4 4 The Last Piece of Peace

Jerry shook his head to ward off the fear that was forming in his heart, to help him think clearly. He didn't see the lady, but he heard the bed squeak, which made him aware that she had risen from the bed. The heavy knock came again. He quickly went to the bed.

'Hide under the bed', he whispered the moment his leg touched the bed, 'hide'.

'Yes?' He called with a drowsy but loud voice, making the bed creak to look as if he was getting off it. He closed his eyelid partially as he trudged to the door, dragging his feet on the floor.

Then, he decided against it, switched on the light and looked back to confirm that the lady had hidden well, that neither her legs nor her clothes were showing. With relief that she was hiding well, and that he was pretending well, he decided to face the task of warding off her pursuers.

'Yes…' He called again, 'who is there?'

'Street youths'.

'This night? What do you want?'

'Bro. Jerry, it's me, your landlord. Please, open the door. We want to ask you something germane or great value'.

Jerry opened the door, gently and wanted to run back with what he saw. But he stood his ground, opening the door and making sure his legs was covering the opened part of the door. Hefty men stood there, staring at him with cold glare, and heaving sweaty body; in fact, those that were lanky looked hefty to Jerry as he swallowed his spittle agitatedly. Many of them were carrying clubs, cutlasses, or rods. He wondered how he would live to see these people beat up the lady. He couldn't release her to their hunger for a kill. They will make her disappear under their beating as if she were a mist.

'Yes?' He said as his blood raced like wild boars within his body, and his heart pumped like illegally freed prisoners.

'Did you see anybody?'

'This midnight?'

'Yes'.

'He ran through this house', someone chipped in.

'No, I didn't see anyone', Jerry said.

'Gentleman', a short man said, moving forward with an aggressive look,' The thief can only run through this place or crawl into your place. Don't turn us to actors. I don't act. I find thieves and tear them to piece. I don't act'.

'Small', a hefty man that can easily be passed as their leader raised his right hand and faced Jerry. His lip had a wicked smile lingering on it. 'In case you hear anything or suspect anything, please raise an alarm'.

'Ok', Jerry nodded as he held onto the door as if it was his only covering, and even pushed it to himself well when one the pursuers stretched his neck to see the room.

'Let's go' the leader said as they hurried away.

Jerry panted and took a whole of his effort not to slam the door in relief.

'They are gone', he whispered.

The lady scrambled out of her hiding, sat on the edge of the bed, and dropped her hands on her lap and stared into the oblivion. Jerry placed his hand on his mouth, watched her for some minutes, and felt like talking to her. He shrugged and went to the switch off the light. And as he switched it off. Voices filtered in.

'The guy is lying like Fayez's mother. I know people like them', someone shouted angrily. Jerry looked out of the window and saw that their number has increased, 'this is the only place the thief could have entered'.

'Okay', the leader said and talked to them in low tone.

Jerry rushed to his wardrobe, brought out a short, a wrapper and one of his big polo.

'Get off the bed, and remove your cloth', he whispered hurriedly, his heart pumping hard against his chest. The noise of the men got nearer, and their shuffling feet grew louder.

The lady hesitated for some seconds and that made Jerry stopped breathing for some minutes. He felt like smacking her across the cheek.

'You are silly', he groaned in anger as he rushed to her, and pulled off her clothes and her boots, making her hands fly to cover her nakedness. The noise grew louder. He smirked.

He removed the cloth and gave her the ones he brought out of his wardrobe. She wore them hurriedly as if there was fire on her body and the cloth would quench it.

Jerry lifted the mattress, dropped the clothes and the boots under it and was about to drop the bed when he remembered something.

'Are you out of your mind?' he grumbled, pure anger reflecting in his voice, 'your mask'.

She bit the mask and hesitated again. Jerry spun his head, rushed to her, and peeled it off her head.

'Wow', he mouthed as he saw her head. The first attention grabber was her nose. It was not like any other nose, not too slim and not too big. She had an emerald face, and her lips-not too full, not too thin; in fact, one could stare at it for days, weeks, months, and years and still have the desire to keep staring. His heart lurched as he saw her searching, white and oval eyes that lightened her fair face. Jerry was dumbfounded for that milliseconds as he stared into those eyes and felt like wiping away all fear, and danger from it. The expected knock came, making him jolt out of his semi-trance.

'Lie down… For this few seconds, you are my girlfriend', he whispered.

She nodded and got into the bed, covering her body with the wrapper.

'Yes…'Jerry shouted angrily, 'who is there? Why are you people disturbing me?'

He turned back to confirm that she was fully prepared. He grinned and gave her thumb-up. Then, he saw the gun he collected from her. Although, it was a toy gun, he knew the implication of that. So, he ran back and tucked it under the mattress. Then, he opened the door.

'Bro…'The leader said as he opened the door, 'we are sorry for disturbing you… One of our men was sure he saw you outside before the whole pursuit started. Since it was dark before we started pursuing him, the thief might have crawled into your room without you knowing', he bent his head to a side, 'you know what I mean'.

'So, what are you suggesting?'

'Were you not outside?'

'Yes, I was outside'.

'We will be forced to search your room'

'No…no…'

'Yes. Please be diplomatic about it', he said, and shifted forward,' you don't want these guys to go in by force'.

Jerry opened the door wide. 'Alright, enter but don't disturb my girlfriend; she is not feeling too well'.

Luckily for Jerry and the lady, she was afraid of being caught that she was shaking so the pursuer thought she was sick. They searched everywhere- under the bed, his wardrobe- but found nothing.

'Let's go', the leader commanded, 'we will surely catch him'.

When they got to the door, the leader turned to Jerry.

'Mr….'

'Jerry'

'Good… Thanks for allowing us search, and for not preventing us from keeping this community safe from riffraff. Please, we will request that you join us in our community policing. More so, we have not being seeing you in our meetings. The youth meeting, I mean. I hope we will be seeing your face there…'

'Okay', Jerry said, gritting his teeth as he was becoming restless and hoped the hefty man would leave before he lost control.

'Have a good night rest'.

'And you too, I hope you find… the thief'.

He had almost said 'her' there. Sighing heavily as he switched off the light, he waved his hands to indicate that her pursuers were gone.

Hitting the floor, he slept like a log until the morning.

Morning? The lady was supposed to leave before the morning came. He rolled and rose hastily to wake her. However, the bed was empty and instead of her, he found a note.

Dear Jerry,

Don't be surprised I know your name; I heard it from this morning's ordeal. I can't thank you enough. You have the kindest heart I've ever seen. I am not sure I'll be able to complete my mission, but I have taken your short with me to remind me of you, and I have planted a kiss on your right cheek to remind you of me always. Thank you.

P.S. I recommend that you watch Jack Ryan the recruit, it will help you a lot.