Stephen ran as fast as he could, his strong long legs taking him to the destination of which he heard someone scream. He had no idea who it could be, but his gut told him it was Nancy. He wasn’t sure because Nancy can’t speak let alone scream but whoever it was needed help and fast .
As he ran, his mind flashed back to all the things that have happened in the past few weeks, like the attack on Fola that has led to a huge impact to the households, they keep wondering when another attack will take place, everyone is on high alert. first, Fola was attacked in her own room at night, almost getting killed in the process, if not for her bravery she would have been dead, second she was kidnapped for like five days, we all thought she wouldn’t be found and rescued, which made us all very scared, and third bullets were fired into her room where Nancy was with her at that moment. It was a very scary, serious situation.
Her mother knows no bound; she wants Fola dead or alive. So with all that has happened everyone is being watchful, Fola doesn’t know this but even the maids keeps an eye on her, following her to places like the market, or the saloon with Bello guarding them, she never goes out alone. So hearing this god awful scream sent warning signs into my brain, it meant someone was in trouble big time. This person screamed so loud the only way I can describe it is that the person screamed as loud as a banshee. And when banshee’s scream it means there’s trouble, or most likely, death.
As I ran up the stairs, I felt someone running right behind me, taking a quick glance behind me, I saw it was bello, I was so relieved to know he was here with me. Bello is our most trusted friend and body guard. He was in the army a few years back, where he met my brother Michael. Michael saw something good in him, and knew he would be a great asset to him and his company, so he offered Bello a job. But Bello said he would rather guard Michael, Michael has never needed anyone to guard or protect him, so he made a deal with Bello, he said Bello will guard him, the people living in his house and he would also be his personal driver, but as of now Bello isn’t driving Michael any longer because he’s guarding Fola and the house. So Michael drives himself.
So anyway, Bello took the offer, he felt that as long as he could protect Michael in the process, it was alright with him. You see, while in the army, Michael once saved his life during an ambush in a country unknown to me, (Michael refused to tell me where they were). So because of this Bello swore that he will be the one to help Michael in whatever way he can. And since he has no family (according to my brother) he decided to stay here and work for him. But anyway that was then, lets focus on the moment at hand: the scream that has put the fear of God in me.
So bello and I ran, in search of whoever screamed like a banshee. We ran past Fola’s room cos we didn’t think the sound came from there, it sounded like it came from Ada’s room, I was the first to get there. I ran straight into the room on high speed coming to an immediate stop a few steps away from the door.
The first thing I saw was Fola, both palms between her eyes, covering her nose and mouth, and she was crying looking at Nancy. My heart started to beat twice as fast as before because I thought maybe she was hurt, maybe my Nancy was hurt. I looked at Nancy, then I took four quick steps to get to her, holding her shoulders, I looked into her eyes and asked,
“Are you ok?, Nancy” I asked, she blinked at me with her big gorgeous eyes, then after two beats, her lips moved and the voice that came out of her lips was a voice I know I will never forget. It was rough, soulful , very gentle and sweet. To say I was shocked is an understatement. I was astonished. She can speak, Nancy can speak.
“ i..i….i’m….f..f..f..fine.” then she lifted her hand to point her finger, I looked at her hand directed at Fola, and then I looked back at her. My mind all jumbled up ‘cos I just heard her voice and also wondering if Fola was ok. “ she…n..n..n..nee..eeds..h..h..hel..p”. she swallowed like it was difficult for her to speak, then she dropped her hand to look at me. My hands were shaking, I was excited but nervous. If Nancy can talk it means I will be able to have an amazing conversation with her. I’ve always wondered what her voice sounds like now that I know it’s better than what I thought it could be.
“ stee…phen…?” said Nancy, I looked at her, really looked at her, cos before I wasn’t looking, no I was thinking, and the sound of her voice….my god in a simple way of explaining,… it’s just ‘honey” pure sweet honey.
The way she said my name felt good to my ear, but it was actually a question, it meant what was I still doing standing there?, she said Fola needed help. So I gave a sharp nod and said,
“Stay here, I’ll be back” she nodded back at me. When I was sure she wasn’t going to move, I walked over to Fola, ready to know what the hell was going on.
……………………
Seeing Stephen and Nancy the way they were was amazing, he really cares about her, but what’s more amazing is the fact that Nancy can talk, my tears just won’t stop falling down my cheeks, I was totally concentrating on them both, I forgot about the attack on my life that happened a few minutes ago.
Bello just stood there staring at Nancy shcok written all over his face. He looke at her mouth there his eyes moved to the whole of her face, I think he was trying to figure out if the voice was truly coming out from her mouth. When Stephen stepped away from Nancy to walk to me, bello diverted his eyes away from Nancy to look at me. But his eyes still took a glance at Nancy before coming back to settle on me.
I began to clean my tears away with the back of my hand. He came close and looked down at me; Stephen is tall, not as tall as Michael but tall enough for a sixteen year old boy. He took my hands in his, looking at me he said,
“ Fola, you’re crying, I don’t see you hurt in anyway “ physically” but to be sure, are you ok?” I smiled, my lips trembling, I was about to cry again, I shook my head saying,
“I’m fine Stephen; don’t worry about me, I’m just crying because I’m so happy Nancy can talk. It’s a miracle you know. With the accident she had….” I stopped talking; taking a deep shuddering breath, cos I couldn’t talk anymore then I looked up at him. Stephen smiled down at me, I smiled back but mine was wobbly.
Then I remembered Brenda on the floor, so I thought he should know about it cos it was necessary. I was about to tell him but then Bello beat me to it,
“Who is that on the floor?” he asked walking towards us. Stopping a few feet away from us, he looked at Brenda, lying passed out on the floor. Then he looked at me. “ Fola is that Brenda, the lady that is in charge of putting your room back together?” I nodded at him, Stephen was also looking at her on the floor then he looked at me and asked, “Why is she passed out on the floor? No the main question is why is she in Ada’s room with you?” asked Bello in a
“what the freaking hell is she doing here tone”… oh boy, now I have to tell them what happened. But I couldn’t cos Nancy spoke before I could…I sighed cos everyone keeps talking before me.
“Knife” said Nancy in that sweet voice of hers. Both men turned to look at her, Stephen looked surprised at first, but then it changed to that of anger, Bello was straight up angry. Then Bello growled out asking,
“knife?” Nancy nodded her head, “She had a knife with her in this room?” she nodded her head again
“What was she doing with the knife?” he continued to ask, his eyes squinting in anger
“Kill….. F..ola”. she replied , Bello closed his eyes, his mouth set in a straight tight line he was pissed off. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes then he turned to face me,
“You’re not hurt” he said that as a confirmation, I nodded my head saying yes I mean I’m standing with them right? Isn’t it obvious that I’m not hurt? then he asked,
“Where is the knife?” hmm, that’s a good question, where is the knife? I turned around in a circle looking around to see if i would find it; it must have skittered on the floor during our struggle. I looked around but couldn’t find it, then I bent down to look under the bed, there on my knees my upper torso pressed down on the ground I saw the famous knife Brenda tried to use to kill me under the bed, still on my knees I yelled like they weren’t right there with me, behind me.
“It’s under the bed” someone knelt down beside me, I turned my head to look at the person, it was Bello, he stretched his hand out with a handkerchief, took a hold of the knife and dragged it out. He then got up I got up too, then he looked at Stephen giving him a look only a man can understand. So because Stephen is a man, well almost a man he understood Bello, after few beats of them communication their manly language, he took off his shirt leaving on his singlet, then he handed his shirt to Bello. Bello collected it then wrapped the knife up in Stephen’s shirt. He then looked at me and said,
“Evidence” he then walked out of the room, his shoes hitting the floor heavily. I watched him go, thinking that was smart of him, Because with the knife as evidence Brenda could spend a long time in jail.
I looked at Nancy she was looking at Brenda on the floor. Stephen walked over to Nancy, kissed her by the side of her head, and then brought out his phone taking a few steps away from her. He stood there, his back facing me, head down dialing a number. The person must have picked because they started to talk,
“Hello? yeah.. oh you’ve heard, who told you? …..oh, Bello…. Right, that was fast.” pause….. “yeah right here in Ada’s room” pause…… “No she’s fine, we’re all fine, she was more excited about Nancy being able to talk than her well being”……. I rolled my eyes, of course I was. “What? Oh! Yea, Nancy can talk Bello didn’t tell you that right?…. pause “Her voice is a bit rough because of not being able to talk for months and she’s stammering too”.
I looked at Nancy smiling, she smiled back. Then I looked back at Stephen cos he was still talking.
“Yea…..ok, sure….we’ll be here…..I’ll do that right away. Ok, later”. He turned around to look at me, “ Fola I need to get ropes, strong ones, but I don’t want to leave the room to get them in case she gets up so can you please get them for me?” I nodded my head that was smart. But wait ropes for what? With my eyebrows squeezed in confusion I asked,
“What do you need ropes for?”
“To tie Brenda up Fola, so she doesn’t escape”. He replied, Oh, yeah that’s true, with that being said I headed for the door, getting to it, Stephen spoke again, “Please take Nancy with you, maybe she can stay with the maids or something” I stopped to look at him, I tried to read what he was thinking about but couldn’t, my guess is he wants Nancy to be safe. Best place will be for her to be away from Brenda. So with that, I looked at Nancy, she walked over to me and took my hand in hers, and together we walked out of the room, Nancy to stay somewhere safe and me to get some ropes.
……………………………
30 minutes later. Nancy , Ada and I were all sitting in the living room. Bello and Stephen were upstairs guarding Brenda. They tried interrogating her but she refused to break. All she said was she was doing all of these on her own. It was a bit confusing ‘cos Stephen said her resume is certified. So for her to be vile and wicked and evil enough to make this attempt on my life is quite strange. I was with them when she was being questioned, but they later sent me away, don’t know why. So, My girls and I waited downstairs in the living room because we were ordered to do so, by the one and only Bello.
We stayed there not doing or saying anything, we felt that was the best thing to do at the moment, you know, to just stay quiet. The house shook by the force of the front door being opened by an angry untamed Michael causing it to make a loud bang on the wall, We were all relaxed on the couch waiting for whatever will happen to happen when Michael walked in, in his grand entrance like a warrior, like all these “Spartans” or “300” or “ ancient warriors”.
Ada gave a startled scream, Nancy and I just sat there with our eyes bulging out and our backs ramrod straight. Michael paid no attention to our reaction, he just looked at us all, first at me: he asked,
“are you alright?”. I nodded my head Then he looked at Ada, “ you good?” she nodded her head too, Then lastly, he looked at Nancy, “ you can speak” she nodded her head, “Speak” he commanded, I rolled my eyes, he’s commanding her like she is in the army. But She spoke anyway, and this is what she said,
“ I …c.c.can…s.s.speaaak.. miccchaeel.” Michael’s shoulders relaxed like a heavy load had been lifted off his shoulders. He then walked over to us at the couch, but instead of him facing me, he faced Nancy, he got down on his knees, bent towards her, took hold of her hand, then pulled her towards him to give her a tight sweet hug. It was so sweet I started to cry, before I could stop myself, I threw myself on them to give them my own hug. Michael created a little space to add me into the huddle hugging us both.
After a few minutes of me crying like a lunatic and Michael pretending I wasn’t one. He let go of us, causing me to move back. He cradled Nancy’s cheeks softly to give her a peck on her forehead, and then he looked at me, smiled, got up and walked over to the stairs taking it two at a time to go and deal with Brenda. I was cleaning the tears from my eyes when we all heard,
“Well! That was sweet” that came from Becky unnecessarily with a loud clap of her hands, All eyes focused at her “Hi sugar plumps, miss me?” she was standing by the front door, dressed in tight leather black pants, a red tank top that said “ bite me”, and her hair was made in an up doo like a pony tail, scattered but sexy, with bright round gold earrings dangling from her ears and black heels with a red satchel bag that looked amazing. She looked hot!
“ hey Becky, what’s up, we haven’t seen you in a while, where did you go to na?” asked Ada
“My dear, I’ve been so cooked up in work, all thanks to your boss”, she replied cat walking over to us. She sat down beside me and asked, “So Brenda, a.k.a. crazy girl, tried to kill you?” she asked, dropping her bag beside her leg I nodded my head and said
“yep she did, but I knocked her out cold”. Saying it like it was a piece of cake. She was rummaging through her bag but at my reply her head whipped to look at me, her eyes bulging out like saucers,
“what!? You knocked her out?” I nodded my reply once more, Her eyes got bigger with surprise it looked like it would fall out of its sockets. She whipped her head to the side to look Ada and Nancy, giving them big surprising eyes her mouth hanging open. Then she whipped them back at me, her hair moving along with the motion.
“ so wait, you’re telling me you knocked out Brenda?” asked Becky
“Yes, that’s what I just said” I replied
“How did you do it” she inquired, eyes squinting I got more comfortable on the couch, folding my legs underneath me and replied
“well you see, she came into Ada’s room and hid there, waiting for me to come. Once I got there she came out then got into this whole insane story of her doing this for my mother, the way she said it looks like my mother has no idea of what she was doing, she was holding a knife, a sharp butcher’s knife, she wanted to use it to kill me. so we got into a fight both of us struggling to win, she was struggling to stab me I was struggling not to get killed. At the end I used a shoe to hit her hard on the head”. Becky was looking at me as I spoke, wonder written all over her face.
After I was done with my story, she fell back on the couch, letting out a hysterical laugh, I looked at her confused
“Oh my god, Fola, you amaze me every single time” she kept on laughing, smiling at me at the same time. I shouldn’t feel embarrassed but I did, my lips started to twitch as I watched her laugh “ I mean the shoe you used to knock her out must be made of iron, or you’ve got a really strong arm,” she said still laughing, “ it’s really funny, by the time Brenda wakes up, she’ll feel like a fool for letting you knock her out with a shoe…. “ a shoe!” she yelled that part out laughing like crazy once more.
“ well she’s already awake, she’s being questioned upstairs by Bello” I said
“oh she is?” then she laughed again, “ well how did she look ehn? How, tell me?” she asked, her face looked so young and free at the moment, with the way she was looking at me excited. I shrugged and said,
“ well she looked quite pissed to be honest, her eyes were practically throwing daggers at me” For no reason whatsoever, Becky busted out laughing once again, I really don’t know what I said that was funny this time.
“My god, is she not going to stop laughing?” asked Ada…
“Becky this isn’t funny you know?” Still laughing, Becky replied
“yes, yes, I know it isn’t funny I’m sorry, but seriously a shoe, I just can’t stop thinking about the shoe” then she busted out once again for the second or third time into laughter. We all kept looking at her, hearing her laugh was making me want to laugh; I looked at Ada and Nancy and noticed they also wanted to laugh, their lips twitching, eyes alight with humor. We all couldn’t hold it in, it sounded funny, it was just a mere shoe, and it knocked her out cold, so being the crazy girls that we all are, we joined Becky in her laughter, Nancy just chuckled, smiling at us. I had just experienced one of the worst days of my life, almost got killed. But here I am laughing like a loon.
…………………………………
I was squatting down in front of the idiot that just tried to kill my Fola, she was sitting on a chair in the middle of Ada’s room, her hands tied tight behind her. The stupid fool of a girl that tried getting a knife into her body, I was enraged; I had series of ways in which I would make her scream in pain. Thinking about it is already getting me excited. Once I’m done with her she will regret ever laying her filthy hands on my Fola, in fact the next time she sees Fola she will run the other way like the lunatic that she is.
“Boss…”, called Bello. I kept staring at her, she was staring back at me her eyes wild with fear, she was resistant to Bello’s questioning, but not me, once she saw the anger written all over my face, she knew I was dead serious. Perhaps she has no idea how important Fola is to me. She really doesn’t, well today she will know.
“Boss” called Bello more forcefully, he was standing behind me, I twisted my head a bit to the side to show I was listening, but my eyes were still on her.
“We need to call the police, they need to question and detain her, and we already have enough evidence that will put her behind bars for life” he knew I had plans for the fool, big bad plans, that’s why he’s trying to remind me about the evidence we have on the idiot, but no that won’t work. I shook my head no, I was going to play around with her a little before we call the cops, she needs to know who she has just messed with.
Ignoring Bello, I looked at her with an evil glint in my eyes, my lips quirked up into an evil grin of its on. Then I asked,
“Ready to play?”
……………………
I stood there staring at my brother; I have never seen him in action before. Seeing him this way makes me look at him in a different light. He could probably kill this idiot if care is not taken and I don’t want my brother to go to jail for this fool. So I did what a good brother would always do, I spoke for Brenda, protecting her, I know right? stupid me.
“ Michael, let the police handle this please, Fola would never be the same if anything happened to you, think about her please” I know its selfish, me using Fola as my weapon to win this but I have no other choice, Fola is the only person on earth that can change Michael’s mind, she’s like he’s weakness. He would do anything for her. He kept staring at Brenda eyes squinted, he’s jaw clenching and unclenching, he was having a hard time letting it go, letting the police to take over, Fola was the only leverage I had to stop him. If she doesn’t work I don’t know what will.
Michael got up slowing, looking down at her, I was scared for him, I didn’t want him to go through with his plan. Suddenly he turned around to face me,
“Stephen, I know you want the best for me, but I’m sorry I have to do this, I have to send out a message to everyone out there that is planning on hurting Fola, they need to know who they are messing with,… get me?” I nodded in acknowledgement, understanding what he meant. If it was Nancy that the idiot wanted to kill I would have been doing what Michael is doing right now or even worse. He turned back to face Brenda, bending forward with his hands on his knees he said in a deep scary growl
“ let’s play”. My head fell forward in defeat. Here we go, time to watch the idiot go through pain I really feel sorry for her, I cocked my head to the side, saying I felt sorry for her was a joke, I really don’t feel sorry for her in anyway. I can’t wait to hear her scream for mercy. I smiled evily at her; she caught my smile and immediately started to shake like a Chihuahua on her seat. Oh yea let us play….
………………………………
We’ve been here for over one hour now, waiting for the guys to come down and strangely we haven’t seen the police I mean didn’t they call them or did they forget. God what do I do? Should I call the police or just leave it to the guys to handle.
“ what is going through that head of yours Fola?” asked Becky, I looked at her still thinking, I was scared and couldn’t wait for the police to come quickly and get that mad woman out of my house.
“ Fola, are you ok?” asked Ada, my eyes moved from Becky to Ada still thinking, then I looked back at Becky, my eyes finally found Nancy, she was sitting down on the other couch beside us watching us as we spoke, she hasn’t said anything for like an hour now. I felt a bit worried thinking maybe she had gone back to not speaking again, my god I hope not.
“ Nancy you haven’t spoken for an hour now, you’re ok right?” I asked, she nodded her head, but I kept looking at her, willing her to speak, and she did. Thank god she did.
“ th..there…i.i..sss..no.oo…o..th…ing… to say”. Then she kept quiet, ok she can speak, it’s all good, she can speak.
“ Fola, you haven’t told us what you’ve been thinking about?” asked Becky, she just won’t let this go
” “Becky it’s nothing ok, I’m just wondering why the guys aren’t down yet, and why the police haven’t yet arrived, I mean the police are meant to be here by now right?” I looked at them both turning my head this way and that.
“Yeah that’s true” said Ada realization dawning on her
“Don’t worry about it Fola, the guys know what they are doing, just leave it to them” said Becky
“Leave it to them?” I thought… leave it.. just then we heard a painful scream coming from one of the rooms upstairs, I looked at Ada and Becky in fear, then my head whipped sideways to look at the stairs, that didn’t sound like any of the guys, if it wasn’t them then it was Brenda, it’s definitely her.
I looked at Becky questioningly; she just shrugged at me, picked up her red satchel from the floor beside her feet and got out her nail file. She then got more comfortable on the couch and began to file here nails like we all didn’t just hear Brenda scream like her skin was on fire. Seeing as Becky didn’t care about what was happening upstairs, I looked at Ada in hope that she understood me, and she did. She got up from the couch, her hand stretched out towards me palm out,
“Come on we are going up there to see what’s happening. If they are torturing her, they need to stop” oh thank god, I thought, placing my hand in hers, she pulled me up and I stood, standing on my feet ready to face Michael and demand that he stop whatever he was doing to Brenda.
“Where are you girls going?” asked a deep manly voice, Ada moved quickly to stand beside at the sound of the voice, it was Gibson, Standing in a grey suite looking all hot and sexy.
“When did you get in, we didn’t hear the door open” asked Ada, Gibson ignored her question
“ I asked where you girls are going, won’t anyone tell me?” he looked all business like, his face set straight looking very serious, his eyes moved from Ada to me, waiting for us to give him an answer.
“It’s none of your business” replied Ada stubbornly
“Yes it is Ada, yes it is, if you think I will let you girls go where you’re not supposed to go think again” Ada let go of my hand, she placed hers on her hips in a defensive mode, ready to fight him if necessary.
“Listen to me you big bully” said Ada, Gibson sighed, rubbing his face, he knew what was about to happen. “You can’t just come in here commanding us all in our own house its none of your business”
“I can and I will seeing as your safety is involved” he said arrogantly Ada took a menacing step toward him,
“ listen to me, the men are up there, so even if we go we won’t get harmed because they are up there, they won’t let her harm any of us ok, so just chill. Back off!” she yelled that part out just a little.
“I don’t care if they are up there, you are not going, no one is going” then he folded his arms on his chest, his biceps bulging out Standing like a commando. There was no way I was going to defile him, he looked really scary standing there like that so as the reasonable smart girl that I am, I respected myself and stepped back sitting back down on the couch quietly. But it looked like Ada was immune to the waves of anger and arrogance emitting from his body core because she took quick angry steps towards him and poked him on his chest enunciating each word as she did.
“You. Are. Not, the. Boss. Of .me.” Then she brought her hand down and yelled in his face “ of any of us!” flapping her hand behind her as she did. Wow, ok she’s really pissed at Gibson, it isn’t from what he just said, he must have done something before to make her this pissed, maybe a few hours ago or a few days ago, I don’t know they always fight.
He bent his body a little bit forward so his face was in her face, and he was quite taller than her so her head was raised up to look at him as he spoke.
“Your yelling doesn’t scare me, my love, I want you safe, so why don’t you sit your fine butt there with Fola and relax yeah?” then he stood back to his normal height, hand still folded across his chest. I could see Ada shaking in anger, I couldn’t see her face because her back was facing me. but I could definitely feel the anger coming out of her.
“Oh my, that was hot, I love a man who can stand his ground” said Becky fanning her face with her hand. I rolled my eyes at her, crazy girl. With Gibson here, I guess Brenda is on her own.
To be continued
