The Mafia King Would die for me

My eyes widened in shock. "Daddy I'm not going anywhere oh! What is this? Me I'm not going. Why does Aunt Ego want me to come to her house suddenly?" I protested with a pouty voice.

"Will you shut up that your stinking mouth!" My dad shouted.

I grumbled on and on, stomping my feet on the ground, but I shut up anyway. I wasn't brave enough to face him yet.

"Why does Aunt Ego want her to come?" My mum asked, as confused as I was.

"Her husband called me now. Do you know that she almost had a miscarriage because of too much work?"

"Jesus Christ of Nazareth!" My mum and I exclaimed in unison. I put my hand over my heart to calm my breath.

I didn't like Aunty Ego even if she was my Dad's only sister. She treated my mum badly and I hated her for it, but she had been looking for a child for so long it would be so painful if she lost this one.

"How is she?" It was my mum who asked.

"She's better now but they urgently need a helping hand."

"God will not let our enemies see us. They will not succeed!" My mum prayed. It was then that I knew that I was going to go to Port Harcourt whether I liked it or not.

Traveling was the last thing I wanted to do now with how unsafe the roads were because of the gang war which had been affecting my town, but I had no choice.

I quickly packed my bag and other necessities. I hugged my brothers goodbye while promising to get toys for them on my return. I also hugged my mum and promised her that I would be on my best behavior.

My Dad offered to drive me to the park which he only did because my aunt needed me. The ride to the park was tense and quiet and I did appreciate the silence. It was better than having forced conversations with a man I didn't like.

When we got to the park, he booked a seat for me and gave me the ticket. "You had better respect yourself over there," he warned, and drove away without telling me as much as a goodbye.

I knew that it would be hard for me to cope in my aunt's house because first, I wasn't used to staying away from home for such a long time as a month. Secondly, she didn't like me and I didn't like her.

I've always thought my family to be my responsibility. My whole family. Maybe it was something that came with being the first child. A kind of blessing, a kind of curse, a little bit of both. Soon it was time for my bus to move and I entered it feeling all melancholic and sad. My mom promised that she would tell my Boss about the break I was having, but I doubted if he would not replace me before I got back. It made me sad because I wanted to earn enough money for myself before I got admission to the university because I didn't trust my parents to fully cater for me considering their present financial status. I also didn't want to have to burden my mum too much because I knew that she would be the one to take care of my college expenses.

My seat number was 8 so I sat on the second to last seat on the bus. I had my earpiece plugged while I listened to Michael Jackson's Dangerous. He was and still is my best musician.

I soon started getting inspiration to pen down a poem like I always did when I felt sad and lonely.

I was about to unlock my phone when the bus was brought to an abrupt halt. I felt some kind of tension in the bus and so I pulled out my earplugs.

"Stop now!" I heard two men scream from outside the bus causing tension inside. The driver tried to move past them.

"You all calm down," he urged us and we obeyed briefly. But before he could move another mile the bus was shot and all calmness flew out the window. Now there was nothing but tension, wails and a good dose of fear.

I stayed put for a while before the situation hit me like a stray bullet and I started to panic.

"Lord save us!" The woman sitting across me cried out hugging her daughter who was about the same age as I was.

Everyone seemed to be with family or friend, I was with no one so I hugged myself. I wanted to call my mum but in situations like this, I was of better use than she was. She would only start panicking and I didn't want her to die before her time.

One of the masked men opened the bus while the other stood by the side pointing the gun at the driver who had his hands up. When the man successfully opened the door one other masked man different from the one pointing the gun at the driver joined him in entering the bus.

Never had I been so afraid in my life. I thought I would die. It was obvious that they were from a gang but I didn't know which gang they were from. My best bet was 'White Lion' because that was the gang that was known to cause the most havoc.

"If you speak I will shoot." One of the men growled. His voice meant business. The other man looked around the bus as if there was something he had kept in the bus that he wanted to retrieve.

"Hey you get out of the car!" He ordered, pointing to the girl sitting next to me. She nodded slowly crying, her mother held her tight, refusing to let her go.

"Didn't you hear me! Get out of the damn car!" He growled this time. She flinched, shaking from head to toe.

She stood up to leave sobbing and shaking. Her mother tried to hold her back pleading, but the man would have none of it. He hit her hard with the gun and she passed out. Her daughter screamed out and tried to fight but she was restrained by the second man who had given us the warning. He was taller than the other and looked more of a hardened criminal maybe because of the tribal marks on his face.

"I'm not here for drama. The next person will be hit by a bullet." He warned. He turned to the girl sitting in front of me. "Get out of the bus!"

He ordered. Even before he finished she got down letting go of her younger brother whose tiny hands held her tight until she got down. In her case she was the protector.

The brother was crying and begging but his words were inaudible. One man who was in front restrained him and kept patting him on the back.

It was too much of a coincidence that they had asked two girls who were about the same age as me to leave the bus without even asking a single guy to leave. I was afraid that I would be next.

As if God was in my favor both men looked out of the bus and I used the opportunity to try to hide under the seat. My knees were on the ground and my head was already finding its way under when my hair was pulled back. "I saved the best for the last look at this one trying to escape. I like her what do you think."

The other man who had been pointing the gun licked his lips and smirked. "I like her too but boss has to see them first."

"He's going to give her to us anyway." The other guy laughed. He pulled me out of the car and into a van with the rest of the three girls. I was the only one not crying.

I had to organize my thoughts now. To plan an escape as I knew better. This was the best time to escape if I wanted to, now that they were only three of them. If I'm taken to the base then I might never leave because then there will be more of them. More of them to try to stop me.

"You guys have to stop crying." I whispered to the other two girls when the van started moving. One of the men had entered another car so we were left now with just two of them who sat in front.

Both girls ignored me holding onto each other, already finding comforts in themselves. I felt sad but I understood that they did have a lot in common. They were both scared.

Ignoring the slight pain in my chest I tried to check for my phone but I just then realized that I had left it in the bus. Police here was dead anyway when it came to gangs, White Lion was law in this town. My only hope was simple let this be another gang. If they were from 'White Lion' then I was gone for.

I saw a rope on the ground of the car and out of instinct and sheer desperation I picked it up and tried to strangle the driver. I put the rope around his neck and pulled on it with as much force as I could muster.

He was thrown off balance and the car moved in different directions. The other guy tried to shoot but was kicked by one of the girls, the one who sat by me. The other took the gun when it fell and hit his head. The driver started losing his breath and stopped struggling.

With no one handling the steering wheel the car started to move fast before it somersaulted.

My head hit the glass window and there was a lot of smoke. I had a cut on my forehead and my arm but other than that I was fine. I quickly unlocked the door hitting the two girls in the process.

There was smoke all around us as we got out of the car. We coughed sporadically as we ran away from the car and smoke.

"So what do we do now?" The girl who had been sitting by my side asked after we had reached a safe distance. She used her left hand to support her right because she was bleeding profusely on the right. Her breathing was hitched but she looked better than she did before.

I looked at her and exhaled, trying to get as much air into my lungs as possible. "We run and never look back because if they find us." I paused. "Well let me just say they shouldn't. I'm Mirabel. You can call me Mira."

"Justine." The girl replied. She looked like someone who would answer Justine. She was small and petite. Like a little tanned doll, everything about her was so small and cute.

"Fola." The other girl introduced licking blood from the side of her mouth. Fola on the other hand was thick on all the right places. Her face was round and she was quite tall, even taller than I was.

We nodded in understanding of a common goal which was to run as fast as we could.

There were no further pleasantries as the three of us started to run for our lives. The road was lonely, very lonely and there was no one in sight but we didn't give up even though we didn't know where we were.

All I hoped for was to leave the lonely street to the main road.

"Does any of you have your phone here?" I asked, when we stopped to catch our breaths.

We were getting closer to town and I could feel hope swirl in my chest.

Fola was about dipping her hands in her pocket when a Hilux driving in full speed stopped by us and pushed us into the back seat. We struggled but we were defeated and bound.