He ran. Footsteps cascaded down the hall, every stamp as heavy as the pound of pestle in a mortar. Every time he turned around, he felt them behind him but when he turned around, there was nothing.
Source
His pace slowed as he ascended the stairs, his breath heavy and shallow. He could still hear them dashing up after him, their snarls as frightening as a bad dream. He soon approached a window; his sure route to leaving that wolf-infested arena.
He didn't know how he would avoid death this time. If he wasn't going to be eaten by wolves, he would break his neck from falling. But he had no choice now, as soon as he heard snarling behind him, he leaped over and allowed himself to fall.
“I wouldn't do that if I were you” Henry sneered at his mother. Since she returned from Greece, she had become a nutritionist, telling him what was good to eat and what wasn't. He spread the butter over his toast anyway.
“When do you plan on going to work? You haven't been there in almost three weeks. Did you lose your job?”
Henry eyed her warily. He was the only one that survived amongst the three she had borne. His oldest brother got knocked down by a hit-and-run driver some ten years ago. Six years later, his only sister died from ovarian cancer.
His mother's life had not remained the same after that. She developed a hunch, more from depression than from old age. She began having regular nosebleeds, got tired easily with frequent headaches and the doctor said it was because her blood pressure was high.
So Henry did everything not to stress, infuriate, or worry her. He knew his layoff would be a problem when she said she was finally returning from Greece where she went to see her grandchildren.
“I'm on leave ma,” he said when she had arrived a month ago. It had been almost two months.
He rubbed his beard as she stared up at him, he knew he couldn't lie to her, she was frail but not stupid.
“Yes ma, I lost my job.” He tried to light his face up with a smile “But I have a contract on Saturday.” He watched her pick up her tea cup and take a long drink. She said nothing.
Henry excused himself from the table after his toast, he knew he didn't have to put on the striped shirt and trousers to prove a point to his mother but he did it anyway. He wanted her to see that he wasn't just sitting at home because he had been laid off, he was getting useful with his life as she had always wanted.
He hailed a cab and proceeded to Jeremy's.
“Yo, homeboy, what's up?”
Jeremy exposed his braces in a smile, hitting Henry with his heavily ringed fingers.
“I'm in Jeremy, I'm in”
Jeremy raised the corners of his lips and let out a slow chuckle.
“I knew you would come back to us homeboy. Come on, the rest of the team is inside.”
The team consisted of three guys, and now, Henry.
“I’m going to go over the mission and plan again for the sake of my homeboy here…” Jeremy began, placing his hands on Henry's shoulders again. “We're going to pay that Arabian, Mahmood, a visit. First, he double-crossed me when we went on a job together in Afghanistan. I survived only through the help of God, and with just one leg….”
He raised the leg of his left trouser to expose his prosthetic leg.
“We're not just doing this to get back at Mahmood. That guy is swimming in billions. When we're done with him, that money, all of it, is ours.”
Excited whoops sprung from the entire team except for Henry who had begun trembling with fear. Jeremy had helped him out in college when he was waylaid by bullies, he had gotten himself into a huge mess then by saying he owed Jeremy because every time he had a dirty job, Jeremy didn't hesitate to involve Henry.
He had been drinking on one of those days after he was laid off when Jeremy approached him and offered a million dollars.
He rejected the offer like he initially rejected all the other ones, but now that his mom was around, he needed cash. A lot of cash.
None of them had foreseen that Mahmood would keep wolves instead of dogs as his maid whom they had bribed to give them a lead told them.
They had planned their exit through the back gate where their getaway driver was waiting but the wolves had chased Henry into an adjourning, uncompleted duplex. Either way, he was going to meet his doom.
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