His smile began growing stale and strained as he awaited my response. I was not willing to respond as I was still in shock my heart froze in my chest as if it had stalled from my shock. The Muslim girl reached out her hand as if to comfort me her face mixed between concerned eyes and a comforting smile.
My hand jumped back just before she gets too close my Heart roars back to life like it was jump stated. I try to jump away but knock my head against something almost instantly. The feeling like running into a tree branch without looking landing hard back into my seat more confused and disorientated than before.
"Tighter." The boer seun uttered in a powerful whisper shocking his 2 companions.
Unsure of what that meant but now filled with adrenaline and fear I try to send my hand to the side to find the invisible wall but it was to no avail. In that brief moment before I acted. Whatever it was that I knocked into before was now closer and muck tighter around me. My vision went crazy as it looked almost as if green light was flickering around me showing off chains Binding me.
"Watch your words and hold your tongue; you'll save yourself a lot of grief." The black guy said as my eyes darted around between them in a wild frenzy.
My heart and mind racing so fast that I started imagining my attempts to move to fail as if I was buried in a concrete block. I could feel myself struggle uselessly against these invisible bonds.
My body froze and my voice, my cry for help caught dry in my throat I was unable to even utter a single grunt as I stared at them blank-eyed.
I was completely at their mercy utterly defenseless and hopeless I stared at them waiting to experience the same fate as the suited figure. Closing my eyes I steel what little nerve I have left and wait.
"No need for that." I hear the boer seun say in a calm almost playful tone. Cracking my eyes open slightly I see his smile re-ignited to its previous state though his eyes showed that it was nothing more than a lie.
"Sorry, we had to go through that now we are just here..."
"Here you go!" I hear Becca cry still a few steps away from the table. Drawing most of the attention of the few awake diners.
As she steps closer, my heart and mind raced for a way to get her to run away as I still knew nothing of these people or their motives. She places the coffee between my frozen hands and shoots a glare at the three sitting opposite me.
"Hello there welcome to Wimpy," she said in her driest customer service voice. I tried to cry out to her to no avail but it was useless.
"Please let me guide you to an empty table you seem to be bothering our other customers. " her tone was now still as dry but lost of all the false flattery as she pointed to the empty booth right next to the one we were in.
"Dankie, but don't worry he let us here we are here to talk to him about a job opportunity. Right?" He kicked me under the table. Shooting me upright.
I was able to move again I thought. Taking in a deep breath "Don't worry Becca it's all good." I speak like a man who hasn't spoken in years.
Reaching down with a shaky hand I grip the mug by its handle and when I say that wasn't enough by its base as I took a sip. "It's like he said they just caught me a bit off guard with the offer."
My smile of relief must have relieved her tension as she smiled listlessly at me.
Turning back to the three she asked properly this time. "Then can I get you guys anything?"
"Black coffee, Dankie." Responded the boer seun. "An orange juice or apple if you don't have any" responded the Muslim girl. "Just a water Thanks." The black guy said settling the last of the tension as Becca walked off.
Still trembling slightly I meet the eyes of the boer seun as he was the one who seemed to be in charge. "Who are you and why are you here?" I utter softly out of trembling lips.
His expression fell relaxing into a normal slight smile. He leaned back into the comfy red seat and replied just as seriously as before. "My name is Adam" Pointing to himself, moving his hand to his right he continued.
"This lovely lady is Hannah." and extending his hand a little further and then he
"And this is Mandela, no correlation."
That last comment earned him a tired "Tchee" from Mandella probably from a boring overused joke.
Turning back to me he finished his exposition "Like I wanted to say, we're just here to thank you."
His words echoed in my head till only one was left. 'Were'. Before I could voice my concern the girl reached out her hand again to take mine this time it was there on mine before I could register what happened. "Let me help with that." She said like a mother comforting her child.
As the words left her mouth a warmth started to gather between her hand and mine. The warmth traveled all through my body feeling as if I was wrapped in my favorite blanket and I was relieved. My head which was throbbing since before felt good as new. In fact, my whole body felt good as new only the tiredness remained.
As soon as she released my hand I brought it up to my face to try and began inspecting it. "What die fok?" I muttered in my daze.
"Rou!" Hannah responded again like a scolding mother. Pulling my attention back to them as the warmth faded. Catching glimpses of the other two looking at me with nostalgia and trepidation.
"What did you mean were?" I managed to work out as this morning was much more confusing than the night before.
Just as the leader open his mouth he shut it. Before I could probe further. Becca was back and began placing their drinks in front of them all their orders were there with Hannah getting stuck with an apple juice much to her visible dismay.
"Thank you we will take the bill to?" Said the black guy still sitting the furthest away.
Knowing Becca left the table turning around to give me a thumbs up still thinking this was a job offer.
"Jammer." Said the boer seun. "Sadly this is for your ears only and only if you want it."
His experience turned as serious as stone as he began to lean forward this seeming like his more natural expression. "If you hear this you won't be able to unhear this and you Will be opening yourself up to danger."
The emphasis on will sent me into a mental spiral I took a sip of my coffee to calm my mind and watched them sip and chug their drinks before setting it down. Now all their focus centered on me.
Taking a sip of the last drops of coffee and steeling myself I meet there gaze with one just as intense. "Please, I need to know?"
They nodded in a false union. The other two with faces of excitement and understanding. The boer seun was different. His look was more intense than the other's either because he was right across from me or because he was so distraught he was unable to stop his face from filling with sadness.
He began to explain to me what they were and what they were there to do. They called themselves descendents. They said they had power based on the Bible figures and they were here to fight demons. They said the first team that was sent to investigate the heightened demon activity died. That was why they were sent in to investigate both those things and were ambushed on their way to their safe house. That was when I stepped in.
I sip on the empty coffee cup trying to organize my thoughts it sounds too out there to be real. I would have called them crazy if I didn't see it, even though I saw it I still want to call them crazy. I want to see I wasn't all there, I was hungry, tired, and not thinking straight but the cold, grave seriousness that he spoke to me with made me second guess every time my glance passed him.
Inhaling deeply I get the smell of the breakfast that Becca brought out during the conversation, I didn't order it so she just brought it as an excuse to try to eavesdrop on the conversation and fail. I run over everything they said over and over again then I gave up trying to think and just asked "Jurrie Fok, then why did you want to tell me? What is the reason?"
Leaning forward again he whispered again "Because there's a good chance you are like us." I was frozen the confusion didn't even allow my jaw to go slack I just held his unchanging eyes. Wanting to yell out how much of a liar he was I was unable again drawn to the intense sadness in his eyes. I lowered my face towards my breakfast again left unhungry. Adam must have thought I was looking down for long enough now as he spoke again.
"Well, we're off if you want to understand what you just heard meet us later today where you saved us last night." His words were final as he and the other two slid out of the seat and walked off. The last one Mandela consoled me with a tap on my shoulder as I was left alone.
After getting my breakfast as a take away I went to my internship at Mike's Motershop a reasonably well-known auto shop in the area.
"Geluk, Geluk, kyk Wie's terug" I heard the old voice before I saw the young man attached to it all his dark curly hair still greased back on his head. Chad the owner and son of Mike stood proudly before his shop like a well-worn brass statue in his dark grey work overalls.
"Hou Voul ons Vandag?" He said cheerily as he slapped my back with this hand more of a leather glove than flesh and blood.
Lowering and shaking my head I chuckle slowly "Hie soo goed nie, meneer."
Looking down at me as I raise my head up he nods with understanding eyes. "Mounie bekommer wees nie." He claps my back a few more times as we get closer to the shop.
"Hey Frikkie, Is jy wakker!" he shouted out into his shop getting a reaction as Frikkie come out he has worked for this shop under both managers and was a close friend of Chad. Seeing him come out from the back break room as we entered the main floor he reminded me of Adam from this morning the same Rugby player physique though he is more like a Fly-half compared to Adam's prop build.
Passing on to me to Frikkie with a solid push from the back right into Frikkie. Chuckling he says "Hy is jou problem vandag meneer" He left no room for argument in his tone earning a slow "Ya manner." from him.
He set me on a beautiful 2014 Yaris and I got right on that as I set my Breakfast now Lunch in the break room. I got to work and managed to get through 30 minutes of work before I switched to autopilot and ran through the morning's events again and again. I was stuck in there for an unknown about of time before I was violently pulled out of my thoughts.
"Hay" a voice like Thunder echoed throughout the workshop resonating through the walls. Pulling me out of my thoughts I saw Frikkie charging towards me. Grabbing my wrist he pulls me away from the exposed undercarriage.
"Wou jy 'n lyk wees!?" He screamed in shock. Looking up I see that I was just about to loosen the front axle onto my head.
"Dis nie jy nie, neem die res van jou dag af."
"No wait ..." I bearly managed to get that out before I was dragged into the break room and forced onto the couch. I sat there for a solid 5 minutes before I felt like I could breathe again and was instantly bombarded with the feeling of helplessness. I hated it and forced myself to eat just to try and focus on something else but it didn't help. again and again, It replayed that I had felt more hopeless these last two days than in the last two to three years.
I knew I had to move past this and see those three again to kill this feeling in my chest. After 30 minutes of self-contemplation and catching him on his lunch break, I got the go-ahead to take the rest of the day off. So I set off on my journey.
Walking on the path to the Incident my feet feel light but my heart feels heavy dragging me down. Every stop at a stoplight or taking a glance both ways before I crossed the road made it harder and harder to start again. This Truth they wanted to tell me about me being like them sounded like a fresh hell on earth and I would much rather be living in a comfortable lie of a life.
Pulling up to our meeting point my feet treading the path on the side road like I had been walking there every day of the year. But my heart was troubled and every step caused it to speed up and weaken. By the time I was at the corner, I was at my wit's end. But what they were offering was too enticing to look the other way.
Pushing through those last steps I turned the corner ready to wait till the day began to wax before I left but I saw them there. Their bodies shon in contrasting definition to the sun. Like they were shrouded in a film of sterling silver. Looking glad to see me the boer seun Adam bore his teeth in a wide grin and cheered out. "Glad you could make it!"