Love is War

Chapter 67

We started to run away from the man, as fast as we can, I am starting to cry right now as I don’t know what is happening right now. All I know is that fear is overwhelming my heart, as I looked back and saw the creepy man from earlier chasing us with his knife, I don’t know what to do to help.

I looked at mom again as we are both running and I am trying my very best right now, to match her speed, and these young legs of mine, is starting to ache, as the toll of moving around this much is getting onto me. No words can describe the fear when I saw that man holding a knife.

“Hey, stop, I will make it quick,” he sounded desperate but only a fool will fall from his tricks, I looked back again, and saw that we are not creating much distance from him.

“Why are you here?” mom asked the man chasing us as we continue to run away from him. “Who are you working for? And why are you trying to kill us?” she added more questions for him to answer, but those questions are left dumbfounded as the man did not answer any of it.

Mom turned on a sharp corner and I almost stumbled on the ground when she did that, but mom prevented that from happening, as her strength lifted me up from falling. I am hurt but I know the situation right now. I need to be more wary of my surroundings as I don’t want to be a burden to my mom again.

I looked back and saw the man is not there anymore, I felt some kind of relief, but mom is not stopping at just that so I knew that I can’t calm down.

“Mom,” I tried to call on her but the situation seems to take over her mind, that’s why I continue on running and did not call her again, so I can avoid to jumble her thoughts, but I am scared and I know that she also afraid.

I knew more than this, that right now she is trying to protect me, away from harm, and I will not try to be a selfish brat right now. Both of us wants to get out of here, and call dad for help. I know dad is strong and he can send this man away crying for her momma.

Mom, tried every corner that she saw, as if all of us are inside a maze right now that we are trying to get out, and that man is the monster of the maze, and if he catches us, then it will all be game over for us, just like when I played pac man, trying to avoid the ghosts.

I know that I am not inside that game that is why I will try to behave, and not cause any trouble for mom. All I need to do right now, to not mess things up, is to follow the flow that she is trying to pursue. I will not go against the tides and I will put all my trust to mom.

I am just a mere child and she is a grown adult that knows how to take every correct decision. This is a pivotal moment for us and just one wrong step, bot of our lives will be game over.

All I can see right now, is that mom is trying to run as fast as she can and the man is nowhere to be seen anymore. I wanted to tell mom that we should take a rest because we lost the man. There is no way that he can find us in this maze like area. He should have given up early on when we entered the slums.

It’s the middle of the night and in this area, all the people are already asleep in this point of time, so, there is no one that we can ask for help right now. We are all on ourselves... and then my thoughts were cut off as mom pulled me so suddenly.

I am pulled to a corner, and mom shushed me trying shush me, she puts me in the middle of the boxes. It is dark in here.

“Honey,” she said while looking around frantically when in fact there is no one in the area right now. “Stay here, mommy will come back for you,” she said to me but all I can do right now to help her is nod to show her that I will be safe. “Don’t make any noise okay, until I arrive for help and DON’T trust anyone who comes near you and if that man spotted you run away as fast as you can, mommy will find you,” she is starting to be like a rapper right now as she said all these words without any breaks.

She gasped for air.

“Yes, mom, I will be safe here and wait for you,” I said to her reassuring her that she can be okay about leaving me here. I pushed away the thought that she is starting to see me as burden for her escape but I know my mom very well, she is doing this so that I can be away from that bad guy.

We heard footsteps from far away, and mom became frantic again as she stood up.

“Here hold this, remember what I told you,” she reminded me and I just nodded at her. She leaned her face towards me and she kissed my forehead. “I will be back,” she whispered to me. I sniffled but I contained it as the creepy man will know that I am here. “Mommy always love you,” as she stood up again.

I saw her run as fast as she can. This place that I am sitting on right now, feels very dirty as the wet ground due to the mist covering the area right now. I can feel some ants crawling to my skin, but when I heard the footsteps getting louder and louder, I can’t do anything right now but to hold my breath. I hold onto this wooden panel that mom handed me over and put it right in front of me to hide myself.

Luckily for me, this wooden panel has a hole on it and it is only right onto my eye level. So, if the man saw me here, I can see it and not just entirely rely on my gut instincts.

Moments later as the man became nearer and nearer to me, I started to hear his laughter from here. The laughter is faint as the infrastructures in this area muffled the sounds. The echoes I cannot tell where exactly will he come fro-

A loud splash surprised me but thankfully he didn’t notice me, what surprised me the most is where the man came from. From, from... above, I don’t know how he got there or what he is doing from there but the mere fact that a normal human being doing that is far from being imaginable for my young mind.

Like a horror creature that I have seen from the movies, his body started twitching around as he looks around him trying to find us, he released a very weird laughter, that gave me the goosebumps. All of my hairs right now are standing straight because of the spook that he gave me.

“Where are you two?” he asked as if he is assuming that we will answer his question and come out from our hiding. He looks a bit frustrated when he received no answers from us and I just continue to peek on the hole in the middle of this wooden panel. “There is no point in hiding, I will collect both of your lives,” he added.

Right now, he started to flip all the crates all around him, and it looks like that mom’s plan did not work as she imagined it to be. Now I am starting to shake again, and I am trying my best to contain it- my eyes widened when a crated besides me fell.

In that moment of silence, he turned around as quick as he can and in that single moment, my heart stopped bating for a second.

“Ohh rats, hiding in every corner, they thought the mouse will not catch them no more, but the cat is persistent and is desperate to have a taste of the rat’s flesh,” he started to tell these nonsense words out of nowhere and it is very creepy. “The mouse soon became cocky, and tried to tease the cat, there goes the mouse’s life away, the cat soon enjoyed and feasted upon the rat’s flesh,” he added.

Mommy, I mouthed as if she can hear this soundless desperate call for help will reach her. I can feel my tears starting to fall again and right now, I am cornered and I don’t know what should I do anymore.

He started to walk slowly again towards me and right now, I am a helpless chick, cornered by a predator hunting me. His eyes are of like a fox, a hungry fox. He is baring his teeth towards me as if he is seeing me right now.

But I stay put hoping that he is just bluffing and is trying to test if I am really here. I closed my eyes very tightly. All I can hear right now is the heart beat of my heart beating, in sync with his footsteps...

He became closer and closer to me, and when he is about to touch the wooden panel, a loud crash caught his attention.

“Hey!” I heard mom’s voice from afar.

“There you are,” he said and then started running towards her direction, I am prepared to slam this wooden panel to his face but on the last second, mom saved me. When he is nowhere in sight I quickly burst out of this corner and I ran towards the opposite direction, because I hate to feel that again. Being cornered...