A g*****a

Trust is just a word

ANDREE:

Cassius Aka, Cesar told me his story. That was on my 21st birthday.

CASSIUS:

I was 15 years old then. It was my younger sister’s birthday. We were a family of a fisherman, we never had a land of our own. We celebrated my sister’s birthday by fishing so we could go to the land and sell them in the market once done or in the morning, depending on what time we would be done with the mass fishing.

In the middle of the celebration, we encountered two fishing boats. We were told to leave the area and stop the fishing activities that we were doing.

My father answered, “My friends, we are all subjects of this country, we’re compatriots. You can join us in fishing here. This area is not part of the prohibited area. “

My older brother went up to our father and told him, “Father, those boats are from Alkanta. We need to go.”

“ I saw, did we notify Mr. Alon? ” Father replied in a whisper,

“Mother is on it,” Brother whispered.

Father addressed the Alkantan boat Captain, “Captain, my apologies, we will be resting now, we will leave the area now. Thank you.”

We left the area and plotted our course, heading back to the docks since the safer place was somewhere without the Alkantas. One of my brothers and I were assigned to navigate so Father and the rest could have their rest.

My sister, who was positioned at the stern, ran to the bridge and told us that she had spotted a small boat. We did not believe her at first because we had not seen any lights.

When my sister mentioned Alkanta, we were alarmed. We tried to speed up further, but then we saw a commercial fishing vessel 500 meters before us. We gradually slowed down to avoid any collision. We sent a message to them via the radio that we would be taking the left side so they could stay where they were.

We informed the rest of the members of the family that we were having a situation again with the Alkantas. We received a response, and we were told that we needed to stop. I told my brother not to stop. They were Alkantas, they had a reputation. They are ruthless.

My brother told me that not reducing speed may be perceived as aggression. We slowed down and signaled them that we were taking the north route. They insisted that we stop because if we took any route, we might collide with one of their boats.

My father told us to stop, and then he went to the Bow and spoke with the Alkantans.

“ Sirs, please let us go along which way we should take that could avoid any collision with your boats? " Father politely asked.

While on the bridge, I saw my mother put down her phone. She was talking to someone earlier. She was crying while uttering my father’s name.

We did not receive any response from the Alcantans surrounding us. Three of the tugboats directed their spotlight on our boat. It was so bright that we could hardly see the surrounding waters. Until we heard several tugging sounds within our boat. It was as if something had landed on our boat. I went to my father's to make sure someone was with him. He needed someone to watch his back if we were talking about Alkantas. All I could see were boats with Alkantas logo on them. A guy boarded our boat and ordered 2 tugboats to veer the spotlight away because it was hurting his eyes.

“You know we Alkantas will not just let anyone leave without giving anything as an offering. What do you have to offer an old man? The guy asked my father,

“You can take our harvest, all of them,” my father answered.

“Sure! Men take all of them! ” he ordered.

I was so furious at that time, but my father held my fist to cover them and told me something I could not accept because it meant letting this madman do whatever they wanted without fighting back. They took all our harvests, and then one of his men came up to him and whispered something while handing him over something. It was one of my sisters’ comb.

“ Where are the ladies, hm? Captain? ” he said while holding up the comb.

My father was quiet. I was too. I had a feeling that they were hidden on the bridge, so I kept my eyes away from them. My brothers were on the bridge with them, including my mother.

The captain walked towards me, and asked me, “Boy do you know where the ladies went?”

I just kept quiet. He raised his head and said, “Has someone checked the bridge?”

“No” his men answered. He asked two of his men to come with him. “Let’s go to the bridge, I just want to see their equipment and other things.”

“Sir Marco, I’ll go first,” one of the guys said. He went straight up to the bridge and shouted, “ Marco! I found the girls! ”

“ I changed my mind, I don’t need the equipment anymore. Now, bring down the girls! Marco ordered

I shouted “NO!”

I tried to run towards the bridge and just saw the guy pull his knife and stab one of my brothers because they struggled to protect our sisters and our mother. I saw my brother holding his clutching onto his chest and drawing out his small knife, then slit the guy’s throat. There was too much blood. Marco raised his arm and ordered his men to shoot him. I heard a gunshot and saw my brother fall from the bridge. They killed him.

One guy went up to the bridge with a gun, pointing it at my sisters. He was warning them that if in any case, any one of them would do anything he did not like, he could shoot them. There was another Alkantan man who sneaked behind my other brother, he held his neck and pointed the gun at his head. I knew what they were going to do with them. I kept praying. My hands were tied up behind me, I kept struggling as I saw them tying my 2 sisters on a pole. I was having my small knife cut through the rope around my wrists all along. My father was struggling too and begging for Marco to spare them.

Marco was already starting to touch my sister's body when I had my rope cut off. I heard a thug, my other brother, managed to take the gun from the Alkantan guy and shoot him,

Marco was shouting, “Take him! Take him!”

I heard gunshots and saw my brother trying to shoot back at those men. He took down 3 of them, then I saw him drop-dead on the bridge floor.

Again, there were tugging noises and there were spotlights. I put my goggles on. I didn't know why I did that, but it lessened the bright light. I saw men in black bulletproof vests fighting with Marco’s men in our boat. There were gunshots everywhere,

My father was shouting at me, “Go! Go!”

I went to get my sisters; I was planning to run after Marco to avenge my brothers, but he ran faster toward their boats and fled. My sisters were crying. One of them was stabbed as well, and she was bleeding as I untied them. We went to get our mother. We saw her hugging my brother’s dead body. I went back to get my father. I saw him running towards us, but one of the Alkntans that was fleeing away shot him. My father got him and tried to strangle him, without a second thought. I ran to them and slit this Alkantan’s throat. When I turned to Father, I saw him bleeding.

The last word he spoke was, “son”.

Cassius took it hard; they trusted the gentlemen's agreement between him and the Alkantan’s captain that if we stopped our fishing, they could leave us in peace. That trust cost him his two brothers, a sister, and a father, making him lose faith in trust alone.

It was also said that even trusting the person who took him in and treated him as a son was not easy. The person who taught him to trust was my father, who lost his life because of trust.