hard leather gloves on his hands. He is sweating from continuously hitting Chris with his fists. Chris is shivering, and his chin is resting on his chest.

McBaiden grins evilly and bends to look at Chris.

"Cuger said you were a tough guy, but shit, you're just like a weak little pussy! You're not dead, are you?"

Chris raises his head with some difficulty, and when he gives an evil smile there are blood stains on his teeth. He speaks with great difficulty.

"I'm still here, Mary."

McBaiden's jaw tightens with uncontrollable fury, and he stands back and swings a huge right fist into Chris' face. The blow makes Chris moan with pain, and it flings him back so that he crashes to the floor, still tied to the chair.

"You fucking asshole! Call me Mary again and I'll kill you!"

Chris chuckles and spits on the floor as blood pours out from fresh cuts on his lips and nose.

"You hit like a frog, Mary!"

McBaiden screams and swings his leg. His heavy boot strikes Chris in the chest.

Again, Chris groans and coughs out blood. He can barely breathe, but once again he chuckles weakly. McBaiden wipes sweat from his forehead.

"You have balls, I give you that. But I'm going to break you, yes, body and spirit. Thirsty, little boy?"

"Adobea Mary!" Chris says softly and with great disdain. "Mary Ekua Adobea McBaiden!"

McBaiden laughs nastily. He goes to the corner where a bottle of water and a plastic cup are on a little plastic table. He picks up the cup, unzips his fly, and urinates into it. He laughs and picks up the water. He pours some into the urine, shakes it to mix, and then approaches Chris, who is still lying on the floor. He speaks in a sing-song voice.

"Loverboy is thirsty! Loverboy is thirsty!"

He sets the cup down, and lifts the chair to a sitting position. He picks up the cup again and looks at Chris, and he sees an anger so terrible in Chris' eyes that for a moment he baulks.

"I'll tell you this, man," Chris says in an ominous voice. "If you dare put that urine mixture anywhere near my mouth, I'm gonna kill you."

McBaiden roars with laughter and shakes his head.

"Let me see you try. This ain't urine, boy. It's called Urishandy! Special drink, boy, and you're going to drink every little drop of it!"

He grabs Chris' head and begins to bring the evil drink to Chris' mouth!

Suddenly the door at the top of the steps opens, and a woman and man's voices are heard. McBaiden steps away from Chris and puts the cup quickly on the small table. A moment later Madam Ivy and Chief Inspector Cuger come into the basement. Cuger is in black jeans, black T-shirt and a black police cap.

Madam Ivy is wearing a pretty ash suit that makes her look very attractive indeed.

She walks on high-heels to Chris' side and looks down at him with eyes filled with hatred.

"Hello, Sweet Ama Baby, my adorable mother-in-law," Chris says with a cruel smile.

Madam Ivy slaps Chris, again and again.

"You bastard! You bastard, Chris! You damn bastard!! You dare sleep with my daughter? You damn bastard!"

She steps back finally, and Chris spits a ball of blood onto the floor.

"Woah. What a welcome, Sweet Ama Baby! The last time I was alone with you, you were quite naked and begging me to make love to you! Remember?"

Madam Ivy spits into Chris' face.

"You filthy little pig! I trusted you, all I needed was a loving touch, and you humiliated me! Drugged me and fled! Didn't see you again and I settled into my marriage as a devout wife, and then you appeared out of nowhere... with my daughter! Is this your revenge? Is this how you planned to hurt me? To mess up with my daughter?"

"Believe me, the first time I met Effe I fell for her. She's the only woman who has been able to capture my heart like that. However, if I had known she were your daughter, I wouldn't have come near her a second time. By the time I finally met you, I was already completely in love with her."

"Liar!" Cuger screamed.

He backhands Chris across the face, and the ring he is wearing opens up a huge cut across Chris' forehead, and it starts to bleed.

"You'll never have her, Chris!" Ivy hissed despicably.

"You can't keep me away from Effe, dear Sweet Ama Baby! You know, all those years when you were blackmailing me to sleep with those despicable evil women, and whilst you were abusing me, touching me, forcibly kissing me and fondling me, I never even once suspected you had a husband, and daughters who were almost as old as me! How could you be so callous? I'm going to tell Effe everything. I should've told her a long time ago, but I was scared of losing her. But now I'm gonna tell her all about you!"

Madam Ivy kneels beside Chris and uses her handkerchief as a compress to stem the flow of blood from his forehead. She touches his cheek and runs a finger gently down his chest to his groin. Her hand disappears into his boxers, and although he struggles furiously, she grabs his manhood and begins to fondle him.

"Poor, poor Chris! Do you sincerely think I'm going to allow you to mess up my daughter? She now hates you, because she believes you're a thief and a terrible beast who sleeps with women and steal from them. When I framed you with Janet, the money and a shot of Tremors in your blood, didn't you hear her say she never wants to see you? And there's something even more beautiful. She and Steve have decided to come back together. She's now in his house, and they're making love each night, Chris!"

"Take your damn hand from my boxers! You evil woman!" Chris says in a dangerously low voice. "You're lying! Effe is too decent to betray me without speaking to me first."

"In your dreams, lover boy! She doesn't give two hoots about you. You were just a passing fancy, a calm after Steve's betrayal! She has gone back to the man she truly loves, lover boy."

Chris raises his face to the roof. He is so hurt that tears squeeze past his tightly-shut eyelids.

"Oh Effe! How could you do this to me? Why, Effe, Effe? Oh, why, oh, why, why, why, oh why Effe?"

They all chuckle, and she finally leaves his manhood and removes the handkerchief from his wound.

"Do you sincerely think you're going to leave this basement, Chrissy boy?" Cuger asks. "Of course, we're going to tell Effe that you were extradited to South Africa to stand trials for your crimes. You're going to remain in this cellar until Effe reconciles with Stevie, or another man. You're a prisoner here, boy! And by the time we release you, you would probably be mad."

"You can't keep me here. You can't break me. Effe and I are going to be together," Chris says with a dangerous little smile.

Madam Ivy touches Chris' right cheek almost tenderly.

"Poor, poor, Darling Boy! Do you think Effe will accept you once she knows that you slept with me, her own mother?" Ivy asks softly.

Chris snarls at her.

"I didn't sleep with you!" he says angrily. "I drugged you and fled from you, remember?"

Again, Cuger and Madam Ivy laugh.

"You're a fool, Chris," Cuger says as he shakes his head. "Don't you know that Madam Ivy, the powerful Sweet Ama Baby, always gets what she wants?"

Chris, suddenly gripped by a terrible fear, looks from one to the other, and it is evident his cool is deserting him, and he is beginning to be stressed out.

"What are you talking about?"

Madam Ivy leans closer to him. She puts her mouth to his ear and speaks softly.

"Oh, poor, poor, Chrissy boy! Haven't you wondered why I was so jealous when I saw you with my daughter? You're the only man ... well, you were a boy then...who made me feel like a woman! Haven't you wondered why I love you so much? You made love to me and I loved it so much!"

Chris strains at the ropes binding him as his face screws up with abject horror.

"You're lying! It's a lie!! I never slept with you!"

Madam Ivy kisses the side of his lips, and he cringes from her.

"Hm. Poor boy. Do you remember Miss Baaba Sarpong? The woman who always met you at Beach Road, always in a dark room, always silent, and who was so kind to you and always gave you so much money and food and clothing? You liked Miss Baaba, didn't you? You were sorry for her too because she was a deaf-mute who preferred to stay in the dark."

Chris shakes his head numbly with mounting horror!

He remembers being taken to see the mysterious Miss Baaba Sarpong. He was told by Madam Ida, the Governess at the Orphanage, that Miss Baaba was deaf and mute.

She always met Chris at her apartment at Beach Road always in a very dark room!

She never spoke, and the room had always been very dark. She would take Chris to bed. She had been gentle and understanding. She always gave him money secretly, and clothes for his friends at the orphanage.

Chris had trusted and liked her. Later, when he fled from Madam Ivy, he had tried to locate the mysterious Miss Baaba but to no avail. It seemed she had vanished from the earth.

But all along it had been Madam Ivy!

Sweet Ama Baby again... once again at her evil best, destroying him, destroying his life! Anguished tears suddenly course down Chris' face.

"No, no, no! Ivy, please, please, please! I beg of you! Don't say it! Please, don't say it!"

Madam Ivy leans forward, puts her arms around his neck, and speaks tenderly.

"Do you remember these arms, Chris, Darling Boy?"

She touches him slowly, tenderly, and Chris moans with disgust and pain... she is right! Baaba Sarpong had touched him like that!

Ivy Kedem had tricked him! She had been Baaba Sarpong, the woman he had made love to countless times, always in the dark.

"Ah! Look at his face, Ivy! Priceless! The boy is in agony!"

Madam Ivy stands up and looks down at the weeping Chris.

"Yes, Chris. I disguised myself as Miss Baaba Sarpong, and made love to you in the dark, without speaking! So, you see, you're the only man that ever made me unfaithful in my marriage! I carried that horrible cross, and each time I look at my husband, guilt tears my soul apart! But it happened... you slept with me, even though you didn't know it was me, and you've slept with my daughter! That's a taboo! An abnormality! And when Effe finds out, she's going to hate you forever! If you insist on seeing her, I'll tell her what happened between us, and believe me, she would damn and hate you for the rest of her life! She would probably hate me too, but it's a price I'm prepared to pay to keep you away from her!"

Chris' body is shaking with sorrow and agony.

"Madam Ivy! You're evil! You're so evil! Why have you ruined my life like this? Oh, Effe, my Princess, my Angel, my breath! Forgive me, Effe! Dearest, please forgive me!"

His heart is breaking!

His anguish is so deep and complete that for a moment the smile of triumph leaves Madam Ivy's face, and she knows finally that this handsome boy really loves her daughter.

"Chris," she says softly.

"Keep away from me! you are evil. Keep away from me!"

Before anybody can speak again the door crashes open suddenly.

Madam Ivy screams with fear when six huge men come down the stairs, all of them holding guns. Cuger tries to pull his pistol from its holster, but the man in the lead swings his gun on him.

"Give me a reason to cut you into two! Hands up, everybody!" Abdul says.

Shaking with fear, the three of them raise their hands above their heads.

"Whoever you guys are, you're going to regret this," Cuger says. "I'm a Chief Inspector, and I'm going to use every resource within my power to hunt you down!"

Abdul Adams smiles and crashes the butt of his pump-action rifle into Cuger's face, breaking his cheekbone and two of his front teeth. Cuger screams and falls hard to the ground, and as blood pours down his face he is suddenly terrified.

"Sure, come after me, fool!" Abdul says dangerously.

Madam Ivy has gone very pale with a mixture of fear and rage.

"Who're you guys?" she asks fiercely.

Abdul turns to Chris and sees how badly hurt he is. His gaze turns to the defiant-looking McBaiden, and he approaches the Sergeant with his butt raised again.

"Stop! That bastard is mine, Abdul!" Chris says sharply.

"Yeah, boss," Abdul says and lowers his gun.

Madam Ivy's face crumples with sudden fear. She grabs Abdul's arm suddenly.

"Please! Oh, please! Don't release him! Whatever he's paying you, I'll give you five times more!"

Abdul smiles mirthlessly.

"You can't buy Chris' friendship, lady. Hey guys, cut the Captain lose!"

One of the six men cut the ropes binding Chris, and some of them help him to his feet. He looks over at McBaiden, and the look in his eyes suddenly drives terror into Sergeant McBaiden's heart. He tries to smile, but he quails inside!

Chris walks forward slowly with a nasty smile on his face, and he stops in front of McBaiden.

"I'm not going to tie you up, boy. You beat me bad when I was tied up. You almost gave me some UriShandy, or whatever the hell it is. It is over there on the table. Go and drink it, and I'll forget and forgive you for all your misdeeds."

McBaiden snorts and shakes his head.

"You have your goons here, so you're acting tough and brave! What about you and me going at it man to man, mano-a-mano, if you have the balls?"

Again, Chris smiles nastily.

"What else did you think I was going to do to you? I'm going to beat the living bejesus outta you!"

Suddenly McBaiden swings a fist, but like air Chris parries it, and then he sinks a terrible left hook that sends McBaiden crashing to the floor. The policeman whimpers with fear, and then outrage. He springs to his feet with indignation and rushes at Chris, who spins and crushes a knee into McBaiden's face.

What follows is a terrible punishment as Chris begins to beat McBaiden with terrible finesse and power. After just two minutes McBaiden is sure his bones might be broken. He tries to defend himself, but he is no match for Chris' expertise.

Very soon McBaiden's face is all cut up badly and pouring with blood.

He begins to whimper and beg Chris for mercy.

Cuger and Madam Ivy are huddled together in one corner, watching the horrible beating with fear lurking in the depths of their eyes.

A final blow flings McBaiden to the floor, and he holds up one of his hands in supplication to Chris.

"Please, please! I give up! I'm so sorry! No more, please! No more, please!"

Chris smiles nastily.

"You drink the UriShandy, and I'll leave you, otherwise I'm gonna kill you."

Whimpering with fear, McBaiden crawls to the table, picks up the cup containing the mixture of urine and water, and drinks almost everything, his face filled with disgust and pain.

He gags and almost drops the cup, but when Chris raises his foot the corrupt policeman drinks to the last drop.

Chris nods approvingly.

"Lovely," he says.

"What the hell was that, bro?" Abdul asks.

Chris chuckles.

"Urishandy, bro."

"What the fuck be Urishandy?" Abdul asks, puzzled.

"Mixture of urine and water," Chris says levelly.

Abdul's eyes open wide with shock.

"This crazy dude mix wee-wee and water for you?"

"Yep. He urinated into the cup and mixed it with water and had the audacity to offer it to me to drink."

"Motherfucker!" Abdul says angrily.

He steps forward and crashes a boot into McBaiden's stomach. The policeman screams and vomits all over the floor. Chris turns his back on McBaiden and walks to Madam Ivy and Cuger.

Cuger, having witnessed how terribly vicious and savage Chris had been when he beat McBaiden, suddenly falls to his knees and speaks with tears falling down his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Chris! Please don't hurt me!"

"You damn coward," Chris says with disgust.

"How did your people find this place?" Cuger asks suddenly.

Chris smiles and touches the locket on a silver chain around his neck.

"I have a lot of enemies, Cuger, so this locket around my neck contains a tracking device and an alarm. When I press a hidden button behind it, it sends an alarm to my friends. It is also embedded with a GPS Locator, and so they just follow the signal to wherever I'm being held. Cute, isn't it?"

He kneels beside Cuger, who raises his hands defensively, his face once again filled with fear.

"Chris! Please! Don't hurt me!"

Chris grabs the front of Cuger's shirt and pulls him close.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, Cuger! I'm just gonna make sure you spend time in prison because you're a disgrace to that uniform. You're going to prison, man. Believe that."

He pushes Cuger back and gets to his feet.

"Make we roll, boys."

The six armed guys follow Chris. He pauses at the top stair and looks at Madam Ivy.

She looks contrite and devastated, and tears of failure trickle down her cheeks.

"Damn you, Chris! You slept with me! You can't be with my daughter! She's happy with Steve now! Go away and let her enjoy her happiness!"

"I can't face her, Ama. The evil things you made me do will always make me feel dirty and unworthy of Effe's love. I'm going far away, Ivy. I feel dirty, used, and absolutely unworthy of her love. Effe's clean. Effe's an angel. She doesn't deserve any less. I feel worthless in her eyes now. You have ruined the slice of happiness I tasted since my birth. I hope you are satisfied now. Better let her hate me, and my memory, than let her know that I was ever intimate with her mother. It's very sick. If I had known, I would have fought this feeling with my last breath just not to hurt her. I know she'll be shattered to learn what happened between us. I'll never get over her. I'm going to die slowly because I love her so, but you win, Ivy, you win. You should go and adorn yourself with your victory clothes and accessories. You win. Goodbye forever, Sweet Ama Baby! I curse the day I met you. And you better believe this, I didn't hurt you today because you're the mother of the woman I love. But, if you ever come after me again, and I dare you to, I'm gonna peel the skin off your body! You'll find out just how mad I am! Perhaps it is better that Effe is now with Steve. If she loves him, and used me on the rebound just to please herself and hurt me, she can have him. I'll learn to hate her too, and perhaps in doing that, my heart can find some peace."

With that, he and his men go through the destroyed door and vanish from view.

Suddenly Madam Ivy's legs give way, and she falls to her knees in the room and begins to weep bitterly.