The Red Nights

The three people were quietly staring down at the corpse laying on the floor when someone rushed in the cave. The young man ran toward them and once he reached them he bent to catch his breath.

" Boss... something happened " he finally said after a short moment.

All eyes turned to him what made him feeling stressed. " Speak up. " Phil ordered as he couldn't stand the wait anymore.

" Yes " the young man said while quickly taking a proper posture before he started giving his report, " while we were still fighting the enemy, few minutes ago, they started falling down unconscious, one by one ".

The three glanced at each others silently before reporting their attention to the corpse of Konny. The young man took a look at her too and asked timidly " does that mean that... we won? ".

Jamal didn't respond him directly but instead he asked a question, " how many casualties did we get? Are there any people who got injured or died? ".

" In the group I belong, hopefully, no one got injured or got killed " he responded with a proud smile.

" Alright " Jamal nodded while supposing that the case was the same in the other groups. Although he was showing a neutral expression on his face, in his inside he was more than relieved. He knew that he had played a very risky bet as he had very few soldiers on his side compared to Konny, then he had to disperse them into various positions to block the progression of Konny's army and as if it was not enough he even asked them to avoid killing the enemy. At that moment he was just glad that all things went well.

" What should we do now? " Phil asked while looking at Jamal.

The latter didn't reply straightaway but he took his time to think then he gave his orders directly to the young man next to them. " You will go tell your friends to go out and transport those unconscious people in somewhere wide and safe. A hall, a stadium or something like that. You will tie them and lock them inside the venue you will choose. And transmit these words to the other groups dispersed here and there ".

" Wait ", Pam stopped the young man before he went off, she stood up and looked at Jamal, her eyes were a little bit red and inflated. It seemed like despite all the evil things Konny had done to her, she still remained dear to her and her death moved her quite a lot.

" Why tying and putting them in some kind of jail? There are our friends and moreover they are now free from Konny's control " she said with a weak voice.

" Are you sure they are free? " Jamal replied immediately.

The young woman stepped back and looked at him confused, " I thought... I mean you said that once we would kill Konny they will be free from her control, didn't you? "

" Yes, I did say that but that doesn't mean I'm right, I don't want to take any risk " he shrugged and carried on with a soft tone " moreover you have to consider the fact that they are not all your friends only some of them while the majority must be gangsters and criminals coming from all the gangs she had once taken the control. We can't just let them be, he have to hold them and verify first whether they are on our side or not ".

Pam bowed her head as she understood his point, so Jamal nodded to the young man " go, and by the way if you run into my friends Volga and Carla please inform them to wait for me at the entrance of the building " he stopped and he immediately remembered something " oh yes, I almost forgot " he exclaimed while stepping back " send few of you to come take these guys here " he said while pushing lightly the unconscious body of one of Konny's men who was lying on the floor at two meters from her body.

The young man nodded back, he turned around and ran toward the exit of the cave, he quickly disappeared in the darkness.

Moments later a group of people came to take the unconscious people out, they had to make three rounds in order to take them all.

At the last round Phil decided to follow them, " I will go with them " he said, " they need someone to coordinate them otherwise they will probably take long moreover I know the perfect place to place them ".

Although he said that Pam and Jamal understood that he just didn't want to stay anymore in the cave with them to watch over the dead body of Konny. Meanwhile Pam went to sit next to it and continued to stare at it. Phil glanced at her pitifully while shaking her head before he left, but on her side, Pam ignored him totally, she seemed to not care anymore about what her father thought.

" You're good? " Jamal squatted next to her and asked, " I thought that you actually hated her but your last words to her made me think the opposite ". Seeing that she didn't reply he tried something else, " how did you do to not fall into her control while she was still holding you? According to what I have observed concerning her power she could have used your love for your father, your friends or just increased your fear of her to make you do whatever she wanted, so how did you do? "

During the first seconds she remained silent what almost made Jamal believe that she would never respond but she suddenly brought her knees next to her b.r.e.a.s.ts and in a low voice she said " she had never tried ". Jamal waited for few seconds and she continued, " she was holding me in her room and tied me on her bed. Everytime she would come to have s.e.x with me she would tell me that once I would realize how much she loved I would end up by loving her back. And for that she didn't need to use her power. She said she wanted me to fall for her by my own ", she chuckled " quite ironic since she was still forcing me ".

" You were suspecting me to be under her mind control, weren't you? " she asked while glancing at him after a short moment of silence.

Jamal shrugged and smiled, " Well you can't hate me for that. Being so moved and so affected by the death of the one who made you went through some huge pain and trauma, it would be suspicious for anyone. "

" You're right " Pam admitted, amused, " the truth is that... despite all those horrible things she had done, I just can't simply hate like all the other people do, because I know her. I'm not saying that she was right to do all what she did, it's just that... I kinda understand her " she paused and sighed, " her family broke apart because of a mistake her dad had done, since then she started developing an aversion for men and all her previous relationsh.i.p.s gave her right as they had never ended well and thanks to those experiences she learned more about the bad sides of men and probably started to completely hate them. You see? I was her unique family, the dearest person she had and seeing me being interested and even starting to go out with those men she hated so much... she must have been more affected than I thought. Maybe... if I only had noticed her feelings for me, it could have been different ".

" No you're wrong " Jamal told her, " when people get power, no matter the nature of the power, they always end up revealing their true faces and their real nature " he paused, " it's true that she was, indeed, madly loving with you but not the way someone should love another one. I'm not pretending to know her more than you do but the way you describe your relationship, I can say that she was just seeing you as a trophy she wanted to keep with her while avoiding any one else to be able to possess it. Instead of seeing you as a very special woman she should do her best to please and to make her happy at all costs ".

She took her time to think before she said while nodding " you're may be right... maybe he I should just quit thinking that it's all my fault. But I still can't stop loving her, she was my family as well " she declared, enthusiastically. She stood up and after taking a deep breath she spread her arms at each side while smiling joyfully, as if a heavy load has been dropped out from her shoulders. " I'm feeling a little better now " she confessed herself, " thank you for helping me to realize that ".

" I'm happy that you're good now, even though I didn't do anything special " he responded while smiling, a little embarrassed. He leaned over to pick up Konny's body then he stood up before Pam, " okay, go ahead and show me nice place we can bury her? "

A moment later they were leaving the building with Jamal carrying a body, under a black veil. It was Pam's idea, in order to avoid frightening anyone she took a black curtain and put it on Konny's body.

They moved toward the east and after walking for some meters they stopped at a small park. By patting the soil with his foot Jamal quickly found the perfect spot to start digging. He landed down the corpse while Pam was untying the two shovels she was carrying on her back. She handed one to him and they started digging, minutes later they finally got a hole enough deep.

Jamal moved to go pick up the body and brought it near the hole, he stopped to give Pam the time to tell her farewell. She leaned toward the body still under the veil, where the head was supposed to be, she whispered some few words and then stepped back. Jamal jumped in the hole, he landed delicately the body and with the help of Pam, he returned back up. After they nodded to each other and started filling the hole and after they filled it completely, several minutes later, Pam took the time to decorate a little bit while using rocks and some wooden sticks, as she wanted to give, the place they buried Konny, a grave-like feature.

Jamal thought that after that Pam would still take some time to stay near the grave but unexpectedly, at the moment she finished she turned to Jamal and suggested him to go. He voluntarily followed her to the HQ. And there, at the entrance, two women were waiting.

" Where are you from? " Volga, who was the first one to notice them, asked.

Jamal stroked the back of his head while glancing at Pam, " we were saying goodbye to an old friend of her " he answered.

Volga gazed at the young woman and decided to not insisting too much about that, she rather chose to change the subject into something more important. " As you ordered, we have tied and locked all the people who were under Konny's control. A few moment before, as we were waiting for you, someone came to tell that they finally all woke up, I told him not do anything before we arrived there " she paused and smiled " so... you want to pay a visit? "

" I would be glad " Jamal responded while smiling back at her, " alright, let's go check if, indeed, the mission has been a complete success ".