Waking Up | Teen Ink

Waking Up

March 7, 2014
By luis gonzalez BRONZE, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
luis gonzalez BRONZE, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

In Manhattan New York a african american man named Bubway was walking up to a sidewalk. At first glance there's nothing wrong or out of place about the man, but when you take a closer look he had a long thin scar upon his left cheek that looked deep and made by a large knife. The light was changing green to go but then “Arrrr” the screeching of a car braking was heard thats when he saw a what looked like a Lincoln Continental going at least 55 MPH. The continental collided with the one braking when it happened. “CRHHH” the cars collided but that wasn’t the end of it. “KA BOOOOOM” “Pffffffffffffff” the cars erupted into a fiery inferno which then awakened something in Bubway.My mind receded to the past.

“Bubway!” Kaulu are leader was yelling my way I had my AK-47 in hand looking pretty intimidating but if you looked closely it was shaking slightly.
“Bubway what are you waiting for kill him!” Kaulu yelled when you looked closely at Kaulu you would see he’s a very intimidating man dark skinned man with a 6ft 5in stature and had muscles that belonged to an MMA fighter wearing a standard camouflage military uniform except with a bura on top of his head with a large cigar in his mouth and a scar that started from the bottom of his left eye down to his chin. Bubway looked forward he saw so many children some being as young as 8 or 9 forced to watch. Bubway was stuck in this situation that he’s only heard of in horror stories were soldiers were forced to kill a man in front of the rest to show that they either killed them or they themselves would be killed. .Bubway saw a particular man looking his way and aiming his gone so he quickly went to work and locked his fear in the back of his head. Bubway aimed his sight then “pow” the sound rang across’ the field and my blood ran cold he looked up to Kaulu to see a devious smirk of a man who knew he was in control. I looked down at the lifeless corpse that lay before his feet when a warm liquid started falling down his cheeks. The gravity of the situation finally fell upon him he just killed a man.
My mind was ripped from the past and pulled into the present where he sees a police officer try to calm the situation “everyone it’s okay relax.”
I saw this a different way though and saw a rock on the floor that could be used as a deadly weapon. I picked it up and hit him in the back of the head. He stumbled for a few seconds but I didn’t give him time to recover and used the rock on the back of his head. He fell down which gave me the opportunity to take his pistol, he turned around and before he could utter a no ‘pop’ it was all over for him. The sound of police sirens coming from around the corner told me I didn’t have much time so I decided to cut through an alleyway. I was currently running through an alleyway where he saw a cadillac escalade which he took as an opportunity to get to around faster. while he was driving he was reminded of his little brother Kojo who was forced into the army with him when he was only 5 years old. While driving he saw a boy with close characteristics as Kojo walking along the street. He was reminded of the promise he made him during their time of forced soldiers. My mind was transported to the past once again.
I suddenly found himself in a field with dead bodies occupying the ground with gunshots sounding off in the distance clear indication of the battle taking place. “Bubway” was heard from a voice that did little to hide the fear in it.
As soon as I hear that voice he turns around to find the only reason he was
still even there, his brother Kojo. “Kojo are you ok” even though it was obvious he wasn’t.
I walked up to him and looked at him with a calm expression “It’s okay Kojo just don’t look okay?” his question only got a slight nod from him.
“Kojo I will never let anybody hurt you okay it’s a promise.” Kojo suddenly got a look that can only be described as when a child realize that they are not in danger as long as their parents were willing to protect them.
I was back to reality and remembered how he didn’t get to fulfill his promise to Kojo.
I jumps out of the car and walks up to him “Kojo come on we have the chance we must escape.”
‘Kojo’ was then shaking uncontrollably he was being led to the car. I was shaking and sweating profusely he turned to ‘Kojo’
“I won’t let them get you Kojo not this time.” he said and his eyes got the gleam they only got when he promised Kojo something.
‘Kojo’ looked at him with a raised eyebrow through a mask of fear and said the unanswered question
“Who’s Kojo?” he said with a hint of fear that this insane man might just kill him for being the wrong person
I slightly tilted his head to the side in confusion
“you’re Kojo” he said with a voice that just made you believe him.
Before ‘Kojo’ could respond a police car came in front of them. I stopped the car but not fast enough and they crashed and rolled around until finally they came to an abrupt stop. I got out of the destroyed vehicle and then went around to get ‘Kojo’ he managed to get him out of the wreckage with minimal damages.
“Kojo good you can still walk come.” he said all he got in return was a slight nod
As they got farther they were stopped by a cop picking up his 12 gauge shotgun at Bubway
“this is your only warning put your gun on the floor and put your hands behind your back.” I was stymied I didn’t care if I died but I had to protect Kojo so I pretended to put my gun down so the police officer would lower his. When it was low enough I used a quick move and
Pop the bullet went through the top half of the officer face destroying his left eye, while his right eye looked at him as if silently asking why. He knew that the look in the officers eye would haunt him for some time. Knowing that the police were likely not to far behind grabbed ‘Kojo’ and ran as fast as he could. On the way he spotted a building that looked abandoned. He heard sirens around the building and knew he was caught so he turned and set ‘Kojo’ down. “It’s okay Kojo were almost there just stay here and be quiet.”
His mind was thrown into the past once again to the night he and Kojo were finally going to escape. “come on Kojo quickly.” he said with concern and fear
Just as I said that he heard alarms coming from the camp. This caused both boys to stand cold for a couple seconds before they resumed their trek. They were a good 3 miles away from the camp when the heard the all to distinct roar of an engine coming from the dirt road they were traveling. “Quickly Kojo into those bushes.” he said with a desperate tone.
They quickly ran over to the bushes before being spotted. Just as the truck drove over to the spot they were standing just seconds prior. The truck was moving and both boys let out a breath neither knew they were even holding. Just as they thought they were in the clear the truck stopped no more than about 12 feet away. A man with an average build got out the large vehicle and stood outside. He looked around for about half a minute then started looking through his truck and took out what looks like a knife. Sweat started building slowly on my forehead. Then he started looking around again and then he looked straight at our location. I started thinking ‘What if he sees us?’
“Ahh hah there you are you little bastards, I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” he said as soon as he said that my heart beat felt like it was going 1000 beats a second and I knew the end was near.
“Ahh hah Kaulu thought he could hide my smokes but I found um.” As does words left his mouth I let out a large but silent breath but I couldn't stop the slight sweatdrop that formed in the back of my head.
We waited for about 10 minutes after he was done smoking just in case he came back. “Kojo come on we can leave now “
“Oh really now” said a cold raspy voice that I was all too familiar with
“You're coming back with me” that’s all I heard before a knock to the back of my head threw into unconsciousness, and that’s all I remember except for one name...Kaulu.
My mind was suddenly pulled back to the present from the sound of a police bull horn “Give up you're surrounded” said an unknown officer.
“No I can’t let you take Kojo”
That’s when it all happened SWAT broke through the window with the sole purpose of killing me. I walked down the dark hallway to see a sole SWAT with his back to me I took the opportunity and grabbed his arms in a armhold and slit his throat before he could utter a single scream. As soon as I realized what I did and that I couldn’t take it back I felt as bad as I did during my first kill, But it had to be done to protect Kojo. I grabbed one of the dead . SWAT officers grenades and left to get Kojo. I went to the room I left Kojo in and evaded the SWAT team by sticking to the shadows. I got to Kojos room to see a stream of tears falling from his eyes. It broke my heart to see him like this but it was the only way to save him. Just as I was about to comfort him I was alerted to the SWAT teams presence by the sound of their boots truding through the halls. I threw the grenade to them in hopes it would kill them all, they all hit the floor but if I paid attention close enough I would have noticed that his foot twitched.
I looked at Kojo and said “It’s okay Kojo were almost free.”
“Please just let me go” ‘Kojo’ said without hiding any of the fear in his voice
“It’s okay like I said were almost free” I said in my most sincere voice
We got outside through the back it seems that the police missed a spot. I saw an abandoned police cruiser with keys inside, but what I overlooked was the officer hiding in the backseat. Just as I was about to start the car he put his glock to the back of my head.
“Get out of the car” he said with a red face and sweat starting to bead on his forehead.
I figured that it was all over now so I got out of the car with a face void of emotion. As he got out of the car he made a big mistake in forgetting to cuff me which I took to my advantage. Just as he was close enough I held on to the base of the gun careful to point the tip away from me. We were evenly matched in strength so I shoved him with my shoulder giving me enough room to jerk the gun out of his hand.
I took the glock pointed it at his head and ‘pop’ he was down clutching his side that seemed to be bleeding vigorously. I turned to Kojo who was shocked with some fear in his eyes to see what I had done “It’s okay all I did was give him a flesh wound he’ll live” after I said that I saw him calm down and the fear in his eyes slightly left.
“Now come on we're almost there.” I said
Just as we were about to leave I heard something that made me instantly on edge “Sir I have a clear shot of the target do I have permission to take the shot.” a hidden voice said
“Permission given take the shot.” said a voice that sounded like it was talking through something a walky talky.
I looked around to find a hidden flash of black and blue to only see a sniper rifle aimed straight at me. I did the only thing that could save me I took my glock aimed at the hidden officer and emptied my clip into where he was. What I did worked but not as I wanted it to just as he was about to shoot my one bullet hit it’s mark into his shoulder to only make the snipers barrel miss it’s shot but aim straight at Kojo.
‘Pop’ that sound echoed around the area and I watched in slow motion to what was about to happen again. My mind started to recede to the past as I watched the disaster that was about to happen.
Me and Kojo got taken to the ‘fun room’ where all captured escapees go. I saw kids strapped to an electric chair and had what I could only depict as hundreds of electricity going through his body. When one of the started screaming my blood froze. One of the guards took Kojo and shoved him towards a large bucket of water and a large rag. He took the rag and put it over Kojo’s face then took the bucket and started dumping water on his face I was forced to watch and hear his muffled screams and the flailing of his body.
“See Bubway this is what happened when you defy me.” Kaulu said without out hiding the malice in his voice
“I’m sorry please let me take his place instead.” I said with tears threatening to spill any second now
“No you’ll watch for leading this.” he said
The tears finally broke through trailing down my face as I saw them waterboard Kojo again but this time his flailing stopped so they stopped waterboarding him. My heart stopped when they lifted the rag off his face and I saw him eyes closed face down.
I was about to breakdown but then I saw his arm twitch and ran to his side. “Kojo Kojo come on Kojo get up!” I said
For a about half a minute nothing happened but then I heard him cough repeatedly and cough out some water. “Hey both of you enough now Kojo we mus-” ‘Boom’ Kaulu was interrupted with an explosion that came from outside.
Suddenly a soldier came in with a look between fear and anger and said “Kaulu sir the rebels are here and they’ve already killed 15 men.” the unknown soldier said
Kaulu for a lack of a better word looked pissed. “Go i’ll be there soon” he turned to us and said “This isn’t over.”
I didn’t know what was happening but I took the opportunity to get Kojo out of the chair. Kojo didn’t look like he could run so I took him over my shoulder and ran for the exit. At first we were blinded by the light but got used to after a few seconds. What we weren’t expecting though was a war zone to be happening outside, the sight we were shown were hundreds of bodies laying around mostly soldiers from our camp. We noticed a lack of children's bodies though but saw that there was a man getting the children out of camp and loading them onto a truck. He spotted us and yelled “Over here we can take you boys to safety.”
Deciding that we had nothing to lose ran to the man but there was one obstacle still in the way Kaulu.
He hadn’t spotted us yet so we were able to sneak past him and grabbed a nearby pistol from a dead soldier. We slowly went around Kaulu careful not to make any noise coming closer and closer to the man that promised freedom and help. Just as we were about to get to him he turns around and looks at us with a sneer and slight surprise “Well well looks like I finally get to finish the job.”
He took out out his Ak-47 and aimed it at me. We had to bob and weave a couple times to avoid the bullets. He stopped to reload I took that time to take out the pistol and shoot him in the chest, he started cursing and flailing a little and then just stopped.
I wasn’t going to wait to see if he was dead or not and ran to the man saving the children but had to stop because Kojo was dry heaving it seems that he was going through delayed drowning. I was so focused on Kojo I didn’t notice Kaulu get up and point the Ak at me until it was too late I saw my life flash before my eyes and then finally ‘POW.’ The last sound i’ll hear before I finally leave this world, but instead of me leaving this world to the icy touch of death I saw something that broke my heart. Kojo took the bullet for me.
“Why Kojo you could have lived.” I said with tears running down my cheeks and voice slightly wavering
Kojo looked at me and gave me a sad smile “Because you're my brother and I love you and want you to have a family.” Kojo said with a voice full of mirth
I saw the light leave Kojo’s eyes but I was glad I could be with him in the end like family should. I looked up to see Kaulu with an evil smile on his scarred face “Ha he finally died thank god he was weak.”
That was the final straw for me I took out the pistol and aimed it straight at his left eye then ‘POW’ it was done, he just stood there but then he fell and there I was with a gun and lifeless body of my brother and are tormentor for years finally dead. I put the gun down and looked at the man next to the truck “I’m ready to go.” I said without letting any emotion out, but as soon as I got into the truck I cried because I just lost my only family member and I promised myself from then on I’ll never cry again.
My mind finally got back to the present to still see the bullet slowly incoming and at that moment I realized that this wouldn’t end without me dying. So at the last second I pushed Kojo out of the way and took a bullet to the chest. The police came shortly after to get ‘Kojo’ and see if he was okay. A police officer came up to me and I asked the only question that was on my mind “Is the kid okay?”
“Yea he’s okay” the police officer said in a surprised yet understanding tone.
‘Kojo’ came to see me and said “I’m sorry I’m not Kojo but he must have been a special guy to have a brother like you.” ‘Kojo said in with caring eyes.
The darkness that I was supposed to take me instead of Kojo finally came for me, but through the darkness I finally realized that even though I couldn’t get Kojo out of that camp I did free him through death and now I can finally go to the same place he is because wherever he may be I know one thing he’s waiting for me.



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