CHAPTER 2
As I drove, my mind couldn't stay calm.
That is an understatement. My mind wasn't just not calm, it was chaos. It was a storm inside the car while outside the world was still pretending it was a beautiful Sunday morning. My hands were tight on the steering wheel, so tight my knuckles had gone dark, but my thoughts were everywhere except on the road.
What could have happened to my sister? That weak voice kept replaying in my head, over and over like a broken record. "Alby you need to come over... I need you please." The way she said please. Penny never said please like that. Penny was proud. She was stubborn. Even when Jim would beat her and she would call me, she would try to sound strong. She would say "Alby, can you come?" but never like she was begging for her life. This was different. This was fear. Pure, raw fear.
I dialed her number again while driving, one hand on the wheel, one hand holding the phone, which I know is dangerous but I didn't care. I called. It rang. And rang. And rang. No one picked. I called again. No one picked. The more it rang without an answer, the more my heart sank deeper into my stomach. I panicked more.
Strange thoughts kept crossing my damn mind. Horrible thoughts. Thoughts I didn't want to think but couldn't stop. Was she bleeding? Was she on the floor? Was Jim there? Did he do it again, but worse this time? Did he finally lose it completely? What about Melissa? Where was Mel? That baby was only nine months old, she couldn't even protect herself. Oh God, where was that baby?
I accelerated. I knew I was speeding. I saw the speedometer climbing and I didn't care. I was overtaking matatus, I was hooting at boda bodas, I was ignoring the bumps. If I caused an accident, so be it. All I wanted was to be there for my sister as soon as I could. I was silently praying the whole time, a prayer that had no proper words, just "Please let me make it on time, please let me make it on time, God please."
Minutes later, though it felt like hours, I was already at her place. I didn't even park properly. I left the car half on the pavement, half off, engine still running for a few seconds before I remembered to switch it off. I jumped out and rushed to the gate. It was open. That alone was strange. Penny always locked her gate.
I rushed into the house and there was no one in the vicinity. The sitting room was quiet. Too quiet. The TV was off. A cup was on the table, half drunk. One of Melissa's toys was on the floor.
"Penny! Penny!" I called her name twice. My voice echoed in the house. Loud, desperate. No one answered.
And that silence... that silence told me everything. I knew there was more than I thought there was. Something terrible had happened here. My heart was no longer just beating, it was hammering against my ribs like it wanted to break out and run away.
I went into their bedroom. I will never forget what I saw. Never.
Clothes were all over the floor, like someone had been searching for something frantically, or like there had been a struggle. The drawers were all open, some completely pulled out, some broken, hanging off their rails. And blood. There were traces of blood on them. On the white drawers. On a pink dress that was lying on the floor. Small smears, but blood is blood. You don't mistake it.
I felt my fragile heart leave my body. It literally felt like my heart, this soft, loving, forgiving heart I had tried to maintain all these years, just lifted out of my chest and floated away. And in its place, something else occupied the space. Something dark. Cold. Inhuman. Heartless. A soul I had buried deep, years ago, when I decided I wanted to be a better person, when I decided I didn't want to fight the world anymore. That soul I had locked away in a box. It broke out of that box in that bedroom.
"Jim, hii round sikuachi, one of us is going down." I murmured. My voice was low, but it was filled with venom. I wasn't shouting. I didn't need to shout. It was a promise. To myself. To God. To whatever was listening.
I rushed out of the room, my eyes burning. I searched for my sister in all the rooms but couldn't find her. I went to the kitchen. Nothing. The bathroom. Nothing. The second bedroom where Melissa usually slept. Nothing. Where was she? Where did he take her? Or where did she hide?
Tears were flowing now. Hot, angry tears running down my cheeks, dropping onto my shirt, but not even a shrill came out of my mouth. I had no voice to cry. I was beyond crying. I was in that place between grief and rage where you just go silent.
I walked through the kitchen again as I went to the balcony, the small back balcony where Penny used to hang clothes. And there she was. Lying like a log. My sister. My Penny. Lying on the cold floor of the balcony, curled slightly, her leso half off her body. Her face was swollen. Her lip was cut. There was blood dried near her nose. Her eyes were closed. And clinging on her, like her life depended on it, was her baby. Melissa. My Mel. Clinging on her mother's chest, dry lips, sleeping or unconscious from crying too much. Her small face was stained with tears.
I could smell blood. That metallic, sharp smell. And that smell angered me the most. It brought back every single memory of every time Jim had laid his hands on her.
I tried to call her name but got no response at first. My voice cracked. "Penny... Penny..."
I knelt down, my knees hitting the hard floor. I gently lifted her head, touched her face. She was warm. She was breathing, but weakly. I carried her, or tried to. She was heavy, but adrenaline gave me strength. I shook her gently as I woke her baby who looked so scared, her big eyes opening and staring at me like she didn't recognize me at first. That look. That scared look from a nine-month-old baby who should only know giggles and milk. That look broke me more than the blood did.
It made me regret ever letting her live with her husband after the previous incident. I had told her to leave him. I had begged her. I had offered her my house. But she had said "He will change, Alby. He is the father of my child. Let me pray for him."
Pray. All that praying had led her to this balcony floor.
I had to get them out of there. Now.
© 2026 THIRST FOR REVENGE by Bobo Creatives
All Rights Reserved.
Originally published on Soma Stories @Bobo Creatives.