Bloody Christmas
Page 2
short of his or her words. She never goes deep with issues that didn’t matter or remind her of things she wouldn’t want to remember.
Gosh! You’re and idiot” Antoine shouted at max as he kicked him on the stomach. Max’s mouth was gushing out with blood as he tried standing up. “What the hell is wrong with you, are you alright” these words came from different people as the stopped Antoine from giving max another kick as well as helping max up. “Don’t you ever joke with me like that, okay?” Antoine shouted as he sat on his sit back and continued sipping his coke.
Max had made some joke about Antoine’s head; that it looked like that of an alien he saw in the movie he watched yesterday, but Antoine didn’t take it lightly like the others who laughed at it. “Seems like you’ve got a big problem, go check yourself man”, Todd attacked Antoine immediately and left with Max back to their rooms. Another person said to Antoine in anger, “This just three days and you’ve been acting funny, if you don’t wanna stay, you can as well take the night bus out of here, geez!.” Antoine kept quiet and sipped his drink slowly without talking to anyone.
Amanda heard what happened to Max as she came back with Lucy from the burger store and ran straight to his room. “Oh! Max I’m so sorry, you need to see the doctor” she spoke softly while touching his hair. “Am good, it’s nothing” Max replied opening his mouth to show that all is well with him. “You’ve to stay away from Antoine he’s bad meat,” Lucy advised.
Antoine! Antoine! Dude you missed breakfast, his friend said as he opened the door of his room and didn’t find him there, he entered the bathroom and he wasn’t there. He left thinking he would probably be somewhere eating or doing something else. They left for the zoo without Antoine who had been in the woods not far from the motel. He just went there to look around and to put himself in a good mood before leaving for the zoo.
Todd as usual playing with his game-boy stopped the game and said, J’aime le zoo. “I like the zoo” two girls chorused at the same time. “Le tigre, le lion, beaucoup d’animaux…”Max added” everyone now surprised at what he just said. Max didn’t wait for any one to ask him how he knew how to speak French and said he grew up in Quebec. Now the driver had increased the volume of the radio that was playing a very popular song and some of them especially the girls joined in singing. Antoine couldn’t find anyone at the motel and had suspected they had left without him. Today he decided to behave well, the left him. “To hell with this” he said and started packing his stuffs into his box, he was leaving. He brought out his phone and called the airport. “The next flight leaves at 2pm” the airport attendant replied. It was almost 12pm and he had to take an hour-fifteen minutes journey to the airport. That didn’t discourage him, as realized that he left his iPod where he stayed in the woods. “I can’t stand this anymore,” he said to himself. He had been passing through a rough time and he thought coming for this vacation would help resolve issues with…his thoughts were now interrupted as room service came in to ask whether he needed help, after he had called them to let them know he was checking out. He carried his bags so that from the woods he would pick up the iPod and hit the roads.
Lucy! Come over here, this baboon is so cute,” Amanda told her as she ran towards her. “You need to see the the baby elephant, I wish I could take him home” Lucy joined. They saw many animals that they had seen only on the television. The zoo filled with different animal sounds, reminded her of her childhood when her father usually carried her to the zoo. Her father liked animals and it seems she got that from her dad. “I love the sounds of these animals,” Amanda concluded as she took some pictures of the baboons and kangaroos.
Max and Todd were arguing whether the animal in front of them was either a crocodile or an alligator. “It’s an alligator” max insisted. “That can’t be true, look at its body, it’s a crocodile. They continued until it caught the attention of the zoo attendant. “That is a crocodile not an alligator,” the zoo attendant said with all authority. “All alligators are crocodiles but not all crocodiles are alligators, the difference is in their teeth and jaws… “The attendant spoke for a while. “Moron! I told you, Hahahaha! See who hasn’t been watching national geography”, Todd said. “Dump head” Max returned the curse and both of them started laughing at each other. “Hey max, hope you are enjoying yourself? Lucy asked. “Definitely” Max answered immediately. “He couldn’t differentiate between a croc and an allig” Todd couldn’t stop laughing as he said it. Max looked at him and he stopped laughing noticing he didn’t find it funny. “Amy!” Max called out. He wanted to take a picture with Amanda and then he called the rest of them. “Where’s Antoine” some one spoke as he noticed that he wasn’t there. His friend that tried calling him after breakfast said he wasn’t sure if he intended coming with them. “Probably he needed some time alone,” he concluded.
“You missed a whole lot today Antoine” Jason said as he knocked on Antoine’s door, immediately the returned back to Cacao and turned the knob only to see that the janitor was cleaning the room and it was empty. “Where’s he?”He said. The janitor replied” He checked-out about three hours ago. “What do you mean, he’s gone!” The boy ran out immediately to inform others who were at the café chilling out. ‘”He is gone! Antoine is gone,” the boy shouted immediately he entered the café not minding it was a public place. “Gone how, what do you mean?” Todd asked impatiently. “He could be somewhere around” Lucy answered carelessly. He checked out of his room and took the 2pm flight back home, the boy added as the receptionist told him in other to lay emphasis and put them on the know better. Others were surprised but couldn’t phantom why he left, so the kept quiet. Amanda didn’t even blink an eyelid, she kept on chewing her pizza.
This is day five precisely 22nd of dec, three days to Christmas. The air is so fresh and warm; the sky is bright and clear. Pashville is a small countryside that is rich in almost anything man could ever want: good water, food, tourist sites, beaches, favourable weather and hospitable people. Close to five thousand tourists, come on vacation there at Christmas alone. The streets filled with so many people moving up and down buying one item or the other for the celebration. Some children having turning around their parents, licking ice creams and candies, others sang as the stereo from nearby shops sounded, others were crying probably because their parents couldn’t get the toys the wanted. There was so much joy and happiness everywhere; lovers hugged one another, husbands and wife caressing each other. “Christmas is always the same every year, same food, drinks, maybe new friends, new location you know. Am not really feeling Christmas anymore, I wish it could be something totally different from the usual, like an adventure, it would make sense” Lucy just quietly listened as Amanda finished this long sermon before she said “this season is always about fun, family and friends, food and drinks. There’s nothing more to it.” “You don’t get me, I mean like something more fun, adventurous…” She laughed and left the statement hanging. “Okay, maybe we should go to the moon or a mars, its different and unusual”, Lucy concluded sarcastically.
Lucy’s phone rang “hey mum! Am good and you? Oh, mum I thought we spoke about this before I left, not again. Am fine I will. Mothers “she said as she ended the call and left Amanda’s room immediately without giving her the chance to ask why she sounded that way on the phone. Amanda would give anything in the world for her to get a call from her mum, but that can’t be possible. “If not for that fire at the mall” she thought and almost started crying when someone knocked on her door. She immediately cleaned her eyes before letting the person come into the room. “Hi” she said still trying to make sure there isn’t any evidence of tears in her eyes. “I couldn’t sleep and I was thinking if we could just chat for a while” Max asked still standing close to the door as if there was a juju in the room. “Hmmm” Amanda hesitated. “It’s okay, you must be feeling sleepy, I could leave” Max said without much a do. “Nooo! No wait…stay, I want you, I really want you to stay come in” she said many things at on
ce. He now sat down on the bed, asking her how her day was and whether she is enjoying her stay. The talked extensively, until suddenly she kissed him. If he had wished for anything in the world, it was for this moment. It felt as if a thousand butterflies had just entered his stomach. He could test the strawberry flavor on her lip-gloss that made him feel he was in a strawberry orchard. He had tasted strawberry flavor on so many things, but definitely not on a girls lips, a girl he had always wanted for a long time. This romantic moment lasted for almost a minute and max wished his entire existence were all about this moment. Before anything could get serious, Lucy called Amanda from the corridor; she hurriedly arranged herself and told him to leave when he wanted. She dashed out of the room immediately in other to avoid Lucy coming into the room and having any thoughts. She entered back into the almost immediately; Lucy just wanted to let her know she was taking a walk outside. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what got into me,” Amanda said immediately as she opened the door. Still trying to apologize, Max