by Jennie Dah
Turning left, I start walking but after a while I start to feel the strain in my muscles. I wipe the sweat pouring from my face with the collar of my shirt, my chest heaving from exertion barely able to breathe around the burn in my lungs.
My legs finally roll to a stop too damn exhausted to continue and my chest heaves with the force of my breaths. I try to swallow but my mouth is as dry as the Sahara in harmattan. I really should have taken the jar of water with me. Maybe looked for a sandwich too.
My stomach clenches painfully releasing a loud growl. That’s it, I’m going back. This is so not worth it. At least back there they’ll feed me. I turn around and freeze looking around in alarm.
Umm… where did I make the last turn?
Everything looks the same and if I’m not mistaken I think I’m lost in a maze. I turn back around and I could have sworn there were about four or maybe more wooden doors up ahead just a few seconds ago. So where did they go? All I can see now is plain white walls as far as my eyes can see.
What the hell is going on? Where am I? Please let this be a dream or something. Anything but reality.
'Someone is coming. Quickly, hide.’ I jerk at the frantic whisper my heart picking up speed.
What? I look around for a place to hide but the closest door is too far down the hall for me to make inside in time.
‘I don’t think I’ll make it in time. What’s the use anyway?’ I think tiredly. ‘Maybe I should just wait here for them to come get me.’
Panic surges through my body and I frown in confusion. What the hell? My heart begins to pound erratically in my chest and my breaths come faster too. My body start to heat up and sweat pours down my face.
'No. You can’t let these guys find you, you have to run. Please!’
I start running at the desperation bleeding through my mind. I haven’t felt anything this urgent from her since I was a child and even though I don’t understand the feeling of urgency running through my veins, I know not to ignore it.
‘RUN!’
“Jeez, stop yelling. I got it,” I grumble. “What does it look like I’m doing? Walking a runway?”
“This isn’t the time for your smart mouth,” she growls and I run faster.
I pump my legs as hard as I can and open the door just as I hear voices round the corner. I fall inside the room which looks just like another hospital room closing the door softly, grateful it doesn’t creak and lean back against it tightly squeezing my eyes shut.
“Did you hear that?” someone says out in the hall.
No. No. My heart beats frantically in my chest, trying to claw its way out. I’m surprised they can’t hear it beating.
“What? I didn’t hear anything, hurry we have to find the girl,” someone else says in a much gruffer voice.
“I don’t know how she managed to get out of that room,” the first guy growls in frustration. “I thought they said Dorian had a spell on the room that should make her unable to make it to the door much less outside?”
Is that why that window tried to kill me? But wait, a spell? And he said door so why did the window go bananas on my ass?
“Well somehow she managed to get out and we better find her before they kill us.”
“This wouldn’t have happened if you’d stayed out in the hall like I told you,” Gruffy says.
The voices trail off and I relax a little. I let out a breath and bend over clutching my knees.
What the hell had they been talking about? Spell? Killing? Who the hell is Dorian? What the hell do they want with me?
Granted they could be talking about someone else but with my luck that’s not likely and definitely not possible, not with what just happened to me back there. Fear shoots through me for the first time and I wrap my hands around myself.
‘Hey, I’m right here. I won’t let anything happen to you.’
‘Oh yeah? How do you plan on doing that?’ I ask shakily. ‘You’re just the voice in my head.’
‘Have I ever in your life let you down before?’
‘No,’ I shake my head sullenly.
‘Then trust me.’
‘But I’m scared,’ I whisper brokenly my voice small.
‘What do you have to fear if I’m right here with you?’
‘Nothing,’ I say repeating the word that answers the question she asks me every time I feel afraid.
'Then let's go.'
Straightening, I slowly pull the door open again looking both ways down the hall before stepping out. Time to get out of here. I take a deep breath, pushing the fear out of my mind and start walking again.
Chapter 3
MAKAFUI
‘We gotta hurry. They know you’re gone.’
I frown at the voice in my head. I’ve been walking for a while now. I’m so damn tired. I wipe the sweat from my face with the hem my shirt.
'How do you do that?’ I ask suspiciously. Come to think of it, how did she know that those guys were coming?
‘Keep going,' she mumbles impatiently ignoring my question.
‘How did you know someone was coming earlier?’ I ask my interest piqued not for the first time. I’ve been asking her these kind of question for years but I never get a straight answer.
'Uhhh… instincts, I guess.'
'Bullshit, my instincts stink. So what the hell?’ I snap anger making my voice sharper than I intended.
‘That’s not true. Your instincts are what kept you alive this long.’
'This isn’t right,’ I shake my head in confusion.
‘What’s not right.’
'You. You say you’re my conscience but that isn’t true at all, is it?’
‘I never said I was your conscience. You assumed I am.’
‘Because of your nagging. You never let me get away with anything,’ I grumble sullenly.
‘Because you were one disturbed kid. No six year old would have thought to add that itching powder to her grandfather’s bathwater.’
“He had it coming and you know it,” I mutter remembering that one harmattan that I grinded that itchy leaf and added it to Grandpa Mawuli's bathwater. “Besides it was an honest mistake. The leaves he wanted me to get him were growing right beside the ones that itch.”
“I didn’t even know you were going to do it or were responsible for that until after when you laughed so hard when he was rolling on the ground screaming his lungs out.”
“He called me evil for no good reason,” I grumble with a shrug and a picture of my incredulous face flashes through my mind. “You know very well that that year I did all I could so he could like me and the man tried to take advantage of my little kind heart.”
“See? That right there is why I’m always hard on you and even now over a decade and a half later you still don’t feel any remorse.”
'So I could’ve avoided all the beatings and punishments if I hadn’t listened to you?’ I ask in curiosity.
'Yes’ she says proudly and I growl.
'You said I needed to tell the truth and then made me feel guilty when I refused.'
‘No that wasn’t me. That was your conscience,’ she corrects as if that makes it better.
'I actually have one?’ I ask in surprise.
'When it suits you,’ she mutters and I grunt dismissively.
‘So what are you?’ I ask curiously.
‘Not now.’
‘Wait a minute,” I gasp as snippets of forgotten conversation flash through my head.
“What is it? Are you okay?” she asks in concern.
“We’ve had this conversation before,’ I sputter in disbelief.
‘How the hell do you even remember that?’ she huffs in indignation.
'You fucking bitch. You've been messing with my head,' I hiss my stomach warming in anger. “You promised you wouldn’t touch anything up there.”
'I'll explain everything later, I promise.’
‘Like I haven’t heard that one before,’ I snark.
‘This time I will.’
&
nbsp; ‘I can’t believe I’ve been called “adze yibor” because of you.’
Which means evil witch in my language and I was six.
'Hey, listen to me. I’ll explain later, okay. I need you to trust me.’
‘Fine but you better explain yourself when we’re alone and safe,' I warn threateningly relenting.
'Okay, left around the corner.’ I feel her relief flood my mind.
I shake my head and start walking again. After a few twists and turns I finally pull open a door that leads me out into the night.
A rush of cool breeze hits my heated skin and I blow out a breath feeling slightly better. I hurry down the few steps that lead to the ground then finally my feet touches the cool earth and I feel a sense of calm rush through my body.
“Ahh!” I sigh happily forgetting everything else. “Now this feels like home.”
My eyes slowly adjust to the darkness and I rear back in surprise my mind drawing a complete blank. This place look nothing like I’ve ever seen before.
I look left and see a brightly lit shopping center or is it a mall? Next to it is what look like some kind of large building that looks like the Cathedral Building and it’s been built somewhere in the 1800s and renovated a few times throughout the years.
There are a cluster of storefronts around and some quaint looking buildings with a few buildings which are more modernised glass and chrome surrounding it. A group of youngsters pour out of one of the building and music blares loudly through the quiet night, making me step further back into the shadows, their laughter a shrill sound that’s hurting my ears.
They stagger about pushing at each other clearly drunk off their asses and I step back even further into the shadows and the music cuts off suddenly by the banging of the door and they disappear down the road. More like they vanish. One second they’re there and the next they’re gone.
Eish, now I’m seeing things too? I really need to eat something fast before I start thinking I can dance too.
Looking to the right, I see a smattering of really beautiful cottage houses that look like they belong in a fairytale and some high-end skyscrapers buildings that are—if I’m not mistaken—taller than those I’ve seen in Atlanta and New York.
Before me is a long winding road that breaks off into several directions that leads off into the darkness. The place is brightly lit with lampposts that line the street and it gives the place a kind of otherworldly glow. There are a few people about but they don’t seem to give a crap about me.
This place looks like a mini New York city bustling with nightlife but I get the feeling I’m not even a tiny bit close to the real New York. I stumble back and clutch my stomach at the intense pain that rips through me, an intense sense of overwhelming loss overtaking my body.
I bite my lips to prevent the cry of pain from leaving my mouth but still a low keening sound escapes my throat and I look back at the steps leading to the hospital.
Oh. My. God. Where am I?
This building looks like it been captured off of the front cover of an Elizabethan era novel and it’s breathtakingly beautiful even with all the vines of ivy creeping up around it.
How big is it? I ask myself and look all the way up until the back of my head almost touches my back. I can’t even see where it ends or begins and I turn around in a circle but nothing looks familiar.
How long have I really been out of it? Did the world go back in time? No that’s not it, the people around here are still dressed in 21st century clothing. Well clothes you’d find people wearing on a tropical island so it must be summertime around here. I run a hand through my hair but my hand meets a cloth like material on my head and my insides knot in dread.
No. Please don’t let it be a bandage. It could only mean one thing. I slowly nudge the material and it falls back.
I rip it off and stare down at it. I can’t see much in the darkness and the moonlight isn’t doing much to help my vision. I bring the material closer to my face and squint down at it.
Oh. I breathe in relief. Just a cap. I touch my hair and feel my braids are still intact. If I’ve been in a coma for seven months then who’s been caring for my hair? I cringe at what it probably looks like on my head right now.
It’s knotted at the back of my head and I release the band holding it together and tilt my head back shaking it out with a blissful laugh at having something familiar after waking up in a strange place even if it probably looks like a rat’s nest.
Suddenly the overwhelming feeling of loss from earlier threatens to send me crashing to my knees. I clutch my stomach and double over, my mind a mess. I can’t think clearly not with this feeling crippling my body. Slowly, I feel the feeling recede and then I could breathe again.
‘Are you there?’ I call out to my not-conscience
'I'm right here.’
‘What was that?’ I ask panting harshly.
'I don’t have time to explain right now, we need to go. He’s coming.'
Huh? Who’s coming?
‘What do you mean?’ I ask but she’s already gone. Ugh, why does she always leave before I can get answers?
I kick at the ground in frustration and then clutch my foot in pain when it connects with a rock. Damn it. I hop around on one foot and bite down hard on my lips to keep the cry of pain between my teeth.
The sound of a blaring alarm fills the quiet night and I wince at the sudden ear-splitting sound. My heart thumps desperately in my chest and my eyes dart around trying to find a place I can hide. Doors start opening and closing all around me with people pouring out of their houses.
I look around frantically but except for the mall or the building next to it which look pretty damn faraway, I don’t think my legs can handle the strain anymore.
There’s a chance someone might see me and probably drag me back to that place which I can’t risk right now after all the trouble I went through to get out if I step out of the shadows but I know I have to get going.
I look around with my heart hammering against my ribs for a place to hide but there’s nowhere practical enough for me to hide. My head snaps to the dense foliage to the side of the ‘Buckingham palace on some serious steroids' and I walk along the edges of the building to avoid detection.
The blanket of trees ahead of me are my only option right now even though I want to sleep in a soft comfy bed tonight. I hope the snakes in those trees will find some where else to spend the night because I’m not sharing sleeping space with those creepy slithering creeps.
I start running for the trees and I almost make it but just before I can push through, I’m lifted off of my feet. I kick my feet desperately trying to get my feet back on the ground but the bar around my waist tightens and I claw viciously at it with everything in me.
“Calm down, Kitty.”
I freeze at the growled command. The voice isn’t familiar and doesn’t belong to any of the guys in the hall from before but it doesn’t mean he isn’t with them. A spike of fear shoots down my spine and my body pulls tight.
“Good kitty,” I hiss at the condescending undertone lacing the praise.
“If you don’t put me down in the next two seconds you won’t have your balls come morning. I swear,” I snarl warningly.
Suddenly I’m spun around so fast I’m surprised my head didn’t fly off my shoulders. Disoriented, I raise a hand to my temple to stop the rush of dizziness that assails me.
I raise my head ready to rip into the asshole who dares to manhandle me. I’ve been kidnapped and Lord only knows what has been done to me and this fucking asshole think he can treat me like a ragdoll?
No, not this time, not while I’m awake and have breath in my body. The sudden burst of confidence and aggression from a second ago vanishes in an instant when I get a closer look at the man holding onto me.
Maybe I’ll blame my total stupidity on my condition come morning but the man standing before me or should I say ‘god’ is the most handsome thing I’ve ever had the pleasure of setting my eyes on
in my entire life and I’ve seen some good-looking people in my life.
“Hello,” I say with the biggest grin on face. I can’t see much of his features in the moonlight but I could make out the strong outline of his jaw and his eyes seem to glow in the dark.
“I’m Celia but you can call me Kafui or you can just call me Celia. Sorry I said that before,” I say with a little laugh. Are the drugs still running in my veins because I feel kind of high right now.
His head tilts to the side and he studies me curiously in the dark. I see his lips tilt up in a little smile and I feel my heart try to climb its way out of my chest.
“I like your smile. I don’t usually like people’s smiles but I think yours is beautiful. It’s all manly and really intoxicating, I feel like I’m high. Can a smile be manly? I guess not but you have a manly one.”
“Uh….”
“Yes…” I say eagerly looking at him expectantly.
“Come with me,” he says slowly setting me back on my feet and a little ways from him. I groan and move closer to him before looking up at him again.
“Okay,” I agree stepping more into him. “Oomph. You’re huge. And freakishly tall. How tall are you? Is it something that you eat. I eat a lot but I still don’t have any meat on my bones. My grandmother used to say that I have an abyss in my stomach. I eat but it doesn’t go to my ass like a normal person. Maybe she’s right because when I eat I’m not always satisfied. Like there’s something missing, you know? I bet you eat a lot. It’s a good thing I like cooking.” I stop talking to take a breath.
I look up and he’s staring at me. I smile really big at him and he shakes his head at me in confusion. He tugs slightly on my arms and starts pulling me in the direction of the hospital that I’m suspecting isn’t really a hospital.
“Where are we going? I thought the guy usually buys the girl dinner before he drags her off to have his wicked way with her? Well I guess we can skip dinner.” I look up when he pulls me to a stop and grunts under his breath. He stares down at me for a while before he gets this blank look in his eyes. A few seconds later and his eyes clear and he looks at me like I’m some kind of fascinating creature from outer space.