The Yellow Hibiscus Chapter 16

“Please,” she said, backing her chair away from me. “Don’t hurt me!”

Her face shared the same terror as Juan’s when his hand ignited after touching the diamond.

“Wa . . . wa. . .. wait a minute,” I cried. “Why . . . I don’t.... what?”

“Please!” she begged again. “Don’t unlock the secret of the Yellow Diamond Hibiscus!”

“What Yellow Hib . . .” instinctively, my right hand reached for the diamond. Oddly, my right hand- froze as it touched the diamond in my pocket. It refused to move. Using my left hand, I struggled to lift my right hand to show her the diamond-shaped stone with a yellow flower embedded in it. Briefly, both my hands were lifeless. She ran out screaming!

I followed her into the waiting room, shouting, “Wait, please, I need your help.”

She was nowhere in sight!

Scanning left and right after I hit the street, still no sight of the gypsy. She had vanished like the radar off the screen of a doomed airplane!

I had to catch my breath after my frantic dash down the stairs. My hands were no longer frozen, yet fear suffocated me as sirens echoed in the distance. Suspiciously, I looked over my shoulder, left, then right, then left again.

The subway was a few yards ahead. The rumbling on the train tracks on the underground platform grew louder as I edged closer to it. I ran down the stairs to catch the number 6 train. I didn’t have to wait long before it arrived, and I hustled inside. At that hour, my car was as empty as a coffee shop at eleven a.m. in mid-town. I sat down and thought over how crazy my life had become in the past forty-eight hours.

But what was the reaction of the gypsy about? Shouldn’t she be able to walk on the dark side? Why had she begged me not to unlock the secret to the Yellow Diamond Hibiscus. What did she mean by that? At least now I knew the flower was a hibiscus. I tried to calm myself down to avoid unnecessary attention from passengers entering the train.

My eyes swept the subway car as the train pulled away from the station. No one paid attention to me, more interested in their phone texting or listening to music or podcasts coming through their earbuds. That calmed me down somewhat. I took out my phone to do some Internet trolling. I had to get to the bottom of the mystery. With trembling hands, I googled the meaning of yellow diamond. My eyes were drawn to the search entry, ‘A yellow diamond is a warning.’

My heart began beating double time, and my eyes swept the interior of the subway car. It now felt strange. Like someone was watching me. The train stopped at the next station, and I quickly exited. My knees had to be making a knocking sound from the way they trembled as I walked. I was sure someone was watching me, but who? How could anyone know what I possessed! Only three people besides me knew of the diamond. I panicked and tried to calm myself by telling myself I had nothing to hide. As soon as the thought formed in my mind, I got a thunderous reply from a voice inside me.

“Really, you have a short memory! You just started a fire with that thing.’

“I know, but I have to find out what all this means. At the Cyber Café?” I answered internally.

“Yeah. You are doused with gasoline and want to go into a burning building. Wake up!” my inner voice shouted.

“You have a better idea?” I continue my internal insanity.

“Yeah, try using library books. What you research will be untraceable and far safer. I can’t say the same about Wi-Fi.”

“Safe choice,” I answered myself.

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoy it.