Laila’s Dream

By Anthony Muchoki , originally published 2005.

Laila was fast asleep. Yesterday had been a very good day. She had confirmed her admission to a South African University. She was dreaming that she was already in the campus doing her political science classes. She was fast asleep. Smiling.

Suddenly, she was woken up by a big bang on the door. Giant men moved inside her room and flooded the house with their flashlights. She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out.

“Be a good girl and nothing will happen to you,” one of the thugs croaked to her. The only other person in the house was her mama, who was sleeping in the master bedroom.

There was too much noise in the house. Laila was very worried about her mother.

“Gosh what is going to happen to us?” she wondered.

She could hear the thugs turning the house inside out. They were stuffing everything in gunny bags that they carried. The thugs were not afraid and they had by now put on lights and one could see their faces clearly.

She trembled with fear. One thug who looked relatively young was guarding her. Then she heard her mama scream.

“Take everything but you will not rape me!” her mama shouted. Laila’s legs got supernatural strength. She rose up and hit the young man guarding her. He fell down with a thud.

She was going to rescue her mother. No one was going to hurt her mother. She went to the kitchen; gosh some thugs were helping themselves to the food that was there.

She tiptoed near her mama’s bedroom. Along the corridor she got hold of a stool.  She lifted it high up in the air and entered the room. Two men were gagging her mama’s mouth. She hit one of the thugs readying to get atop her pinned down mama. She used all her strength. He fell down in a thump.

Another thug was looking at her menacingly. He held a pistol pointing it at her.

“I could have shot you dead, but because you are very beautiful and very strong I will make you my wife,” he growled at her. He whistled and about 10 men joined him within no time.

“Bind her,” he ordered them. They bound her in a split second.  She could not move her body which was tightly tied up. The bullying man who was branded with a     murderous scar was their leader, she noticed.

“No more folly of rape business. No one should touch the old woman. Five minutes, finish off your business, we take our leave with this girl,” he barked stern, precise orders to his gang.

“Woman,” he addressed Laila’s mama, “Nothing will happen to you. No one will touch you if you keep your mouth shut and allow us to finish our business. But for your daughter, I shall bring her back after she has borne me a child. I have been looking for such a strong, daring and courageous woman the whole of my life.”

Laila felt like sinking into the ground. She vomited and they gagged her mouth.

“No, no, this cannot happen to me!” Laila thought. Her mother was shocked beyond words. She fainted.

Laila was a good fighter with a lot of knowledge of judo and karate, but here she knew such expertise would not assist her. No. She was going to use her brain to save her life.

She calmed down. She would fight with her brain. Already, no one was going to rape her mama. That was one battle won. Here she was sure her physical strength was useless. The ringleader had a gun and you never know with those machines.

They finished ransacking the house and packed in a lorry everything they thought was important. They untied Laila at gunpoint. They took her to her bedroom where she was ordered to pack her clothes in a box.

“Play any game and you are dead meat,” Laila was told.  She had no alternative but to play their game until she got the appropriate chance to hit back. She would teach the thugs, especially their leader a lesson they would never forget.

Laila was a believer. She believed in the power of her body and brain. She believed that if she used those two items she could get almost all that she aspired for in life. She did not want to ever let anyone pull her down the drain. Never. She had always fought back her adversaries. People, who knew her, would get out of her path. She was too brainy and iron willed.

The thugs ordered Laila out of the house. She was told to carry her luggage. She hauled it to the lorry as soon as they reached outside of the house where it was parked. She wanted to be free to strike back. One thug continually pointed a gun at her.  Then she heard two gunshots in quick successions. She looked at her body to see if there was any blood oozing. There was nothing. She realized she had not been shot.

Then her head jammed, “Have they shot my mother!” Calmly she told the thug pointing a gun at her,  “Shoot me if you have shot my mama. I am going to fight back; I will kill all of you with my bare hands if you have killed my mother.” She was ready to fall upon on the thugs like lightning.

Then the ringleader appeared on the scene, “Don’t worry.  I promised you no harm would come to your mama so long as you do my bidding. Come and bid her bye. I have shot dead the fool who allowed you to hit him. In our trade we don’t carry the injured, we only hasten their journey to hell,” he told her. A cold chill ran down her spine.

She was told to walk in front of him. They went to her mama’s bedroom. She was tied up in ropes.  She looked so hapless and helpless. She asked the gangster to allow her to untie her. She untied her.

“Everything will be all right mama,” she assured her. She was still in shock and had just regained consciousness. The gangster calmly told her to hold her peace and not to call the police or ask for help anywhere until one hour after their departure.

“Otherwise if we are caught, I will shoot your daughter dead. If all goes well maybe five or twenty years from now I will allow her to come back home and bring you lovely grandchildren. Kindly don’t be a silly mother-in-law and send your daughter to an early grave.”

He ordered Laila to get out.

“Young girl don’t be a hot head. I know your prowess. Don’t try to play any silly games. You will drive this lorry to where I will direct you. I will guard you with my life. Get ready.”

They all got into the lorry. She took the driver’s seat. After driving for more than four hours non-stop, it was almost dawn, when she got the opportunity she was looking for. 

The thugs were relaxed and boasting about their exploits. Laila to put them at ease thanked them for their humanity in sparing her mother from rape. Jokingly she told the gang leader, he must at the soonest possible moment send her mother the bribe price, otherwise she would not accept to be married to him. They were all laughing as she drove down hill, down a very steep slope. She pressed the accelerator to the floor. The ringleader ordered her to stop.  She braked at once.  The lorry veered off-road and overturned four times. Luckily enough, before the first turn she had already jumped her way out of the lorry to safety, without a scratch. Four thugs died instantly. The other two were seriously injured. The ringleader’s hands and legs had been chopped off. He was wailing, “Laila help me please…”

Laila thought about her Mama. She was no longer sure if she would leave her at home alone and go for further studies in South Africa.