Lady Black and the mysterious creature of the night

Chapter 15

“I must find Karabo,” Mpho was in her room at the castle—Crescent Castle. She had the kitten on her lap, caressing it. “Richie also thinks that Tiger might have hidden Karabo at KK’s place. Tiger believes that I still have faith in KK, hence he has hidden my brother at KK’s. Because why would I go searching in KK’s house, right?” She had her back rested on the head-board. She was on the bed. It had become lonesome at her little shack without her brother, and for that reason, she stayed at the castle. “I must find a way into KK’s house. He obviously has it under strict lockdown since his dealing firearms with Tiger now. I must go prepared.”

The kitten only enjoyed her gentle strokes and cozied in her warm arms. It had been long since they had these sessions. It was understandable that the kitten had missed her so much. The kitten would not cosy up with just anybody but her. Mpho was his friend—in fact, his only best friend. Black had also become a friend but not quite like Mpho. Black would never touch the kitten’s fur but at the same time, she did appreciate its presence at times.

During the day, Mpho had partnered with Pinky—the observer. They were to invade KK’s house in search of Karabo. It was an easy task; Pinky would distract KK and keep him far away from his house while Mpho rummaged through all the rooms he had. Well, it sounded easy until Pinky arrived at their den—a place where KK and the entire g**g would hold their meetings. It was still layered with egg-trays to keep noise out and voices in. Pinky had found KK with his closest trio; Pedro, Ndaba and Gladys. They did seem secretive when she found them. They wanted to know what she was doing there and she managed to reflect the question back to them. They only answered with laughter and some sort of banter to ‘throw her off’. Pinky’s plan was not to make them disperse, in fact, she was to keep them there. Pinky’s personality was quiet and detached—even unbothered by the world around her—and she planned on having them believe that. She did not pry any further but pretended to be thrown by their banter. Right as she was taking a seat on one of the big rocks in the room there came a knock from outside that vibrated through their walls.

Normally, they would not entertain that knock but due to Pinky’s unexpected presence that caused discomfort in the room, KK ordered that be answered. It was Zukisani. He strolled through and finally made a stop near them. He made it clear that he was investigating an illegal distribution of firearms to minors and a couple of adults. Zukisani unfolded the search warrant from his pocket, “I knew I’d find you here. I need to search your home.” He had held an intense gaze at KK. “Hmm… Are they with you?” He asked referring to the others in the room. They were quiet, not wanting to say anything suspicious. They all knew Zukisani well, they grew up together. Hence, they knew that he had a special ability to sniff out lies.

“Karabo?!” Mpho busted into different rooms in KK’s house. “Karabo, are you in here?” The house seemed empty. It was bright as KK left the curtains opened. KK was always desperate to portray a normal life for his neighbours. He had his yard layered with a fresh-looking garden, and his pathway to the door was decorated with small colourful sculptures. Right at the door was a vibrant mat with the words, Welcome home, imprinted on it. He was the only one in the g**g with such a colourful home.

Mpho was slowly getting torn—she could not find her brother. She cried out his name and there was no response. Suddenly, she heard the door open and shortly she heard voices coming in. “You leave your door unlocked?”

“I’m sure I had locked. Come in.”

Mpho knew she had to hid, she went for the door nearby and went in. She had already searched it, she had even gone through the wardrobe but had not found her brother. Mpho heard both Zukisani and KK’s voices coming through the passage. They had began going through the rooms. She heard them enter another room and she thought she should try to get out of there. She opened a small peek and she saw down the passage was KK standing at the door. This made hard for her to get out. It made sense that as Zukisani entered the room and searched, KK would stand by the door so not to interrupt him. Now, she saw them approaching. Quickly, she crept under the master bed. This must have been Zukisani’s bedroom. It was only now that Mpho noticed the sliding wooden piece under the bed. She slid it open and saw that it was a secret portal to the basement. Mpho did not hesitate, she went in and started descending down the stairs. The stairs where too far apart, she fell all the way down with a seemingly loud thud.

“What was that?”

“Must be the neighbour’s kid. He’s always so noisy.”

“Hmm,” Zukisani started looking through the wardrobe, he found nothing. He looked under the bed, nothing suspicious. He went into his drawers and his suitcases, still nothing.

The fall was a painful one, Mpho bit her tongue as she got up grimacing with pain. It was dark in the room, she lit her phone-torch and started looking for the switch to turn on the light bulb that swayed above her head. She found it, she turned it on. “Karabo!”

Zukisani was leaving the room until he heard the voice. He turned back around, turning his head to catch the noise again. “You said it’s the kid next door?”

“Yes. A very noisy kid. I can’t sleep in the night because of that kid,” KK was becoming nervous.

“That’s very odd, because today is a school day. The kid must be at school. And it seemed empty in the hood as we came in,” Zukisani was getting an even closer look into the room, he scanned the ceiling with his eyes, there was no trace of foul-play. He started examining the walls for some secret door…

Karabo was unconscious at a corner. His hands and legs were tied up and he laid horizontally on the greasy floor. Mpho checked for his breath, it was weak but it was still there. He was quivering on the cold floor. She reached out the back of her hand to feel his temperature—it was very high. She attempted untying the thick rope around his wrist but it was too rigid. She started looking around for anything sharp. There were numerous boxes piled up in the tiny room. She began going through them in hopes that something of use might be in there. She was terrified to see her little brother that way—he never got sick in her care. Thoughts must have circulated in her mind; how long has he been trapped in here, has he been fed, has he had water at all, did he get to stretch? She hurried through the boxes, trying hard to keep the noise down. She did not find anything sharp, but only she found guns. She started dragging him to the stairs. Karabo woke up coughing.

The coughs were so loud that Zukisani had a trace of where they may had been coming from. Quickly, he pushed the bed aside revealing a hole underneath. Looking down into it, he saw Mpho carrying her brother on her shoulders. She was ascending the stairs.

Without a second thought, KK spun with the bait he hid behind the door and hit against the back of Zukisani’s head. That hit sent Zukisani into the basement and spiralling down the stairs. He landed right onto Mpho and her brother sending them back to the ground. Now, KK started dragging the wooded lid to close and lock. “Just what do you think you’re doing?” that was Pinky holding a g*n in her hand. She must have followed them secretly. KK was very cocky and confident, that he started nearing the petit woman. He had a smirk on his face, “You think you can pull the trigger?” He laughed, “Princess, just put the g*n down before you hurt yourself.” KK had his hand reached out to receive the g*n from her.

Just like that, Pinky shot him busting his shoulder. He tumbled on his knees. Another gunshot was heard in the room. That was Ndaba. He watched Pinky fall on her face while his g*n released the last smoke. Behind Ndaba was Gladys and Pedro—the three of must have also followed Zukisani and KK secretly. They watched red streams leak from Pinky’s back.

“Boss, are you okay?” Pedro rushed towards KK. He helped the man up.

“Finish the rest of them,” KK referred to the three people in his basement. He was being helped out of the room by Pedro. Gladys and Ndaba neared the hole leading to the basement—they had their guns aimed out. Mpho jumped out kicking their guns out of their grip. A scuffle went on between the three of them—Mpho, Gladys and Ndaba. Each one threw a punch, a knee, a kick and shoved. Finally, Mpho had them unconscious on the floor.

Zukisani had rubbed the pain off the back of his head. Now, he was dragging Karabo out of the basement. Karabo was a heavy boy, it was understandable that it took so much effort. Zukisani put Karabo on the bed and kept him warm. Now he tended to Pinky who was still breathing but could not move due to the intense pain she was under. He noticed that she was experiencing a class 2 of haemorrhaging. He reached for his phone and called for help. He put it on loud speaker and got busy trying to stop the bleeding while the phone rang.

Mpho found only KK on the couch nursing the g*n-wound on his shoulder. Now she was wary. She knew that Pedro was somewhere in the room lurking in the dark. Pedro fired a shot but it missed Mpho. Now she was alerted of his hiding spot. He was hiding in the big and thick curtains. She started tossing the cups she found on the tray placed on the tea-table. This way she bought herself time to near the man. There. She had his throat in her grip. Her other hand was scuffling with the hand of his that held onto the g*n. He was losing breath. Even his face was getting swollen and purple. Mpho had a deadly grip when she got hold of the neck. The g*n in his hand fell off. His limbs lost stamina; his body became wobbly. Pedro was almost leaving his body—

Suddenly, Mpho felt a sharp blade sink into her lower back. Thereafter, she had a thin string choking her own throat. She was dragged around the sitting room by it. Her one hand held onto the string from slicing her flesh, while the other pulled out the blade from her back. She stuck it into his thigh and released herself from his strangulation. She did not expect KK to get up from the couch but he did. Now, they battled with each other until the police budged in.