Song: PeNe MaMe — KiDi (This chapter may be a little disturbing getting to the end so reader discretion is advised)

*Unedited* (I have a new story idea 😊)

"What exactly can we agree upon?" Edinam asked the question we all wanted to know, folding her arms defiantly. "Unless you keep us as your prisoners, there's nothing you can say or do to convince us to not go to the police."

"Which police? My palace guards or my officers? I own the whole village, so unless you can go to the city and bring their police, there's nothing you can do, really," Michael said, his lips curving into a mocking smile.

There was another pang in my chest once he finished talking. I was taking all this so badly and he was just making it so much worse for me. Even my head was hurting. I staggered back a little bit, feeling like I would faint. Kofi must've noticed, because he came up behind me and held onto my elbows.

Michael glared at us. "Now, we will release you as long as you three keep your noses out of our business."

"And if we don't?" Kofi challenged.

"I really don't care what happens to you," he hissed, then looked at me, his eyes softening, "but I do care about you. I don't want anything to happen to you. I'm friends with Mr. Mark but I must admit that he isn't the kindest person. I'm afraid he might do something to you if... if you try and get in his way. I won't always be able to protect you."

Kofi and Edinam simultaneously scoffed, but I was still struggling to regain my grip on reality. Kofi brought me closer, his hands coming to rest on my hips. It still escaped me when he became so attentive to my feelings. "You do plan on going ahead with robbing the country of its minerals, don't you?"

"There's no hope for the continent anyway. The white people have plagued and will continue to plague us and steal from us. It's better that we gather as much wealth as we can before they take everything away."

As soon as he was done talking, my blood began to boil. "You monster. It's because of people like you that there's such widespread poverty on a continent so rich. You have no shame saying something like this."

"Disgusting. I can't believe the whole village looks up to scum like you," Edinam hissed.

I was shocked. She'd never talked to or about Michael so disrespectfully. At this point, who could respect him anyway? She was right. He was scum. He was the worst kind of scum.

"Who gave you the right to speak to me that way? Do you know who I am?" He asked heatedly, facing her with clenched fists.

"You, you gave me the right to speak to you this way with all your disgusting actions. You're a piece of shit."

"You—" he cut himself off, advancing quickly towards her like he was about to hit her, when Kofi dashed forward and stood before her, cutting her out of his view. Her mother grabbed her shoulders and tried bringing her under her and her father's protection, but she easily shrugged her off and came to my side.

"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" Kofi asked mockingly. "Wait till all your subjects find out about this."

"You think they're going to believe you? A coloniser, a prostitute slash murderer and an ugly freak?"

"Watch your tongue boy," my uncle said, pissed. An intense argument was about to ensue, before his phone rang, throwing everyone off. He lifted it out of his shirt pocket, but before he put it to his ear, I saw the caller ID.

It was that Boss person calling, the one who wanted Kofi and I to be together. My uncle eyed me, perhaps a warning to stop looking so closely, before leaving the room to talk with the man.

The rest of us were just standing there in the living room, a thousand thoughts running through our minds yet no way to let them out or let the other person understand our reasoning. At least, that's how I felt and I liked to believe that's how the others felt too.

"I want to sit down," I complained underneath my breath, lifting my injured leg.

"Come on, let's go inside," Kofi said, having heard me.

"Where do you think you're going?" Michael asked us.

Kofi was already steering me to my parents' room, not even bothering to stop and answer him. He spoke without looking at him. "To make babies."

I chuckled.

Once we were inside, he shut the door with a loud bang. "Go on, sit down," he said.

I sat down, but he stood in the middle of the room, observing it. "No human sized windows."

"That thing is not common here, and mosquitoes in the village are more vicious than those in the city."

"Liar. Nothing can come close to city mosquitoes."

"Spend the night outside and see how many mosquitoes will infect you with malaria."

"I just might."

"Of course, but after all this is over. You can't die just yet."

"So I can die when it is?"

"Yes. No one will need you then."

I was obviously joking, but he mustn't have realised. His whole face fell and he turned his back to me. "Did I ever apologise to you for all I've done?"

"Yes. Such bad memory," I scoffed, shaking my head.

"Then why haven't you forgiven me?"

I stretched my neck to gauge his expression. He had to be joking. "It's easier said than done."

"But I apologised. I don't remember the last time I ever did that."

"Kofi," I frowned, "it's not that easy."

"I've saved your life before. That time with the snake, remember?"

"And so?"

"Shouldn't that, I don't know, cancel out my past misdeeds?"

"No."

"What do you want me to do then?"

"Why is my forgiveness so important?"

"I don't want any bad blood between us, especially since we're in alliance."

I sighed. "You give me nightmares. The stuff you've done to me, it haunts me. Maybe when that stops, I might forgive you."

"But how am I supposed to control that?"

"You can't. That's why you have to let me forgive you at my own time."

He turned around just to show me his annoying eyeroll before coming to sit beside me. "When this is over though, do you want—"

He was cut off by the sudden barging into the room. It was my uncle. I watched him annoyedly. "What do you want?"

"There has been a change of plans," he looked at Kofi. "Your father wants to see you."

"What?" He asked, sitting up out of shock.

"So he's the boss person?" I asked, not realising that my uncle didn't know I'd gone through his phone.

He observed me. "We leave now."

"You can't just take me anywhere you want," Kofi spat.

"Oh, it wasn't an offer to see him. It was a command," he pushed the door open and the palace guards trudged in.

"I can't believe I thought they were hot," I muttered.

Kofi gave me a look that was either telling me to shut up or telling me that I was an idiot.

"Come with us quietly or forcefully. It's your choice."

"I'll go. What's the worst the idiot can do?" He rolled his eyes. He looked back at me. "Stay safe."

"No, she's coming along," my uncle said.

"Why? What does he want with her?" He asked, suddenly growing defensive.

"Ask your father," he shrugged.

"No. She's staying here."

"Kofi," I stood and grabbed his shoulder, "it's okay. I prefer being far away from these people."

"What if he hurts you? And what about your brothers?"

"Edinam is here and I know her parents won't let anything bad happen to them. They might seem heartless but one thing about my people is that we value family."

"You've always been a smart girl," my uncle said approvingly. "We must leave now if we want to get there before tomorrow."

"Get where?" Kofi asked. We were following him out of the house, and Edinam and Michael were immediately attentive once they saw us.

"Where are they going?" Edinam asked, coming after us.

"Please, I want to know too," Michael said.

"Eddie, please go home. We'll talk when I get back, please," then he said to his wife. "Please take her home. I'll be back soon."

"You still haven't answered me," Michael said.

"Nobody owes you any answers. Go and steal some gold or something," Kofi retorted.

* * *

The drive was long. I would've fallen asleep if I wasn't so nervous. I didn't think Michael would let us go so easily, especially when we could risk his chieftaincy. Perhaps, he didn't even have the power to stop us. He was just a pawn. It would be better for him if he realised that.

When the car pulled up in front of a large warehouse, my heart stopped. It was dark and we were in the middle of nowhere. Either or both of us could die and our deaths would be completely covered up.

"Kofi," I grabbed his bicep, unconsciously squeezing it.

He too looked out the window. He wouldn't say it but I could tell that he was a little bit afraid too. "Come on."

My uncle, the two palace guards that accompanied us, Kofi and I disembarked. It felt like walking straight into a trap, yet not being able to do anything about it. The warehouse was dark and completely empty. We stopped, not knowing where to go next.

We only watched as my uncle and the palace guards left after sealing the door shut behind us. I shifted closer to Kofi out of pure instinct. My heart was racing and I was beginning to sweat. I felt like something should happen, but we were just standing in the middle of the dark warehouse like lost puppies.

"What the heck is this supposed to mean?" Kofi said, his voice echoing and bouncing off the walls.

There was more ominous silence.

"Let's leave this place," I tore myself away from him and rattled the door handle. The door didn't budge. We were trapped inside.

"Even if we could get out, how would we get back to civilisation? I'm sure they didn't leave the car behind."

"Why did you even agree to this?" I asked, repetitively kicking the door out of frustration.

"I didn't have a choice and I asked you not to come, but you think you're so fierce. Shut up and deal with the consequences of your actions."

"Rude," I glared at him.

Just then, blinding lights came on. It was horrible, the intensity of those lights compared to the previous darkness we were surrounded by. I screeched and shielded my eyes. "What the heck?"

It took a while, but we finally put our hands down. After a few repetitive blinks, our eyes adjusted to the brightness of the place.

Mr. Faye was sitting on a chair with his legs crossed. He had impeccable style, that man. He was wearing a suit and a hat, smoking on one of those pipes and holding a stick that he didn't really need. All he needed was a monocle — and to be shorter with a rounder belly — and he could be Penguin in the next Batman movie.

The man was in great shape for his age. He looked just like Kofi, even his build. How could he believe that Kofi wasn't his son? Some people were really stupid.

"What is this? What's all the drama for?" Kofi asked annoyedly.

I went behind him out of instinct. Mr. Faye had a psychotic air to him. I couldn't understand how I'd forgotten the eerie feeling of being near the man and willingly come with Kofi. I should've stayed at the village. Michael and my extended family couldn't be possibly worse than this.

"I thought it was time I finally introduced you to your family," Mr. Faye said. There was no smile on his face, it was as blank as usual.

"Again with this nonsense. We both might not like this, but you're my father. Whether you like it or not. Perhaps you should've kept your trousers on."

The man watched him with eyes filled with malice. He spread an aura that only the criminally insane could. "Do you know your blood type?"

Kofi frowned. "B. What does that have to do with this?"

"My blood type is A and your mother's was A too."

"Your point?" He asked. I was wondering too.

"A and A can only come together to create A or O. Hence Kofi, you are not my son."

Kofi remained unimpressed. "Tell that to my genes."

"There's a very simple explanation for that. I did tell you that I was going to introduce you to your parents, didn't I?"

"My mother is alive?" Kofi asked. I grabbed onto his arm, feeling my heart palpitate beyond control. I was so terrified and the man hadn't even done anything yet. Why was I so terrified?

"It depends on your description of that word. Alive," he said. Then, the first emotion I'd ever seen on his face, the corner of his lips curved into a smirk. It was gone as soon as it appeared. "Follow me."

My legs moved on their own accord. I was terrified, yet curious. If I'd had the opportunity to run, I wouldn't have. Kofi was mildly dazed, following him like a zombie. He shook my hand off his bicep only to grab onto it with his own hand. He squeezed.

"Your family has been dying to meet you," his emphasis on the word made me recoil.

It felt like they'd put something on my chest and due to its presence, I couldn't push air down into my lungs.

"I don't care what your blood test or doctors tell you. It's impossible for a child to come from my mother while married to you, look identical to you and not be your child."

We had walked past almost three rooms, the intensity of the light dimming with every room we passed. Finally, we came to stop in one large room. There was a large box or whatever it was, and it was covered with a large black cloth.

"What is this?" Kofi asked. He was watching the box just like I was.

"I had this shipped from..." he looked up thoughtfully, "a certain forest, I don't remember the name quite well.

"Again, your point?" He asked.

Mr. Faye watched him, green eyes dark and wicked. "The girl, bring her to me."

"No," Kofi said immediately, pushing me behind him again.

This time, I wanted to protest. I didn't want to show any weakness in front of the man. I might have been completely terrified, but he didn't need to know that. Show your weaknesses to your enemies and they will prey on it. I came back to his side and faced the insane man squarely. "What do you want?"

"What are you doing?" Kofi whispered.

"I'm not afraid," I said back, looking into his eyes.

He obviously wanted to object, but he didn't. He watched me, looking like he understood what I wanted to do, then he nodded.

"Brilliant. This is even better than I thought," the man said. However, he reached behind him and pulled a gun out of his trousers' waist area. "Come to me. Slowly."

"Like I said, no," Kofi repeated.

"Have you seen this?" The man lifted the gun and pointed it at me. My breath hitched in my throat.

"You won't kill her. You brought her here for a reason. You need her," he was right. Smart, but dangerous to be playing with someone so dark.

"True, but that doesn't mean she has to be a hundred percent," then he fired the gun.

At first it was shock from the startling noise of the bullet being let out of the gun. It made me jump and my teeth rattled in my gums. Then, it was the pain accompanied by being shot. The vicious tearing of precious skin. The exposed inner layers, the blood that was never supposed to feel the steady whooshing of air.

I stumbled back, clutching my forearm. A breath escaped me; it was filled with panic and pain. Tears filled my eyes, my legs went weak. I fell.

Kofi remained standing, his hands clenched into fists. "What do you want? What exactly do you want from me!" He watched his father who gave him no answer, then he knelt beside me, pressing his hand over the diagonal cut on my forearm.

I wheezed.

"That was just a graze. The next one will go inside her. Send her over to me, send her now."

He looked at me, his bloody fingers coming to caress my face. "Go. Please, before he hurts you."

My ears were still ringing. It was hard to hear, it was hard to see, it was hard to think. I'd just been shot. How did my life go from teenage drama to mafia? "Ko—"

"Elorm, go. Please." The urgency in his voice quickly cleared my mind. His father was insane. It was best not to toy with him.

It was hard to get back up. If you've never been shot or cut deep, you probably wouldn't understand what it feels like. It was something like multiple electric shocks going through you. It hurt less after the initial shock wore off though.

I went over to him.

"Good," he put his hand on my waist and turned me around to face Kofi, keeping the cold metal rim of the gun on my lower back. "Now, for surprise number one. Take the cloth off."

Kofi kept looking, anger burning through him. He was probably contemplating whether to make a run for it or try and end the man once and for all. But then he took a breath and stepped forward, tossing the cloth off.

And then he froze.

The first thing I noticed was the horrible stench. It smelt like unwashed human beings and a lot of human faeces. When I looked into the cage — it was not a box after all — I froze too.

It was the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen.

Human like things. Wild animals. Wild humans, I didn't know what word to give them. They were dirty and smelly, like they hadn't taken showers in years. They were cuffed to the cage. One was female and the other was obviously male.

When they opened their mouths, we saw gums filled with rotten teeth. They had bloodshot eyes and hair knotted beyond hope. Sunken faces, they were skeletons with skin. No flesh. Skin that looked like it was decaying on them, even though they were alive.

It was a hustle to keep the vomit down my throat. Either way, I kept gagging, unable to look at the things anymore, yet I couldn't take my eyes off the male one. It had green eyes. Looking beyond the disgusting skin, it was light–skinned. It must've been muscular at one point, and tall, judging by the length of the torso and legs. It had a long straight nose, thin lips that mustn't have been cracked at one point. They were probably pink. It had 3A hair at one point too.

The male one looked like Kofi.

"Who are these people," Kofi's breath hitched in his throat, while his eyes moistened, "and what happened to them?"

All of us in that room knew the answer to that question.

"Let me tell you a story, Kofi Faye. When I was just a teenager — eighteen, maybe? — like you, I met a beautiful young woman. Dark–skinned beauty. She had chocolate brown eyes that I could get lost in, a beautiful slim–thick body, even more beautiful personality. Unfortunately, she was a whore. Couldn't keep it in her pants. Such a woman should be wise and not look for commitment. She can't be blamed for who she is after all, but this woman wasn't wise. They warned me. It was partly my fault, to be honest. I should've listened. I didn't care, not really. I thought she could make me fall for a Casanova. She did. I fell like a fool. I lost my friends, my family, every one who cared about my wellbeing. All except my twin brother."

And then Kofi broke down into tears, his hands clutching the bars of the cage. He fell on his knees, crying like the whole world had come crashing down on him.

The wild humans bared their rotten gums threateningly, but were unable to move because of the shackles holding them hostage.

"We were happy. At least, I was happy. Happy and blinded, but she wanted more. There wasn't a better word to describe her than nymphomaniac. I wasn't enough for her. I married her because I was a fool. I didn't realise it at first. I thought she wouldn't do something like that to me. I was blinded by love. A fool. A complete fool. My brother came to visit us often, since our parents had practically disowned me. At the time, we were having some problems and my brother was trying to be a mediator. He took her away from the house for hours on end to talk to her and take her to this psychologist that he trusted. What a fool I was! Too trusting."

I felt the tears begin to prick my eyes and a sinking feeling in my stomach, like my stomach was an anchor into the sea. I hated this, I wanted to tear my ears off.

Kofi had stopped crying. His eyes were red and puffy while he sat before his parents, eyes blank. He looked tired.

"She was pregnant, and I was happy. I thought a baby was what we needed to get our marriage back on track. Her pregnancy was so difficult. She'd stay in bed, sick all day. Crying, unable to move or eat. My brother kept coming to see her, so much that I finally woke up. I finally saw it. The way he touched her belly, the way he looked at her. He was a fool like me. He'd fallen in love with her. She loved neither of us, but she certainly loved my brother more because he liked to do those wild things. It wouldn't just be the two of them. Three, four men, something that could actually satisfy her."

I watched the female humanoid with curious eyes. It wasn't hard to see that she'd once been beautiful.

"My brother and I were identical twins, so I couldn't exactly do a paternity test. It was... I think two thousand? Or nineteen ninety nine. The technology that can examine the genetic code closely between mother and child to tell the paternity of a child — especially in the case of twin brothers — hadn't been developed yet. Either that, or it must've been too expensive, so I waited. It was very rare, but identical twins could have different blood types which was the case in our family. It probably means I could've done a paternity test, but I was still in a state of denial. My brother's blood type was B. I was A and your mother was A. When the child was born with a B blood type, I knew they'd cheated me. They'd gone behind me and had a child."

Kofi looked at him, he looked back. "I hated you ever since you were born. You changed me. You killed me. You created this person, this monster," he pointed to himself. "You tore my humanity away from me. Your mother had a home birth, and when my brother came to hold his child for the first time, I beat him up and locked him in my garage. Your mother was surprisingly fine, after such a difficult pregnancy. I had her locked in my garage too. That day, I locked them in a cage like animals, and had them taken deep into the forest. They lived there for eighteen long years," he smiled. It was scary. "Surprise! Meet your parents, Kofi Faye."

And then there was the sound of cheering and clapping coming from a machine. It sounded like those sounds that came from comedy shows like 'Friends'. There were balloons flying about, and confetti filled the air.

"I didn't want them to die. I fed them raw meat, and when one of them was about to kick the bucket, I took them back home, nursed them back to life and returned them to their cage in the forest. I had the meat grounded into thick liquid or paste? I don't know. I feared that they'd use the bones of the animals to kill themselves. I also made sure that they wouldn't make any more babies," he cocked his head to the right, green eyes poisonous. "I didn't expect them to make it to this year, honestly."

"Are you happy?" Kofi asked, his voice cracking and breaking at the end. "They're barely alive anymore. I'm going to go mad if you don't make me like them or kill me. But I don't understand... why did she have to be here?" He looked at me.

"It doesn't end there, Kofi Faye. I hate you as much as I hate them, and right now, their minds aren't what they used to be. What better way to keep punishing them than to destroy their offspring? Death is too easy, because heaven might be real. They could say some prayers, get forgiven and live with Jesus for eternity. There was no way I was letting that happen. So I let you live and tortured you. I made you a monster like me. I messed with your head, I broke your bones, until your coping mechanism became to put feelings behind you. At some point, you couldn't even understand your feelings anymore. You didn't know love, didn't know hate. It made me happy."

"Stop beating about the bush and answer my question."

"Of course, you bonded with your brothers, but I couldn't hurt them. I love those boys. One day, I got a call from your mansion. A beautiful redhead I planted there to keep an eye on you delivered some lovely news."

Ginger.

"There was a girl you were partial too. You maltreated her, of course, because that's the only way you know. I planned to introduce you to your parents on your eighteenth birthday but then I found another way to torture you. Wouldn't it be lovely if history repeated itself? If you fell in love with a dark–skinned beauty who'd break your heart?" His gun caressed my cheek.

"Well you failed, because I'm not in love with her," his voice was gaining its strength. He was pushing everything away, to the back of his head. It would only hurt him more.

"Are you sure about that? There are some holes in my plan because there are no traitorous twin brothers and this one is certainly not a nymphomaniac, then I realised I'd have to improvise. I've been watching you. With cameras installed in your mansion. You," he turned me around to look into his evil eyes, "you spotted one of them. That night when the chief wanted to sleep with you. You would've never guessed though. It wasn't your fault." He turned me back around to look at Kofi. "I brought you two to my home and made you stay in one room. What did you think was the purpose of that? To make you fall for her even harder! I saw the way you looked at her when she wasn't looking. I saw the way you took care of her injuries. I saw the way you held her when she was asleep. I even watched as you bathed her, struggling to hide your arousal."

He turned away, unable to meet my eyes. I was shocked. I didn't know any of this. The first time I had an inkling to him liking me was when we were going to fetch water and I felt his heart racing. I didn't think that it was anything beyond a crush.

"No, I'm not going to turn her into one of those things," he pointed at his brother and his wife. "It will take too much time. I want to deliver one final blow to drive you mad. I want to make you like me. I want to fill you with hate. I want the only thing that keeps you alive to be the immense hatred you feel for me and your parents. I want you to stay up at night, crying, screaming, wanting to die yet not having the courage to do it yourself. She will help me deliver that final blow," he pushed the gun into my hair.

I closed my eyes. The metal rim of the gun was cold.

"She didn't do anything to you," Kofi said. His eyes were filling up again. His whole body was weak, it looked like it was taking all his effort to pull himself onto his feet.

Mr. Faye was smart. He didn't beat Kofi up. He didn't touch him in any way. He destroyed his mind instead.

"That's the reason why I will allow her to die, but I can't promise that it will be quick," he said. "Come, we have a murder to plan."

And then, he hit me on the head with his gun. I passed out.

* * *

What a lovely chapter, sunshine and rainbows!

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