Shame Of Maastricht: The Revelation of Misery by Marie N. Hallen (books to improve english .TXT) 📕

“I want this gestalt closed by now.”

“It was Sterre who set this place on fire,” Stijn explained. “Only God knows how, she is really mental and full of tricks. She murdered Luuk and this is no joke, I’m talking seriously. She murdered my son.”

“We don’t believe, you won’t fool us this time, Stijn,” Maarten pressed the blade to his throat, leaving a red mark on his skin.

“Do. Not. Touch. Him.” Kate whispered. “You will regret it. Wasn’t it me that you wanted to kill?”

“I wanted Luuk to kill you. Now it doesn’t matter. I want you all dead. That mental girl also wanted everyone dead. The question is just whose plan will work faster.”

Kate realized there was no way back. She lost the hope to find Luuk and still she wasn’t sure if Stijn was trying to fool Maarten to save time or… She tried to fight her worst concerns, but darkest thoughts started taking over.

“Wait for the bomb to explode and then kill us if the bomb doesn’t work. Where is the bomb?” Kate asked, although realizing none of the criminals would answer such a bald question.

“I like your black humor,” Maarten said suddenly. “The bomb is in the fountain, which is now destroyed. But it will go off anyway, and there is no time left. Stijn will die because he is Luuk’s father. You will die because you brought the criminals on Lotte’s head.”

“So you’re such a coward that you don’t trust your explosive device and want to kill us with your own hands to make sure we are dead?”

“Call me a coward or not… But Luuk is the biggest coward i have seen so far and it’s his father’s fault that he raised such a scoundrel. Am I right, Stijn?”

Kate didn’t know how much time left until the bomb would explode. She took the phone out of her pocket, took aim and threw it in Maarten’s face. The phone hit right on target and Maarten dropped the knife and fell on his back, knocked down.

“Goddamn you little bitch!”

“Run, Stijn, run!” Kate shouted and rushed to the window. Ruben and Martijn ran after her, but Kate revealed to be faster. She deftly jumped over the overturned table in her way, grabbed the chair and threw it at the window, breaking the glass. Before Martijn could reach out, she jumped out of the window through the cracked glass.

A moment later Kate landed onto the roof of the outbuilding which faced the parking lot. Kate bounced off the roof which made her fall on the pavement and she felt her bones crack and pierce her flesh.

“It’s just my hand and ribs,” she thought, trying to get up and crawl away, “Just my ribs… Just ribs…”

It was extremely painful, although not as painful as before and she found the pain to be manageable. Her biggest fear was that the perpetrators would follow her, but no one else jumped out of the window. Still crawling, Kate tried to make her way away from the building, as the bomb was to explode within a few minutes. She didn’t know how far she could go before this happens, but suddenly one thought occurred to her. The criminals won’t get out of the building unless they follow her example. It wasn’t possible to leave the building any more. Perhaps, Sterre will burn to death, if she is still alive. Stijn won’t escape either and will be eventually killed by one of the perpetrators or suffocated in the smoke or simply burn to death. But so far, death from carbon monoxide seemed to be the most realistic.

Kate didn’t know where she was going and what she would do. The sirens of fire trucks and police vehicles reached her ear and were growing louder, causing her thoughts to mix into a solid gray mass. Kate crawled as fast as she could, turning around from time to time to see if she was being followed. There was no one around. Finally she found power to get up and waddled down the street, all covered in blood. At least a dozen shards of glass stuck in her skin, making her face and chest bleed. The knife wound under the rib started bleeding even more, awakening all the pain that had been sleeping within her body all this time. It was hard to breathe and her legs were sore, but she tried to do her best to move as far as possible from the mined department store. She touched her face, trying to take out the glass which stuck deep in her skin. As she was pulling out the shards one by one, the dark and sticky streams of blood flowed from the wounds down on her clothes, on her shoes, on the ground, leaving a bloody trace behind. Her nose was also bleeding. Was it blood from her nose that left the bloody trace, or from the wound under her ribs?

The street was desolate and Kate didn’t meet anyone who would be able to help her. Feeling exhausted, she leaned on the tree and looked around, trying to catch at least someone. There were a few people far away, she saw a family with young children in the distance, on the opposite side of the street. A few more people drove by on motorcycles but no one paid attention to the blooded woman who could barely walk. Should she shout to draw their attention? Does she really need attention? Does she really need help?

At this moment, the silence was broken by a powerful and deafening explosion, tearing the dead air apart. She heard the whistle and crash of debris flying in different directions. A piece of a torn off roof and fittings flew past, the alarm went off in cars parked nearby. After hearing the explosion several men ran out of the buildings located a few hundred meters away. The deserted street began to fill up with people, the alarms in neighboring buildings went off, joining the chorus of car alarms nearby.

Kate was far enough from the explosion site, but the acute pain started growing inside and spreading throughout her body, suffocating and immobilizing her. Kate felt the tears flowing down her cheeks, she couldn’t resist crying as her body felt like it was one enormous wound. She wasn’t sure if it were only her ribs and arm that were broken. Each step brought her more and more suffering. She walked slowly, embraced by terrific pain and stumbling from time to time, with the only thought to reach the closest pharmacy in the area. More and more people appeared in the streets, but still they were far away and no one approached her or moved towards her. Not even a single step as if she were invisible. Or just insignificant.

She realized no one could see her. A few more police cars and the ambulance drove by towards the explosion site. Kate kept walking and the more she walked the better she realized it was pointless. Where would she go now? She doesn’t even have a phone. And even if she had it, she would be tracked. Maybe not by Dijkstra or their three “friends” who remained in the burning building. Sterre said there were many more people, even her parents were involved.

Now that the building was blown up, all hope of finding Luuk was gone. Stijn… Stijn perished too. Was it possible to survive in a burning building that eventually exploded at full force? Kate heard of several cases when people survived in massive fires or explosions, but these were unique cases from the category of miracles. She thought of different ways the abductors could have killed Luuk including all kinds of torture tactics, but she didn’t admit he would die from her friend’s hand. Kate still refused to believe it was Sterre who was guilty of Luuk’s demise. It was her who tried to save her, but murdered him.

Kate will never come home and find Luuk sitting in the living room. Neither will she see him come home and meet him after a long working day. They will never travel anywhere again, she will never cook for him or prepare a surprise for him. After all, they will never have kids. She never will. Their line was cut short. Both Dijkstra were dead along with their partners. Sterre was dead. But Luuk and Stijn were dead too. And now their bodies were burning together in the mall that became their hell and their grave. Mass grave... Luuk’s mother won't get over it. And how much time will pass before she finds out that her family is dead, that she is a widow and that her son is gone. But the worst thing is that Kate will never know who Sterre really was and why she destroyed the lives of hundreds of people including her own. She couldn’t be just insane.

While crossing the empty road, she realized that all the power was gone. Not just the one that lived in her body, but the one that once lived in her mind. She fell down on her knees in the middle of the road, looked up in the colourless skies and screamed in despair as loud as she could. Her scream pierced the air, reached the sky and echoed with thunder and thousand voices which filled all the empty space around and spread throughout the whole town, overtaking and deafening everyone.

------- THE END --------

Publication Date: 12-11-2020

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