28 Helpless Lina

The wind blew in a cold way among the fresh leaves, tossing them without regard for their new life and sending gusts among the trees, rising and falling away. A moon shone in the zenith and it made intense shadows and bright patches of light among the trees. The new life in the earth leaped and quivered with the throbbing leaves and the swaying herbs.

Lina sat dejected, beneath a tree. Her life was like these fresh leaves, being tossed roughly by the destiny without any regard for her. A lot many thoughts passed through her depressed brain as she spoke to herself. "Brother! How can you commit this blunder? You did not even think of the family?" she cried and wiped away the tears that had fallen on her pink cheeks. "I've not even seen 20,000 dollars all my life. How are we going to pay all this money back? I am sure, Grandma will have a heart attack after hearing all this! What do I do? God please help me! Please! she cried again.

The thought of her anxious grandmother brought Lina back to her senses. She reminded herself of her grandmother's diabetes. She needed to return back to her as soon as possible.

Lina went to a public telephone booth, and called a few friends of Bob, to get to the bottom of the situation. She wanted to know why Bob had taken the money. And who were the bald guys in black t-shirts. And if he had borrowed this amount, why did he fail to return it. The little information she obtained made her more stressed.

She was dejected, as she started walking towards her home. Even after great efforts, Lina could not stop herself from crying, as tears continued to fall down her cheeks. After a few minutes of walking, she finally reached her home. She wiped off her tears, set her hair a little, dusted off the dirt that had got stuck to her pants and t-shirt. But, it didn't help much, as she was still a mess.

Grandmother and Olivia, Lina's younger sister were awake, with their gaze fixed outside from their house's window, as they waited for Lina to come back home with some information regarding Bob.

"Ha! Lina is here," sighed grandmother sitting besides the window, as she saw Lina walking towards her home. "What has she done to herself? God! Please help her," prayed grandmother as she saw the pathetic state Lina was in. "Go! Run! Open the door, your sister is here." Grandma instructed Olivia, Lina's younger sister.

Lina entered the main door silently. Her shoes were full of dirt. She did not want her grandmother to take any more stress. Lina bent down to remove her shoes, so that her grandmother didn't see them. Her actions were soon interrupted by grandmother who had walked hastily towards the main door to talk to her.

"My God! What have you done to yourself? Look at the state you are in. What happened?" asked grandmother as she took a step towards Lina and pulled out a leaf that was stuck in her crimson colored hair. "Where is bob? Did you meet him?" asked grandmother anxiously.

Lina had to act normal. "Grandma! Calm down," consoled Lina.

"Stop this acting, Lina. Tell me everything. You cannot fool me," declared grandmother as she gave a stern look at Lina.

Lina walked towards the sitting area. "They took him away," she sighed. "There were a couple of guys, and they took Bob away with them. I tried to stop them, but I failed," trembled Lina.

"Who were those guys?" asked grandmother, as Olivia grabbed Lina's hands out of fear.

"I don't know. Probably, the Chinese Mafia. I've listened to a lot many stories about them. Bob took money from them and failed to return it on time. Now, we have to pay it back.. and it's a huge amount.. 20,000 dollars," shuddered Lina.

Grandma was shocked. Her jaw dropped when she heard the news. "That kid is going to kill me with stress. I swear!" grandma yelled with her right hand on her head. "What did he do with all that money? Why did he take it?" shuddered Grandma.

"He was going to start a new work with a friend of his. And he needed investment. He went to these Mafia guys and took capital from them," Lina shared.

"What capital! Wherever this capital is now.. take it and give it back to the Mafia," grandmother yelled.

Lina sighed. "We would never be able to know where the capital is now. Bob's friend, who was his co-partner in the work, took all the money and ran away," cried Lina. "These moneylenders had been forcibly taking away the money, that we had kept aside for this house's rent. This has been happening from three months now. And.." Lina choked with emotions.

"And.. what?" trembled grandmother.

"And, these mafia guys warned me, that we would not be able to see Bob again, if we didn't return their money back in 24 hours," sobbed Lina.

This emotional shock was too intense for grandmother. She felt sudden dizziness. Lina and Olivia supported grandma as they held her - holding her arms and back. They helped grandma walk to the sofa set and requested her to lie down.