enola_do-you-know-your-enemy

DO YOU KNOW YOUR ENEMY? By Enola

If your mother was there she'd tell you, "Darling, you can't continue in this way, you have to change job!" and she'd be right! Opening your fridge you realize with a lot of sadness and disappointment that it just contains two eggs and a half empty bottle of milk, "You'd better to go to the supermarket before it close if you don't want to go to bed on an empty stomach tonight too!" say you aloud shutting the fridge. You grasp your bag and put your earphones on to listen to some good music turning the volume up almost to the max. You reach the supermarket in 5 minutes and when you enter you kindly greet the cashier. It's almost 11 pm and there's nobody else in the supermarket. As you have to buy just a few thing you don't take either a shopping trolley or a basket, you're just take a bottle of milk, a packet of chocolate biscuits, some bread and some apples. Music completely isolates yourself from everything else and you are just looking forward to going to bed after the umpteen stressful day hunting thieves, pushers and rapists. Your mother is definitely right, you should looking for another job! When you go towards the till you suddenly see a man before you with a black balaclava and a gun that he points at you as soon as he sees you. He's talking to you but you can't hear him because of the music and he beckons you to come closer. Everything happens too quickly and you don't have the time to react. You let fall the stuff down and remove your earphones, then you rise your hands and walk slowly towards him.

"Come here, hurry up!" says him. You are struck by the calm tone of his voice, it's quite unusual for a robber; they used to scream and threat to shoot. "Gimme your bag and your watch" says him when you're close to him. He's got a funny accent that immediately reminds you to Mr Jones, your high school history teacher who came from South Wales. You obey and give him your bag and your watch, "Thanks babe!" says him winking at you. Suddenly you hear the weak sound of the siren of a police car coming, "Fuck! Now you come with me!" says him grasping your arm, "Do all that I tell you and nothing bad will happen to you, right?" You nod while he beckons you to walk. He walks behind you and leans his gun against your back. You go out and walk for a while then he stops and says, "Get into the car and sit into the driver's seat, start the car and leave." His voice is always extremely quiet and you're sure he won't hurt you.
"What do you want from me?" ask you. He keeps on pointing his gun at you and replies,
"Are you afraid? Don't worry, I let you go soon." After a short pause he goes on, "What were you listening to before?" he opens you bag and take your CD player out of it and push eject "'London Calling'!? It's my favourite album!!" says him enthusiastic putting the CD in the car CD player, "This is music! Not those fucking boybands…But let's see what else there's in your bag!" Your heart starts to beat faster and faster,
"It's not correct rummaging around in a lady's bag" say you very worried,
"You're right, but I'll do it all the same!" says him smiling,
"A gun? Why do you have a gun?" says him looking at you, but you don't say anything and he keeps on rummaging around your bag, "Fuck!" he shouts, "Please, tell me it's not true! Christ! Please, please babe, tell me you aren't a policewoman!" He hits the window with his fist and shakes his head in disbelief, "This time I'm in trouble, in serious trouble! I have a policewoman as hostage! What an idiot! I should have left you at that fucking supermarket. When your dear mates will catch me, they'll lock me up then they'll throw the key away in the Thames!" Although his words are hard his voice still is quiet as if he didn't managed to get angry. After same minutes of silence you say,
"You won't let me go, will you?"
"I'm sorry, I can't. Fuck, you're a policewoman and that changes everything. You understand me, don't you?"

After almost an hour you arrive at a very small country house. When you enter you realize that it's just a single room with few furniture.
"If you wanna have a shower, there are some clean clothes here" says him opening a drawer, so you take a T-shirt and lock yourself in the bathroom.
When you go out he says, "You can sleep in bed, I'll sleep on that armchair", so you sit there and after a while he comes close to you and handcuffs one of your hands to the headboard with your cuffs,
"Please, don't do that! I won't try to escape, I promise!" say you disapproving his action.
"I'm sorry, I have to!" says him looking at you sweetly with those beautiful brown eyes, "Rule number 1 of a good robber: never trust in your enemy, and you're my enemy!" You keep on looking at each other for a moment and you are about to hold and kiss him, but he goes away from you quickly and enter the bathroom. When he comes back collapses immediately on the armchair knackered,
"Why do you still have that balaclava? Don't you feel hot?" ask you after a couple of minutes of total silence as you are very impatient to see his face, but he ignores your question as if he hadn't heard it and after a bit he says weakly,
"It's better you don't see my face."

There are so many things you'd like to ask him. For instance, you'd like to know why he robbed that supermarket and if he had robbed other times, but most of all you want to know why he made that robber with an *unloaded gun*!!! You realized it was unloaded at once! You could have taken yours and you could have arrested him, but you didn't. -Why didn't you arrest him?- You hear a voice inside your mind repeating this question once, twice, ten times, twenty…but you don't manage to give yourself an answer. It doesn't take so long to understand that armchair is very uncomfortable,
"Why don't you come to sleep here? This bed is big enough for both of us…" say you holding a pillow,
"It doesn't matter, it's not so bad after all" replies him mumbling. You rise and keep sat on the bed looking at him,
"C'mon! It's not a problem for me at all! I trust in you, even though you're my enemy!" say you laughing keep on looking at him thanks to the moonlight which passes through the windows. Suddenly he stands up and walks slowly towards the bed and says,
"Are you sure it's not a problem? You shouldn't trust in me so much, you don't know me at all!" then he grasps the other pillow and throws it at the foot of the bed and lays down turning his back on you.
"It's true, I don't know you at all. But, I know that if you had liked to abuse me, you would have already done it!" As he doesn't reply, you lay down and close your eyes.
Now you have your answer. You didn't arrest him because you immediately understood he wasn't the common delinquent you're used to seeing every day: fucking pushers who sell drugs to young boys and girls after school; true unscrupulous robbers who don't hesitate for a moment about squeezing the trigger just for few pounds; all people pushed by madness, greed or simply pushed by the pleasure of causing pain to other people who work hard and honestly. He's different, he's not either mad or greedy and he minimally know what cruelty is and he couldn't be able to hurt anyone.

A couple of hours later, you wake up with an urgent need to wee, but as your hand is stuck in your own handcuffs and you can't go to the toilet, you insistently call your companion. As he keeps on sleeping you start to kick him gently begging him to wake up and free your hand because you can't hold it back any longer, then you hit him stronger till he wakes up and grumbles,
"Ok ok, stop kicking - it's hurt!" and after a short pause he goes on,
"Couldn't you do it before, eh?" He takes the key out of his pocket and gently grasps your hand while he open the handcuffs.
"If you hadn't put me these fucking cuffs, I wouldn't have waken you up!!!" you reply quite annoyed jumping out of the bed.
When you go back to bed he grasps your hand and handcuffs it again to the headboard and you lower your head in sadness, then he puts his hand under your chin, rises your head and looking at you sweetly he says, "I'm sorry hon, I have no choice!" So you take his hand and put it over your cheek while you stare at each other in silence.
"Please, kiss me!" you whisper going closer and closer to him. He also puts the other hand over your face and brushes your lips with his thumbs, then his lips lean against yours kissing them gently. You lay down over the bed while you are still kissing you with passion, but after a while he stops kissing you and goes away from you saying,
"We can't do it, it'd be a big mistake!" so you grasp his arm and you beg him,
"Please, it's the only thing that will make me feel better." He slowly comes close to you again, brush your face and kisses you, then he stops again to take the key out of his pocket and frees your hand, so you take your T-shirt off and lay down again. He bends to kiss your neck and your breast and sucks your nipples while you undo his trousers that he immediately removes together with his boxers and you take your knickers off. He lays over you once again and he enters you quickly but sweetly.
When you re-open your eyes it's morning. Sunlight filters through the windows illuminating the room. He's not there close to you; there's just a little piece of paper in which you read:
You're wonderful. Goodbye. Love, James X

You're sick of that, terribly sick of the way your superiors are treating you. They are pressing you to tell the truth as they don't believe any single word you told them. You just told that he had abandoned you on the outskirts, so you phoned your friend you go to pick you up. But there's something true in that. You really phoned your friend and she picked you up, but you lied about the time. You asked your friend to tell that you had phoned her just after midnight and that you slept over at her house. You told her not to ask you any question and promised her to give her an explanation as soon as you could. In any case, your superiors don't believe you even because of your bad mood and sadness and they suspect that he threatened to hurt you if you tell the truth, so they think you're frightened. Obviously, you can't tell that you made love with him…they'd surely think that you've totally lost your mind!

About 2 weeks later you got a phone call in the middle of the night. It's your colleague and he tells you they have just arrested a man who corresponds to the supermarket cashier description: medium height, sturdy, Welsh accent. He was wandering in a very suspicious way around a shop and when they caught him, he had a black balaclava in his pocket, and they found an unloaded gun in a litter bin along the street. You have to go to the police station to identify him, but you are absolutely sure it's James. When you enter the room your heartbeat gets faster and faster and you can also hear it pulsing in your head. You reach the glass through which you have to look at to see the identification parade. After a while five men enter the other room and stop facing the wall. He's in the middle, you have no doubt. You won't ever able to forget that sad and sweet look in his eyes.

Now your superiors are furious with you because you said that you're not in a position to identify anyone of the men among those 5, so they are oblige to let him go as neither the supermarket cashier managed to identify him. They think it's better that you take a period of rest so you'll be able to think over the whole affair. That don't bother you at all because you just need to stay alone to think about your future that you see further and further from the police. Obviously, you can't either stop to think of him and you wonder whether you'll meet him again. A couple of days later, as you realize that you can't spend your time in bed or on your sofa, you decide to do something that helps you to free your mind, so you clean your flat up and move all the furniture while your hi-fi is pumping out The Clash. Suddenly, your phone rings so you turn the volume down and answer but nobody replies and hangs up a while later!! You don't pay any attention to it and think that it surely was someone who was looking for another person. At about 6 pm you collapsed over the sofa exhausted but satisfied about the change of your sitting room and stay there keeping on listening to the music. Then you suddenly stand up and go to have a shower, but before you turn the volume up and let the door open to hear the music. You undress quickly and go under the shower, close the curtain and turn the taps on. In a few seconds steam surrounds your body while warm water gently caresses your skin…and suddenly you have the sensation of hearing someone singing in the room, but you don't account for it. But after a moment you hear again that voice and are a bit scared, then you hear it louder and louder, closer and closer. Now you are able to hear that it's singing 'Train in vain'
"…I need new clothes / I need somewhere to stay / but without all these things I can do / but without your love I won't make it through…"

You perfectly know whose that voice is, so you open the curtain and see him just facing you. You throw your arms around him and hold him tighter and tighter,
"Oh, James!" and looking at him, for the 1st time you can see and touch his face, you add, "I can't believe you are here!" Then you kiss each other intensely, "Oh, shit! I wet your clothes!" say you smiling,
"What does it matter? Now I have to take them off, after all! Can you help me?" replies him running his hands through your wet hair. You unbutton his shirt and remove it revealing his massive chest and kiss it gently, then he sits down on the toilet and takes his shoes and his socks off and after stand up again to remove his combats and boxers, and finally pushes you gently against the wall under the shower and closes the curtain. He kisses you passionately and touches you all over your body while your hands search for his cock that you grasp and guide inside you after parting your legs wide, then he starts moving his pelvis rhythmically and you hold him tighter and tighter. You both moans in delight as you're enjoying the intercourse to the max.

Now the 2 of you are in your bed where you've just finished to make love once again. James's head's leant on your belly and you are stroking his beautiful brown hair while he's brushing your arm and your hand. Everything is perfect, too perfect to last; in fact, the door bell marks the beginning of end. You put your bathrobe on and go to open the door. It's your colleague. You tell him you can't let him enter 'cos it's very late, but he insists saying he has to talk to you about something really important, so you let him enter. Then you return to your bedroom and tell James that your colleague is there, but you'll get rid of him in a couple of minutes. When you go back to the sitting room your colleague is still standing and you tell him to say all that he has to say 'cos you're pretty tired. He says he's very worried for you 'cos you've changed since that night; everyone knows you lied about it and he doesn't managed to understand what's happening to you, and why you're protecting that bastard. He finally says that you know very well he loves you and he can't allow you to spoil your life with that kind of man. When you return to your bedroom James's already dressed and he seems quite bothered 'cos he surely heard what your colleague said.

"Do you sleep with him, don't you?" asks him harshly while he's putting his shoes on.
"What's the matter with you now? I don't understand…" reply you surprised but he stops you and speaking aloud and angrily he says,
"I asked you a question, you could at least answer!"
"No! I've never gone with him! Who do you think I am? One who goes with everyone? Do you think this about me?" You've also risen your voice and you're more and more amazed by his reaction 'cos you don't managed to justify it.
"Should I think the contrary? You had no modesty with me!" His tone and his words are too offensive to you and consequently you explode with rage,
"Greg is right, you're just a bastard! After all that I did for you…I lied for you, to protect you and now you call me a whore! I HATE YOU! I should have arrested you when I had the chance to do it. I hope to have another chance and that they'll let you rot in jail 'cos it's the only thing that you deserve!" He slaps you so hard that you fall over the bed and before going away he says roughly,
"I *never* asked you anything, you did everything!!" so he leaves the room and after a while you hear the door slam while you are crying in your bed already repented of what you have just said.

One month later.
It's your 2nd week at work after your forced holiday. You've changed job (now your mother is the happiest person of the world!), your friend has offered you to become her assistant, she's a manager who works in a great multinational company. Now your life is quieter, you work from 9 am till 6 pm, with a break for lunch, 5 days per week, that means you don't have to work during the weekends and you also have the chance to travel abroad. It's Friday and you're looking forward to going home to pack your suitcase 'cos the day after you and your friend are going to her hometown in the Midlands to spend the weekend. You leave the building and walk towards the underground and in 5 minutes you're obliged to stop 'cos the police has blocked the road and there's a crowd who is curious to know what it's happening. You listen to some people talking about a robbery in a jewellery; an old man says he saw a man with a black balaclava running and a policeman chasing him, the robber didn't stop, so the policeman shot at him. Those words capture your attention rousing your old memories and your anxiety. You're too curious, you go beyond the barriers, you run with a deep sense of anguish in your heart. You see a body lain on the ground and as you go close to him you realize that that man is James! You shout his name, Greg comes towards you and tries to stop you but you push him away ,you kneel down and cry. James is still alive but he's lost a lot of blood, he recognises you and speaks, although he's very weak,
"It's..over..hon..I got..wh..at I des..deserved.. this..had to be the l..ast ti..me.. I..wa..nted to go back ho..me to W..ales..and I'm go..in' to ret..urn in a coff..in" You cry and sob,
"Stop it! Don't speak! Everything will be alright!" you rise his head and lean it on your thighs and brush his face, he tries to speak again, but he's weaker and weaker,
"I'm..so.. sorry..I.di..didn't ..ever..th..think.. those..hor..rible.. things..I..s..aid.. a..b..out you" you hold him,
"Shh..I've alr..eady forgiven you"
"I..I..luv..ya.." he whispers,
"I love you too!" reply you sobbing.
He closes his eyes and you scream out his name, an ambulance comes and the paramedics assist him and load him on the ambulance and you go with him. He's still alive when you arrive at the hospital and he immediately enter the operating theatre. One hour, two hours without any news, finally more than three hours later a doctor comes to you. James has overcome the operation, but the doctor is very clear: his condition is extremely serious, only the fact he's still alive is a miracle. They can't do anything for him, you can just wait and see what will happen. But his condition improve little by little every day. Four days later James reopen his eyes and says your name, you smile at him and kiss him.

Eight months later.
You are facing the jail where James served his sentence. He's about to be released and you're impatient to see and hold him after eight long months. He asked to serve his sentence in Wales and he didn't want you to go to visit him, you've just phoned and written letters to each others. The gate opens and he appears. You run towards him and you hold him tight and so he does. You both cry then you kiss each other and wipe each other's tears,
"Are you ready to start your new life?" ask you while you stroke his hair and brush his face. He stars at you and with a big smile in his face he says,
"*Our new lives together*, you mean!!"
"Sure! You're right. Are you afraid?" you say, he kisses you then he replies,
"No, I'm not. Because I have you." After a short pause he goes on, "There's something I never told you. Thank you!"

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