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Summary: To protect an ancient treasure, Renu risks her life as well as that of her friends’. Will she protect the treasure from ‘King’, or will she die trying. R&R.
This story was originally written at the first sitting of my CXC English Language Exam, which was canceled due to a leak of the paper. Under the topic ‘suddenly the car did a high speed u-turn and sped off; the driver must have smelt a rat.’ Heh what grade do you think I would have gotten? Review and tell me.
We looked at each other, Angel, Sonia and I, scared and nervous, in the dim light. According to the luminous dial on my watch it was 16:00 hrs and we had been in our cell for over 24 hours. I felt cold and stiff from lying on the bare concrete floor, but had no energy to get up and warm up with a few stretches. We had had nothing to eat in the time we had spent here.
“Do you think King will let us out, Renu?” asked a weary Sonia.
I frowned and shook my head. “No. He won’t until I tell him where the treasure is hidden.”
“Then why don’t you just give it to him Renu?” asked Angel.
I looked at Sonia’s scared expression and disheveled appearance. And Angel’s cool exterior which I knew was hiding fear and worry. It was my fault they were here. If only they had not came to my house. I had been in the middle of packing and they had tried to make me see the folly of my actions; but the treasure was not mine to give.
“Sonia can I borrow your black eye pencil?” I asked.
“What? It took death staring you in the face to finally wear some make-up?” asked Angel, her voice dripping with a combination of sarcasm and shock.
I smiled faintly. At least she was in high enough spirits to throw sarcastic jokes at me.
I reached out and took the eye pencil from Sonia, crawled over to the darkest bit of the room, and began to write on the wall.
“If we die in here, I want people to know why,” I explained calmly, trying to keep the tears out of my voice. I heard Sonia sobbing and Angel trying to comfort her in soothing tones. I felt so guilty, but what could I do?
Sonia, fair with red curly hair and green eyes, had a dream to one-day become an infamous fashion designer.
And Angel, of similar complexion with straight brown hair, piercing blue eyes, and a calm and cool demeanor, would have made a talented and successful business-woman.
Then I, with unruly dark curls and brown eyes, the social misfit, I made up my mind.
No sooner had I finished writing the message on the wall than the door opened. I sat on the ground and leaned against the wall to cover my work and shoved the eye pencil in my pocket.
‘King’ strode in. I should have suspected he was behind our kidnapping.
King was the ringleader of an underground group of smugglers who stole anything of value they could get their grubby hands on, and sold it to the highest bidder. He was as slippery as an eel; the police could never seem to be able to pin anything on him.
I must really be a thorn in his side if he was gracing us with his presence.
“Are you going to lead me to where you have hidden the treasure or am I going to have to kill you all?” queried King in a mocking tone.
I got up slowly from the cold ground and looked straight into his grinning face. Dressed in an elaborate suit, King looked more like a lawyer than the low-down snake he was.
“On one condition…you will let my friends go,” I replied, hoping my tone sounded as confident as I felt. “They don’t know where I’ve hidden the treasure.”
“I will let your friends go and you,” he said, broadening his hideous smile, “will lead my men to where the treasure is hidden.” He looked at Sonia and Angel, his smile contorting into a sneer. “And if one word of this is leaked to the media or police, your families, as well as your little friend here, will die.” They quickly nodded in agreement.
Sonia and Angel were taken away and I was led into a plain room with dingy walls where I could freshen up.
There was a table, on which someone had put food and water, although fear knotted my stomach, I forced myself to eat.
I then took a shower in the bathroom en suite and changed into the clothes left in the room for me. They were men’s clothing several sizes too large, but they were new and, more importantly, clean.
After about an hour, the door opened.
King came in with a tall and thin white man with cold blue eyes.
“You will show him where the treasure is; if you do not…” He left the sentence hanging. My mouth went dry.
I swallowed and then managed to say in a clear voice: “Yes. I will.”
I was led to a waiting car. I got into the passenger seat and the man climbed into the driver’s seat. He locked the door and drove till he reached the main road where I preceded to give him directions.
I counted to 13 in my head and forced the fear to leave me. I had to escape before the guy figured out I had ad-libbed the directions and was leading him to no where.
But how?
Suddenly the car did a high speed u-turn and sped off; the driver must have smelt a rat. At that moment I knew I was dead.
Then I looked back, and saw the reason for the u-turn, there was a police check point at the end of the road.
The blare of police sirens sounded behind us. I sighed. The man turned and gave me a warning look. He was pulled over and showed the cops his license.
He then proceeded to spin a tale about how he had forgotten something important so he made the illegal u-turn.
I opened the door, and hopped out of the car and ran.
The man pulled out his gun, but the police were all over him in a heartbeat. The man was restrained and his gun taken away. I told the police the entire story and the man was taken away.
Once there I learnt that King’s man had been released after a few hours of being arrested and King had disappeared under ground.
I couldn’t help but grin.
I got up, left a generous tip with the waiter and went to book a plane home.
Finally the treasure was safe.
For those wondering, the exam was rewritten and I got a distinction highest grade possible. No idea how ? ?