Chapter 7:“Betrayal” by Zuhair Abbas
“.....And yours?” I typed on the computer screen waiting for
a gestured reply. “Lyonell Campbell” came the reply, as I entered my
chat-world with a new person..... “So where do u live?” I asked, doubting
that. “Kentucky”came the one-word response, until now, when I typed. “Hey,
c’mon, don’t feel so shy, speak up, till now you’re just playing a
one-answered game with me.” and “Okay, here goes, I’m totally depressed
with my life.” she typed.
Okay, so we have a damsel in distress, I thought, when she typed
“But now, when I speak to you, I feel that there’s more to life, and not
just death and dying.” I was about to shut down the computer rather than
communicating with a frustrated person, when “Don’t shut down, I want to
meet you, 7:30, tomorrow, at Yacht Shack, I’ll be wearing a black suit.”
Well, I decided to meet her; anyhow, she meant no harm and what the heck if
she’s not like the way she talks.
I picked up the keys from the dining table and left for the Yacht
Shack. On the way, I felt a strange feeling, of disgust though, and all of a
sudden, the car stopped, near the St. Thomas’ cemetery.
My mother’s grave lay near, so I decided to pay a visit. To add a pinch
of peculiarity to the ambience, flowers of every kind had encircled it and it
had been refurbished. Then as I looked up, I saw a grave opposite mother’s on
which was engraved...... and then I fainted. I rushed to the Shack but no one
wore a black suit, in fact no one had entered the shack that day except a few
construction workers.
I went back home, and connected myself back to the internet and
in the place of Lyonell’s account was written Shania Fisher (my cousin). I
talked with her but she appeared to have given no signs of knowledge. I talked
to her personally, hoping she would give up, but instead she said, “Kenan, are
you alright? For the past fifteen months, my computer had a break down, besides
when I checked it at Hotmail to see if it existed, It didn’t!”
I was frightened by the last two words that she spoke, knowing
she too meant business and wanted to help me get to the root of this problem. We
went to the Cyber Café and signed up there too. Lyonell’s account appeared
again on the screen and then came a warning, “There are too many messages in
your mailbox” I was shocked, who was going to send me 150 emails. Who had the
time? When I opened the mailbox, I saw there were only seven, and one of them,
which was new, was entitled, “confidential”, it read, “Dear Kenan, meet me
again at the St. Thomas’ cemetery. From Lyonell” “Why the cemetery?”
asked Shania, amazed by the bizarre meeting place.
Shania, Ben (her brother) and I went to the cemetery trying to
catch the culprit, red handed. Ben
suddenly fainted, as we reached the cemetery, as though he had smelt chloroform.
Shania and I continued further, bravely
and came to a tree which was colored in burgundy and on it was
carved, “ Vengeance” and an arrow pointed downwards, everything became
foggy, murky and I felt a hand on me. I felt unconscious, and as I regained my
consciousness, I was lying on the turf of the cemetery, a grave covered in
mistletoe and dust and on it was carved, “Lyonell
Campbell, Died on October 1st 1922, in Kentucky.” and as I finished reading, I
woke up, there was a cut in my leg, and my clothes were all torn, and Shania,
well, she lay unconscious beside me............