It started to dawn on me what had happened, it was happening again ii thought – I could see a limp black figure being held down and a forest of people around him. Kicking him, beating him with something.
“Where’s Gunni? Where is he?!” I demanded.
“He’s dead” a voice echoed. Dead…Dead…Dead… “No, He’s not! He is not dead!” I protested with tears running down my face.
Everything started spinning and I seen a collage of colours bobbed in different positions. My stomach gave a violent start and it turned into a hunk of ice. The ground rushed up to meet me very suddenly.
I awoke to find myself slung over a shoulder being carried somewhere; I looked around and noticed that this place wasn’t too unfamiliar – it was out neighbourhood.
“Hey Man” Jill said to me in a gleeful tone.
“How ya feelin’ now?”
“Tired and Sore” I mumbled
“Ok baby, go back to sleep for a while.”
That was my cue and without a second question I started to drop off into what seemed like a beautiful soft bed of rose petals.
“Ramjeet…Ramjeet, wake up.”
I was hearing a drone of sound and gazed up, to come into contact with Ramjeet’s nose.
“Ramjeet – how ya doin? I have some chicken soup here for you.” He insisted.
“Thanks” I said, not feeling like eating anything.
“Ramjeet, you know Gunni is dead, don’t you?”
With that a sea of queasiness hit me like a sack of lead bricks. It was starting to play on me because Gunni was one of us – he was like our Bro. What Ramjeet was saying must have been true. This had hit me bad – it was worse than being held under by that Binder.
My body was flaccid and my mind was astray. I started to get the feeling I was going to vomit all over the bed. I peered over the edge to find a bucket filled with disinfectant and as I gazed at it, my throat began to sting and a yellow liquid left my mouth and nose.
There came a brief knock on the door and Sanjeev, Hung and Gung came leaping in. Sanjeev came over and sat at the end of my bed, he started talking but I was to tired to listen. I was more interested in the chocolate cake sitting on the coffee table…
Ramjeet had been talking to them all for about 5 minutes and I had overheard what was being said
“Don’t mention anything to him ‘bout Gunni – he’s still pretty cut up about it.”
They all agreed and not a word was mentioned.
I still had trouble coping with it a week after. Ramjeet had arranged for me to see someone about it, but I told him I didn’t need it.
I had to go to the hospital every Friday afternoon for an hour because I was having severe hallucinations about that night. The doctor had prescribed me some medication, which seemed to be working. Every so often I would have a leg spasm and it would start to shake uncontrollably which scared me senseless, the first time it happened Ramjeet started to get terribly upset and he got so concerned he phoned the docs and asked someone to come out. It turned out it was just a side effect to the medication.
When we got home that Friday, Ramjeet and Jill took me up to my bed and tucked me in.
“Goodnight Ramjeet, see you in the morning” Jill told me.
He left the room and Ramjeet sat beside me in my chair. He say perfectly still and looked at me which me feel strangely uneasy.
“Ramjeet…I’ve got some news for you. I’ll tell you the truth. Tomorrow is the court trial. You need to tell them everything about what happened. Why it all started, testify to the truth and let them know. Will you do that Ramjeet?”
“Sure, man” I said; worried about why he was making me do this.
“Good boy, you better some sleep – it’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”
“Night” we both said in chorus.
The morning came bright and early; the court room appearance came even quicker. It was 9:00 and the sun was beaming through the court room windows. I had nausea again – it occurred to me that nausea could be my best friend, since it’s been with me so long.
Everyone in this massive hall was talking amongst themselves. A door towards the front beside a large pew opened and out walked a man dressed from head to toe in black with a white crescent shaped piece of cloth over his shoulders. It was then everyone fell silent. He stated the nature of all the people in the court room and why they had been called here. It turns out the people who were talking before he had entered were the Jury and they would decide what would happen. As he went on, he described that he was only going to question me about certain aspects of life with Ramjeet and Jill, as he felt talking about the ordeal would be too traumatic.
He started off by asking me what life was like in our neighbourhood and if I enjoyed sports and what I liked doing in my spare time. Then he inquired about life with Ramjeet and Jill. I told him what I loved living with them and Ramjeet was a brilliant guardian – he was strict but not over protective. I told him that Jill was like my best buddy and we get on great. The judge said that was fine and he wanted to speak to Ramjeet next.
The questioning went on for some hours, the rest of the gang showed up at 11:00 for whatever support we might have needed.
The judge called us all back into the room and gave his verdict – Gunni was murdered in cold blood and his killers were to be sentenced to life in prisonment.
That’s all we had wanted.