THE TRIP

I open the car window on my side as we start driving in through the familiar street. The fresh and cold evening breeze is slapping my face as it starts filling the car. I take in a good amount of it and breathe out as much while my eyes wander in the beautiful green environs as we pass through. It's such a beautiful place, and I would still be peacefully living here with my family if someone didn't mess with us.

"The connection is bad. I can't connect the GPRS anymore." Deep says.

"I am sorry; that is how remote this place is. All in all, it's home, and home is always the best place. I will give you the direction from here." I say.

"Alright. Are you okay, though? You've been quiet all through the drive." He asks.

"Yeah, I am good." I give him a reassuring wink and a small smile while he presses my hand with his. He has been holding my hand since we started the journey from the city, and not even for a second has he let go of it. I am not complaining, only that this feeling of our contact bothers me somehow. I am growing to love this feeling, this attraction, or whatever it may be. And I am getting addicted.

We continue with our drive, me giving the direction and him focusing his eyes and concentration on the narrow, rough, and muddy roads. This is the kind of life we live here, and I am not complaining. It is all our fault, as citizens, to vote for leaders who don't care about our problems one bit. And we keep making the same mistake over and over again and again. Our blindness to differentiate between the true and honest leaders and the fake, malicious baboons has resulted in this place—a place where even common water, which is a very important basic need, is a problem. If you don't belong to the rich or the middle class like me and my family, then nothing is ever easy for you. But at least I am rich now. And I will transform this humble home of ours.

"This is it?" Deep asks with his sweet voice, and I nod my head as I get out to open the gate for him to drive through.

I push the gate open, and my eyes get lost in the quiet compound. Months ago, at a time like this, this compound wouldn't be as scary and quiet as it is now. It would be full of life. Peace, love, and laughter are the things we managed to keep despite everything, and that is what kept us together over the years. No matter the problems and challenges that life threw at us, we faced them together as a united family.

The events of a night like the one befalling right now are stuck in my mind. My mother would be shouting at the top of her voice from the kitchen, my sister and I would playfully be making fun of each other in the sitting room, and my father would be laughing at us. Sometimes, we would all join my mother in the kitchen and help her make dinner. It didn't matter whether we messed everything up or did everything perfectly. In the end, it was us being together that mattered. That is how much family means to us.

I close the gate and walk in, going directly to my mother's grave at the back of our house, and Deep follows me. I pity him, though. Maybe it was a bad idea to ask him to come with me. His world is so different from this one. I don't know if he can stand walking on the muddy roads. His Lamborghini must be silently weeping bitterly right now because it is covered with mud. This sure isn't his life.

"I would give anything and everything just to see you, mother. I miss your advice and guidance and your sweet laughter. I miss you so much. You did not deserve this. I am sorry for what you went through before you gave up, and I apologize because we couldn't do anything to save you. I also apologize because I could not save my father that day and for the fact that I don't know where they took his body. But rest assured, mother, I will find him and bring him back here. His grave should be right beside yours, just like you two lived beside each other. I promise you, mother, I will do everything to find him. I am sorry for not bringing my sister with me. Actually, I am sorry because it seems like we have forgotten all that you and Dad taught us. We never used to fight, but now that has become our daily norm. But I promise to stay away from her if that will stop these unnecessary fights and outbursts. I love you, mother."

A clear, cold, liquid drop hits my face, and I look up to the sky. It's starting to pour. The darkness is taking over. Thunderstorms and lightning are starting. I feel Deep's warm arms wrapping around my shoulders, and I snuggle tightly close to him. "Let's go." I say it as a shower of rhyme with my words.

I still wanted to go to the market and buy some foodstuffs, but now I think we are going to sleep on empty stomachs. It's almost seven, and I can't ask Deep to drive me to the market in this weather. It is dangerous. We reach the door, and, oh well, we might as well spend the night in his car because there is a padlock hanging at the door and I don’t have the keys.

Shit! The rain is not doing anything to help the situation because it is now pouring heavily. Deep looks at me, and I guess he understands the memo because he is guiding me to his car. "So, what now? Should we break it down?" He asks after we settle in the car, looking at the door of our house.

Now, that seems like the only option we have here, but who will do the work? In this flood, rain, mud, and all that work Not me! And him? Come on!

"And who is going to do that?" I snap.

"Your Greek god might as well try to be a super hero," he says.

"Oh, yeah?" I challege.

"Stay here." He walks out of the car and into the rain.

He is joking, right?

After grabbing someone who knows what metallic tools are from the boot, he walks to work on the door, while I sit back here and watch his every movement like a queen. I don't know who locked this house for us, because definitely it wasn't me nor my sister, but to whoever did it, I am grateful. We might not be rich, but we have some valuable things inside. What do the neighbors think happened to us? It surely must still be a shock to them. A whole family disappears right after burying one member of theirs without saying goodbye or anything. It sure must be a shock!

But is it possible that the person who came here right after we left saw something? Maybe they found my father? I should try and ask around tomorrow. I will take any chances, however slim, just to find out what happened to my father. "All done."

"Huh!" I almost scream when Deep speaks at my window.

What is done? I look in the opposite direction, and sure enough, the padlock is not hanging from the handle anymore. That was fast! Ah, no, because now that I look at him again, he is dripping wet from his hair, his shirt hugging his body tight. God, he might develop a fever from this. He gets to the back of the car and grabs a black leather jacket. Jeez! He should have worn it before getting out of the car. He wouldn't be this wet, and definitely not feeling cold, because I know he is. I wish I could get even just milk to make him some tea. But this rain doesn't look like it is stopping tonight.

I open the door and walk out, only to feel Deep put the jacket around my shoulders. "Don't you need it more than I do?" I ask.

"It's of no use to me now. I am already wet." He says it, and I guess he has a point.

He is already wet. But I can't get wet.

I walk to the door, open it, and we step inside. I put on the lights and stood right behind the closed door as memories of the last time I was here came flooding in.

The fear I felt when I saw those scary men beating up my father and dragging away my sister The painful screams of my father and my sister The deadly sound of the gunshots The loud thud of my father's body collapsing to the floor beside me What if I stayed awake a little longer? What if I did not pass out that soon? I would probably have a clue as to what happened to my father next. I would have an idea of where to start looking. I wish I held on a little longer.

"Are you alright?" Deep speaks, rubbing his hand on my back. I must have been so lost that I almost forgot that he was standing beside me.