They Thought I Was Dead: Sandy’s Story

25 22 July 2007 — Roel Albazi

‘No!’ Albazi screamed. ‘No, no, NO!’ He ran towards the motionless figure. ‘Skender, Skender!’ He turned to the two officers, nearly hysterical. ‘That’s my friend! My employee!’

Then, to his joy, as he knelt, he saw movement. Sharka, the palms of both his hands flat against the wall, turned his head and made a sound that was part moan, part grunt. It came from deep in his throat. He made it again, more urgently. Then again and shook his shoulders, turning his head towards Albazi.

‘You OK? You OK, Skender? What’s happened?’

Sharka made the same sound again. It was as if he was trying desperately to speak but could not get any words out. Had he had a brain bleed, Albazi wondered? Had he been hit on the head and was delirious, or was he on some drug? Although he doubted that, Sharka never drank and never took drugs.

‘Tell me,’ Albazi asked, ‘who did this? Did they hurt you? Drug you?’

‘His hands look like they’re stuck to the wall,’ the male officer said.

Then when Sharka tried to reply again, Albazi realized he was unable to open his mouth to speak. He saw what looked at first like a line of spittle between his lips, but then as he looked closer he saw it was solid. He reached out a finger and gently touched the area. It felt hard.

Then he realized.

‘Your lips, Skender, someone’s glued them shut, right? With some kind of superglue?’

Sharka nodded.

‘His hands, too,’ the female officer said, examining them carefully but gently. Addressing Sharka, she asked, ‘Are you able to move them at all, sir?’

He shook his head.

Albazi heard her colleague radioing for an ambulance. He turned to her and said, ‘I think warm water and soap might help.’

There was a staccato voice through the radio. Then the tall officer said, ‘There’s an ambulance on its way, sir, they’ll know best what to do.’

The female officer was checking Sharka’s pulse. He looked at Albazi, bewildered and, for the first time that Albazi had ever seen, frightened.

‘You’ll be OK, man. I need to know what happened. Who did this to you? I need to know this.’

But in reality, he knew already. The message on his phone was from the same number the anonymous caller had used when he was in Song Wu’s office less than an hour ago. A burner for sure.

In her office, Song Wu had been quizzing him earlier about Skender. Now he realized it was more than just quizzing, it was a subtle hint, which in hindsight could not have been clearer. She sent messages to people when she was angry with them. Brutal messages.

‘Do you have any idea who might be responsible for this?’ the tall officer asked.

‘No, none,’ Albazi lied. ‘But Skender must have let them in. He either knew them or they tricked him.’ He squeezed his arm, just a little. ‘I’ll get you sorted,’ he said.

Sharka’s face contorted into traces of a smile and he nodded.

‘Did you recognize who did this?’ he asked. And from the look in his eyes, Albazi knew he did.

But Sharka again shook his head.