late jan: being assasinated 0.2

the sandstone buildings were overtowering the landscape... it was the oldest section of the university where mum and i have attended, thirty years apart... the last time i was here was for a celebration... this time around, it was different... my mum and i had to move quickly... dad had already left in the black four wheel drive to divert their attention... all we had to do now was to criss-cross within the dark corridors of these old buildings to meet up with dad at blackburn... we were moving at an acelerating pace... we must have looked as though we were late for a lecture... then a group of three asian "tourist" slowed us... "no don't stop, don't answer them mum!" i could only think... and they started to ask for directions... once they detected our slowing pace, they turned around and started chasing us... it was so close... a left turn at the corner... mum nearly go trip by one of the men...

late jan: being assasinated 0.1

... from our first flour apartment, i descended down the step to the apartment foyer... the 2-storey atrium was illuminated by overcast daylight, not unlike the flourescence lighting which would switch on precisely at 6pm every evening... i barely pressed on the release botton, covered by transparent plastic for hygiene reasons (very common after the SARS incident), and the floor to ceiling door swinged open... i quickened my pace with a few doudle jumps down the stairs to the common garage... just before a reached the bottom, my eyes caught a glimps of our car - dark, stationery, very still, resting at right angles to the pathway into the garage, awaiting for me to alight - my sister would be there, my mother too...
"bang, bang, bang," in quick successions... another glimpse of one or two fast moving shadows... was that the shaft of a gun?
immediately my instinct made me to turn around... "run, run, run,"... "run back up!"