Niko’s Eye

Chapter 49.

Alejandro.

Whatever happens after this, I deserve it.

He watched Isis’ astonished allure after he finished his confessions.

"I know I was an animal. Incapable of love, and having no conscience. But I’ve turned away from my previous life. I tried to hurt you but I couldn’t. You’ve changed me Isis. You’ve changed my whole life."

Your top animal must be a creature of peace, one who honours the divine creator and all of creation. If your top animal favours destruction and greed you are doomed. It appears that the situation is mixed and that a resolution is required. The clock is ticking. Nature can only hang on for so long and then it your joint future gets locked in to a hellish demise. So, as distasteful as you find it, after all persuasions have been attempted to their logical destinations, the recalcitrant monsters must have new predators to reduce their numbers to something manageable. The the stories of of their demise will be enough to dissuade many from becoming monsters too. You lost your warriors to war, the monsters whom lack chivalry, bravery, humility and grace took over, the good fought back but are losing... time to choose your fate... will you awaken the predator’s predators and take that chance to win, or else quake until all who depend on you are beyond help let alone prayer?

"I once had a conversation with you, and do you remember what you said to me? About change?"

Isis nodded slowly. "Change will come, yet know that you were born for change. You were born to choose between your inner good wolf and your inner evil wolf. You were born to become more as the angels or more as the monsters. So learn the difference. Many monsters believe themselves angels. Many angels believe themselves monsters. All, in reality, are somewhere on the spectrum between the two. Once you realise that your battle is within, you control the changes within and this will help to change the world for the better. It is you versus you. So change."

"Exactly. Are you willing to give me a chance?"

"But Alejandro, you killed Ignatius and a numerous amount of other people. You also.."

"I know, and the fact that those people deserved to die, does not help the situation. I was living in survival mode, always trying to protect myself and desires."

"I see it in your eyes. You regret your past life, and I feel it too. It takes a lot to tell somebody the truth, unfiltered. So I respect that. I’m just going to need some time to process."

"Before you go, let’s say something to the Satan."

Isis looked at him like he had just lost his marbles.

He took her hands and started, "Dear Satan, We understand your mechanisms will defeat you, it is a simple matter of time. We are fully aware of how the duplicity of our language can be used against us, as are negations, allowing messages to our conscious and subconscious minds to be opposite. We are aware that our cultures have lurched toward hedonism. We are aware that consumerism is destroying the Earth. We are aware that our cultures have been infected with the poison that the monetary system brought - greed, selfishness, vanity. We are aware that sloth is used as a lure, when indeed we should work with love in our hearts for the good of our world and one another. Our work should be our love made visible. So, we are aware that you have corrupted our systems by using money and language. We are aware that money is the root of evil. We are aware that we cannot love God and money. We choose God. We choose love. We choose cooperation, compassion, kindness and empathy. We choose life, nature and to regard our Earth and her life as sacred. We choose fraternity over power. We choose to let our money systems go and start a new world of equality and kindness. Much hate and disrespect, Alejandro and Isis."

Chloe.

We had nothing in common, other than a will for the right result in the end. I was the one lead by emotion and him by cool logic. I wanted to run out and and heal the wounded, he knew it would take resources beyond what we had. He buried himself in work that would bring in the things we needed but I could never pull my head out of the small details. Every step I took had to tangibly take me closer to the over-all goal, to be helping, reducing pain, spreading understanding. He wasn’t like that. He could walk in the opposite direction for as long as it took if it was more likely to succeed. We never played chess, we were always on the same side, but if we had been he would have won every time. That’s just how we were all through our marriage, the idealist and the pragmatist. I’m not saying that we always agreed, but we never lost respect for the other. I’d never have achieved what I did alone, and neither would he. Neither would the journey have been so pleasant.

Sergio.

Sergio had signalled Rãmirez that Aisha was in Mexico, he sat in his lounge, waiting for the officer to give him feedback on what went down in Mexico.

He tried to distract himself by speaking to Zainab on the phone. She had told him that her and Isis were not on talking terms.

Girl’s drama, he had thought.

He sucked on his teeth as he found himself still anxious over Aisha’a issue. He knew he had feelings for her but he didn’t know they were this deep. He felt scared. Afraid, and sad that she would have to spend the rest of her life in jail.

He thought about the tiny room him and his mother had been in, on the ship that had brought them to Barbados, along with numerous others.

In the half-light of the tiny room, he could see he will not be alone. There were many figures crowded into the ungenerously sized room. It was narrow and long. There was no way everyone there could sleep at the same time or even sit for long unless they were so sick that they couldn’t. Even then, they were likely to be stepped on. The stench was something he hadn’t expected but should have; it was excrement, urine, sweat and vomit. The slaves were all hacking and wheezing, most were gaunt. He reckoned he could tell how long a person had been there by the amount of flesh they had left. The door closed behind them, the sound of the locks clicking shut behind. No-one looked at his or his mother’s way, they were just another breathing corpses. He turned, eyes rolling over the concrete walls, there had to be a way out. There had to be.

This was his way out. He had made it out. All he could wish for, was his mother’s life.

Life on that ship had traumatised the young Sergio. He suspected that, that was where his claustrophobia and anxiety originated. And now he was at the point where he had to take medication as it had become a diagnosis.

His wife came into the room, and sat next to him.

Sergio turned to her with sudden ferocity, the words flying from his mouth with an intensity that drove his wife back. "I’m not scared of hell, Chloe, not scared at all." Chloe blanched, she’d been raised a good church girl and the words scared her half to death.

"Sergio, don’t say that. It’s not right, not right at all." But Sergio wouldn’t listen, his face was contorted with a rage she hadn’t seen before.

"I’m not scared of hell because we’re already there! Look around you, What are your choices? Wear clothes made by slaves, some of them children? Eat food grown with toxins that harm the earth? Be complicit in animal cruelty daily? Drive a car that pollutes the earth more? And what if we don’t do these things, Chloe, what happens? We are "weird" and "hippies." If we don’t work all our lives at some job we hate our children will starve, who cares if we don’t have enough time left over to raise them? We have no time to think about how to make the world better, more fair for everyone. It’s hell. Welcome to hell, Chloe."

"Sergio, I think you need help, seriously. Look around you, the grass is green, our country is peaceful. Everyone you know is friendly, the wars are overseas." Chloe reached out a hand but Sergio slunk backwards.

"If I’m living in a paradise while kids are starving and dying a short plane ride away, that’s hell. I want heaven on earth Chloe, nothing less." Chloe took a step backwards.

"Sergio, you’re scaring me. This isn’t you. You’re a regular guy. I think you’ve been working too hard. Put your feet up, take a break. Go to the mountains, don’t you love it up there?" Sergio looked to the floor.

"Yeah, Chloe, I guess you’re right. I need to unwind. It’s just work you know, um, it wears me down." Chloe smiled, and breathed out slowly.

"That’s it Sergio. Why don’t you go for a coffee, we can go together. You can’t solve the world’s problems you know, it’s too much for one person."

Just as they were talking, his phone rang.

It was Officer Rãmirez. Picking up his phone with fear, the man said, "Aisha has been arrested."

His heart flipped.