CLYPEUS

Your flawless barrier is me

Only if you let your eyes feel my trough

Expunge your infirmity and hold me tight

Let me be the armour to shield your heart in mine

* * *

“Thank you, ma’am. Please visit us again.”

You exited the glass door of the pharmacy store. Your little purse was in your care by the side of your hips. It dangled as you advanced, making your way slowly towards the road. The traffic had almost ceased by then since the clock struck past eleven, heading to midnight.

You had the plastic bag on your left, filled with the hormonal vaccines for your dear grandma. She was waiting for you at home and was half asleep when you had closed your front door.

Already half an hour was gone, yet you were still on the empty road, waiting for the signal to turn red even though there was no traffic. Rules were rules, and you would die rather than break any.

Your mom was fed up reminding you for the umpteenth time to go to the pharmacopoeia while coming back from your job. But your brain always betrayed your memory, so you had to jog out in the middle of the night in case any emergency arose during the night.

Previous months gave you relief because, whenever you forgot to buy the medicines, your parents bought them. Now, it was only you and your granny, who was sick. So who was supposed to get the job done? You, the sole you.

Sometimes, it got even worse when you found the shop in your locality closed, so you had to trudge to the neighbouring pharmacy. However, today you easily got the medicine without another trip.

The sky was bracing itself with chunks of thick clouds as if it would snow soon. It knew how to bother you all the more by asking the chilly, arctic wind to snap at your skin. You caressed the surface of your soft, full-sleeved cardigan on sensing the cold air roar into your ears, flutter your black strands of hair, and blow your skirt.

You managed to keep your clothes down as you trotted to the edge of the road when the signal shone bright red. Though serenity filled the city, a sports bike zoomed at a distance as it made a sharp turn towards the street you were walking on.

Your shocked eyes shot a glare at the noisy wave streaming nearer. As you were about to step on the asphalt, the rushing vehicle raced past you. You tripped as your skirt waved in the air.

The person on the bike glanced back at you. He took a nice picture of you in the portfolio of his mind and smirked greedily. You immediately lowered your skirt before yelling, “Yah, you pervert! Can’t you see properly? Go get your eyes checked!” 

But whom were you talking to? Whom were you shouting at? He was gone with another blink of your eyes. In the next moment, four cop cars darted in the same direction of the tyre marks, the tails of their sirens echoing down the street.

“Woah! It seems he’s some sort of criminal!” You gasped and hastened back home without wasting a second over the thoughts blaring in your skull.