Chapter 4: The night of despair
Martin was new to these things. Perhaps, these were not something an ordinary person could ever experience in their entire life.
In just one snap, their family life was in a distraught situation.
The eldest son was puzzled. 'Why can't we just run?' Like him, Luke knew that his son is intelligent, and he seems to guess what his son is thinking, "Even if we run now, they can still catch up. I already called Beth to help us. We only need to patiently wait for help. She told me she has connections with the army. Besides, I will talk to them and buy us more time. This will be a perfect and safe plan." but deep in his mind, Luke knew that he was treading on a thin thread between life and death.
With a smile and caring look, he calmed his tense family.
The two youngest children have a small inkling of what was happening. They have plenty of questions, pretty normal to a child but upon seeing the serious atmosphere, they have no choice but to temporarily close their mouth and try to act like an adult to lessen the worry they could give to their parents.
In these dangerous situations, Theresa wanted to physically support her husband, but with their children in tow, her instincts, as a mother, told her to protect the fruits of their union and hid.
They know they cannot escape. Therefore, they hid so that they can await this storm to end. Until their savior saves them.
Martin and Luther hid behind the heavy curtain in the corner of the room near the window. This spot was always their best hiding place whenever playing hide and seek.
Whether with or without lights, the space behind the curtain is always dark and inconspicuous. Not even their mother could find them even if she was a meter away from it. Meanwhile, Theresa and Annie chose the big wardrobe as their hiding place.
After Luke secured his family and let Rufus out of the window, hoping to at least call the attention of his neighbors.
He straightened his back, opened the door, faced the direction of his family and smiled slightly, locked it, and went to the living room with the bark of the running Rufus as his background music.
The illumination from the lightning streaked across the grim face of the uncertain father.
At that very moment, the shadow of a loving father and a caring husband left a trail of bitterness. That back made their eyesight slightly blurry as if an illusion was cast between them. An illusion that something inauspicious is meant to happen.
They wanted to hold him and comfort their always weary father.
All the remaining family members have their thoughts, lost in their 'what if' world. But, there is the only thing they are sure of. The family they used to have will be different in just a couple of hours.
Time seemed to pass so slow for Martin. He never felt this suffocated before. Different pitches of voices emanated in the living room, some are loud, some are soft, and some are husky and guttural.
He grasps the palm of Luther hoping to at least alleviate his brother's distress and when he grabbed it, he realized that both of their palms are soaked wet, or rather, it is his own hand that is so sweaty that he did not realize his brother's hand was more stable than his'. 'Hehe, maybe I needed the comfort more than my brother did.'
No loud sound, no gestures, only silently hearing things that make these two brothers aware of their surroundings. With the flurry of rain pattering against the window, the dismal vibe intensified.
The wall in between made the words incomprehensible for Martin to understand the current predicament his father was having at the moment in the living room.
Only growls and shouts and banging of things at different intervals are the only times can Martin visualize what could be happening. But he knew that the possibility of a good conversation between his father and the perpetrators is as good as zero.
One thing for sure, their father is on the losing end.
"Where are you, Aunt Beth?" They called in their hearts. "Someone..."
Martin and Luther had this tacit yet silent understanding. They found their selves individually praying for all the gods out there to help their family to pass this disaster.
"If someone is listening out there, hear my plea. Help me and my family, please. I will do everything. I will do good deeds every time, I will always be a good son, and I will even sacrifice my freedom and life if 'You' could help us, please." Martin prayed silently with his innermost desire as the source and his anger and listlessness as his fuel.
For extra measure, he even tried to plead to his real 'gods.' "I beseech thy Empyrean, who wields the power of the great Dao, to reverse thy fate of your humble servant. I promise thee, to become thy most loyal and staunchest retainer, for I will tread the mountain of blades and cross the river of fire if thy lowly wishes are granted."
"... Bing... could... this? YOU... A MONSTER!" Martin was interrupted by a voice and he knew this voice came from his father. The noise in the living room has greatly diminished when he heard his father shout.
His world started to collapse. He thought earlier that they may be able to pass this through unscathed. That his father's negotiations will bear fruit.
"You... cooperate... us. Then... won't kill..." with these seemingly incoherent sentences, Martin barely able to connect what they were talking about.
He connected the dots and pieced the missing words. Councilor Bing wanted to cooperate with his father to do certain stuff Martin knew his father would never concede to do.
For all the years of living together, he knew that his father is a man of dignity and great conscience. He will not condone nor associate with people who were proven guilty of doing malicious deeds. Without his father replying, he already knew his answer.
"NO!!! Never!"
'As I thought.' Martin cannot help but lament.
Shouts then resumed. A more aggressive one.
More punching and more glasses shattering competed with the thunder roaring.
This whole house became a real battlefield, where a small mistake may lead to irrevocable damages yet the neighboring houses magically did not hear anything. As if, all that was happening was far from them, and that a family that had helped them a lot was never been a part of their life.
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At this time, he lost all hope and just called for anyone he thought could help them. He just knew that if a Supreme is being out there, with his life as the payment, his family will surely be saved.
If that God is not deaf and has pity for His creations, He will surely save them.
He just wishes for a small miracle to happen—nothing more, nothing less.
Martin promised anything he could think about. All the hopes his heart could make and all the wishes he would forsake just this once—save his family.
The despair was choking Martin. He never felt so desperate like this ever.
'If I could just have the powers to save them. If I could be stronger to defend them. If could just be...' His inner desires once again deepened towards a mysterious depth.
For his whole life, this is the wish he greatly desired the most from the deepest part of his heart that even his soul, unknowingly, produced ripples invisible to human eyes but tangible to other beings.
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Then, after these very few words, all the shouts and noises were sharply stopped by two gunshots and the house was plunged into a silent zone as if everything that had happened were just illusions. All the expected good results were swept away, Martin knew as well as Theresa.
Tears unknowingly leaked out from the eyes of Martin, his face looks more dazed and lost, and a forcefully suppressed muffled cry came from Luther beside him as well from the wardrobe across them. Both of them knew in their hearts that their 'eldest brother' and loving father was lost—forever.
Maybe this hopelessness is what those people suffering from injustices are feeling.
The drive to help your loved ones but your too weak; the urge to punch the people who made your family cry but you do not have the ability; the guilt and sorrow eating you inside and no matter what you do or think you cannot stop this feeling gnawing inside of you. That you are nothing but a frail minuscule being in front of powerful people.
If his life is not being threatened, his knees would have buckled.
He is so lost because his father was his light and pillar. He learned a lot of things from him. How to become a good person, how to become a better model for his siblings, and how to appreciate the goodness in others.
Once again, Martin wishes, 'If you are a God... then be a God. If you have the power, use... that power... because if I am given that same power... I'll never be useless... God.'
He is a mighty being. He can save everyone, but why not do it? Does He like seeing His creations tormented and shattered?
Then and there, a wish is just a wish. Wishful thinking will not save his father. It needs action to receive justice.
He wanted to go out and confront the people who took away his father, he wanted to avenge the person who took care of him very much, who went along with him to the hospital when he was circumcised, and who properly educated him in wooing girls.
The person who he looked up to and the person he will miss forever.
Martin knew those fun things they used to do are now over and his father will never be able to be there, with him, as he grows into a man his father always wanted. He was his father's pride, but tonight, he failed his known 'elder brother.'
Remorse and guilt undulated on the teenager's face of Martin. Yes, he is but a child. But, if it is only death, then he could join his father to the Land of Promise their religion assured them after they die.
"Click. Pa..." The door of the cabinet was partially opened with a subdued shout and then instantly closed again.
His sister was also an avid fan of their father, so Martin knew it was Annie who tried to open the door. He remembered that she was always at their front door every afternoon at five, raining or not, to await the arrival of their father, plus her favorite donut. This did not change for the last four years since Annie learned to stand on her own and said a few audible and coherent words. Annie would prepare their father's set of slippers and clothes for change.
'What a poor princess, my sister." Martin thought despondently.
Then, even though the rain was thick and loud, he clearly heard the knob twisted. He felt goose bumps. His arrector muscle tensed and his eccrine glands worked up. 'They are coming.'
With a few more lightning strikes across the sky and long grumbling of thunder, the house of the Alma family temporarily found peace.
But this 'peace' was easily shattered with another pair of, "Bang! Bang!"
Their room was opened wide for the bad people to enter. Martin knew, their life was on the line and realized the possibility that their entire family might meet the same fate their father just had.
#Bang!