Quillon’s Ordeal

The Reunion

The night remained quiet and damp with hopeless darkness, screaming dread and horror. The rustle of dead grasses, the eerie of the wind and the clinking of metal from the warehouse are the only sounds that made it to Caius’ ears as he walked through the narrow road that leads back to his taxi, tired but unfulfilled as mission “find Quillon” is yet to be accomplished. Several questions run through his mind as he walked “where could Quillon be?, why didn’t I get to see him? Could it be that Draco had released him? Or is this some wicked play?” “No, my Quillon would not do that to me!” He said to himself.

The driver heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of Caius and immediately opened the door for him to get in. Curiosity written all over his face. He is not sure if to ask questions because the few times he did, all he got were monosyllabic responses, but this time, the urge is irresistible. “Sir are you sure we should wait any longer? This place looks unsafe”. “No we wait, he is coming,he……”. Caius was about to finish response when a faint silhouette figure appeared, limping and staggering slowly towards them. The figure looked quite strange but absolutely unmistakable. Caius swallowed hard, relief surged through his body like a potent force, he flung the door open and ran towards the figure. It’s Quillon, bruised and bleeding, his shirt stained with blood and dirt, the side of his head cut. He sunk into Caius’ arms like a famished baby about to feed on his mother. “You came” he whispered, “You really came”. “I’ll always come my love, always” Caius replied, his voice hoarse but reassuring. He supported Quillon’s weight as they walked to the car like he was carrying a long lost treasure. They both slid into the backseat and exhaled loudly into each other’s faces. “Can I proceed sir?” The driver impatiently asked, shutting all doors and turning on the ignition. “Go, drive fast, take us out of here right now, Go!!” Caius barked at the driver.

It was a short but rough ride out of the old town road onto the promising lane of the city, dusts flying from the ground and covering the taxi’s rear like a cloud of smoke. Caius kept looking backwards whilst still hugging Quillon tight and patting his head like a baby, expecting to see Draco and his gang chase after them like a hawk. The fear lingered, clinging to them like wet paper-mache, yet the road remained empty. No Draco, no gang, no warehouse or its clinking and scary metal sound, just an empty dusty road with utter darkness. Quillon leaned deeper into Caius’ arms, “they’ve taken everything, everything, my bag, my phone, my powerbank” he whispered. “We will get another, another phone, another bag, and another property. What matters is that you’re alive, you’re here, every other thing is replaceable” Caius consoled him.

They arrived at Caius’ house, he paid the driver and guided Quillon inside, carefully not to press on his bruises while still hurrying so no one could see them just in case Draco and his gang silently trailed them down.

The next morning felt flat, no excitement, no drive, and even worse, no hope of Quillon’s return home. Mrs Dale had been up all night, pondering on possibly places that her son might have visited and spent the night. Wondering what kind of distraction that her son could have been involved that made him totally unreachable. She had called a few of his friends whom she knew but none claimed to be in possession of him. “This is unlike my son, he has never left this house without making his destination known, especially when he’ll be spending the night” she said to herself. Curiosity and uncertainty wrapping her like a cocoon. She hurriedly ran downstairs and called the rest of the family to ask of Quillon’s whereabouts. “ I saw him walk out of the house yesterday in a hurry and I’ve not seen him ever since” his younger brother responded. “I heard him make a call about location and stuffs……but I didn’t pay attention because I was quite busy at the kitchen” Quillon’s sister in law who lived with them also replied. “So where could he be? You mean none of you heard something or at least see someone come around to pick him up? I mean maybe a friend, an acquaintance, or maybe even a taxi? Did anyone see a car drive into this compound yesterday?” “No ma” they all chorused. Mrs Dale’s heart pounded louder.