Chapter 5
1134 Words
"David"
"David"
The third call came with a smack on my back.
"David! I'm talking to you."
I removed my earphones so I could hear her clearly.
"Ma?"
"Don't you know you're sitting near the door? And you're holding your phone like that? I've told you several times not to press your phone inside the bus. Do you want all these hoodlums to snatch your phone from the window?"
"Mom, nothing like that will happen", I said, with an eye roll. As I replaced the earphones and turned up the volume, I could hear the annoyance in her voice as she made her final remarks.
"Don't say I didn't warn you, you stubborn child."
I nodded and turned away from her. I hadn't been online all day, and my phone was buzzing with notifications. It usually took us about twenty to thirty minutes to get home from the market depending on the traffic situation of the day, so I figured I could check my notifications, reply messages and make one or two posts online before I got home and got busy with chores.
A few minutes later we'd caught up with traffic. It was a few minutes before seven o'clock and the skies were darkening, with the weather signalling that a downpour would soon occur. Drivers were getting impatient and honking their horns like crazy. The motorcyclists made matters even worse as they zipped past cars recklessly and weaved their way through traffic in a mad rush.
I was still immersed in my phone, music blasting in my ears as I tried replying to a comment on a post on f*******:, and then it happened. One of the cyclists zipped past me and his accomplice on the bike with him snatched my phone from the window. The speed at which he yanked it away caught me completely by surprise and the force of it even tore my earphone wire in two. Before I could even react, they were gone, blending in with the rest of the traffic.
"Hey, hey, thief. Stop them. Thief!"
I was yelling frantically at the top of my voice. Some of the passengers tried helping me to draw the attention of passersby, but we were only met with bewildered gazes from the few who bothered to stop. Most of the others were occupied with trying to find their way home be fore the drizzling rain got any heavier. I turned around, flailing my arms in desperation, only to see my mom laughing at me in mockery.
"Did I or did I not tell you that they would steal your phone? But you wouldn't hear. That serves you right."
Her words stung my ears and made me angry. I made to open the door and she grabbed my hand, holding me back.
"What do you want to go? You want to chase after them? Are you mad? Sit down there, you stupid child, you're not going anywhere."
Those words made me even madder. I shrugged her off with a quick movement of my shoulders, and with a kick I sent the door flying off its hinges. I took to the air immediately, eyes glowing bright with the colour of lightning. It was getting darker, but it didn't matter to me. I flew up higher to get a better vantage point, and soon I could see my assailants in the distance.
"You just made the worst mistake of your lives!"
My voice roared like thunder and I zoomed off, leaving a trail of lightning in my wake. In a twinkle of an eye I'd caught up with them. With a simple gesture of my hand, a bolt of lightning hit their vehicle, sending them crashing into the sidewalk. Most of the people standing nearby fled in different directions, and a few of the bolder ones stood watching from a distance. I descended slowly, hovering a few inches away from the ground. I was shaking with rage as I levitated towards them, and all around me the air cackled with lightning from my indignation.
"Please, please, don't hurt us."
One of the robbers was still pinned down under the now mangled motorcycle, and was pleading for his life, while his partner was crawling away, limping from a broken leg. Another gesture and a gust of wind blew him toward me, placing his neck in my hand as I gripped his throat firmly.
"Give me my phone! "
The show of lightning and the sound of thunder that followed my voice was terrifying enough to make a grown man wet his pants, and wet them he did.
"Please, please, anything. I'll do anything."
He dipped his hand in his pocket and fished out my phone, all the while whimpering and trembling with fear.
"Here take it please, just leave me alone."
I grabbed the phone from him and looked at it. The screen was cracked in several places and and the glass casing had shattered into pieces.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY PHONE?????"
I didn't care that I was the one who had sent them crashing in the first place. I was mad beyond words, and the intensity of the lightning in my eyes made it clear.
"You'll pay for this!", I growled and raised him higher, even as he kicked and struggled frantically.
"I'm sorry, no, please. No..."
His mouth hung open in the shape of an O as lightning incinerated his body, leaving him an empty husk. I released the now shriveled body and he hit the floor with a slight thud. His partner let out a shrill scream at the sight of what just happened to his friend, and I almost burst out laughing because he sounded like a frightened little girl.
"Please don't hurt me", he pleaded as I approached him, all the while still trying to no avail to free himself from the wreckage. It was clear that he'd lost a great deal of control over the lower part of his body.
"I'd smite you where you lie, but you're already useless, so I have a better idea."
I raised my hand and was about to summon a storm to send him off into oblivion when I felt someone hold my hand.
"I said you're not going anywhere. Are you not hearing me?"
The voice snapped me out of my reverie. It was my mom, still holding my hand to prevent me from opening the car door.
"I've told you a million times to stop using your phone in public transport, but you wouldn't listen. Now they've stolen your phone. And you want to open the door and do what? Do you want them to stab you?"
That was when it dawned on me. Tears trickled down my cheeks and I instantly regretted not listening to my mother.
- Writer
