Well, it has been a crazy year for us all, but in the midst of all the madness, I was able to get my third book finished for my crime thriller series. Alone in the Woods will be published February 17. In the meantime, the audiobooks for the first two books in the series are available, and the paperback edition of All His Pretty Girls is finally an option in both the UK and the US, so despite everything, good things have also been happening for me. If you're interested, here's the link to my website where you can find the links to any of my books. https://www.charlycoxauthor.com Here's to a happier, brighter, and healthier 2021 for everyone!
The lock down had barely been lifted when people scampered on the road making the most of the time because no one knew when the state will be shut again. We heard about the terrible virus and we had so much confidence that before it gets to our country, it would be burned up by the heat in this part of the world, little did we know. It had come, the government declared a 2 weeks lock down leaving the masses stranded, almost hopeless and begging to survive. Soon the ban was lifted, only to be followed by a routine of work hours and a curfew of 8 pm- 6 am daily followed suit. This routine made life miserable for me but we could not object to it cause it was for our good. It was Friday, few minutes to 04: 00 pm, I had informed my colleagues that I would leave 2 hours after closure since I still had a pile of work yet to be done, I usually stay later than others compiling daily- monthly reports, thus I was left alone with my boss. I had nearly finished when I heard a knock on the door, it was my boss who came to inform me that he was going, I did not want to be left alone, I quickly shut down my system and followed him out. It was already late and he was not heading my direction. I bade him farewell hoping to see him the next week, I wish I had known what laid in store for me. Hurrying down the street, heading for the junction, I had to use the footbridge in order to get a cab that will go my way. A 100 meters to the bridge, I sighted a causally dressed young lady, she seemed to be waiting for someone, more so a stranger who needed direction, but I thought to myself, any sensible stranger would not wait on a lonely path just to ask for directions, my instinct gave a warning beep, run! I heard my heart tell me. Approaching the bridge, she took out her phone as if to call someone, she called out: "sister, please excuse me" i did not wait to hear what other information she had for me, I obeyed my instinct and took to my heels. She came after me, slowly and slowly, I ran as fast as I could up the bridge's stairs, straight and down again, my heartbeat, as loud as a gong. Racing down the stairs on the opposite lane, I flagged down a cab and hopped in without asking questions, I screamed "drive! We zoomed off and I felt at peace. A few meters into our journey, I noticed funny movements in the car, the driver kept using the rear mirror to look at me, his hair was braided, he had tattoos and a piercing on his nose, "okay I can overlook that" I said to myself, a nursing mother was in the front seat with her child, the lady by my side had an unkempt skin, she seemed to be uncomfortable, scared and all of that and a huge fair man by her side, making a total of 4 persons. I still did not feel anything was wrong in this cab, not until the lady beside me took out a spray from her bag and spoke in low tones, she told the man she just wanted to know what the spray scented like. I sat by the door, all the windows were partly down, I am allergic to harsh smell, so I wound the glass down, the driver wound it up from his seat, I did not know why I didn't oppose to this strange act. In split of seconds, she sprayed what she had towards me, I gave her a questionable look as to asking why she did that? I covered my nose, but luck was not on my side this time, even with my nose mask on, I had inhaled a good dose of it, instead of choking, I felt dizzy, that was when it dawned on me, I've been kidnapped, I screamed out loud: "from fry pan to fire, oh no! Just then did the same lady who seemed uncomfortable and scared asked of my name; "my name is Blue" I stammered, tears pouring from my eyes into my nose mask, "wow, I'm red then" they burst out laughing. She snatched my bag and started ransacking it, she said: "this babe is poor babe oh! she no get anything, what do we do? She pulled out something from my bag and threw it back with so much speed, she blurted: "eeww, disgusting fellow", just then did I realize she had taken out my handkerchief that was drenched in mucus from catarrh which I suffered through out the week. At every point where it seemed like I would sleep off, she gave me a slap to concentrate. She took out my wallet and found 2 expired debit cards, an expired university identity card, a few passports and just the complete amount of money to take me home. She took out my umbrella, then my ballerina shoes and she exclaimed; "did something die in your shoes, why do they smell so awful", I still couldn't say a word, I was so terrified. They dropped me at a junction I never knew, and carted away with my umbrella( I loved that umbrella so much). Sucked up in fear, I found another cab, this time I assessed the driver to the point he said; "madam, are you going or not? I sat all cuddled up at the back seat, wishing I could teleport myself from the car to the arms of my mama. I got home terrified, dizzy and uncoordinated. My sister mailed my boss asking for a week leave, he gave two, in his words: "let her quarantine herself".
I opened the car and sat down without knowing what to do; I just laid my forehead over my arms on the steering wheel. What would I do now? I decided to leave the parking lot and take off somewhere. I stopped in front of the police station. I took a few deep breaths and left the car. I climbed up the stairs to the right of the reception office. The police on duty kept staring at me until he kindly asked me what happened or if there was a problem since I looked bad. I swallowed and began to stutter. "Miss...Were you a victim of a sexual act performed against your will?”... “Yes” “You're lyin' madame, because we know that dude for whom you're getting a case filed against. He is a part of our police team and had a camera on his shirt that we can see from our computer and ½ of what you said was true like the sexual acts allegations and we're sorry about that, so, we'll cut your jail time in half. The result is just half aN year in jail.”
How Would You Feel if: When you opened your eyes, the sunlight was beaming through the window. You suppose it is an early afternoon since the sun was pounding down. You took a glance at the ceiling; it was a cream color and there was a lamp shaped like a teardrop; the walls were an apricot color with some rural pictures hanging. Your look was fixed on them for a brief while, then, you simply opened your eyes completely; a lock of hair was in your eye; You gently scraped it out of the way with your finger. You felt something moist when you touched your face. When you glanced at your hand, it was drenched with blood. You sat up in bed, surprised, and you saw him alongside you— a young man with short hair, dull skin, eyes shut, his face and chest secured with blood. He had a stream of blood hanging out of his mouth, however, it was solid-dry by then. You didn't comprehend what was going on- thoughts and questions had started to fill your head- Why is there a wounded guy next to me and where has he come from. You nudged him with your finger to wake him up— he was cold. His skin was bone-tweaking cold. This is what happened to Camryn, though. To find out, Read part 1B.
We all have a negativity bias. Those of us who live in the Western world have an inaccurate ideology in regards to the ‘impoverished' world. We conceive that things are getting worse. The media and organizations, who longing for donations, persuade us things are worse than they are. We conform to the ideas in mainstream media. After being subjected to hundreds of stories of people dying from inadequate healthcare, addictions, violent crime, natural disasters, poverty and starvation. What we do not see or hear about is how drastically these numbers are shrinking. Maybe crime has gone up in the last year, or 5 years, but as a whole, these numbers are shrinking. Maybe millions of people still live without electricity, or vaccinations, or education, or even basic human rights, but these numbers are shrinking. When we look at facts from the short term, we can get caught up on the numbers. We have to take a step back at look at not only numbers, but percentages in a population, or changes in numbers over the years. A number can be misleading when it is on its own. Look at statistics over the past 10, 20, or 50 years. Crime is diminishing, women are being educated, having smaller families and overcoming poverty. The world is not on a downhill spiral, the world is getting better. Millions of people work every day toward changes in our society, and it is not in vain. The ‘developed world', will soon just be ‘The World'. 80% of people in the world have some access to electricity. (Rosling, 2018) Even in low-income countries, 60% of girls finish at least primary schools. (Roser & Ortiz-Ospina, 2019) In the past 20 years, poverty has been cut in half. (Rosling, 2018) Child labor has decreased by 40 percent from 2000 to 2016. ("23 charts and maps that show the world is getting much, much better", 2019) Life expectancies have more than doubled in the past 50 years ("23 charts and maps that show the world is getting much, much better", 2019) Child mortality rates have halved since 1990. ("23 charts and maps that show the world is getting much, much better", 2019) We still have years of work ahead of us, but it is important for people to see the progress being made in the world today. To see what benefits their efforts, tax/donation dollars are reaping. We cannot sit by and believe everything is okay in the world, just as much as we cannot accept the lie that the world cannot be improved. Today's mainstream media focus on negative, and short term news. We do not see the long term improvements happening all the time, just more gradually. So many wonderful things are happening in the world, and improvements are constantly progressing. If you ever feel beaten down by negativity in the news, be mindful of the negativity bias, and remember that big changes do not happen overnight. Sources Rosling, H. (2018). Factfulness. [Place of publication not identified]: Flatiron Books. Roser, M., & Ortiz-Ospina, E. (2019). Primary and Secondary Education. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/primary-and-secondary-education 23 charts and maps that show the world is getting much, much better. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2014/11/24/7272929/global-poverty-h ealth-crime-literacy-good-news