Twisted Chances

Chapter5

“I don’t understand.”

Her smile was frozen on her face as she spoke out. Who doesn’t accept someone overqualified for the job? What kind of business were they running here? She wanted to say but held herself back.

“We’re sorry, we can’t offer you the job. Please bring the next person in.” They were directing her outside when a thought flashed through her mind. Then she lost it and turned to face the recruiters.

She jabbed at the table before them, her eyes blazing with audacity, pulse thumped in her ears. She couldn’t afford to lose, or she’d suffer with her daughter.

“Look here, I need this job. I have an upper hand experience. I can do this better than those people sitting outside your office. How can you not give the job to someone overqualified? What kind of business are you running here?”

She released her breath. “Please, I need to get this job, I have a little girl to take care of and two more on the way, please!”

There was silence in the room, the stunned men behind the table looked up at her. They weren’t expecting any kind of outburst from her. “We’re sorry ma’am, we are following direct orders from above. Please leave.”

Her eyes widened when she saw security by her side. They grabbed her arms and dragged her outside.

Outside, she sniffed, wiped her face furiously, and proceeded to the next interview. She didn’t have time to waste on defeat and tears; so much for fighting for it.

At the end of her day, after 15 unsuccessful interviews, with her child asleep, tucked in bed; Evie took a stroll down her street and kept walking for a long time, exasperated and tired, lost in her thoughts.

She had calculated the risks of wanting to start over again, she didn’t see this amount of strain and pain coming. She bravely faced multiple ‘No’s’ from different people, they even came with mouth odors and spit. She sighed depressingly. Andrew, you won’t go scot-free for this. A cold, soft breeze passed, and she hugged herself.

As she turned back to retrace her steps to the complex, the sound of a cart skidding fast, down the road got her attention. But when she turned, she saw it was a little boy in a wheelchair, that was racing backward down the inclined road, to an intersection on the main street, where a truck was making a slow U-turn.

Her heart skipped a beat as she heard the wailing sound he made past her. She hurried and ran after him. He was dressed in white shorts and Italian tee’s. His dark hair was in his eyes as he cried aloud, thrashing his hands about him.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Her pulse matched the strength of her feet. They were almost close to the intersection; Evie imagined a catastrophic collision the boy would make if she didn’t catch him on time.

She plunged herself forward and hurled him from the wheelchair minutes before he collided with the side of the truck.

Then she fell on her knees, wrapped the boy around her, and shielded him with her hands. She screamed at the pain she felt as her knees grazed the tarred road, bringing them to a halt, meters from the truck.

The little boy wrapped his arms around her neck and cried. Evie was torn between comforting him and crying from the pain she incurred, “It’s okay, you’re alright.” The wheelchair smashed under the tires of the truck.

“Mummy…” he cried again and pressed his body on her. Evie had no idea how she would stand or find his parents. She knelt there, in the middle of the road, heaving deep breaths, her shaky hands smoothening the boy’s hair. The dark sky thundered in the distance above.

Lights in some houses were turned on, and a few residents came out to stand on their porches, wondering what was happening. The silence after the crash sang loudly in her ears.

Then a black Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII EWB revved and parked before her. She was still on her knees, holding the boy in her arms. A tall man stepped out of the car on the other side. She could only see his dark hair and half of his broad chest.

He slowly rounded the back of the car, his eyes were hooded, and it remained on her as he walked towards them, then he stopped in front of them.

Evie could make out his features from the street lights, and his car’s headlights. Though his skin glowed like milk in the faint lights, she could sense a dark aura about him, and he looked dangerous in his fitted black suit.

At that moment, some other cars and a van arrived at the scene, surrounding them. Evie wondered what she had gotten herself into. She glanced around her and found she was surrounded by unknown men, all in black suits.

“Mummy?” came the little boy’s voice.

Shock!

It registered first in the mysterious man’s eyes. He wondered who the lady was that his mute son spoke, and called her mummy.