ECHOS FROM YESTERDAY. 3

ECHOS FROM YESTERDAY 3.

I found myself on a cold-hard-dirty floor when I opened my eyes. The room was in pitch darkness so for several moments, I was blinded by the darkness. While I was still in this semiconscious state, I could feel that I was not alone in the place. I tried to move but it was impossible because my hands and legs were tied tightly with a rope that was already eating deep into my flesh.
I tried to scream but I couldn't because I was gagged too. I struggled and wriggled but there was no way out of the captivity. For several moments, this continued until I was tired and exhausted then I slumped back to the floor, shivering and moaning. Whoever it was that was in the room with me didn't say a word or make a move. But I could feel his or her pressence like an impending doom.
Suddenly, a door opened somewhere and a flood of sunlight rushed in. I was once again, blinded. I squeezed my eyes tight so my brain could adjust to the sudden brightness then I slowly opened my eyes. There was a door by my right, a man was standing, arms akimbo at the doorway and he was looking vacantly at me. He was tall and huge. He was so huge that his presence and deathly silence is enough to make one's blood run cold.
With slow lazy steps, he walked up to me and regarded me the way a butcher would regard a lamb. He looked at me for some time then walked away deep into the room and my eyes followed him, seeing the room for the first time.
The room was very big and long in a sinister way.  Whoever constructed it must be having leprosy when he was building it because the bricks stood haphazardly over one another. There were iron plates scattered everywhere and most surprisingly, there were more than fifteen people of different ages and sex in the room, they were all looking at me. I stared unbelievably back at the people and wondered why they were all there. There was a frail old woman among the people whose head was covered with grey hair. Though she didn't say a word but her kind motherly expression told me she sympathized with me.
The  man walked through the room, stopping in the midst of people and staring down with the same cold eyes. After a slow thorough tour of the room, he came back to where I was and bent over me. Having him nearer was more horrific. There was a sickening sweet smell that clung to him. I felt goose bumps all over my body as he freed my hands and mouth in one quick swing, he cut loose the ropes in my hands and legs and stood up. We all looked at his back as he retreated from the room. The door closed with a bang. throwing the room in darkness again.
There was deafning silence.
Suddenly, the lights came on, flooding the room with a cheerful ambiance. Immediately, the people began to talk among themselves. From the way they chatted, it was obvious that they had known one another for some time. I got unsteadily to my feet and walked to the extreme end of the room where there were rows of iron beds with flat mattresses. I sat on one of the bed, listening to what the people were saying and momentarily relaxing and forgetting the multiple questions on my mind.
Everyone revolved around the old kind woman reverently like loyal subjects around their queen and I wondered what power she has over the people that made her the center of everyone's attention. She listened as people talked, nodding and smiling sweetly. Suddenly, her eyes left the group and focused on me.
"Come" I heard and I moved with trembling feet to where they were all sitted. A place was made for me to sit on.
"What is your name?"
"Sharon"
"And how did you end up here?" she asked, by then I was totally relaxed and felt at home in the company of those strange people.
"I...I don't know" I said confusedly "The last thing I knew was that I was at home and surrounded by him- that's my mum's husband and his friends. Someone hit me from behind and - I find myself here. What is this place?"
There were raised eyebrows and shoulders, no one knows where we were. The old woman began the introductions. "This is Mr. John, he has been here for six months and he is waiting for his family to raise the money before he leaves" the old woman said, gesturing to a man in his late forties, the cloths he wore was old from too much use. He nodded to me in acknowledgement. The woman moved on, introducing each person and the time they have spent in the place. She finished the introductions with a twelve year old girl, whom she called April and said she was just brought there a couple of weeks back. But she didn't introduce herself though I was very eager to learn about her. Yet, I felt that it would be insulting to ask but I made up my mind to find out before long.
For the next couple of hours, we talked and talked because there seemed to be nothing else to do apart from talking and sleeping. It was during the talks that I began to learn about the woman because more than once, she made reference to herself, mentioning her son briefly. I gathered that her son was very wealthy and that he was expected to pay the money that her abductors demanded so she could be freed.
"But why hasn't he paid?" I asked
The old woman laughed, amused by my question.
"Well, I have been telling him not to pay..."
"But you haven't seen him for the past one and half year...." April cuts in, like me, she too was new and didn't know much about her.
"Well, you both are new. I still talked to him this morning not to pay...."
"That's impossible!" April said emphatically.
The woman laughed happily again. Another woman in the group, a tall dark beautiful woman in her early thirties spoke up.
"She is telepathic. She can communicate with anyone without being near the person or uttering a word. You know what telepathy is......."
"Telepathy is a scientific means of having communications with people without saying a word out but by saying it in one's mind" I said quickly.
"It's a lie! She is a fake old witch who claims to be telepathic in order to deceive you all. Because I am locked up by a bunch of kidnappers doesn't mean that I have to believe this horseshit......."
Abraham, a tall fair skinned heavily built man in his late twenties moved with a swiftness that surprised everybody and gave April a resounding slap that killed the rest of whatever she wanted to say.
"Listen you spoilt bratty," He said with clenched teeth. "It is obvious that you have no manner whatsoever but that is none of my business but next time you want to talk anyhow to a person watch, don't you dare regard her as one of your father's maid." he said and walked back to his seat.
A heavy silence pervaded the room after that. Shamed and burning with anger, April ran away to a corner of the room and b
egan to sob loudly. The old woman rose up gracefully. Though she couldn't have been more than 5.4 feet tall, and averagely built, yet she seemed taller. She walked to where April was heaving with sobs at a corner of the room and sat down beside her on the bed. She placed a hand on her shoulder tentatively, whispering words that we couldn't hear into her ears. Soon, April, whose back was turned to her turned around and buried her face in the woman's neck and cried deeply.
I felt hot tears stinging my eyes as I watched the scene with heavy heart. After a very long time, the woman came back to where we were sitting, April at her heels. They both resumed their seats. She didn't make mention of what had happened but continued the conversation from where we stopped.
Inside the place, there was no way to measure the time, the only way we kept record of time was when meals were brought. I knew that all these strange people and I were brought together by fate for greater purpose.