I'm soooo happy I was able to let out this chapter for y'all ❤️❤️❤️

dheenmah Opurum_ Rihanna_Adedeji Talkmarie11 Iyanuoluwa-Temi y'all made this update possible fr fr!!

~DABI~

The sharp banging sound of the door jolted me into shock and wakeness.

"What was that!" I screamed at Marcus who was sitting on the duvets he had dressed the floor with.

The boy looked up from his phone, eyes glinting at me, obviously amused at my paranoia.

"Well, good morning to you too." He greeted me instead, happy warming morning eyes smiling at me, and the corners of his lips, curving in a little smirk.

Gbam! Gbaga! GBAM!

I flew up from the bed and didn't even know my landing destination as I flew in those little seconds in the air, until I was on Marcus Acha.

"Relax, they're just breaking down the door na," The boy was literally laughing his ass off at me, and I frowned in annoyance, realization hitting me at what I was doing - hugging myself around his body in fear - and I was just about to push this nigga away from me, but--

The weakened, unhinged door was pushed down, showing the carpenters that just broken down the door for us.

I froze on seeing the people they were with.

I froze for quite a long time.

Standing in front of us were two boys - Nnaemeka - Nana, and gulp, Marcus' best friend, Sean Ayomide, and my head became hot.

Both boys looked directly at me and my breathing actually failed. I gripped onto something. Tightly. Very tightly.

Wait!

The 'something' I gripped onto was Marcus' neck, and that instant the realization of the awkward position that those two boys had walked into seeing me and Marcus in, and how it was implicating me, hit hard. Me, sitting of the boy's laps, with my arms, wrapped soooo tightly around his neck.

Well..

I jumped off Marcus immediately.

"Sorry." I don't even know who I apologized to.

"Morning." Nana was the one who finally decided to speaknto us, and Sean's face was rather so impassive that it made the atmosphere a lot more akward than it should have been. And funny enough, all he was doing was 'looking at me', yet, all my senses stood in instant alarm, and I was increasingly and consistently getting more and more uncomfortable by the second.

Sean Ayomide made me uncomfortable.

Infact, if I was being honest, when he wasn't jumping around, shouting, and making a whole hell of noise, he made a lot of people feel very uncomfortable... I often wondered how his friends coped with someone like him. I'd feel like I was walking on egg shells everyday.

"Morning," Even Marcus seemed to pick up the awkwardness in the atmosphere, he laughed nervously a couple of times, "And thanks man, if not for you we would have been stuck here till God knows when."

Nana smiled, wistfully, yet warmly, and was about to say something before Sean quickly took over.

"Idiot." Was the first thing that came out of the darker boy's mouth, and Marcus was totally ruined with laughter, threw his head back and actually laughed at his friend's verbal attack.

Sean smiled too, shook his head and gestured to his best friend to come forth. "Do, let's bounce, abeg."

I noticed how Sean completely refused to acknowledge my existence in the room.... If I didn't know better, I'd actually think he legit couldn't see me, like I was a ghost or something.

I didn't wait for Marcus to make a move first, and the atmosphere seemed to already be getting to toxic for me, so I dashed for the door in a hurry attempt to leave the room.

It was only after I had moved with the speed of light and nearly collided into an obstruction, that I came to a complete halt.

Sean was the 'obstruction' I nearly collided with and I sugarcoat nothing the way it was, Nigga didn't even move from my way. He didn't even shift the quarter of a quarter for me.

Whether he didn't get the 'natural reflex' to shift away from my speeding movement - like Nana did, I don't know, he didn't just move. Just stood there and stared down at me, from his towering height, looking at me so plainly... Like I was as basic as a rock.

He had to know he was making me uncomfortable, because if it was possible, he increased the intensity of that discomforting aura his silence emitted.

I didn't say anything, after all I was the one who just attempted to dive into him, ba? He could just move atleast. At that point, I just felt stupid.

It felt like an eternity that he stood there in front of me.

And none of the boys said a word.

Nonetheless, my heart was in my throat.

"Sorry." I don't even know why I apologized to him, but right after, I was able to squeeze in through the little space by Sean's left side, and brush past him to leave the intoxicating arena.

I refused to look back at him, but I felt his eyes boring holes into my back, and it took the grace of a stronger supernatural force for me not to collapse and faint on the spot.

I refused to look back at Sean.

I refused to look back at Nana.

I refused to look back at Marcus Acha.

Infact, I swore never to look at those boys again.

Without even saying a word to even any of the sisters, I left the building and took a cab home.

A lump was in my throat the whole entire time I was on the road, and I didn't understand why. Whether it was the fact that I was on my way back to that hell I called home, or the fact that I was still trying to sink in everything that happened last night. Felt like I lived an entire year in one night. And now, I was heading back to the one place that I dreaded even more than my classmates.

As usual, since I loved to use the back door, Mum was the first person I saw the moment I stepped into the kitchen of the house, and like a cloak of darkness came upon me, I felt all joy leave me in an instant.

I loved my mum... But I truly hated seeing her. Seeing how she looked. How tired and drained she looked. All the fucking time.

"Good morning," She was basic in her greeting, yet I could sense the tiny sass in it that was easily interpreted as 'Since you can't greet, let me greet you first'.

"Good morning, ma," I said back to her, sadly watching her pack some breakfast into a tray. Did she always have to work?

"How was your night with your friends?" She threw in the question, as she picked up the tray to move, not giving me a chance to even answer before she started walking away.

I wasn't even sure how to answer that question, but I walked behind her... With her pace. Slow, steady, slow, steady..

It took ages to get to the stairs, and I couldn't stop wondering how there was so much about my mum that I just couldn't understand.

It was honestly like she forgot she asked me a question, because even till we finally got to the living room, she never re-asked her question. I just knew a shit-load was going on in my mum's head.... I only wondered why she was never vocal.

My heart stopped when I saw who was sitting on the dining table.

Stephen. My brother, Stephen. My twin brother.

Goodness, I hadn't seen him in forever.

Mum didn't halt, like I did. She continued moving and didn't stop until she got to the table and softly dropped the tray of food for him to have.

Stephen didn't move. Didn't act like any action was performed in front of him. Didn't even look at the food... Or at Mum.

"Stephen.." Mum's voice for the first time, sounded broken. Weak. Tired. Exhausted. "Please... Can you just stop this..?"

She literally sank into the seat by my brother, wallowing in her misery, yet, Stephen was not even moving at all... Wasn't reacting to it.

I looked at Stephen and nearly teared up.

He looked so much like me. Same features, same flaws.... Yet, we had never had that bond that twins were supposed to share. Never.

"Stephen..." I noticed through her voice, that Mum was starting to tear up, and it tore me to literal shreds. Destroyed me.

"I have told you so many times that I love you... Isn't that enough for you to say something back to me?" Mum asked my brother in tears.

He gave no response.

"Stephen... Talk to your mother..." I was shocked at the intense emotion Mum was giving off now. Something that wasn't of her nature to do in front of people.

Stephen was breaking his mother down, and failing to realise that.

"Stephen... Please.." Mum was literally begging now, but still.... No response from him.

I took in air. Air that felt too heavy to even get into my system.

"Until you leave that mute, disabled boy to rest, you'd be a less miserable, less wretched woman."

I forgot how to exhale.

Mum froze at Delilah's words.

"He won't speak." Delilah was literally sashaying into the living room, all dressed up to go somewhere, full make up in place, light skin, glowing at a dangerous intensity, expensive hand bag showing itself off, new longer, more witch-like nails, and a red dress even shorter than the last one I saw her on.

I actually choked when she walked past me. The demon scented like the Masters bedroom... I just knew that was where she was the whole entire time. The audacity.

"That boy won't speak and you know it. Didn't those doctors say he was mute or something? Disabled, or some shit. Let it be." The insensitive words left her mouth so randomly.

I thought of the worst ways to hurt her, and Mum refused to unfreeze.

Stephen hadn't spoken in 10 years.

Medical and mental health proffessionals said he was dealing with an extreme case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). According to them, Stephen had been too traumatized by something from his childhood that had succeeded in rendering him, unable to say a single word since he, since we, were just seven years old.... And that, was one of Mum's very many challenges.

"Leave that disabled child and get me my hand bag." Delilah balanced into the leather couch and started admiring those witch-like nails of hers.

Screeching started in my head, and I knew Delilah only had a few more lines to cross.

And for the first time, I think Mum agreed too. She moved. Turned. Looked at Delilah... No. Glared at Delilah.

"I feel so bad for you this wretched old lady," Delilah scoffed, not even looking at Mum who was intensely death staring her. "Imagine having a disabled son and a daughter who is always angry."

A vein ticked in my head.

Delilah scoffed, "And of course, a husband who was never really yours," She mock shivered, shook her head in mock pity, continued, "Some people are just unfortunate in life. Such terrible luck upon your cursed family." She mock shivered again, like she was literally shaking the cringe off her.

Mum stared at her like she wanted to kill her.

But she did nothing more... Just stared at Delilah.

"ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID!?" Delilah suddenly screamed out of the blue, sat up in absolute rage.

Her screaming actually jolted Stephen up, and that was when the boy quickly realised his environment.

The moment his eyes landed on Delilah... He froze in dread, I saw the literal alarm, panic, and anxiety in his eyes as he looked at Delilah, specifically.

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO GET MY HAND BAG, YOU WRETCHED WOMAN! DO I HAVE TO REPEAT MYSELF!?" Delilah screamed at my mum, completely ignoring her glare, ignoring my resentment, and ignoring Stephen's fear.

Mum exhaled, and after she did, her death glare was gone. Completely. Like it was never there.

"Yes, ma." She started to move on Delilah's instruction.

Delilah looked over my mum like she was dirt, scanned her throughly from head to toe. "Yes, who?"

Mum paused for a second. She may have breathed in. "Yes, Queen Delilah."

Delilah balanced on the couch, adjusted her perfect edges. "Good."

I followed Mum outside, completely not getting this woman.

"Dabeluchi, don't you have dance class?"

She spoke ahead of me, as I watched her back, walking towards her.

"You cannot honestly expect me to leave you here, right now, and go to dance class, Mum."

She stopped walking, turned to me.

"Please don't stress me." She said to my face.

Wow.

"You know what the doctors said about-"

"Don't say that shit, abeg." I cut her off, before she had the chance to complete her statement.

"I've fallen in love with dance, Mum. I'm not doing any of this shit because special doctors claim I have a..." I cringed, gathered all my strength to complete the sentence. "A mental disorder."

Mum looked at me for an eternity.

Then, turned away from me and walked away.

I didn't follow her. I didn't want to have that conversation with her.

I hated to admit the fact that I needed help.

I hated to admit that indeed, dancing was a form of therapy to me..... Because admitting that to myself almost felt to me like I was truly confirming what the doctors had long said about me... About my state of mental health.

The doctors claimed I had Schizophrenia, a mental disorder they said caused me to hear voices, hallucinate things, feel extreme paranoia, have distorted thoughts and reality, and literally everything I did that wasn't 'normal', they called it 'symptoms'.... And I hated hearing that shit.

I hated anyone insinuating I was mentally unstable. I hated it so much.

I clearly remembered Jss3, when this girl had called me 'mental' for a reason that was unclear to me. I remembered that day, like it was yesterday. I remembered her words, clear and precised; "Stupid mental goat."

I lost it. Sadly, it was during a math class and she just happened to trigger me at the worst time possible.

I lost every bit of cool in me and charged towards Jelanie with my Mathset Compass, raging in all my anger, stabbing, tearing, destroying, and damaging as much as I could off her skin, her body, without even thinking of the consequences.

And boy, I paid dearly for my actions.

The entire set was already infuriated by the fact that the school didn't expel me, having I damaged Jelanie's body - possibly for life. And worse still, Jelanie was very popular in our set, so her army was heavy on me.

And back in junior school, the struggle to be worthy was more toxic, more defined, more noticeable than it even is in senior secondary school, and Jelanie was one of the most highly placed people in the set, at the time so in short, my life was miserable.

I never understood the gravity of the invisible rules of playing safe, until I crossed Jelanie that day. The set made my life miserable. I had to go through taunts, bullying, even physical assaults on numerous occasions. And you see the thing, most of the people who treated me badly were not even Jelanie's friends, they were her worshippers. People who had always wanted to get in her good books. Possibly people who didn't even like her, who may have spoke ill of her on occasions because truth be told, Jelanie was a bitch.

And funny enough, Jelanie was never even Queen Bee. Giwa always was. And if so much fuss was made on Jelanie's head... Then, you can just imagine the multitudes that were ready to even kill for Giwa.

At that time, I was terrified of going to school.

That was when Chika found me... She saved me actually. And till today, I have her shield hovering above me, threatning anyone who had the guts to tried to come close. I owed Chika, honestly.

But I couldn't depend on people to be the ones, constantly making sure that sanity was intact. I had to help myself too.

And way back, at the early age of nine, I found love in dancing. And you see... The doctors were certain that dancing was a form of therapy for me, because it helped me have some space for peace. But on my own, I had grown to love dancing.

Maybe, I became addicted to it, because it became a deep source of distraction for me. One, that made me forget a lot of things were wrong with me or my life.

I wasn't able to meet up on time with dance class, and in all honesty, I don't know what I wanted to expect, because I was thirty minutes late for the Saturday evening session.

However, to my luck, I had the entire place to myself after getting there half an hour late, and even if I didn't understand why Blinding Lights by The Weeknd was still playing at it's loudest, I didn't ask any questions.

Only the lights outside were up, the lights of the hall itself were completely out. Basically, the only thing that lighted up the dark hall was those lights from outside, and even in partial darkness, I couldn't get over the feel of the place. The warmness I felt by just being here, plus the extra serenity added to the place, from the boom, bazz, and flow of the cool music in the hall.

Being here, hearing music didn't give me anxiety. Not like in the midst of classmates. It gave me warmth. Peace. Euphoria. God, the euphoria of, this place... It couldn't be compared to anything else.

I felt like dying here.

Quietly, I dropped my bag on the ground, sunk into the feel of the place... And I felt my body move on it's own accord, to the flow and sync of the music.

Dancing took all the pain away.

I may have looked mad... But it took the pain away. And I liked it.

It made all my fears, anxieties, worries.

It made me feel numb towards my father - A man who I literally saw everyday in my dreams, tormenting me, looking like the devil with horns.

It made me forget the pain my mum was constantly in. It made me forget the pain my brother was also probably in, suffocating there in his silence, drowning in a deadly, toxic sea of his own thoughts and fears.

It made me forget my own pain. Having to keep up with this, with Delilah, with my so-called Father.. With School. With it's madness.

It made me forget everything.

That was until the lights came on, and all my peace left me in a second. Everything fell right back on my head, aiming to torment me to my death.

However, I took out a sigh of relief when I saw it was just Yukerya - the dance instructor.

The young, small-framed woman was just standing there, arms crossed, smiling a warming smile at me and looking at me like I was the most talented individual her eyes had ever seen. She always looked at me like that. Always saw me so highly.... One thing she did, one thing the entire dance class did, that made me feel so special. So free. So... Confident.

"Why did you stop dancing?" She asked me, didn't stop smiling.

I blushed, rubbed the back of my neck. "I.. I don't know."

"You're good." Yukerya spoke like it was a fact. "You're a very good dancer, Dabi. And you just don't dance, you pour your entire heart and soul into it." She smiled at me, pupils expanded in admiration as she looked at me as though I was the world's best kept secret. "You make dancing an art, and that's the most beautiful thing about your talent."

I was a mess of emotions. Getting such a compliment from such a skilled proffessional hit different. There are others better than me in this class. Still, I said, "Thank you."

"In a way I can't explain, you're my favorite student," Yukerya said to me, the dimples on her dark, dark cheeks showcased itself as she smiled on full.

Wow. "I don't know what to say." I replied.

"Then don't say anything," she laughed, shrugged, "All you can do for me is work on your self esteem, lol."

I laughed under my breath, this woman made the texting abbreviation 'lol' an easily added word in her vocabulary.

"Dabi, you've heard, abi?" She raised a brow at me, expecting an answer.

I smiled, easing up to her quickly. "Yes, ma."

Yukerya looked like she was about to have a stroke.

She literally backed up, puzzled, awestruck, dumbfounded, dazed and bewildered. "Ah, ma?!" Her hands on her chest, as ahe repeated the 'formal' address I used on her. Ma.

I didn't even know what to say.

"Dabi, I'm just 30, abeg. Call me by my name," She easily laughed it off, and I couldn't believe I did, but I actually laughed too.

This woman knew how to make me feel so good, with the smallest and most random things she said.

"Oya, oya, time's going, we need to lock up this place," Yukerya was clapping and rounding up.

She helped me with my bag when she reached me. Cupped her arm under mine and playfully whispered, "You still owe me an explanation as to why you weren't here for dance class today. Everyone missed you."

Wow. Everyone missed me.

I couldn't stop thinking about that one last line, even up until I wasn't with Yukerya anymore.

I figured that no matter how horrible it seemed, no matter how bad it seemed life was getting, there was always something, things, to be happy about.

All the way, I thought about Dance. I thought about Yukeyra. And I thought about the sisters.

One thing I always hated about being happy, however, was the fact that it was always short-lived.

The moment I got to my father's mansion, I paused at the new discovery that took me off guard.

We had..... Neighbors?

We. Had. Neighbors!

The 'For Sale' banner that used to be in front of the large house by the left of ours, was gone. And I saw trucks and people, driving in and driving out, offloading belongings into the compound of the house - probably for the newbies to settle and unpack - and for some reason, I panicked.

We've never had neighbors before!

The Falade Realty, where my father's million dollar mansion was situated, specifically had the houses by my father's own, empty and without buyers for years now... And I never understood why.

I wondered what was really going on behind the scenes, that made everyone literally dread being neighbors with my father. I only wondered. So, to see that someone finally had the balls... I wouldn't lie that I wasn't shocked to my bones.

"What's going on?" I literally raced into my Mum's room to ask. She was the only one I trusted to explain things to me.

"What does it look like?" She didn't look up from her Bible as she asked me back a question, her tone, flat.

"Who are the people moving in?" I asked her again.

That's when she looked to me... And I stepped back, taken unawares by the large bruise on her cheek bone - That thing wasn't there when I left the house. That injury on her face.. it wasn't there.

"Mum.. he hit you again, didn't he?" I literally croaked, my heart folding and tearing to pieces as I rushed over to her, thinking of ways to help her and totally, sadly, having no way to help her situation. I'd never felt more useless in my life.

"I don't know who they are, Dabeluchi," Mum refused to sympathize with me on her injury and chose to answer the question on the new neighbors. "All I know is that they have a connection with your father."

I froze. "What?"

Mum sighed. "Yes."

"I don't get... How..?" I had to ask again.

She only shrugged, returned to her Bible, flipped the page. "I don't know."

She didn't look at me as she continued, "The children of the neighbors go to Castron High."

She said this so calmly, as if it wasn't equivalent to a ghastly train accident.

My blood ran cold.

"What did you just say?" My voice came up in whispers.

"One of them is in your class," she continued telling me, "I overheard your father."

"Is that why he hit you?" I asked, putting aside the deep disturbing feeling that Mum's revelation of a classmate, becoming my neighbor, had ignited in me.

"Dabeluchi, I'm going to be fine." Her voice was soft as she said this to me. "I promise." Those last two words were more of a whisper to herself, than to me.

That entire night, I couldn't sleep well.

The thought of having a classmate, become my neighbor was very, very disturbing. I became certain that this was the begining of a story in my life that could become too much for me to handle.

I only wondered which of my classmates was currently living in the mansion, dangerously close to ours.

A loud banging sound jolted me up from my bed, and I sat up, alarmed, afraid, in panic and confusion.

It came from the window. It sounded like something had jammed the window.. and I got scared. So scared. I looked to the window, watching the curtains that covered them, staying still, like nothing happened.

"Is someone there?" I asked the window.

No answer.

I swallowed, looked at it for about fifteen minutes, and when I realized it was still, I figured I may have just been hearing things?

I set myself on my bed, to sleep.

Something as light as a feather fell off the window, and even through the curtains, I saw the glimpse of whatever it was, and I jumped up, nearly broke through the ceiling in fear.

What the fuck was that!?

Curiosity led me to see what the fuck fell out from my window.

It was just...... a piece of paper.

A neatly folded piece of paper.

I frowned in confusion, stared at it for a moment, wondering if I was meant to open it.

I did, and it read;

"I heard screaming. Is everything okay?"

It was from the neighbor... My classmate. I just knew it. Whoever they were, heard Mum screaming, and probably when Dad may have hit her while I was away.

I was speechless and numb. Didn't know what to feel. Didn't know how to react.

A classmate knows what goes on in this house...

Just how much do they know...?

I neatly folded up the letter. Very neatly. Dropped it back on the ground. And strolled to my bed, deep in thoughts.

A classmate knows what goes on in this house...

I laid down quietly, and setting myself for bed, I rested my head on the pillow, wrapped myself up in my blankie.....

And remained wide-eyed, staring into space the whole entire night.

See y'all on the next update, we're going to be moving into Acha's family for the first time!😌❤️

Oh and quick question, who do you think is the new neighbor?

And oh yeah, one more thing, the whole scene with Sean and Dabi, no think am too much oo. Dabi's head works different in a way, so things she explains in her POV.... May not exactly be what it was. She usually has a lot of distorted reality, and we're reading a distorted version of what happened the way Dabi interpreted it in her head, so a lot of things you read from her POV........ may not exactly be what really happened in real life. Creeped you out a little, ba?

Well, I'm happy cause since Acha and Dabi will witness a lot of things together, you will get to be seeing the distorted version of what Dabi thought happened, and the actual thing that happened from Acha's POV.

Don't judge things in this book too quickly oo. I'm sure some of you thought Stephen was being a jerk, lol. I just know. Mehn, in all honesty, Dabeluchi is the least damaged person in her family. Yes oo, you read correctly.

See y'all in the next update❤️❤️