Dante
We walked through the apple trees, Amira's favorite ones. She always took refuge in this place, hiding in the shade of the dense bush she had found here, a sanctuary full of comfort when her life became terribly dark.
I remember the day when I found a friend, and she found a shoulder to cry on.
“Sometimes I dream that I have wings, Magno,” she whispers as the tears slide down on her red cheeks, "massive white wings. In my dream, I reveal myself to my father by making them explode from my back. They open wide and I show my father how impressive they are. He drops to his knees and I fly away. Sometimes I can feel the power I need to move them, to be lifted high and far from this place. It feels so real.” She looks at me with shame after she realizes that had spoken more than usual. She’s very quiet sometimes.
“Mistress, your dream makes sense to me.”
“Why?” she asks.
The answer is obvious. “Because you are an angel.”
Those memories drive me mad.
Now we are walking through the trees as if we were fugitives from the law, when in fact we are just victims of a horrible, cruel man.
Bruno raises his fist and Sarah stops immediately. Amira and I stop too and exchange frightened looks with each other.
“What is it?” I whisper as I hear the noise of a twig breaking to our left and we all immediately squat, trying to shroud ourselves in the darkness.
Probably guards carrying assault rifles. We’re lucky they haven’t noticed us, not yet at least.
Bruno looks towards Amira to check if the kid is okay. So far he has been a delight, he’s awake but silent. I crawl forward and get in front of Amira; if something goes wrong in the next few seconds, I must act as a shield for her and the child.
Bruno noticed and slightly nods at me, he then returns his attention on what’s in front of us. He signals Sarah what he sees from his position with his hands, Sarah acknowledges every sign with a nod, without using a single word. It's mind-blowing to see such level of wordless communication. Their connection is so much deeper than they let on.
Once he finishes signaling her, she moves to his side and both silently walk in the direction the noise came.
As I scoot forward to see what’s going to happen, I see Bruno cover one of the guard’s mouth and in a fraction of a second, violently snaps his neck. I’m unfazed, this is not the first time I've witnessed such a scene before my eyes. The master did it regularly to anyone who dared disobey him; he claimed it was the cleanest way to end a life. The guard immediately falls to the ground.
By the time the second guard tried to react, it was already too late for him, Sarah used the same technique.
Unbelievable, I hope one day I can have the courage they have and not be the weak man I became.
They take the guards' rifles for themselves, and hand over the side arms to me and Amira.
Amira refuses and Sarah hands it over to Bruno.
“Do you know how to use it, brother?” Bruno asks me.
I shake my head.
He walks towards me and shows me by saying, “First, finger off the trigger, always, unless you’re willing to use this gun. Then this here, is the safety, make sure it’s off before pointing the gun at somebody, then it’s just a matter of squeezing, not pulling. It's as simple as that.”
I never had a gun in my hands before, though I dreamt about it many times before. But my status of slave forbids me to, I guess the master knew, even when I pretended to love him.
Squeeze don’t pull.
Squeeze don’t pull.
Squeeze don’t pull.
I repeat to myself, watching and weighing the gun in my hand, while Bruno and Sarah drag the bodies farther into the dark.
We go back on our path until we reach Zahir's mansion. Just as Zahir warned us, the mansion is a mess, all the furniture is smashed, and objects scattered on the floor. Not a single item is in its original place.
“Good God," Amira whispers, but Sarah turns around and puts her index finger over her mouth, telling her not to speak again.
