CONFESSIONS

 Dear diary,

I am lost and confused with no one to turn to. Keeping a deadly secret isn’t as easy as I thought. Barbra, my close friend is going through a difficult time. Her parents passed away and she was left in the hands of her uncle and his wife. Ever since she moved in with them, she’s been coming to school with marks on her entire body; she is mistreated and tortured by her uncle and aunt.

One morning Barbra dint show up for school and I decided to pay her a visit. On my way to her place I decided to take a short cut through the woods because the sun was shining and it was very hot. As I walked through the woods I witnessed a man being brutally beaten by a gang of men.  He was hanged upside down and blood was dripping from his mouth as the men continuously punched him.

I hide behind a bush, alarmed as a snake and covered my mouth with my hands in order to prevent myself from making any sound. I have never been that scared in my life. “What if they see me? What will happen to me?” I kept asking myself over and over again as I watch the man slowly drifting away.

I felt like a doll locked in a store; helpless and couldn’t do a thing to help the old man. Tears kept crawling from my eyes as I saw him in pain. The man closed his eyes and never opened them again, he was dead and the men were laughing as they checked his pulse to ensure that he was not breathing. After a few minutes some of them started digging a hole and before I knew it they had buried him and took off in their motorbikes as if nothing had happened. Everything happened so fast. I stood up and stared at the ground where the man was buried confused and speechless; feeling as guilty as those men since I was helpless and did not help him; fear took over me.

Immediately I started running as fast as a cheetah, heading back home. As I approached the house I noticed Barbra setting outside on the staircase probably waiting for me. I walked over to her only to realize that her face was swollen and she was crying her eyes out. She told me what her uncle did to her but made me promise that I would never tell a soul.

Keeping her secret and what I witnessed has been eating me up. My conscience had been bothering me and I didn't know who to turn to for help. “Should I go to the authority?” I kept asking myself.

Finally the day came when someone reported that there was an old man missing. When I laid my eyes on the news paper, the headline read that Mr.Charles, a business man was missing for several days and there is a rumor that he was kidnapped, therefore if anyone has information about him should go to the police station. This was it, it was my chance to at least try and seek justice for his death.

I went to the police station and told them what I saw and that Mr. Charles was the man I saw being tortured to death. I was shown pictures to identify if those people were involved. Looking at the pictures reminded me of their faces and the whole incidence; “it is them”, I said out load with tears rushing down. After few minutes of calming down I led the police to the place where Mr. Charles was murdered and buried.

Being of help to the police made me proud of myself; I saved a mystery but what’s left is to solve Barbra’s problem. How should i start? where should i go? Is it OK to break the promise? Am so confused and scared!