Murderville Page 0,8

her as she watched it crust on her arms and legs. When the jeep finally stopped moving Liberty was forced out, dragged through the muddy village by her hair.

Terror gripped her stomach as she was forced into a thatched hut house. She fell to her knees, scraping them on the cement floor, and as the door slammed closed the entire hut went dark.

A’shai peeked through the hole in the side of the hut trying to peer inside at the beauty he had captured. Something inside of him was glad that he didn’t have to kill her. Her light skin seemed to glow in the dark as his heart beat out of his chest. He didn’t know why Ezekiel had saved the girl, but he knew one thing for sure: he wanted to know her. He had never seen a girl so pretty.

A hand clasped around the back of his neck causing A’shai to drop the weapon he was carrying.

“You’ve got to learn the art of the kill son,” Ezekiel said as he removed the gun from A’shai’s hand and guided his son away from his spying spot. “You like her?”

A’shai shook his head and replied, “I was just looking. What are you keeping her for?”

Ezekiel entered his home with A’shai following curiously behind him.

“We need someone to cook and clean around here,” Ezekiel replied. “Need a woman here. Eventually she will make a fine wife.”

A’shai was too young to see the lustful look in his father’s eyes. Ezekiel needed a woman around all right, but Liberty was still a child. A ten-year-old little girl to be exact and Ezekiel’s cruel intentions for her were purely pedophilic.

Ezekiel approached Liberty, causing her to back into the corner and cover her eyes. He stopped abruptly, realizing that she was afraid. Knowing that she wouldn’t be easy to manipulate if she feared him, he gave her space. He walked over to A’shai and whispered in his ear. “Make her comfortable. Tell her she doesn’t have to be afraid here.”

Young A’shai’s eyes sparkled at the chance to interact with the girl. He nodded his head and watched his father leave.

A’shai ran to the rickety wooden table and grabbed a piece of bread before approaching the girl.

“It’s okay,” A’shai said as he kneeled beside her. “You don’t got to hide. I’m not going to hurt you. You hungry?”

He held out the bread for her, but she didn’t take it. She wouldn’t even look at him. She kept her eyes on the floor. A’shai placed his hand on her arm causing her to tense up.

“I’m not going to do anything bad to you,” he said. “I’m Shai. What’s your name?”

Again she was unresponsive.

“Okay. Well I’ll leave this food for you just in case you get hungry,” he said. He stood and left her alone, hoping that she would eventually warm up to him.

Ezekiel made it clear that she was to tend to the duties of his house and to avoid the brutal punishments she saw other women and kids endure, she obliged. A week had passed, and Liberty still had not spoken a word. Untrusting of everyone and too afraid to open up, she did what was expected and nothing more.

A’shai watched her from the side of the house as she washed clothes in the wooden basin out back. He couldn’t figure her out and the more he tried to get her to interact, the more she withdrew. He felt badly about her family and knew that she was hurting, but his youthful ego took a blow each time that she snubbed him. A youngin’ with a schoolboy crush, he was determined to make her pay attention to him. As she washed diligently under the blazing sun, A’shai snuck up behind her. The clothes that hung on the makeshift clothesline hid his approach.

“Arghhhh!” he screamed obnoxiously, startling Liberty. Her first reaction was to flee but as she stepped backwards she tripped over a metal bucket, causing her to fall into the large washing basin and soaking her to the bone.

Enraged she screamed at the top of her lungs as she lunged for A’shai and pulled him into the water.

He fell face first into the basin and came up spitting out sudsy water. The two wrestled and grunted as they fought one another, pushing and shoving and cursing. They tipped over the basin causing clean clothes along with themselves to spill out into the dirt.

“Look what you made me do!” Liberty shouted in frustration, knowing that if Ezekiel