In A Room (2/3) By Joe Hakim

(1/3), (2/3), (3/3).

Another millennium passes by, and then the door is flung open. There's light and noise and confusion, and my arms and legs are taken by men with guns slung across their shoulders. My hands are bound and I scream and then something heavy hits me in the face and once again the dark swallows me and I drift down, down, down... The first thing I feel is pain, a dull throbbing ache that fills my entire head. I can taste blood and dust, and my face feels wet. And then cold water hits me again and I'm awake. I try to open my eyes, but one of them is swollen shut from the blow I received.

I manage to croak, "Where am I?" but there's no reply. As my vision begins to return, I notice that I'm in a different room. I'm sat in front of a table. My feet and hands are tied together. I can't see anyone, so I ask again: "Where am I?" The reply comes in the form of a gun barrel pressed against my temple. I begin to plead, to beg, but I don't think they understand. This is it, I think, this is how I'm going to die, but my tormentor doesn't pull the trigger. Instead he holds the gun in place against my head until I defecate myself. I cry and scream for them to stop, and somewhere in the distance I think I can hear muffled laughter.

Eventually someone shouts, "Enough," and the gun is taken away. There's a sharp squeal as a chair is pulled up to the table. A man sits opposite me and says, "We're not going to kill you." I look up at him. For some reason I expected him to be wearing a uniform of some kind, but he's wearing a shirt. He's not a monster, just a middle-aged man. He could be a teacher. "Why am I here?" I ask. "That's what I want to ask you."

"I came here to spread the word of God." "You came here to spread the word of your God," he says. "It's was a message of peace, of tolerance. I don't want to denigrate anyone's beliefs. We can all live together. We don't need to behave like this." "So you came here to save us?" His voice is positively dripping with venom. "Maybe we don't want to be saved, at least not by you. Did you ever stop to think about that?" He stands up and walks over to me. He strikes me hard across the face and blood flies across the table. "Please, I didn't want to disrespect you."

He hits me again and a tooth becomes loose within my head and for a second I think that I'm going to black out but somehow I manage to hold on. "Tell me the truth. Your government sent you to spy on us. You're here to bring chaos and disorder. You want to destroy us from within, that's why you're here." "Please, ask my friends, the ones you brought here with me, they'll all tell you the same. You have our belongings - you can see we have no weapons." The man leans in close and hisses into my ear, "Your friends are dead. They died like pigs and they told us you brought them here to undermine our way of life."

"That's not true, why are you saying these things?" I plead, and then he hits me again, but this time I cannot keep myself from blacking out.

An insect scuttling across my face wakes me up. My hands are free, and as I slowly make my way to my feet I realise I'm back in my room again. I vomit all over the floor. Every part of my body aches. I would welcome death now; invite him in like an old friend. I came here to this country, a country populated by savages, a country torn apart by tribalism and fanaticism in the hope I could make some small difference, but I know now that I never stood a chance.

Continued...Next Page (3/3)

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