ALONE

                        ~~~°°°~~~

The approaching steps matched with the pounding heartbeats of Ikechukwu's heart. His breathing was heavy as he bit down hard on his lips, his eyes not moving from the space where a door should have been. He had seen many situations like this in movies, and it was something he never thought he would experience. Mary on the other hand was very calm, she didn't care much about what would happen, she couldn't die, her only concern was, she didn't want to be raped.

"We could go through the window?" Mary whispered, her voice so tiny Ikechukwu could barely pick up the words.

"Are you crazy? No way am I going to risk my life."

He heard her give a heavy sigh and though he couldn't see her face well, he was sure she rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said. "You can stay here, I'm going to jump."

"No." He grabbed her by the elbow before she could walk away. "What? Are you trying to embrace death?" he whispered furiously.

She snatched her hands from his hold. "It's like you forget who I am, all I might sustain are few broken bones. Also, if you don't know it yet, I'm immortal, death isn't in my dictionary."

"Well, it's in my dictionary and come on, we could take the man-"

"Who dey there?" Who is there? A deep voice asked with thick Calabar accent. "Show your face!" Reveal yourself! The voice shouted.

The only sound in the room was their heavy breathing and a mosquito which flew past Ikechukwu's ear, he flinched in annoyance but not moving an inch.

"Quick." Mary whispered to Ikechukwu. "Act like you're insane."

He raised an eyebrow in question,  wondering if he had heard her right. "What?"

"Just do it, it works every time," she said. She raised her right hand up and smacked him right across the head, then throwing her head back, she laughed maniacally like she had just won a lottery. She had moved her head with so much force, Ikechukwu flinched when he heard her neck give a snap sound.

As the man approached, the room got brighter due to the torchlight he held in his hands. Ikechukwu cursed under his breath, he still thought it would have been better to just come clean, but then, if it was an armed robber that was coming, he could put a bullet through their heads before they had the time to say a word.

Grabbing Mary hands, he gave a little laugh of his own, shoving down his pride a place the sun doesn't shine, he started jumping round, breaking in a song he remembered singing in his childhood.

The man who now stood by the door, his touchlight on the two 'crazy' people before him. Ikechukwu and Mary didn't stop their little dance. "What is this?" he said to himself. "Oya! Get out from here!" He picked up a stick laying beside him and with this he chased out of the room.

"Leave us alone joor!" Mary complained. Ikechukwu cringed when he heard that, grabbing Mary wrist he pulled her with him incase she decided to fight the man like the crazy person she was. They were led out of the building where the man gave them a warning never to come back.

They didn't say a word to each other till they had gotten to a safe distance. Mary giggled in delight. "Ah, I told you my plan would work."

Ikechukwu rolled his eyes. "Let's just-" His words were cut short by a hissing sound just behind them.

"Mary!" A voice called. A voice Mary knew too well.

She turned round quickly, Ikechukwu following. "Mother," she said.

"Mother?" Ikechukwu muttered, looking from her to the woman. He frowned as he wondered where she had come from, the streets were empty and he wondered what a lady would be doing out late at night.

"Good, I found you—what the fuck are you putting on? And what's that stench? Did you sleep in the sewers or something?" Athea nose scrunched up in disgust.

"I'm sorry I don't look appealing to you mother," Mary said sarcastically. "Next time, I will try my best to look more presentable."

Ikechukwu stood awkwardly beside Mary, he eyed the woman before them, who he now knew was Mary's mother. She was dressed in casual clothes, blue jeans and a turtleneck sweater. Her hair was packed up in a ponytail, but some wisps escaped the hold and were now cascaded over her face. Due to the streetlights, which the government had managed to provide for the community, Ikechukwu could see her face.

Her green eyes moved over to Ikechukwu, she eyed him, then back to Mary. "He is human."

Mary sighed. "Well durrh. I realised that earlier. Don't we have important issues to talk about, he is not important." Ikechukwu frowned, he couldn't deny that the statement hadn't hurt his feelings. She walked forward to her Mother. "Did Martha-"

"Martha told me everything, we have been looking for Chioma since then, it's like she disappeared off the face of the Earth. It's the Tarum, she's using it to hide her scent."

"Isn't there something else we could do?"

"We'll discuss all of that when we get home. We need to leave now and get you in..." she bit her lips to stifle a laugh. "Let's go, you look ridiculous."

"Go?" Ikechukwu looked to Mary.

"Yeah, I forgot about you," Athea said to Ikechukwu. "Fine." she clicked her tongue. "I will make this easier for you, how do you want to die?"

"Eh?" Ikechukwu prayed his ears were deceiving him. "How I want to die?"

Mary gave a small cough. "Eh...Mother do you have to kill him?"

Athea looked at her daughter like she was crazy. "Why do you ask that when you know the answer. He knows too much already, I can't let him go." she looked back at Ikechukwu. "You should be grateful boy, I don't give everyone options."

"Grateful?" He asked in disbelief. "I should be grateful?"

"You see," she said in a surprisingly calm tone. "This is why I hate humans, bunch of ungrateful puppets."

"Calm down," Mary said to Ikechukwu, then to her Mother. "Nobody is killing anybody."

Athea scoffed. "Why?"

"Because he's...well, I have unfinished business with him and that's all you need to know."

"Yeah," Ikechukwu said nodding his head vigorously. "We have unfinished business so let me go." He said not thinking of his words.

Athea eyed him to shut up, then back to Mary. "You really don't want him dead?"

"No."

She raised her hands up in defeat. "Fine." she walked over to Mary grabbing her arms, in a second they were gone, leaving Ikechukwu standing alone.

Everything happened too fast. Ikechukwu took a heavy gulp, his head was running with different thoughts but at the same time blank as he couldn't seem to focus on one. The question of where to go and what to do. He wanted to punch someone in the face, maybe Mary, but she was a woman, and he didn't beat girls, so he would like to punch a man that looked like her.

•••

Don't go just yet, scroll up for Chapter thirteen 😂 decided the least I could do was triple update.

Kindly leave your thoughts and a vote will be appreciated, stay safe.