12 - The Cul de Sac
The fingers tickle suddenly on the inside of his legs and then up and over his buttocks and vanish. The goosebumps that follow are rather painful and Billy shivers at the demonstration of his absolute helpless position. They can now do as they like with him. He is totally at their mercy.
The voice is threatening: “Where is my booklet, Billy?”
It is time now for negotiation and he will have to play his cards well.
“May I speak now, please?”
“I’m listening.”
“I dearly want to return the booklet.”
The man who threw him into the van and gave instructions now speaks: “Why did you run away with the thing? I yelled at you to leave it but you disappeared with it. You wouldn’t know what trouble this caused us and what is now happening to you, is caused by your disobedience. You’d better now work with us or this is going to become a slaughterhouse.”
A slaughterhouse! He gets an empty feeling at the pit of his stomach.
“I only was on the wrong time on the wrong place and I thought you were going to stab the old man to death right in front of my eyes. Then you looked at me and I panicked. It looked as if you were capable of anything. I just wanted to get away as quickly as possible.”
The man doesn’t seem happy with his answer.
“You could have left the booklet. You disobeyed my instructions deliberately and ran away. That was your damn inquisitiveness that let you hang onto the booklet and caused you to be hung up here. Do you now want to be slaughtered for your inquisitiveness?”
The man with the strange voice speaks again.
“These men are hungry for revenge, Billy. You gave them unending problems. They are in deep trouble with their boss and you are the cause of it. If you think they are dangerous; you don’t want to know their boss. He is totally ruthless and unscrupulous and they must now make up for the troubles you caused. Again, it’s your inquisitiveness that caused these problems. You kept the book because of your inquisitiveness. Where is the booklet now?”
Ideas flash through Billy’s mind for a good answer. He simply cannot put Kadin in danger and also not his mother, so the booklet must not be at his home or at Kadin’s. The booklet must be at some place where it is not easily accessible. Maybe somewhere in a public place. He will have to sell the idea to them and then think of a way in which Kadin can leave it at a place in public where he then can return it without involving her. A flicker of hope jumps up from somewhere. He thinks he has a plan that can work.
“The booklet is hidden in our school’s library. It’s now locked up but I’ll get it tomorrow and return it. I just must go and fetch it.”
A long silence follows. Then the voice comes again: “Why did you hide it there?”
“I was afraid. The men yelled that they were coming after me and would harm me seriously and I went and hide it there to be my ace should you find me. But now I want to return it badly so that everyone is happy and can get on with their lives. Untie me, please, and tomorrow I’ll get the booklet the moment the school opens and return it.”
The voice from his back to the right-hand side sounds unsatisfied.
“You are trying to make plans to trick us. As soon as we set you free, you are going to disappear and run to the police. Do you really think we are going to take that chance? You should have kept the damn thing on you, but now you have a plan up your sleeve.”
Then the voice from right behind him. What is their association? He talks of their boss, not his. Who is this man right behind him? Where does he fit into the picture?
“Billy... Billy... Billy... unluckily for you we don’t believe your story and you are playing with fire. My first words to you were that we create our own reality. Welcome in your own hell, Billy, because you are creating a very bad reality for yourself. Who is that girl who accompanies you on the bus? You always ride together and you walk with her and you leave her near her home near the park before you turn back to your own home? She must be very important to you.”
Fear suddenly clamps his heart extra intensely and Billy sees Kadin in front of him. He remembers how they passionately looked into each other’s eyes earlier this afternoon. How he looked forward to kissing her at the fort like never before. He remembers their first kiss and how she turned and ran up to her front door and walked past her mother self-consciously. He remembers how her mother stared at him from the distance and waved slightly. He shyly waved back while she looked at him until she closed the door. Do they know where she lives or is it a deduction? Why did he hide the damn thing in the park? Through this, he brought evil over her and her wonderful family.
He must protect her at all costs!
“It’s only a girl from my school. We are doing a school project together that must be completed by the end of the month.”
“Then she can fetch the thing tomorrow and bring it to us.”
“She doesn’t know where I hid it. I don’t want to involve her in my mess.”
“She is important to you. What is her name?”
Billy experiences lameness: “No, really, she is only a classmate and doesn’t know anything. The booklet and the assault in the park are my secrets.”
“What is your address, Billy? We are going to visit your home to make sure the booklet is not there.”
Once again he is in a cul de sac. First, they are threatening Kadin and now also his mother.
“It is in the school library as I’ve said.”
“Your address, Billy ..?”
“It’s unnecessary. I don’t want to endanger my mother.”
“Billy, you really disappoint us. You are lying to us while you are hanging here helplessly. What is the PIN of your phone?”
Things are now going from bad to worse. If he gives his PIN they will find Kadin by phoning her and they will see their messages and know he is lying. His brain now races for ideas and desperately his brain grabs the first one and he spits out the answer: “It’s not my phone!”
The man from the van doesn’t seem impressed at all: “I took it from your pocket and it was still on and then I took out the battery.”
The strange voice again: “Your PIN, Billy...”
“Honestly, it is not my phone. When we stood up to get off the bus, I saw the phone on the floor and took it. I left it on because the owner might phone the moment he discovers his loss.”
“I’m very impressed, Billy, that girl means a lot to you. You are extremely ingenious but we don’t believe a word you say. The booklet is probably with her and you want to protect her at all costs. You are not going to achieve that because these men are professional and trained in interrogation. In no time they are able to get even the most hardened spies and those taught to take torture, to sing like canaries. Stop your games, because you are going to cause yourself severe suffering in this slaughterhouse. I am your friend and only hope. Where is the booklet?”
There follows a long silence and then the man with the strange voice walks around Billy and Billy becomes ice cold from fear. The man wears a smart tailored suit. On his head is a big cloth and he has a grey beard. Vyasa described the wizard very well and his warning rings clear and hard in Billy’s ears: “The longer the hair, the bigger the magical power, promise me if you meet such a wizard, don’t look into his eyes.”
The man stops right in front of Billy and looks straight at him. He naturally wants to catch Billy’s eyes but Billy avoids his eyes and looks at the heap on the man’s head where his hair is rolled up in a cloth which hides his hair that surely can easily reach his feet when it is loose. This must be one mighty wizard.
“What is wrong Billy, why do you avoid my eyes? You are lying to me and now you are afraid to look into my eyes.”
Fear engulfs his whole body and his skin contracts sorely with goosebumps all over.
Again the impossible order: “Look in my eyes, Billy.”
Now he is really in a cul de sac. There is no way out. Tension pushes up inside him while he ignores the man’s order. The man may not take over his thoughts! He must protect Kadin! He cannot leave her and her family in the lurch!
When the man talks again, he looks downwards. “Very interesting …”
The man from the back talks again: “He knows something, master. He is not as innocent as he pretends to be. That’s why he doesn’t want to look into your eyes. He probably knows what the professor wrote in the booklet.”
Now Billy knows at least because he called him ‘master.’ This man is not their boss. And their boss is not the wizard’s boss. This man is the mighty wizard against whom Vyasa warned them. He remembers the warning in the booklet: “…if the devil visits you, don’t look him in the eyes.”
The devil speaks with a strange accent in his rough and hoarse voice: “Billy... Billy... Billy... and so your hell is going to commence …”
The wizard turns, walks away and disappears and Billy feels the little breeze and he sees the light reflects against the wall opposite him. The wizard departed and left him at the mercy of the three ruthless men who get trained spies to sing like canaries. Something scrapes over the floor from the back and fear grabs his heart like a vice so that he has difficulty to breathe because of the unbearable tension while the sound comes nearer and nearer. The slaughter is about to start and he is the little lamb.
He remembers the wizard’s words: “We create our own reality, welcome in your HELL, Billy …”