"Argh," I grumbled. I had struck my foot against another stone. It was my fault for running in the dark but I had no choice, looking over my shoulder, I could see they were close behind. I ran into the thick, dark envelope of the forest hunted by a mob with weapons and torches. My legs were skinny but swift and I was able to dribble past a man, probably from the mob, who tried to ambush me.
"She's fast," he breathed, in want of air.
I kept on running, deeper into the thick forest, ignoring the vegetation slapping my face and those scratching my skin, the cold slapping against my body, and the eerie sounds of the night. My heart pounded within me, my breath came in short, quick gasps for air and my feet worked at double their pace. I stumbled through dense vegetation times without number, scraping my knees more often than not. I was practically running blindly until my eyelids took on a faint orange sheen, the type that only came when there was light. I opened my eyes and in truth, there was a faint light emanating from the dark.
I ran towards it, determined to acquire that light source, and came out into a small clearing. I reached for the lamp with unbridled joy for its gift of light and warmth when a commanding voice stopped me in my tracks.
"Stop right there", he said, walking towards me. My heart sank to the depths of my gut, all my efforts had come to nothing.
"What do you think you're doing? That's mine! He grabbed the lamp from its post, swinging it out of my reach.
"Who are you? Are you lost? What's your name?"
All these questions, I could answer, but suddenly I couldn't. I wanted to run but just like my mouth, my feet couldn't move. The fear pinned me to the spot and you wondered if he was actually from the mob, we were already far into the woods, and no one should be here, at least that's what I thought. Or was he some kind of ritualist, I couldn't even face him, the only thing I knew was that he had long, muscular arms, one of which had grabbed the lamp. At this point, I wondered what I should tell him, I wondered if he could recognize my face from the countless posters in the streets. Maybe he already did and was pretending, the bounty on me was huge after all.
"Hey! Are you just going to keep quiet? Do you want me to leave you out here?"
I shook my head vigorously, finally, I had regained control of my body.
He chuckled, a sound that somehow managed to calm me. "That's better. Now, who're you?"
Just then, the noise of the mob approaching reached us and I attempted to run but he gripped my arm from behind, effectively stopping me.
I gasped, scared of what seemed like my inevitable fate.
"Shh," he hushed me. "Don't make a sound and come out only when I ask you to," he said and pointed to a thick area of vegetation.
I rushed, as fast as my feet could carry me. I had barely concealed myself when they approached him.
"Hey, you, which way did she go?" One of them yelled, clearly their leader.
However, my savior was able to look so aloof, "What are you talking about? A girl? What would a girl be doing here by this time?"
He fixed a cold, hard stare on my savior as if expecting to read his thoughts.
"Spread out! Search the area." He suddenly yelled, his gaze was still pinned on my savior's face. Only two of his men remained behind him. These two, he ordered to search the hut, his gaze never breaking.
"Feel free to search my home but don't touch anything else and don't put it out of order," he said. That commanding tone was back.
Around the same time, one of the men was nearing a dense area when he noticed a slight scuffle behind it. He yelled in attack, however, it turned out to be a bush rat.
On the other side, a man approached where I was hiding, his light drawing closer tentatively. Slowly, I covered my mouth with one palm, the urge to scream was building up within me.
The man in the lead watched my savior silently. "Let's go!" He yelled at his men, "She's getting away," he said, calling them off just as the light came within a few feet of my feet.
Suddenly, they were all gone, just as they came. Still, he waited a short while before calling me out. However, I wasn't in a hurry to. Due to the fear and everything, I think I wet myself and I was so embarrassed now that everything seemed to have calmed.
He came closer and I managed to pull myself together, however, I clasped my hands over the dark patch on the back of my beige skirt. He brought the lamp close to my face and nodded slowly, the realization set in.
"I guess you're Dilindu. Wanted for murder. Eighty thousand shillings right?
He read from memory, walking away. "The posters don't do your beauty any justice though," he stopped and turned, "Aren't you coming?" He asked, watching me for a few moments then he turned and continued on his way to the hut.
I didn't want to go. How could he call me beautiful after seeing me like this? After seeing me at my lowest? He was surely mocking me. Besides, I had already embarrassed myself by peeing on myself, I couldn't take any worse.
In a few minutes, however, my emotions calmed and my body inched instinctively towards the light and warmth emanating from the hut. It looked bigger up close, and the environment was adorned with different species of flowers.
"So he's a gardener," I muttered.
"His name is Tobere,"
I almost jumped out of my skin, he was coming around the side of the hut.
"Welcome to my humble abode, he smiled.
"You're frowning again, seems like you do that a lot."
"As a matter of fact, I do, when I'm speaking with people who have little respect."
"Little respect?"
"The fact that you saved me doesn't give you the right to mock me. 'The poster doesn't do my beauty any justice.' Oh please, I know I look like hell and I don't like it either. 'Humble abode.' Humble my foot, this is the biggest hut I've seen and you know it so just hold it with the insults."
"Oh wow, that's some attitude," he chuckled, coming out into the light.
I wasn't aware then, that my lips were slightly parted. Or maybe they just parted, or maybe during that period I spent staring up at some of the most handsomely masculine features I'd ever seen, my lips just slowly moved apart until they were no longer in contact.
âŠ. "Hello, earth to Dilindu. Snap out of it," he said, snapping his fingers countless times at my face.
Slowly, the fatigue and everything caught up to me and I collapsed, falling backward. However, just before I lost all consciousness, I could tell I landed against a surface that wasn't the floor.