Vengeance Unbound

Chapter 4: Oasis Lounge

Chioma’s POV

“Get back here!”

Running, panting, breathing unsteadily

“No, please… please…”

The pathway was dark, almost swallowed by shadows, and the night air burned my lungs as I pushed myself forward.

Four tall figures chased me. I couldn't see their faces, only their shapes moving fast behind me. Their shadows stretched along the walls, long and threatening.

“Is this what y’all call déjà vu?… ’Cause if it is, I hate it.”

I kept running until I hit a dead end – a massive wall towering in front of me. My heart dropped. I turned to run back, but it was too late. They were already there. Tall, faceless. Blocking every escape.

“Missing pops, huh? Why don’t you go have a blast with him… in hell.”

A low voice. Then, the sound of sharp knife cut through the air.

“Wh-what are you doing? This is not… I can’t… I’m sorry, please don’t hurt me, I beg you!”

I dropped to my knees, palms pressed together. Tears burned down my cheeks.

Then the blade sliced across my neck.

“Ahhhhhh!!!”

**********

I woke up crying, my throat raw from screaming.

I shot up, hands flying to my neck. No cut. No blood. Just sweat and a pounding heart.

“Gosh… it was just a nightmare.” I sagged in relief.

I went to the mirror, stared at my reflection. Pale. Shaken.

Until pain suddenly shot through my stomach.

“Ouch!! What the f**k?” I doubled over, holding myself. I hurried to the toilet, sat down, tried to force something out. I hadn’t gone in days. Maybe that was it.

The pain hit again, deeper. “Ouchhh!!”

I glared at my stomach. “What the hell is actually going on in there?”

My period? Maybe. I never kept track.

Nothing happened. No poop, no blood. I got up, massaged my belly. “Worms? Been a while since I dewormed…”

Then nausea rose suddenly. My throat burned. I barely made it before vomiting violently into the toilet. It came nonstop until my body felt empty. I coughed, gasping for air, then flushed and leaned against the sink.

“Jeez, what did I eat last night?”

I washed my face, rinsed my mouth, ran a cold water bath, and sank into it, letting the water cool my body. Moments later, the alarm went off, really loud. I rushed out and turned it off. It was 5:30am just how I set it.

“Time to prepare breakfast, chi” I sighed.

“No trouble today”. I dressed in my caregiver uniform, tied my hair back, smothed my brows with my palms, smacked my lips, and headed downstairs.

**********

Downstairs, the house was already moving. Workers hurried past. Roberta was in the living room, checking windows.

I went into the kitchen. “Okay… just coffee, right? One cup coming up.”

I took a cup, boiled water, poured the coffee, then the water. “Milk.” Got it from the fridge, poured just the right amount, stirred.

Placed it on a tray. “Okayyy… Let’s go see Mr. Grumpy.”

I turned–and Roberta was there.

“Morning, ma’am.” I forced a smile.

“Good morning.” She held something wrapped in paper. She took a plate, put it on the tray. A croissant.

“What’s this?”

“Part of the menu now. Don’t forget.”

“But… I thought it was just coffee.”

“It was. Now it’s not. Go.”

“Alright.” I turned, then stopped. “Ms. Roberta… sorry. About last night. How I acted when you told me to change. It was silly.”

She looked at me. “I don’t stay mad long. Now go. Serve him.”

I nodded, carried the tray out.

**********

Walking upstairs, I thought, Who knew Roberta could be so… human?

At Vinco’s door, I balanced the tray, knocked three times. “Breakfast!”

No answer.

“Still sleeping at this hour?”

Knocked again. Nothing.

I tried the knob–it turned. The door wasn’t locked.

I peeked in. Empty. I walked in, set the tray on a reading table.

I saw a picture of him: brunette hair, dark brown eyes, in a pilot’s uniform, holding a pipe. “Hmm… not bad.”

Then I heard water–a shower running.

“Taking a shower, huh?”

A thought hit me. Let me see how big Daddy’s truck is. Wouldn’t hurt, right? I crept toward the bathroom door.

Then I heard his voice. On the phone.

“…how did the surgery go?… Once he wakes up, don’t question him. Let him think everything’s okay… before we strike.”

Surgery? Who?

I pressed my ear to the door.

The water stopped.

“He’s coming”...I gasps

I scrambled back to the table, stood straight, like I’d just walked in.

Vinco stepped out in a bathrobe, towel drying his hair. He didn’t look at me, just stood at the window.

“What are you doing here?” Voice deep, morning-rough.

“Your breakfast.”

He walked over, eyed the coffee, then me. Took a sip. “Mmm… just how I like it.” He glanced at the croissant. “This?”

“Part of the menu.”

He ate three bites, finished the coffee, wiped his mouth.

“All done,” I said, reaching for the tray.

“Hold on.”

He went to a drawer by his bed, took out a small bag, handed it to me. A phone.

“Already saved my number. I’ll call you. Be ready at nine.”

“Oh wow… you do have a heart.”

I left with the tray, thinking of my old phone–lost the night Dad died.

********

“8:56 PM”

“Why’s it so damn tight?” I struggled to pull the black leather dress down. Managed it finally. Knee-high boots, hair combed straight, perfume sprayed.

I picked up lipstick–then stopped.

What the f**k, Chi… This ain’t a date. Focus. It’s a chance to find out what happened to Dad. Not dressing up for that monster.

I tossed the lipstick aside.

Scrolling the new phone, I wondered: Why give me this? If he doesn’t want me to run, why?

A message popped up “ Downstairs, now.”

It was Vinco.

“9:03,...Well, someone’s early.”

I went down. “Ms. Roberta!” No answer. “Oh well.”

Outside, a black limousine waited, windows tinted dark.

“Get in.” Vinco’s voice from inside.

I got in. We drove.

************

The car stopped in a quiet area. Just expensive cars parked outside a big building

“ OASIS LOUNGE.”

I stared. “Why’d you bring me here?”

“You’re my caregiver. Thought I could use assistance tonight.”

“Assistance?...with what?”

He sighed. “I’m getting drunk. Very drunk. You’ll take care of me.”

“Wait…what? So you brought me here to get wasted so I can babysit you?”

“That’s the whole point of your job, isn’t it?”

“You must be mad!” I yelled

“Enough. Let’s go in.”

“And do what?”

“Close a deal.” Vinco said as he dragged me into the building.

**********

The elevator opened into a huge hall.

“Oh… my… f*****g gawdd!.” my jaw dropped.

Men sat around a massive table. Women and Men in just underwear paraded past, breasts and p*****s in different sizes dangled every where.– Naked women danced on a high platform, some on a pole while men bid for their bodies.

“This… is the cursed city of Sodom and Gomorrah.” I whispered.

“Welcome to the Crazy Horse strip club,” Vinco said, almost smiling.

The noise was insane–yelling, cheering, music pounding.

“Is this the deal?” I shouted, hands over my ears.

Vinco led me to another room, his bodyguard behind us.

“ THE BLACK LOTUS DEN CASINO. ”

“This is where I get wasted. Stay alert.”

“You gotta be kidding me.” I said

A man in black stepped out. “Sir Antonov, Mr. Paolo needs you.”

“Paolo….The name from the night he almost strangled me to death.” I thought.

“Take this”, Vinco says, handing me a stack of cash.

“For what”? I asked

“There’s a convinence store behind the building. Get hangover medicine.” he walks into the room and shuts the door.

“Why does everyone keep sending me for drugs?” I yelled.

I remembered Dad, that last night. Sent me for medicine. Never saw him again.

*******

Outside, behind the building, a convenience store glowed in the distance. “It’s far,” I muttered.

Walking, I heard screams from an abandoned-looking house. I peeked.

People being slaughtered. Bodies hung up. Blood everywhere. Eyes, kidneys, hearts–plucked out.

I gasped, “what place is this”

stumbled back, then ran.

Made it to the store, out of breath, sinking to the ground.

Nausea hit again. I vomited on the pavement.

“What the hell is wrong with me?”

Inside, I grabbed the medicine. At the counter, I saw a pregnancy test.

“No… Not that…Chill”.

But something made me pick it up.

“Where’s the toilet?”

The cashier pointed. I went in, peed on the stick.

Two lines.

“No… No, no, no.” I did it again. Same two lines.

Tears fell hot and fast. “Not now… not like this.”

I cleaned up, wiped my face, go back out, pay for everything and stepped back outside.

Then I screamed. “Ahhh!! Those goons… I’m pregnant. From those monsters.” I walk round in circles, crying.

I threw the medicine bottle on the ground. It shattered.

“Dad!!” I sobbed at the sky. “My life ain’t shitty enough?”

********

Walking back, blind with rage and tears, I bumped into a man in the near-dark.

He called me an insulting name. I sprang at him, sized his coat lapels and demanded that he apologize. And as my face came close to his, he looked insolently out of his eyes and cursed me, his breath hot and sour in my face as he struggled.

Rage burned through me. I pulled his chin down and butted my head into his face–once, twice– I felt his nose break, flesh tear and the blood gush out, and I yelled

“Apologize!! Apologize!!!”

But he continued to curse and struggle, i butted him again until he fell to his knees, profusely bleeding. I kicked him repeatedly, in a frenzy because he still uttered insults, though his lips were frothy with blood.

“Mother..fucker” Oh yes, I kicked him!!

I kicked him. Again and Again.

Rage consumed me –then I remembered the little knife in my boot–the one I’d hidden before leaving. I took it out, pressed it to his throat under the streetlight. Then I realized…

“he's…drunk?!”.

He moaned, drunk, bleary-eyed. He hadn’t even seen me.

I pushed him away. He collapsed on the asphalt.

I threw the knife away,... screaming at the top of my lungs, breathing hard, shaking.

“Ahhhhhh!!” I screamed at nothing.

I stood for a while to catch my breath, – then headlights approached…it was a cab.

I hailed it, and got in.