9 9.Alone

"Take this , had a dance with the devil and he got a grip on me ," he said wincing in pain as he pulled the knife from his overly fresh wound. "You know what to do. They'll be here in a few and we won't be able to save our son, mon amour." At this point he was bad. His eyes couldn't open further, his speech was slurring... he was losing the battle and giving up on his life.

Mama carried me in her arms even as she shook in fear and panic. She was in tears yet her voice was so firm. She probably realized she had to be the man at this juncture. She hid some papers in my school bag and the knife too. " Baby these papers are important for your future, only trust Sr. Brendan with them. Come on, you see this?" She pointed to the book shelf. "Behind this is where your papa hides his important stuff and weapons. You could beat the bad guys using them, you just got to do this," she said pulling one book. Whoa it was not a real book all this while!! Okay okay this was the wrong time to show me extremely cool things around a house I'd lived all my life though. The shelf moved as if making way for an opening or something. There I saw my dad's large safe. She unlocked it using some combination and took a pistol. There were bigger and better weapons, I guess she didn't need those. "The combination is mine, your dad's, and your birthday. All of them are in the papers, child. Okay? Now let's get out of here."

At the bottom of the stairs lay Papa's lifeless body. But there was no time for weeping. We'd weep on our way... Mummy said not to take any of Dad's cars cause the bad guys would track us.

We would use the back gate and run to St. Francis of Assisi Convent. For the night. Or maybe for the rest of our lives....we didn't know.

But they'd find us anyway... even before we reached halfway.

They'd be behind us in a few...in a minute they'd be aiming guns and rifles and all that stuff they use to kill people.

And we'd be shot and that would be it.

And the story would be that Juan's family was over and done with.

End of discussion. No whys no hows, they just got into loggerheads with a dangerous cartel and they were slayed.

Their bodies were never recovered though.

But the killers were confident. It was a woman... she's weak.

It was a child... he's helpless.

Of course they died.

Their bodies are none of the cartel's business.

But that would be their worst skeleton in the closet.

Because I didn't die.

"Tomorrow your hair shall have grown a little longer, your arms just a little stronger, your eyes shall be able to see far and your smile just a little softer, I don't think I can make it there...so run. Run without looking back," Mama said handing me my small backpack.

The bullets had only hit her. She had been my human shield and now she was like a sieve, blood oozing from the multiple bullet holes in her body and her mouth.

"Go....to...the...convent...tell...

Sister Brendan...Sister Brendan "

She was stuck at Brendan, she just couldn't get herself to talk to me.

She closed her eyes.

It was at this point that I knew I was done.

I was all alone.

The road to St. Francis of Assisi Convent was not long. But it seemed like forever.

The wind howled, the trees swayed, the clouds sagged by the minute and soon the rain would accompany this sudden storm.

The sky made midnight of the early night.

I shook, I cried, and I was tired, horrified, and hungry.

Being in the countryside, our area had very few and scattered settlements.

I therefore had to struggle to the convent as fast as I could before the heavy rain worsened my situation.

It wouldn't be too long before I reached my refuge. I fastened my steps.

At the gate was the bell that I rang which finally opened at the umpteenth time of ringing.

The guard made me sit at the reception to wait for the Mother Superior.

" I'm looking for Sr. Brendan,"

" Ooh Mother Superior, she's on her way... she'll be here in a minute," said the guard.

A strange-looking woman soon ushered me into an office. She'd covered her hair and half of her face. Or maybe they put this on when it's cold...I wondered.

The office was labeled, ' Mother Superior'.

Sounds like the boss of these people...some sort of a mother or something...I thought.

There sat an incredibly stern-looking woman. She'd dressed exactly like this other lady, only that her dress color was different. She was plump and you'd think she struggled to breathe when sat due to her heavy weight.

The lady left us closing the door behind her.

On the wall was a crucifix and it looked exactly like the one hanging on her neck.

I immediately knew that this was some kind of church or something.

I'd never been to church though, but the little things mama told me about church were in this room.

"Hey, little man!" She tapped me from my thoughts.

She was smiling.

Her stern face was suddenly replaced by a warm and welcoming smile.

The lump in my throat was replaced by a sigh of relief.

I was in a safe place.

"I last saw you as an infant.

You have grown, little man.

I got a message hours ago from your mama but I never expected you to come alone.

I know what that means. We'll talk things out later, for now, you have to eat well and have some rest.

It has been a long day, little man."

This would be my first time to sleep alone, without Mama.

It would be my first time for many other things.

As I stared at the ceiling of the room that I was taken to sleep in, I wondered whether I'd sleep till morning or till evening. I didn't have any strength left in me, but I knew this was a new dawn. A whole new life.

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