"Here we are," Lilly said interrupting the set of thoughts in Angel's head. After Tom went to serve in the army, Angel was lucky to find a paper that belonged to Lilly in her university documents. Below the paper was an address that belonged to Lilly. She quickly took a pen and posted a letter to her. She explained to her how the internet shutdown had left her life shattered and about her mother's death. She also went ahead to explain to her the secrets she had found out about her father. She made sure to include her own address in the letter.
Few days letter, Lilly arrived at Angel's home, ready to support her. She explained to her that it was her duty to bring justice to her mother's death. They both waited one evening when Mr. Mwabili was not in the house, before they sneaked into his bedroom. They carefully collected the evidence against Angel's father, documents, photographs, any evidence that could reveal the web of crime spun by her father.
With the support from her friend, Lilly, Angel was determined to bring justice to the shadows that haunted her life. Today, as they parked near the police station, she looked at the back of the car, where her sister Zuri was seated. Her young eyes also showed the same determination that Angel and Lilly held against Mr. Mwabili. They both walked in the police station ready to start their lives anew. When the time came to put an end to her father's sins, she exposed in a trembling voice his drug dealing, human trafficking and the murder of their mother that tore her family apart.
She explained to the officer at the station of how she was afraid to confess before due to the fear that her family would be broken apart. Appalled by this revelation, the police began an investigation to uncover the layers of Mr. Mwabili's crimes. An arrest warrant was sent and in no time, Mr. Mwabili was arrested. The evidence provided by Angel helped the police to uncover more hideous crimes that were being committed by prominent people in the country including Mr. Lucas.
While her father was in prison, Angel decided to reach out to her brother Tom, who was fighting in a war that disrupted life due to geopolitical tensions. Angel went out to the streets to buy a newspaper. She was willing to find out where her brother ha been posted as the government was updating the family members of their brother's and son's whereabouts through the newspaper.
She stood at a nearby shop and picked a newspaper. The morning sun turned pale as Angel unfolded the newspaper. The headline stood out clearly in the newspaper and carried the weight of truth that struck her. The words, like an unspoken pain, spoke of her brother's death in an endless and unforgiving war.
"In Honor of Brave Soldiers," the headline read, accompanied by a photo of a memorial service with the names of the fallen. Tom's name, clear as day, etched on the pages of history and echoed within Angel. She felt as if she could suffocate despite her being in the open air. She could not believe what she was seeing and she reread her brother's name several times.
Angel traced her fingers over the printed words, as if searching for a connection to her lost brother in the aftermath of the conflict. The shutdown of the Internet, a world cut off from its digital arteries, reflected the void left by Tom's absence. She grappled that a non-significant thing like the internet was enough to take her brother away from her.
A numbing shock hit her and her limbs felt heavy and lifeless. The newspaper slipped from her hands and fell on the street like a feather floating in slow motion. The world around her seems distorted and twisted and the contours of her reality that she was once accustomed to seeing were distorted by cruel revelations. Angel's knees buckled under the weight of grief and she fell to the ground.
She tried to get up but she could not. Her eyes remained open and unmoved as she saw the figures that surrounded her not knowing what to do. They shouted against each other and inquired of how they might help her because there was no way to contact the ambulance. Shock reverberated in her manifesting the storm of emotions raging inside her. One young woman ran to the crowd surrounding her and made her way through with a glass of water in her hand. She quickly lifted Angel in her arms and tried to make her drink the water. Angel's body could not however move. She held Angel's lips and parted them and directed the water in her lips.
With a grave look, the Samaritan woman expressed words that she could not hide, "In a world where associations are disrupted, lives are misplaced within the hush between the clicks. The shutdown, a noiseless executioner, denies indeed the scream for help. This water shall be your life within the echoes of a detached pulse."