THE SILENT TRUTH Part 2 – Dickson’s diary
We stood frozen, unable to move or speak. It felt like an eternity before our mum spoke.
“What are you both doing here with a dead man?” She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Mira and I didn’t know what to say. Our minds were racing, trying to come up with a plausible explanation. But we knew there was no way to talk ourselves out of this situation. After what felt like another eternity, our mum spoke again. “Give me the briefcase,” she said, holding out her hand.
Mira hesitated for a moment but then handed over the briefcase. Our mum opened it and counted the money inside. Her face remained expressionless as she looked at us.
“I see,” she said finally. “You both have been doing runs without me.”
We were shocked. How did she know about our illegal activities? Was she involved too?
“You both should have told me,” our mum continued. “I could have helped you. But now, we have a bigger problem to deal with.”
She motioned for us to follow her, and we walked together in silence down the dark alley. We didn’t know where she was taking us or what she was planning to do.
Finally, we arrived at a secluded spot by the river. Our mum pointed to a pile of rocks and motioned for us to help her move them. As we did, a hidden trapdoor was revealed.
“Get in,” our mum said, gesturing towards the hole.
We hesitated, unsure of what was waiting for us down there. But we knew we had no choice. We climbed down the ladder and found ourselves in a small, dimly lit room.
“This is where we keep our clients,” our mum said. “And this is where you will stay until I figure out what to do with you.”
“How long have you been doing this, mum?” I finally spoke out.
She stopped and looked at me like a villain. “You will find out soon!” She said and left.
Mira and I looked at each other in disbelief. We were trapped, with no way out.
After a couple of hours, she came down with a man. He was dressed in a suit and had a stern look on his face.
“Girls, this is Mr. Johnson,” our mum said. “He’s here to help us with our problem.”
“What problem?” Mira asked, her voice shaky.
“Our business has been hit hard by the pandemic,” our mum explained. “We need to adapt to the new normal and find new ways to make more money.”
Mr. Johnson spoke up. “I have a proposition for you. I work for a group of wealthy clients who are looking for discrete services. I believe you can help us, and in return, you will be well-compensated.”
We didn’t know what to say. Our mum had been involved secretly in commercial prostitution all this while, and now she was involving us too. But we had no other choice we needed to do this to get back on our feet.
In the end, we agreed to Mr. Johnson’s proposal. It wasn’t what we wanted, but it was the only way out of our situation.
We followed Mr. Johnson, Mum included. We got to a place where we barely saw houses. I was almost freaking out but was consoled I was with Mira, cos I don’t even trust Mum at this point again. Within a few more minutes, we got to the supposed destination. It was an old decking house, or maybe a hotel disguised as a house. We got inside and found many more women dancing around many more men in suits.
“Follow me!” Mr. Johnny said.
And we did.
We ascended the stairs got to a particular room and went inside. It was filled with men of almost dad’s age.
“These are your clients, good luck!” Mr Johnson said and left.
At the end, we left after being paid a very huge sum of money.
“Wow, this would be more than enough to pay Dad’s bills. And Mira and I would resume back to university too!” I said. Mum and Mira only nodded. I guess they weren’t in an exciting mode to discuss. The business we did to raise that money was filthy.
We packed and zoomed off home.
But then, on reaching home, we encountered the most shocking and devastating experience of our lives.
©️ Dickson’s diary
