What I see I see a man whose face is masked with a scarf.
What I feel I feel the effect of anonymity in creating trauma and how much a mask could contribute to making someone anonymous.
Denis came into the departmental office with two packs of fried chicken he got for lunch, one for him and the other for his partner, Detective Tom.
He paused and positioned his arm akimbo after shutting the door behind him, he raised up his head to see what time it was, it was already 4pm noon. He gazed at Tom who was still staring at the desktop, he was yawning continuously while scrolling through pages upon pages as he went through the criminal record of The Tridad
Denis could not help but ask his partner, Tom.
"Tom, why are you so dent on arresting this particular criminal Cesar?"
"For over Six month, you've been on the search about this particular group of assassins, for the past days you haven't even laid your head to sleep"
"Why all these relentless effort?"
Tom turned to him and gave a quick smile. His eyes was already swollen due to sleeplessness, then he faced the desktop, where his attention was.
26 Years Ago, 8th of April 1987 23:34:07 At The Wilfreds Home
Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred and their only son were already fast asleep. Mrs. Wilfred heard a bang on the door that woke her up from sleep, she was attentive to be sure if he didn't mishear and for a second time she heard the bang on the door again, this time she tapped her husband gently on the arm.
"Honey! Honey!!"
Mr. Wilfred turning and tossing around the bed and yawning
"Dear, what is the matter?"
"I just heard a bang at the door"
" A bang? At this late..... ."
He heard the third bang on the door before he could complete his second question. The couple both left for the door. Tom was still fast asleep.
Soon the bang on the door became more consistent. Mr.wilfred took the lead, while his wife followed behind as they headed towards the door. Mr Wilfred summoned the courage to inquire who was banging the door.
"Who's there please?"
"Shut up and open the door this instant!"
He heard a muffled voice ordering him and he whispered to his wife what no one knew, but the looks on Mrs. Wilfred's face showed that it wasn't something good.
"Sorry, if I may ask, who are you please?"
He inquired for a second time again.
"So you have the audacity to ask me questions? If you don't open this door right this moment we are going to break in"
" We!?"
Mr. Wilfred exclaimed.
He thought that if it was not a one-man raid, it meant that they meant business.
Reluctantly, he opened the door as four hefty men masked with scarf, barged into their home. The leader of the gang held a Colt lawman revolver, while the other gang members were armed with axes and daggers. The gang leader of the assassins yelled at Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred.
"On your knees! On your knees!!"
The couple both knelt down trembling with fear and Mr. Wilfred said to the gang leader in a shaky voice
"Sir, take whatever you want please, just spare our lives"
He thought they were burglars.
The gang leader began laughing to scorn as the other gang members joined the chorus.
"Who told you that we're here to rob your household? We are not here to rob you, but before I proceed with what I came here for, I will like to ask 'Are you the only ones in this household?"
The Couple turned to look at themselves
The gang leader yelled again
"Answer me?!"
"No sir!"
"No sir!!"
They both answered simultaneously; Whatever the situation may be, they didn't want to get their son, Tom into it.
In his muflled voice he said turning to face the couple.
"Okay, that would make our work much more easier since it's only the two of you"
He was cleaning the barrel of the revolver with his fingers as Mrs. Wilfred got a glance of the tattoo between his thumb and fourth finger, it looked like an eagle's wing.
"We are here to take your lives"
The gang leader said pointing his gun at them.
Mrs. Wilfred gave a loud scream
The gang leader placed his index finger infront of his masked lips indicating that she should be quiet
"Shhhh!!, do you want to make our job difficult for us?"
" Anyways, we didn't come here to do a lot of chit chat, let's make this snappy"
Immediately he shot Mr. Wilfred right on the forehead. The sound of the gun went bang! as he slumped on the floor.
This time Mrs. Wilfred's scream was double the first one.
The sound of gun had waken Tom up from bed, he jumped out of the bed and rushed out of his room that was upstairs. He was hearing voices and also a scream that sounded like his Mum's voice.
Suddenly, he stopped at a corner where he saw a gun pointing straight at his Mum and the gun was shot. Tom was about to scream when he closed his mouth with his hands as tear rolled down his cheek, he peeped to see the person with the eagle's wing tattoo on the hand with which he held the revolver and all he could see was a man behind a scarf mask.
Immediately the gang of assassins left the crime scene, Tom ran to where his parents were shot, he cried and cried endlessly.
In less than an hour the police were already at the crime scene and the bodies were taken to the morgue. The police had the case investigate but to no avail, they couldn't get the perpetrators.
Tom was barely 12 years old when he was taken to the orphanage, he was known to isolate himself from other kids and all he ever thought of was the man behind the mask. He was traumatized for a long time as he always had nightmares of the man in the scarf mask and the eagle's wing tattoo he had on his hand, his mind was clouded with vengeance and this was the push that made him join the police academy.
Tom's entire career as a police detective was committed to arresting hard earned criminals to ensure they are brought to book
Present Day 25th of September 2013
In one of Tom's investigation he got trail of the culprit who shot his parents.
An assassin was apprehended under his custody and during investigation, he saw the same tattoo the man behind the mask 20 years ago had. He eventually found out that the tattoo 'eagle's wing' was the symbol of the Tridad gang. The Tridad as they were called, were a group of serial assassins whose roots had spread vast the entire territory, with different networks all around the country. They were reputed to kill only when orders were given. They recently evolved into trafficking drugs and humans.
From his previous background check Tom discovered that the man behind the scarf mask was called Cesar, he was still an active member of The Tridad. Within the few days, he had been getting clues of Cesar's whereabouts, so he became curious and incessant to arrest him.
Tom was obsessed with cuffing criminals and putting them behind bars.
He didn't want any child to go through such trauma the man behind the scarf mask made him experience.