The golden rays of the morning sun pulled me from my restless sleep, and I was more than happy to heed its call. My mind had been spinning all night, and no fantasies came to my rescue, leaving me at the mercy of my self-ending thoughts. I stretched my body, enjoying the tension before relaxing, not wanting to leave my bed despite it offering no refuge. Mercy came into my bedroom half-dressed, eyes half closed. She looked like she was just getting out of bed, but knowing Mercy, she must have been up all night. She shoved her laptop onto my chest before climbing into my bed without saying a word to me. I tried to give her some space, but she threw her hands around my waist and rested her head on my thigh with nothing more than a needy whine.
I gave up the battle, choosing instead to sit up slightly so I could look at the laptop. If she wasn't already on my I would have crushed her in a hug. Displayed on the screen in bold, unmistakable text was the breaking news I had hoped for. It turned out even better than expected; there were more than a hundred thousand live viewers on today's news, the biggest news station in my country. They averaged around ten thousand live viewers from their online platform, with the biggest percentage of their viewers using television sets to watch the news. At over a hundred thousand live viewers, it was safe to say that by the end of the day, everyone in Kenya would know Mathew's parents.
A pop-up notification took me to her pseudo social media accounts, and there was an even bigger interaction with her first post, which went up thirty minutes after midnight, had half a million views. She had reached out to big social media content creators, seeing as how the keyword was already trending on these applications. I let out a squeal of joy, feeling much happier than I had felt when I woke up. Mercy only tightened her grip around my waist, pulling herself closer. I covered her tiny body with my duvet, wrapping my arm around her shoulder, pulling us impossibly close, wanting to offer a quarter of what she had given me, knowing fully well my gestures were as her acts of service saved me in a way I could not fully express.
Thirty minutes later, Sunshine came in, and I could have sworn her face turned dark for a few seconds before the expression quickly disappeared when she met my eyes. I tilted my head, not wanting to say anything so as not to disturb Mercy. Sunshine offered a smile in return, and although she must have come to call me down for breakfast, judging from the aroma wafting around her, she chose to get in bed. It was almost painfully obvious to me now how jealous Sunshine was. What baffled me more was the fact that I thought their friendship had happened organically, but there were some unresolved issues, judging by Sunshine's obvious discomfort.
Once again, I chose my peace of mind because there was nothing to be done if they were barely tolerating each other. I said nothing as Sunshine settled on my other side, barely fitting her tall frame in the limited space, leaving a big space beside Mercy. I adjusted my position, forcing Mercy to do the same to create space for Sunshine. After a few seconds of shuffling, we finally settled on the bed, and I found myself staring at the ceiling as I had been doing an hour ago, but this time I was sandwiched between my companions. The sleep that had eluded me for most of the night finally caught up with me, and after a few minutes of fighting it, I surrendered to the sweet escape of sleep, our shared warmth cocooning me.
When I woke up again, it was five minutes to noon, and I felt more rested than I had after a full night of sleep. I slowly crept out of bed and made my way to the basement. Along the short walk, I logged into my social media accounts, and sure enough, Mathew's family was still the trending topic. By the time I made it to Mathew, I was laughing out loud. He was awake, his eyes wide yet seemingly heavy. His lips were cracked, and his skin looked ashen. He seemed to have aged ten years in one night.
"So I have some great news, I mean I already had great news, but there has been an even better development. I shoved my phone in front of his face so he could see the source of my joy."
Written in bold letters was another breaking development in the already breaking news. Following a court-issued arrest warrant, a few police officers had gone to detain the key suspects in ten murder cases, in this case, Mathew's parents. During the arrest, after a few minutes of being manhandled, his mother collapsed to the ground. The image had been on replay for about twenty minutes, during which his mother was rushed to the hospital and was confirmed to have suffered a minor stroke. His father, on the other hand, had been matched to the police station despite his screams of protest as he tried to check on his wife.
"Funny, no?"
His face was so white for a second that he looked dead. I wasn't aware our skin tone had the ability to show drained color, but there he was, his face white, eyes wide. I sat on the bed, and despite being strapped to the bed, he tried his hardest to shift as far away as possible from me. His actions were almost identical to Brian's when he was strapped to the bed. I smiled at the fond memory, finally having something positive in my mind related to Brian.
"Why are you doing this to me? My parents did nothing to you". His voice was nothing more than a whisper, but it still managed to rile me up.
What an utterly stupid question that was, of course, your parents are the authors of my problems. If they taught you to respect other people, you wouldn't have felt entitled enough to take Claire's life. Better yet, if they had gone to church they day, they would have been better humans and spared the world from the blight that is you. They failed to educate their son, and as such, they need to suffer.
"You won't get away with this!" His voice rising, but still no more than a loud whisper
"I will!" I whispered back, mocking him. "Your parents were the only ones who would have stood in my way, and now they are worth nothing. Imagine your mother all alone in the hospital, unconscious, but she is fairing better than your dad, who is in a holding cell. It doesn't matter how powerful their friends are; the best they could hope for is resigning and maybe fleeing the country. I know justice won't be served despite the overwhelming evidence against them, since it sets a bad precedent for those in power. This problem will keep them occupied long enough for me to finish with you."
"Please, I will do anything, anything, just don't kill me."
I stopped responding and got u heading for our arsenal. I picked up a pocket knife, it had a thin, sharp blade that was perfect for what I had in mind. He must have seen the murderous intent in my eyes when I headed back towards him, or it was the small knife in my hand he was wary of; either way, he started shouting at me while struggling to get away. Once again, his shouts were barely audible, leading me to believe she must have screamed his throat sore at some point when he was alone.
"You are begging for your life now, but over the next two or three days, you will be begging for me to end your misery. Is life worth living if your entire being is filled with nothing but pain? That is the million-dollar question, isn't it?" The smile in my voice was unmistakable, the terror painted on his face undeniable.
The first cut was quick and unexpected for him, the next one still caught him unaware by the third cut, he was screaming at normal volume, his voice box working overtime. I cut him close to twenty times, each time I got a serotonin boost watching as the knife drew crimson lines that dipped to the bed. He was thrashing, trying his best to set himself free, but Sunshine's knots were impeccable.
"I want you to hurt a thousand times worse than she did, and then I want you to die alone and in pain. I want you to die knowing that because of what you did to Claire, even your family will not know peace again. It doesn't matter how many crimes you have committed; you should never have laid a finger on her. A life for a life, agony for agony, that the way in men's world I sit not?"