All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2022 by Mfonemana Uduak
Art by Mfonemana Uduak
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, downloaded, distributed, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without permission from the author.
The contents of this work including, but not limited to, the accuracy of events, people, and places depicted; opinions expressed are fiction. If there is any resemblance to any of the listed above, it is pure coincidence.
•••
There are many ways to die, but fewer ways to be reborn. Many say humans borrow grace to breathe one day at a time; the difference between forever and now determined by a weighted scale many call fate.
And like all things borrowed, it must be returned. They say ones debt collector could be a descending lightening or a sweeping wind.
It is the difference between a street thug with a spiked club and a gentleman shrouded in smoke from a cigar heavy with the scent of today. But as there are many ways to die, the chances of rebirth fewer to none; an futile sneer at an indifferent universe.
But in the impossible odds of one to infinity, Mary Wu, soaked in blood clutching to an Asian child under the relentless flashing lights of an army of cameras attempting to be reborn is without doubt a great feat of ignorance or utter stupidity, but staying alive was a right she won that day, crawling over the bodies of over 200 people.
It's one thing to live. It is another to survive.
Chapter One
Visiting Relatives.
A bell rang through an elegant house several times. On the other side of the door, one could hear the distinct footsteps of heels on wood approach hurriedly. The door opened to reveal a young Asian man standing outside. The woman inside smiled at him politely with slight confusion in her eyes.
“How may I help you?” she asked him.
“I am Jun, Jun Wu. ….” he said and the dark woman nodded in understanding and stepped out of the way to let him in.
“Come in please, Master Jun.” she said with a smile. Jun walked into exquisite wood floors and looked round the grand entry way, then up the elegant staircase, slightly distracted.
“This way.” the woman led him to a well furnished sitting room and offered him a sit.
“I will inform Mrs. Wu of your arrival.” she said, taking his luggage away with her. Jun looked round the room with complicated eyes. On the walls were pictures of his grand uncle and his grand aunt. They looked happy with grand aunt holding their new born in her hands and behind them, was slight view of a large brick building; the picture did not look centered. As he looked at that building behind them, his complicated eyes showed a hint of a frown. That building, almost everyone in New America had heard of it.
“Please follow me.” the woman said the moment she returned. He nodded and followed her deeper into the house. Walking through the many large rooms only better emphasized the size of the building. He was led west, the woman knocked slightly on a large oak door and a voice called for them to enter. She opened the door and stepped aside for him to enter. He stepped into the room to see an elderly black woman sitting by the large bay windows. Birds sang by the window, soft breeze blew in as light rested on her aged face.
“Grand Aunt” he called as he approached slowly. The older woman looked up at the figure that walked in with squinted eyes, before going for her glasses on the table. She put them on and her vision cleared, allowing her to see the fair face that arrived before her.
“Little Jun.” she smiled at the young man, who smiled back at her, before going in for a hug.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“How are you, Aunt Mary?” he asked.
“Get up, let me see you better.” she said and he left her embrace and stood to full height.
“Ah, you are all grown. You look so much like your Grand Uncle.”
“Why does every one keep saying that? I don’t see it.”
“It’s the eyes.” she laughed, “Come sit. Did you come all the way from school?”
“Yes, I am about to graduate.”
“And a historian too…”
“Just like Grand Uncle, yes yes..” he said in a sing song voice that made her smile widen. He looked at her tired face and sighed slightly.
“Grand Aunt, I am writing a paper about our family and wanted to ask you some question, but you look quite tired.” he said and she shook her head.
“No, I just woke up. Since you went off to stay with Suyi, we have only ever talked on the phone. Yet, here was an old woman thinking you came all the way to see her.” she chuckled.
“No aunt, we don’t need to do this now, ” Jun laughed, “but you need to know it’s coming. Before I leave you will have to tell me. You can’t brush it away like always. This time it’s for school.”
“There is nothing useful to do these days. What kind of information will help you?” she asked.
“Everything counts; the small about you and Grand Uncle, the large about…” he trailed off not quite sure he should mention it.
“You know how we met. I came from England to bury my mother beside my father. After the funeral, I did not intend to return, I was not sure how the parliament would rule about the black migration so I stayed here and I started working as a waitress at the university cafe. That is how I met my Tian. After we found we were pregnant with Suyi, we decided to marry. Tian being Chinese he was only allowed to live in some approved accommodations. We moved into the Bailey building a little after. If only we knew that would happen.” the light in her eyes deemed greatly. The room descended into silence for a few seconds. When Jun heard her speak of the Bailey building, he looked at her with complicated eyes.
“Little Jun, I have spent my enter life trying to forget that day.” she said, the pain in her eyes deepened.
“How about we talk about it tomorrow when you are better rested.” he said and she shook her head.
“No. We had been living there for a while. We even had Suyi in the clinic on the sixth floor. Suyi was only six months; Tian got a promotion at work, even though it was just one of the moves the government were making to pacify the tension from the Asian community by promoting some Asians to higher positions, it was good for us. We even got ourselves a maid. She was a white girl from Africa. She barely understood English, but she was hardworking and sweet. It was a freezing day; the snow fell harder than it had the entire season. We had lunch, at night we had this chiffon cake Kale the butcher’s son was trying to sell.” she closed her eyes as though in a memory.
It took a while before she opened her eyes, “The rest, you know well; the news has reported my side of the story a great many times. We were having dinner when we started hearing shouting. Tian asked our maid, Anne to stay back so that he could see what was happening. We were quite scared and I didn’t want him to go. I told him; let’s close the door and wait till tomorrow. Even if the police ignored us, they would have to come by morning. He was a brave man, my Tian. He wanted to go out and help the neighbors if they were in trouble. No matter how much I convinced him, he would not go. We waited and waited. It was shouting at first, we did not understand mandarin so, we could not tell what they were saying. Then the gunshots started. We looked out the window into the courtyard and saw the masked men with guns; the gate was locked shut by them.” she started to breathe sharply, her face sank and her hands shook. Jun hurriedly got up to get her water but she grabbed his arm. He stared back down into her slightly mad eyes.
“Tian, he had still not come back. The gun shots were getting closer.” she said frantically.
“Aunt Mary, calm down.” he grabbed her trembling hands.
“He was not back.” she insisted, “Anne and I took the sleeping Suyi and hid in a kitchen cupboard. We heard them break down the door. They opened the cupboard but only dragged out Anne. They had not seen me and Suyi. Anne begged as they raped her, but they only laughed.” her hands shook as her eyes reddened in anger.
“She soon went silent. She no more made a sound, Little Jun. I thought she had died and peeped from the crack. Her eyes,..Little Jun, she was looking right at me.” tears started to run down her pale black cheeks.
“She was looking right at me when he placed his gun inside her and..” Mary Wu started to choke. Her ragged breathing alarmed Jun. he grabbed her hand and knelt before her. “Breathe Aunt Mary.” he tried to calm her down, “Listen, its birds; such sweet sound, right Aunt Mary?”
“Birds, whiteheads; yes. What sweet sound.” her vision started to clear.
“Breathe. The police finally came right? They came and saved you and Suyi. You were saved.” he said, looking into her pained eyes with complicated ones and spoke softly.
“You are safe, Suyi is safe.” he repeated till she calmed down. He then helped her into bed, tucked her in and sat beside her.
“You overcame all that, you raised Suyi to become a strong woman, you supported the family in china on your own and sent me to school. Aunt Mary, it all turned out well.” he said and she nodded.
“Grand Uncle Tian loved you and Suyi very much.”
“He used to call me his pearl.” she said and he paused slightly.
“Yes, the black pearl of little creek.” he said slightly solemn and her eyes flashed in surprise.
“How..?” she started to ask.
“He had sent letters to great grand ma in china about you.” His deep eyes watched her and she smiled at this.
“Rest, we will talk more tomorrow.” he gave the back of her hand a light pat before getting up. She watched him close the door behind him, before closing her eyes to sleep.
Jun walked away from the closed door before pausing slightly and looking back. One could not truly tell what the look in his eyes meant.