Gertrude threw a bone at Roscoe, the bulldog and hurriedly took a few steps backwards for fear that the animal would stalk towards her even though its neck was bound by a leash. It was simply a reflex move. However, Roscoe didn't move. It didn't even bark. Instead, it turned in her direction and looked at her. In that instant, Gertrude began to wish that dogs had distinct facial expressions. She could not tell what the beast was thinking and it disturbed her.

But it didn't take long for her to know how Roscoe felt about the meal she'd just offered because the dog didn't lower its head to nick at the bone. It didn't even wag its tail or flail its tongue in excitement to show that it was happy about the gesture. At least, that was what she always saw in cartoons. Instead, it kept looking at her as though she were a criminal.
Looks like the dog won't accept meals from anyone who isn't its owner.

Sighing, Gertrude decided she wasn't going to get discouraged and give up just like that. So she did something humanly incomprehensible and pretty backwards. She moved closer to the dog – something that no one in their right senses would do especially when the dog didn't seem to be accepting of her friendship. She stalked closer to the animal and brought a hand up to rub the hairy skin of the beast.

And it would have been an easy and smooth success if it wasn't for –

ROOF ROOF ROOF!

The dog barked as though its arse was on fire. Gertrude picked the bone from the ground and jolted several steps backwards. In the process of turning to head back into the house, a hand grabbed her from behind. Reflexively, she wanted to let out a shout of fear but the person was quick to tighten an arm around her mouth to clamp it shut. Then, Gertrude was pulled back into the house from the backdoor of the kitchen.

Then, the person who was grabbing her let her loose and whirled her around. When Gertrude turned, she met the furious towering statue of Zipporah. From the outlook of her frame towering over hers, Zipporah looked like she was going to destroy Gertrude out of thunderous fury but the expression on her face said the opposite. Her expression had worry and fear written all over it and it showed in the distressed way in which her eyebrows rose up her face.

"What were you doing out there? You asked if you could follow me to throw out the trash so you could get some fresh air from outside. You didn't tell me you were going to go there and infuriate the damn dog!"

"I...I'm sorry for taking the opportunity for granted. I...just couldn't help but think of a way to escape so I tried to play with the dog."

Zipporah smirked when she got the precise idea of what Gertrude was really trying to do. She couldn't help but feel impressed and extremely sorry for her at the same time.

"If Mr. David heard that, our arses are going to be on fire. Come here, let's go and hide somewhere. Hopefully, the guard doesn't realize what just happened."

A couple of days after Gertrude got to know the kind of person Mr. David was through Zipporah's story, Gertrude's desperation and curiosity had only heightened. Surely, there had to be a way of getting out of the building, right? She could do more than say endless words of prayer and hope painfully that her parents would come to rescue her. She also had to act and make some effort. Even if there wasn't a way like Zipporah had said, she was going to try to create one.

During the week, Gertrude had done her best to survey the house properly. She checked the windows properly and tried to see if she could squeeze herself in between one of the louvers but quickly realized that she'd definitely get stuck in between and it would take years to pull her out considering her height at her current age.

She kept searching around the house – for openings. Frequently, she looked beneath the doors in the house to see if they had openings beneath. She kept checking other things and looking for ways that could help her escape the hellhole.

Often, she hoped she'd find a huge crack on the walls, an opening somewhere; a mistake or a neglected piece of work. Anything at all that could aid her. Sometimes, she even turned the door knob, hoping that for one minute, it would be unlocked. Often in her plans of escaping, she also thought of taking Zipporah along.

However, with all the doors in the house perpetually locked, no space openings whatsoever, no keys, sticks or hammers to use to break one of the windows and run away, how could she possibly get out of that darn place?

Later on, she began to think of Roscoe, the bulldog that had been permanently stationed outside the building to stay on guard and prevent them from escaping by barking in an incriminating manner. She wasn't courageous enough to make an attempt to kill the dog.

That was too risky. David would find out easily and give her the punishment he'd once given Zipporah. She wasn't audacious enough to just walk head on amid the dog's ferocious barking neither. That was even an impossible thing to do especially since the door to the building only opened when David came in to see them. So since she couldn't do these things, knowing that Roscoe would bark, what then, could she do?

Then it occurred to her.

How about trying to win the dog over?

When the idea popped into her mind, it sounded just right. Loyalty did not always have to be expressed towards one man. She could get the dog to like her bit by bit until she could find a means of escape and then flee without having the dog send a warning to Mr. David. Yes, yes. If she worked and tried hard enough, she could get the dog to become fond of her. Gertrude made up her mind to try.

But there was one problem.

How could her plan be achievable when she couldn't even step out of the building to do something as simple as breathing in fresh air? How was she going to get past that big obstacle?

She kept trying and looking for a way out. She began to spend more time in the kitchen once she realized that it had a back door. Frequently, she studied it, wondering where the door led to and if there had ever been a time when the door was open.

Then in one random moment, Gertrude happened to be passing by when she saw Zipporah walk back into the kitchen through the said back door with an emptied trash cylinder. Immediately, Gertrude rushed into the kitchen at the speed of light, her pupils widened to its highest capacity.

"Did you just go out through that door?" Gertrude gasped. The idea that someone besides their abductor could go out and step back into the building was very astonishing to her.

"The guard opened the door for me as soon as I rang the bell. There's a guard who has been specially assigned to open the door for me once it's time for me to throw out trash. I rarely get to throw out the trash though because Mr. David always does but a few times, he doesn't have the time or is not present to do it. Once I step back in, he locks the door from the outside. I don't have the keys," Zipporah added to prevent Gertrude from asking the next obvious question. "If I had it, I would have thought of a way a long time ago."

"Next time, can I follow you to throw out the trash?"

Zipporah looked at her for a moment without saying anything. One of her eyebrows twitched and a corner of her mouth was tugged up in a smirk. "The trash can is enough for one person to dispose. The only exception is if we eat so much or dispose of so many things that the trash can begins to overflow with garbage."

"Then let's eat a lot and dispose a lot!" Gertrude said in a high pitched voice, one that shone so brightly of hope; pitiable hope.

"You're not trying to escape, are you? The fences are tapped with barb wires. Also, the guards will catch you before you can even say Jack Robinson."

"I'm not trying to escape. I'm just desperate to see the outside again even if it's for a second."

"Well, I get that feeling too. Let's see if eating or disposing a lot can work. That might take some time though."

"I want to ask a question and I promise, it's just out of real curiosity," Gertrude cleared her throat and itched the back of her neck slightly.

"If we really want to escape, can't we make it work? Like maybe on a day that you and I go out to throw the trash, we can make a move to escape and when the guards try to stop us, we can fight them."

Zipporah laughed for approximately five minutes. Her cackles got so loud and intense by each passing second that she had to clutch her stomach with her hands at a certain point because it was beginning to hurt. After having the best laugh of her life in a couple of years, she wiped out the tear that stuck at the edge of her right eye. Then she responded.

"And how are we going to fight them when we don't even know how to?'

Gertrude's eyes darted to the television in the living room, which the two other girls were watching a cartoon show on in the moment. Didn't they ever get tired of watching TV?

"We could learn from TV. There are wrestling shows on some channel programs."

Zipporah used the back of her hand to cover her mouth to prevent herself from laughing again.

"Do you know how many guards Mr. David has? He has twelve, my dear. Do you really think you and I with our small physiques and tiny hands can lift those hefty men off the ground and crush them to the ground?'

"There's nothing that's impossible if we practice hard enough."

"You and who?" Zipporah asked mockingly.

"Y-you and I. You could be my practice buddy."

"See your mouth like practice buddy. Abeg, I have a bad back. Besides, Mr. David already slaps me at freewill and I try to fight back sometimes. And of course, in those times, I always lose. That's enough practice," Zipporah didn't lose the cheerfulness in her voice as she joked but as the words proceeded from her mouth and even with the way she'd said them, Gertrude could feel the darkness and pathetic reality that Zipporah was living in.

Gertrude heaved a deep sigh.

"Besides sef, David would definitely have blocked those wrestling channels from our DSTV. That man is not only a psychopath. He's also a wizard. I'm sure he must have thought ahead of time and predicted that we might want to learn how to defend ourselves and escape from this place and that's exactly what he doesn't want to happen. Anyway, you said you're asking out of curiosity, right? Not like you're really thinking of learning how to wrestle from TV, right? '

"Y-yeah, r-right," Gertrude managed to answer. The glitter of expectation in her eyes had burned out, now making it fallen with gloom.

"Good girl. Don't worry about what we discussed earlier. I'll help you with your desires to get some fresh air outside," Zipporah rubbed Gertrude's back.

And after that discussion, Zipporah had indeed stuck to her promise. Gertrude, on the other hand, was the one who didn't fulfill her end of the agreement. Hence, now as they crouched beneath the dining table, hoping that no one (not even the guards) would walk in to yell at them, they knew their hope was vain because the dog had barked so loudly, that only a deaf man wouldn't have heard. Still, hope was a potion and it was a very irresistible one and so they drank endlessly from its tip.

***

Mr. Okafor shifted uncomfortably. Mrs. Okafor on the other hand was still willing to fight and utter more curses and it showed in her hard glaring and the grim, angry lines on her forehead. Slowly, Gertrude's father moved closer to his wife and placed an arm around her mid riff in a bid to support her movement. Then he leaned closer and said in a small, consoling voice to her.

"Honey, let's just go for now. Please."

Mrs. Okafor looked at David and the strange woman who was standing beside him for the last time. Then dejectedly, she turned away and allowed her husband to lead her out of the office. Still, even in her departure, there was something her last look that promises thunder and destruction when next Gertrude's mother met with David.

When the door was slammed shut and the footsteps of Gertrude's parents had completely receded into the distance, Celine let go of her grip on David. Then she helped her child to sit on the sofa. Afterward, she took a deep breath and let it out in a dramatic way.

"Jeez! That was...so intense! I can't believe I did something like that just now!" she exclaimed, still in the process of catching her breath. Then when she lifted her head, she began to laugh.

David on the other hand was still staring. Quite deeply in thought and still in amazement to the fact that Celine had shown up just like that to rescue him from what would have been an indescribable and unimaginable depth of doom. He couldn't imagine what it would be like for him if Gertrude or any of his girls got taken away from him.

"Yes you did and you saved me," David said slowly in response to Celine's remark once he regained his senses.

"You don't look happy though," Celine raised an eyebrow in a quizzical way.

"What?" David scoffed. "I really am – especially for the fact that it's a false claim. I don't get why they'd accuse me of kidnapping their daughter."

"Yeah, I figured that you had nothing to do with it that's why I decided to step in eventually. I overhead the entire conversation."

There was a moment of silence between them. Even Celine's daughter, Autumn, didn't interrupt the moment with her child-like needs and that may have been thanks to the new friend she'd just made – the goldfish in the aquarium at the right end of David's office.

While they stared at each other and smiled so knowingly, it suddenly didn't feel like they'd been apart for years. But they had been apart and when David got reminded of that reality later on, he did what was the right thing to do.

"Long time, no see, Celine," He pulled her into a warm, cordial hug.

"Yeah..." Celine said, rubbing his back gently as she wrapped her arms around him. "I know right."

"By the way, why did you come here today?" He asked after they unlinked arms and released each other from the embrace.

'I was just passing by, you know? Just the basic stuff you do when you hear that your old time friend is now one of the top ten wealthiest men in Nigeria and beyond."

David laughed heartily.

Celine couldn't help but gawk at how the lines of his face had curved in pure merry as he chuckled and how evenly arranged his teeth were. It made her heart warm up slightly. It was good to see him laugh.

"So you want my money, right?' David joked.

'Well..." Celine rolled her eyes with hidden meaning and the corner of her lips curved up in a smirk. "It's not like I don't have any money of my own but it won't be a bad idea to be spoiled by someone that went through the trenches with you. Those days at the water factory..." she shook her head, purposefully suspending the rest of her sentence.

"Those were real tough times," David added. Then he suddenly began to feel this familiar, overwhelming sense of guilt as the memories of the travails he'd put Celine through began to come back to his mind. "You're right. You really deserve some good spoiling. I just hope your husband wouldn't mind if you spent some quality time with me?" He joked again as he glanced at Celine's daughter.

But Celine didn't laugh or smile. Rather, without any emotion and an unreadable look on her face, she answered him.

"I don't have a man in my life."

"Oh. I'm so sorry," David's face dropped in pity as he sympathized with her.

"Nah. No need for that," she shooed and waved her hand dismissively. "The father of my daughter was an abusive scumbag and he abused me till he breathed his last. I'm glad he's gone now. The only thing I'm grateful for is my daughter, Autumn. I just feel bad that I had her for a man like that."

"Well... it's truly a relief," David said. And deep down, he was surprised by the fact that he'd meant it. Deep down, the idea that Celine was married didn't seem to settle well with David and he couldn't really understand why it was so.

"Do you mind if I took you to my house to have lunch with you and your child?' David offered.

He knew it was a dangerous thing to do considering the fact that his girls were there but somehow, he didn't mind. There was no way Celine could know that the girls were there just from her first visit. The girls lived in a separate building from where he stayed so she wouldn't notice the building so quickly. Besides, even if she did, what would happen? He was sure she would empathize with him and understand where he was coming from, right?

"Oh," Celine blushed in response. "That's...great. I'd love to."

***

Celine felt slightly uncomfortable with the idea of going to David's house for lunch particularly because she'd come on an assignment. She didn't want to end up doing anything that was unrelated to her mission nor did she want to divert from her primary focus. However, when she got to his home of residence, she was pretty fascinated and a lot more intrigued than she'd even expected herself to be.

David's house looked like a mansion that you could only find under the sea. It was unrealistically beautiful and magnificent. The turquoise and white color combination in which the exterior of the building was painted in was very appealing to the eye. The interiors of his house made Celine marvel all the more.

There was an empty space by the side of his living room where a huge tree stood, above, there was a window constructed on the roof where the leaves of the tree could tap sunlight from. The plush cyan walls of his living room were graced with million dollar paintings that ranged from the classic to the medieval times.

And just by the side of the large television was a small white shelf where expensive porcelain vases and figurines were arranged neatly,
The affluence and irresistible elegance that David's house reeked of was appealing and Celine's attraction to the outlook of his house was in no way coming from a materialistic or greedy place. Celine had seen and even had the luxury of living in mansions in the past few years.

But with David, seeing how gigantic and well-designed his home was, she felt a deep sense of merriment within her on his behalf. He really must be doing well with his life to have become this successful and affluent. In fact the joy that dominated her heart might have served as the closure that she even needed for friendship with him.

As she continued to stare at a particular painting by a Japanese artist, David stepped out of the bar with a tray in hand that contained three cups. Two were glasses of lemonade while the other was a plastic cup that contained fruit juice.

"Here," he offered Celine and her daughter their refreshments. "Please bear with me. The food will be ready soon."

"Your house is so beautiful, David. I'm happy for you, really," she said response to his apology and accepted the glass. She took a small swig of the lemonade.

"Thank you so much," he smiled.

"So tell me, how were you able to heal from all that happened and pursue other goals to become this successful?" Celine asked after David settled beside her.

"Well..." David gave a small smile to mask his sheer discomfort from being asked that question. "I just kind of... did it, you know?" he laughed but the mirth that was supposed to be there didn't even reach his lips. "I just figured that I had to have some money at least so I can be happy."

"Oh, come on!" Celine dropped her glass on the small stool beside her and turned to face David fully. "That's not the answer to the question I asked. I think it's my fault that I assumed you were fine just because you are financially okay. But now, it seems like you've not healed. Tell me, Dave, how are you really doing? Did you get over the incident? Do you feel less guilty now?"

"Oh, totally! I'm fine now. Pardon me if I gave the wrong impression. I guess I didn't understand your question well enough," he chuckled and played nervously with his thumb and he did it secretly.

"Oh. That's good. I'm so happy for you. So tell me, how were you able to shift your focus from feeling guilty about your sister's demise to realizing that there's more to life than being stuck up on your past? Genuinely, I'm curious. I want to know how you were able to forgive yourself and live a good life regardless." She rested her head on her hands, blinking at him.

David took a deep, deep breath. It didn't seem like he was going to get out of this. How could she ask a question that would ordinarily have an answer if it had been a transformed man she was talking to? What would she think of him if he told her that the solid motivation behind his being successful was his obsession for wanting to change what happened in the past?

The progression of his thoughts reflected on his facial expression without his awareness. Soon, he began to look confused, worried and gloomy even. This worried Celine because she'd only asked an innocent question, right?

She was about to open her mouth to tell him that he didn't have to answer the question if it troubled him so much. But David was quicker than her.

"Honestly, it was hard," he tried to form some words when he realized that he had to answer by all means. "I mean, even with the life I'm living right now, despite how good it is, it gets hard for me when I think of what I did. It's... it's..."

"Aw," Celine placed her hand on his gently and comforted him. "I completely understand why it's hard for you to talk about it. Maybe I shouldn't have asked but you see, I really care about you as a friend."

And I also need to give your mother a report. She added in her mind.

"It's fine," David smiled.

"It was hard for me to heal too but I'm happy I made the conscious and active decision to do so. It was hard but quite freeing along the line. Why punish myself for a mistake that any other person of my age at that time was susceptible to make? I'm sure my sister has even moved on in heaven," she joked.

David gave a small smile again, as though he were agreeing with her. But deep down, he couldn't help but compare situations. Hers could have indeed been a mistake that many were prone to make but not his.

His was a deliberate and desperate act of disobedience – something many children and teenagers always tried not to do their parents. It wasn't a common mistake that many youngsters made. And so, her words despite how sincere, failed woefully in comforting him.

***
After lunch, Celine was set to go and David was glad she was leaving. It wasn't like she continued to probe him about dark matters after that conversation. In fact, they'd discussed more interestingly random and light hearted things – football, erotic novels and even Italian music. But David couldn't help but overthink many things even as they laughed and talked. What if she later found out that he hadn't healed? What if she decided to ask more questions about the past? Those thoughts troubled him.

Now as she was leaving, David was glad to walk her out.

"Thank you for the lunch. The rice was delicious," Celine said as she took one final glance at David's mansion in all of its picturesque glory. Then she looked down to her daughter and tapped her back gently. "Autumn, say thank you to Mr. David for the food," she instructed her.

"Thank you sir," the little girl said and then bowed.

"Don't mention at all," he smiled at mother and daughter.

"Alright, we'll get going. See you aga—"

ROOF! ROOF! ROOF!

A distinct set of barking from afar off interrupted the rest of Celine's words. In utter confusion, her gaze shifted from David to somewhere else. She tried to look for the dog that had just made that sound. When she searched deeply enough with her eyes, she saw a bungalow at the far end of the area of land.

Then she caught a small glimpse of a small, jowly face of a bulldog. Celine shrugged, finding it strange as to why the dog was so far away, if David was its owner. Didn't dogs always stay closer to their owners or at least to their owner's surroundings? But she decided not to question it. Instead, she made a lazy remark.

"Oh. You have a dog."

"Yeah. You have many questions right?" then he went to answer them. "Dogs should stay far away sometimes so they don't scare off good visitors. I put it there so you wouldn't freak out. It's my dog. I don't have tenants or anyone else living with or around me. Sorry I didn't tell you."

"Oh okay," Celine said, rolling her eyes once David wasn't looking at her.

But I didn't ask for all that information even though I was curious. Still, it's just a dog and I don't care that much.

"Yeah," he scratched the nape of his neck awkwardly.

"Well, I'd better get going now," she said and left with daughter.

Celine had no reason whatsoever to care about David's bulldog. In fact, she had no reason to concern herself about him anymore. She'd done what his mother had asked her to do. All that was left was for her to give the report and that would be all. She'd go on her own way. And genuinely, she was okay with it.

Seeing that David had healed was even a form of closure for her. That had been why she wanted to be friends with him in the first place – to help him feel okay because she felt pity for him. Now that her wish had come into fruition, she didn't feel guilty or sad about the possibility of never crossing paths with him again except that her daughter, Autumn had some interesting news for her.

"Mummy, I saw something when we heard the dog bark at that man's house," she said as soon as they arrived home from their two hour journey.

"Really? What did you see?"

"I saw a girl running away. She was really fast but still, I saw her."

"Are you sure?" her eyebrows rose up inquisitively.

Autumn nodded.

"Wow. Why do you think I should know about this, though?"

"Because when I saw it, I was scared. The girl looked afraid."

"Well, she could have just been scared of the dog that's—" Celine stopped her sentence midway when she remembered David's fearful body movements when the dog had barked and how he'd been in a hurry to tell her that he didn't have any tenants or people living around him.

So why was there a girl spotted in his surroundings? Had he lied to her? Was he, by chance, hiding something very huge? The possibility of these potential questions sent shivers down her spine as her curiosity heightened. Suddenly, she felt the need to do some verifying. As the Russian saying goes, trust but verify, right? Surely, David had been alright like he's said and she had every reason to trust his words because he was an adult who could use his brain. But now, she felt a teensy weensy itch to make sure that he really was okay.

She had to conduct a little investigation to be certain about the report she was going to give his mother.