Bang Bang Bang!!!

Her eyes popped open at the sound of the first banging. Sleep departed instantly; faster than she could say "oh my God!"  Few seconds before the next banging, she told herself (like most people would, upon being woken up in the middle of the night) that it was all a dream; that she'd imagined it somehow. But as her heart beat began to slow down, she heard it again.

BANG!BANG!BANG!

There was no mistaking it, someone was at the door.

"Jesus!" She gasped as her eyes settled on the small Casio clock on the dresser. In the darkness of the room, the figures were clear: 3:04am.

"BANG!BANG!BANG!


Her chest heaved with each sound as if it were coming from inside her. She jumped off the bed and frantically looked around the room. There was nothing to see, it was pitch black. She considered turning on the light, but thought better of it. She had no idea who was out there,but wasn't naive enough to think it was the post man.

"IF YOU NO OPEN DIS DOOR EH???"

It was an angry man's voice. The kind you didn't want to hear outside your door at 3:AM in the morning. She could feel her insides trembling, her skin was crawling with invisible spiders. She looked around the room frantically.

BANG!BANG!BANG!

"YOU DEY CRAZE? OPEN DIS DOOR!!"

It was a different voice. She thanked the stars she'd had the foresight to install a thred inch thick steel burglary -proof door. Not that it mattered, she thought. She'd heard stories of armed robbers breaking down steel doors and then venting their rage on the helpless victims inside.

What would they do to her if they somehow got through? Rape was the most logical. As frightening as that was, she wondered if a severe beating was better. She had no idea how many they were or what they were armed with. In her mind's eye, she conjured up images of bare-chested rugged looking men with guns and machetes trying to saw through the door.

 For a single woman living by herself, that wasn't a good image to have in her head.
She rushed to her bedside, frantically searching for her phone. You never have to look for your phone when you're trying to complete CANDY CRUSH or TEMPLE RUN, but when you need to call for help because robbers are at your door.......... 
She knocked over something that crashed unto the tiled floor. She didn't bother wondering what it was. Her heart was pounding too fast and too loud in her head for thoughts to form. Hiding was a bad idea. She thought. Seriously, where? She didn't have the luxury of a bed,(i.e something with an 'under' she could slide into). All she had was a mattress, a wardrobe barely big enough to fit in a gas cylinder(let alone her chubby body) and an elevator-sized toilet and bathroom with a door so thin, it might as well have been made from aluminium  foil.


BANG!BANG!BANG!

Something sharp stabbed into her hand. In normal circumstances she would've screamed or at least beat her hand against the wall. But pain was the last thing on her mind. Then, just when she thought she couldn't be more terrified, she heard something that made her legs more or less dissolve under her.

Something hard and heavy, hit the door. The entire room trembled upon impact. One of her perfume bottles fell off the dresser.

They were breaking down her door.

She began to cry as the door shuddered violently again. All she had on were a pair of flimsy nighties, her closest neighbour was more or less comatose every night. Even IF someone did hear her screams, what would they do? Call the police?
The door shook again.

She retreated into the farthest corner of the room. Times like these, she wished she had a boyfriend, at least someone whose house she would've been at on a Saturday night. What was she thinking? Maybe if she'd said yes to Stanley she wouldn't be in this mess. He drove an AC-less car, but at least he had a place of his own, which right now was far better than being here with THEM.

She heard one of the screws on the door's hinges pop and clatter to the ground. Her body couldn't stop shaking. The prospect of being touched, beaten,groped or........ She was too frightened to contemplate the rest. She curled herself up into a ball, whimpering and trembling all over. She tried reciting a prayer, but each time she started, the violent sounds from the door made her forget the words.

Then her hand touched something. It was a small square shaped pack. At first, she had no idea what it was. Then as she groped further, she realised what she was holding. Days earlier, Stanley had showed up at her place with his son(yeah, he had a kid) his wife had died a few years ago. Maybe that was why she couldn't say yes to him.

But anyway, his son's name was Jerald -- nice boy, amazing smile. Well, Nine year old Jerald had had a pack of Bangers with him. At the time she was worried he'd somehow set her place on fire(paranoid, yeah) so she took them away from the frowning child and hid them under a shoe rack. Some how, she'd forgotten.

They were almost through the door.

Without thinking, she tore open the pack and brought out one of the sticks. She felt the sides for the scratch-patch. She honestly had no idea what she was doing. She scratched the stick against the patch- praying to God she had the right end. In one try, the stick came alive in her hand. It blazed bright red. She flung it towards the door:


BANG!BANG!BANG!

The sounds were like canon blasts in the room.

"SHE GET GUN OH! SHE GET GUN OH!"

She heard a mad scuffling sound outside the door, then a frantic sound of running feet. Then there was silence.

A very long silence .







LIFE IS A CHOICE MY FRIENDS
SO CHOOSE WISELY
ENOUGH SAID