A Distant Shore (18 page)

“We will leave this village alone.”

Patrick stepped closer so that I could now smell the weed.

“I am Captain JuJu. They will follow me. To stop them you must kill me.” Patrick’s eyes were stained red with blood, and he was laughing at me. “You are a coward, Hawk. Somebody has clipped your wings and you cannot fly. This is war and in war you must kill. You must kill and then eat the hearts of your victims to make yourself more powerful. Come!” Patrick cocked his gun and signalled to the men to follow him into the village. The men removed their guns from their shoulders and made ready for war. Patrick pointed his weapon at me. “If we find you, Hawk, we will kill you, for you are not a man, you are a woman, and you have no place among dogs.” He laughed and then suddenly choked back his amusement and spat. “We mistake your silence for strength.” He then stepped forward and kissed me on the forehead, leaving behind a smear of lipstick. “There.” He pointed for all to see. “You have the mark of a woman upon you.” And then he cackled at his own humour.

I remained rooted to the spot and watched as Patrick led the men towards the village. Some time later, I listened to the rapid firing of their weapons and the chorus of screaming from the villagers. Captain JuJu was right. I did not have the heart for this savagery. My father had sent me to fight, and I could fight and kill if necessary. But only if necessary. Now I had little choice but to make my way back to the capital and warn my family. Everybody knew that these were my men, and it was clear that the government troops would blame me for this massacre and take bloody revenge on my mother and father and two sisters. This was the shameful manner in which we conducted our war. I stood for a few moments in the bush, my weapon by my side, and I listened to Patrick and his men mowing down innocent women and children. I remembered our leader’s words. In war there are casualties and we all do things that we wish we had not done. Long before the last bullets ceased flying, I had begun the long walk north towards the capital. To reach my mother and father and two sisters, this was now the full extent of my ambition.

When Gabriel opens his eyes he can feel Bright pushing into his chest.

“Gabriel, breathe out. Breathe out!”

Gabriel can feel the water dribbling helplessly around his mouth, and he realises that there is no dignity to his present predicament.

“Gabriel, can you hear me?”

Gabriel tries to nod, but his head will not respond. He keeps his eyes firmly fixed on Bright, who again pushes on Gabriel’s chest. This time Gabriel coughs loudly, but no water comes up. Then Bright feels Gabriel’s leg, but the pain causes Gabriel to grimace. He looks down and sees that his right trouser leg is ripped so that the skin is exposed, but there is neither blood nor bruising.

With Bright’s help, Gabriel sits upright and he can now see that he is on a stony beach. Only a few yards to his left the deafening sea is pounding into the shore. Gabriel looks around himself and then fixes his gaze upon Bright.

“England?”

Bright laughs out loud. “If this is not England, then wherever it is, I am staying.” Bright reaches down a hand and pulls his friend to his feet.

Gabriel winces in pain, and is immediately aware that he cannot put much pressure on his right leg. He holds on to Bright’s arm, but the slippery stones beneath his feet make his movement painfully slow.

Together they walk up the short incline, with Gabriel leaning heavily against his friend’s portly body, and when they reach the deserted road they stop and stare at the lights of a distant harbour town. There, in the docks, Gabriel can see the ship that has brought them on this final leg of this journey, for its illuminated bulk dwarfs everything else. Bright points.

“We should walk towards the town.”

Gabriel says nothing, and he decides to conserve his energy. This first English night is causing him much pain, and he knows that to try to speak will prove too much for him, but he feels sure that Bright understands. And then suddenly, as they continue along the empty road, the thought strikes a guilty Gabriel.

“Bright, where is the other man?”

Bright continues to walk, assisting his friend as he does so.

“He fell into the sea a long time before we reached England. The water swallowed him.” Gabriel tries not to appear shocked, but Bright has not finished. “What could I do? Follow him into the mouth of the sea? The man has passed over and now he is at peace.” Suddenly Gabriel’s heart feels heavy, but he knows that it would be foolish for him to think any further on this subject, and so he resolves to forget the tall Chinese man with the red hat.

The two men continue to walk slowly, one supporting the other, both silently fearful of discovery, but it soon becomes clear to Gabriel that he cannot walk much longer. Gabriel feels guilty that he is holding back his friend, but just when he realises that he may have to insist that Bright leave him behind, they both see a small house to the side of the lonely road. Bright speaks first.

“Perhaps we should ask these people for help.”

Gabriel looks at the house, and notices that one of the upstairs windows is broken, and that the garden is badly overgrown with weeds. It occurs to him that this house is possibly abandoned.

Bright knocks at the door and waits, and then he turns the door handle, but the door is locked and it will not give way. Gabriel leans against the gatepost, and he can see Bright visibly gain some confidence now that he realises that nobody is in the house. His friend walks to the edge of the building and peers around the corner.

“You must wait here while I look.”

Bright disappears from view, and Gabriel looks back down the road in the direction that they have just travelled. Out at sea a ship that is decorated like a wedding cake slides slowly by, but this is all that Gabriel can see. And then the door in front of him begins to open slowly. As it does so the hinges make a loud, grating sound, as though they have been rusted shut for some time. Gabriel navigates the short path by himself, and an excited Bright reaches out a hand to help him over the threshold.

“Nobody lives here. There’s some old furniture and a bed, but nothing else.” Bright closes the door behind them and Gabriel’s eyes begin to adjust to the darkness. “I climbed in through a window, but it’s filthy back there.”

Gabriel topples into a seat. As he sits, a cloud of dust rises around him. He watches Bright, who stands by the window and peers outside and into the darkness. His friend’s mind appears to be racing, but Gabriel decides not to ask any questions for he imagines that when he is ready, Bright will choose to share his thoughts. And then, without saying a word, his friend turns and crosses the room and slumps into a chair that Gabriel can see is leaking stuffing from old wounds.

When Gabriel wakes up the sun is shining directly into his eyes and Bright is no longer in the chair. He tries to stand, but the pain shoots through his right leg and he falls back down. He looks around the room and can see now that the house looks as though nobody has lived in it for quite some time. Every object is coated in a thin layer of dust, and the air feels heavy and stale. Gabriel tries again to get to his feet, and this time he manages to do so. As he moves to the window, he is careful to put as little pressure as possible on his injured leg. He lifts his hands to shield his eyes from the sun, and then he sees Bright walking up the path towards him with a small bag in his hand. Bright is grinning all over his face and he waves to Gabriel and then opens the door with a flourish.

“How is your leg?”

Gabriel hobbles to meet his younger friend, who hands him a plastic bottle with water in it. Bright continues, leaving Gabriel little time to answer his question.

“The town is small but it seems friendly, and at the train station the trains go directly to London. I think it will be easy to get on board and ride for nothing.”

Gabriel takes a drink from the bottle and then holds it out, but Bright sits down and refuses to accept the bottle.

“Please, you must finish it yourself. I have already had my fill in the town.”

Gabriel immediately tips the bottle up to his mouth and drains it. He puts down the bottle and stares at Bright, who suddenly seems tired. Although Gabriel is extremely hungry, he does not want to mention this fact for fear that Bright might think him ungrateful. As though sensing Gabriel’s unease, Bright gets to his feet and moves to the window where he positions himself in such a manner that the afternoon light catches him full in the face.

“My God, I see somebody.” An alarmed Bright speaks without turning towards Gabriel. “She is coming in this direction.”

Gabriel stands, and suddenly the pain in his leg is no longer a problem as he crosses to the window and joins Bright. Gabriel can see that the girl is young, and that she is walking right up to the house. She pushes at the door, and as she walks in she stops and lets out a small scream.

“My friend has hurt his leg,” says Bright. “If this is your house, we are sorry, but we needed to stay somewhere for the night.”

The girl is small in height, but her body is large. She is dressed in a red jacket and she wears a matching skirt and black tights. Gabriel assumes this to be her school uniform, but beyond her initial shock the girl does not panic.

“Who are you?” she asks. Bright gestures nervously.

“This is Gabriel, who has hurt his leg, and I am Bright. But please, we are leaving now.” The girl comes into the house, but she does not close the door behind her.

“You don’t have to go anywhere. This isn’t my place. Nobody lives here any more. Well, at least not since the accident.” Bright seems puzzled now.

“The accident?”

“It happened a few years ago, I think. Somebody died here, but it wasn’t like a murder or anything. Probably fell off the roof.”

Gabriel looks closely at the girl, who speaks quickly and with confidence.

“I’m serious, you don’t have to go nowhere.” She speaks directly to Bright, who gestures to the seat opposite Gabriel.

“Please, you must take a seat. There is no reason for you to remain standing.”

The girl sits and looks suspiciously at Gabriel, and then she turns back to Bright.

“What’s your names again? I’ve forgotten.” The girl runs a hand back and through her short blonde hair. “I’m Denise.”

“Denise, I am Bright, and this is Gabriel.”

“I like your names. They’re kind of simple. Does everybody in your country have simple names?”

Bright laughs. “People have all kinds of names.”

They fall silent for a moment, and suddenly Denise seems nervous.

“Are you from Africa?”

Bright nods.

“You’re illegals, aren’t you?”

Bright looks at Gabriel, who says nothing. Denise notes the glance and is quick to speak.

“I’m not going to tell nobody, I promise. It’s just that I’ve seen you people in town. Not Africans so much, but people from other places. Indians. Chinese. That lot. You want to go to London, don’t you? Is that where you’re heading?”

Bright nods.

“On the train?”

Again Bright nods, and then he speaks.

“We only arrived yesterday so we don’t really know what to do.”

“Are you hungry?” Denise stands now.

Gabriel looks at the young girl, trying to decide whether they should trust her, but Bright appears to have already made this decision. The girl hooks her bag over her shoulder.

“I can get you some food, but not tonight. I have to be back home or my dad will wonder what’s going on with me. But tomorrow I’ll come back with some food.”

Bright stands and faces the girl.

“Is it possible you could bring something for my friend’s leg? A bandage, perhaps?”

“Is a bandage all you need?”

Bright nods, and then he speaks.

“Are you sure that you will not be tempted to tell somebody about us?”

Denise laughs now. “I thought you lot turned yourself in to the police. Isn’t that what you do to get your asylum?”

“Yes. But we wish to go to London first.” Bright shrugs his shoulders. “If we do it here, they may put us straight back on the boat.”

“So you came on the ferry?”

“We came on a boat, but it was not easy.” Denise stares at Bright, and then suddenly she seems nervous.

“I have to go now, but I promise I’ll come back tomorrow with food. And I’ll try to bring something for his leg.”

Denise moves towards the door and Bright follows her. Gabriel watches them both, and then he stands up and limps across to the window, where he sees that the sun has now hidden itself behind a cloud. He looks at Denise as she makes her way down the path, her bag swinging casually on her shoulder. As she disappears out of sight it worries him that she does not even bother to turn around. Bright playfully slaps his friend on the arm.

“I can see that you do not trust this girl.”

Gabriel continues to stare at the path.

“Bright, the girl will tell her people. Perhaps we should leave now and try to reach London before she returns.”

Bright seems taken aback by Gabriel’s certainty. “Are you able to leave now?”

“I do not know, but I can try.”

Gabriel leaves Bright by the window and sits down. He thinks for a few moments and then he glances up at his younger friend.

“We should leave together, but in the morning. I do not think that she will say anything tonight, do you?”

Bright shrugs his shoulders. “I do not know. I cannot read the stupid girl’s mind.”

Gabriel looks at Bright in surprise.

Gabriel dreams of his mother. He gazes at her, but she will not speak to him. He brushes her face with the back of his hand. It feels hot, flushed with anger. His mother is not only physically hurt and bruised, she is also mentally damaged. He can see it in her eyes. Sadly, the muscles in her face are no longer strong enough to bear the weight of a smile. He implores her to flee with him, to let him rescue her, but she looks at him with scorn. She will not run away. Gabriel tries again.