"Death," I muttered, "Eyes down and remember all the rules. They are crystal clear and few. We can do it. it's only five of us remaining. I think it's time we start cooperating rather than arguing."
"It does not feel good when someone is insulting your religion. Christians are a stiff-necked people, blinded by excessive ignorance."
"you may be right," I told her, "but there's no need to fight. people have always believed in different things. respect to each other's beliefs is essential for peaceful co-existence. i hold my beliefs to be true and i may found yours ridiculous. If I attack you, you may attack me too because you too hold your beliefs to true and mine may be ridiculous. Thus, there will be no peace for everyone. Religious disagreements are capable of erasing humanity on the face of earth. I now beg you all to let each other do what they want and never insult each other. if possible, refrain from deliberately doing things that may annoy others."
"How do you think we can cooperate?" the elegant lady asked and sipped her tea.
"Oh, it's easy," I replied, "All we need to do is assist each other to pass the time and deal with the boredom. We can achieve that by taking turns telling stories, both real and fiction. we can start by getting to know each other. introductions of ourselves."
"I'll start," the elegant put her cup of tea down on the table, seemingly excited, "my name is Ellen Samuel. Born 1998. I studied business administration at Catholic University. The university was not what i expected it to be. i thought a catholic university would boast strong moral values and a religious atmosphere. Anyway. I initially wanted to work with the church but by the time i took my degree i had totally forgotten about that goal. I'm now a business executive i have worked with a range of companies in the middle east and i think I have had enough. It's time to go back home, on the basis of my fate. i reckon Lord is calling me to serve him. I think i should stop there."
"Alright," i fixed my beanie. this strategy of coping up seemed promising.
"Who's going next?" I glared at Mah, "Mah?"
The man had activated mute mode since the butchering. When he heard me, he raised the brows on his stiffened face.
"Tell us about yourself," i told him.
He shook his head, "i have told you that i will tell you who am i when the right time comes."
"What is this right time exactly?" i demanded out of frustration.
"Do you want to know the future?" he stunned me with that question.
"I'd rather not know," i replied as i leaned back, "In reality, the future does not exist. I'm not there, nothing there exists until I'm there and it is present. the future is what we predict is likely to exist by the time we are there and it becomes present. our predictions are likely incorrect because the future is not for us to see."
"Hell, i hope you realize all this is crap," the hijab woman spoke in abrupt.
"What?" i raised my brows questioningly.
"All is vanity. All the surviving crap," she continued, "Look, we don't even know how long he's going to keep us in captivity. We obviously are unable to survive a whole month in this position."
"I hope the police will come," the old woman moaned,
"I hope you realize no help is on the way. no one is going to come to our rescue. This is all a set up,"
the hijab woman raised sensible questions. Why no customer came? How about the sharp-hearing guards?
"Is a damn well-planned, well-executed kill trap. The waitress, the guards and the devil are together in this. But why us? What have we offended them?" the hijab woman finished talking with a beginning of weeping.
I felt a sad pang on my chest.
Perhaps, there is no point in fighting for survival. Perhaps we are being exploited, experimented and at last, discarded. These thoughts were supposed to weaken me but instead, brought even more strength and a powerful determination.
I had to surprise them, prove them wrong and more importantly, discover the truth. I had to expose them, whoever was behind this.
My confidence and undying optimism never ceased to surprise me.
"Nonsense!" the thug's cold voice jolted me back to reality. He got up. I almost gazed at his face. Fortunately, i closed my eyes just in time.
"Fellow diners," he announced, "I assure you that the time is coming and you shall be set free. But concerning the hour or second no one knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father."
I could here his footsteps coming closer.
Bang!
"No!"