Hello, there✨

So, yeah? Tuesday's Update came early 🌝♥️

~DABI~

I am extremely angry with Marcus Acha.

Since I had come back from School today, I had been nothing, but absolutely furious.

Livid.

Enraged.

Infuriated.

Ferociou-

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" I screamed wildly when I heard that DAMNED notification sound pop up again from my phone, interrupting me and my rage-filled thoughts.

There I was, in the hallway downstairs, ironing the uniforms I would wear for School Friday tomorrow, and basking in all my bitter anger and jealousy that was riling up in me, minute by minute, after what I saw in School today, and then, the one guy who is responsible for making me feel this way, was busy blowing up my stupid phone!

I just couldn't believe him. I couldn't believe him!

I had already deleted his number. I was so angry that I blocked him from calling me, and when he realized that I wasn't even paying mind to his thousands of text messages, he started to spam me on Whatssap with messages and calls. I blocked him there too.

And guess what?

Marcus Acha started emailing me!

"Why were you screaming, Dabeluchi?"

Mum appeared out of the blue, and asked behind me, and I said nothing, Legit acted like no one was even talking to me, and after standing there for a while longer, she said nothing more to me and walked away.

Today, in School, just some minutes after Sports, I saw Marcus with Kelechi Uwa.

They seemed to be alone, and the entire block was empty and void of classmates, so my suspicion as to why the both of them would be that alone at a time like that, rose, and since they seemed too engrossed in whatever they were passionately discussing to even realise that someone had stepped into the hallway, I stood there and just decided to watch the both of them.

I just stood there and watched the both of them.

..... And my heart tore to shreds.

Kelechi, that painfully beautiful goddess that claimed to be human, had her arm strapped majestically around Marcus, my Marcus, like he was her night and shining armour, and Marcus, he..

He let her.

They walked ever so slowly together like they were trying to savour their little moment to the fullest, and they were just there, alone, walking together, holding on to each other, and then, when Marcus said something to her, Kelechi laughed, a soft laugh that even brought her closer to him, got her holding onto him even closer, and what hurt the most was that Marcus was not even backing away from her.

I just stood and watched.

Stood and watched.

Stood and watched.

Stood and watched.

Stood and watched.

Stood and watched.

Stood and watched.

Stood and watched.

Stood and watched.

Stood and watched.

Stood and watched.

And then, turned away and marched so furiously, with loud heavy steps away from the two love birds.

Immediately, I started hearing rushed footsteps behind me and Marcus' voice, shouting my name, as I supposed he was the one running after me.

At that exact same, some of our classmates started trod into the Hallway, and realizing that Marcus was still running after me and these people would quickly grab the gist of everything, and figure us out, so I started to run.

I didn't just run, I ran in a zigzag motion, sliding through the crowd of my classmates and moving around un circles, squares, triangles, trying my hardest to mix myself up with them and confuse Marcus so he doesn't find me easily, and I guess it worked because by the time I left the Hallway, and ran out of the block, I guess he had lost me.

Either that, or he figured that he preffered Kelechi over me and decided to stay back with her, but who cares?

I went back home and deleted his number immediately, and following all his pest-ish behaviour, I, furthermore, blocked him on Whatssap.

Marcus Acha could have Kelechi Uwa for all I care!

*New Message Notification*

I was about to scream once more on hearing another notification, and curse out loud that I had no other choice than to charge my phone here at the ironing spot since my room socket was useless, but my scream was cut off a mini second after it left my mouth when I looked to see that it was not from who I expected it to be.

In fact, I had no idea who it was from.

I had no idea what number that even was, and I wasn't one to be messaged by strange numbers, so curiosity got the best of me.

I clicked on the message.

070******65

Hey, I passed a letter into your room, but you haven't seen it. I'm waiting outside and I want to talk to you.

What the fuck?

Instantly, I switched off the socket switch, and dropped the iron to re-read that message again and ensure that I wasn't seeing things.

It was the same thing.

Involuntarily, my legs started to walk its way out of the mansion and to the front gate to see who the hell it was, stalking me.

And I went with a scissors.

I wasn't sure what compelled me to go, honestly, because if I truly had a stalker, then, the smart thing would be to not go. However, as so many sirens went off in my head, my hands held on to the scissors and my legs walked on to the front of the gate.

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

It was still a few minutes past 6pm, so even if the sun was long down, it wasn't exactly too dark for me to make out the form of the figure of someone sitting there, outside the gate, by the pavements that sided the large black gates of my father's mansion.

Whoever it was just sat there, seemingly waiting, and as the sirens went off louder in my head, telling me to run back into the house, but I kept on walking.

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

I got closer and my shoulders dropped in disappointment.

"You!?" I nearly even screamed, absolutely appalled, and before he even had the chance to stand up and explain how or why the fuck he was at the front gate of my house, I was storming back into the house.

I had no idea why I was even that angry, if I was being honest, and I honestly felt like my emotions seemed to be heightening to its extreme since what happened today in School with Marcus and Kelechi, and I didn't want to see anyone's face- Not Marcus, Not Kelechi, and DEFINITELY not him.

"Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey!" Casper was onto me with two large steps, towering over me and blocking my path, effectively stopping me from slipping myself past the small gate.

I pushed him off me, a lot harder than I intended to.

"I'M NOT IN YOUR MOOD!" I screamed to his face, raised the scissors high up to his eye level to show him that I wouldn't hesitate to stab one of them right out of its sockets.

"Woah!" Casper jumped away from me.

Why was I so angry?

I didn't care. I just started to walk away and Casper didn't follow up behind me.

"Please will you give me a few minutes to talk?" He called out behind me.

I ignored him and pushed the small gate open to walk in.

"You won't see my stupid face afterwards, I promise," He shouted again, and I lost it and whipped my whole body towards him like I was launching forth like a cannonball.

"You're MAD!" I screamed at him, "What kind of lunatic sits and waits in front of a stranger's house for them?"

He seemed to back up a little, taken off guard probably by my choice of words and he easily shook it off, cracked a teasing smile that made me know he was about to say something stupid.

"Well, considering that this is the second time I have sneaked into your compound to smuggle a letter through your window....." He shrugged wittily, "I don't think waiting outside your house is that so super, boss."

I looked the tall, light skinned boy up and down in annoyance and wanted to throw my scissors on that playful grin on his face.

"You're crazy," I told him.

"If I agree," He willingly spread his arms to take the insult, "Then, will you let us talk?"

"No." I deadpanned.

"Dabi, please, this is really important," He said to me, and for the first time since he showed up here, I could see the small hint of seriousness in his whole 'clown demeanour'.

I stared at him, and thought for a while.

"How important?" I interrogated.

"Babe," Casper chuckled, side smile on his face as a small laugh under his breath as he analysed the situation around us for a brief second as it were supposed to be an obvious enough answer, "I am literally standing in front of your house, for one."

Good point.

Without saying a word to him, I made my way towards the pavements behind him and sat, glanced at my wristwatch and mentally set a timer for him to make his point and leave me alone.

"Wait..." He drawled, slightly confused, "Does this mean you have agreed for us to talk?"

I looked forward as I answered him, "You have one minute."

I heard him laugh a little and say, "Wow, it's your unpredictable character for me."

"58 seconds." I deadpanned, and Casper was rushing towards me and finding a spot on the pavement, seizing the chance immediately it came.

Lord knows who sent this boy.

"Before I start," He said to me and a few words he said after were washed off in my head when I heard multiple notification sounds, and I was just about to get angry again at Marcus for spamming me, but then, I remembered that I had left my phone on the ironing desk back in the house.

The notification sounds were all coming from Casper's phone, and Christ, I wondered who on earth would be spamming him with so many messages, and why. They were legit coming one by one, two by two, three by three, in seconds, and I tried my hardest to ignore them.

"-So, because of that," Casper's voice picked up in my head and that was when I realised that I hadn't even been listening to half the other things that he even said, "I decided that it would be best to start off, by showing you these."

My curiosity piqued.

"Showing me what?" I asked him, and he responded by giving me his 'eternal notifications ringing' phone, and as the phone vibrated and jumped in my phones with more and more notifications that came from DOZENS AND DOZENS of Group chats, literally so damn many of them, I picked it up, ignored them as they zapped into his phone like the flash, and focused in what he was trying to show me.

An Instagram timeline.

I jumped, haunted by the trauma of that app that I had long deleted from my phone, and Casper skilfully caught his phone before it hit the ground.

"I know the last app you'd want to open is Instagram, but I think you really need to see these," He said to me, with a calming, soothing voice.

I didn't ask him how he knew that I was traumatized by Instagram, and I didn't care to know, because I just didn't want to see it. I didn't want to see anything that looked like it.

"After you went off the 'net, a lot happened," Casper was telling me.

I refused to look at his phone.

"A lot of us, dominantly the Ballers and a few other female classmates like Hassana and Ziba, and well, your friends - the Igbo Sisters, I mean, started a movement, fighting for you," Casper explained.

My heart stopped for a moment.

Casper suddenly got my attention. He knew he got my attention.

"Look," He left Instagram and swiped his phone quickly, landing in the Gallery section, and showing me a screenshot, "This was the result on Twitter after just 24 hours of our little online protest."

He showed me a picture and I could see a dark twitter timeline where a particular hash tag was highlighted and when I saw what it read, I stopped breathing for a moment.

It read #LeaveDabithefuckalone, and that particular hash tag was tagged as number three on the trend list, with about 14, 934 tweets all in it's name, and I couldn't help, but drop my mouth in awe.

How all these was happening and I had no idea.

"Of course, there were other trending hash tags that not only situated around you, but also for Dawn, but I think as at now, you may be interested in seeing this one," Casper said to me.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"Aaron started off with this post..." Casper showed me a screenshot of his phone and a post dated a few days back, by Aaron, and I looked.

Aaron's Post, guys!

"Our classmates were the first to pick it up and carry the whole matter on their heads..." Casper told me.

And I understood exactly why.

Aaron was one of the most popular humans in CH, and most likely the most influential persona in our set, and even if he said that the skies were green, my classmates would second him with grins on their faces.

And I must admit.... I felt touched that he would do this.

"And as soon as I noticed how fast it was circulating, the School page had already put it up, classmates were retweeting Aaron's post, and it was diving into Instagram with the speed of light," Casper was saying, "I decided to be another catalyst to the entire movement," He showed me an Instagram chat and I didn't even know when I looked, "So... I staged this entire conversation with an unknown account, and made it seem like I was speaking against what our classmates were doing, and then, I had them post it both on Instagram and Twitter, and the whole of Castron High Social Platforms were on fire."

Wow.

"And that was when all other classmates started to join in: The Ballers, Giwa's clique, The Igbo Sisters, and even Charlie Ba, joined in, and before we knew it, the hash tag started to get out to the open and not just within CH, and then, it was a whole bonus when Shade Onam addressed both you and Dawn's matter on her page, we blew the fuck up," Casper explained it all.

Woah.

"And just for the sake of knowing...." Casper said, "The entire thing was Marcus Acha's idea, and he played a major role in it as well."

I felt my heart skip a beat for a second, but immediately after, I was reminded of the anger I had been feeling through out today.

He helped out, huh? Yet, he wanted Kelechi.

"Thank you." I said, shocked and unsure of what next to say and how else to react to all these news.

It all made sense to me now. So, this was why everyone in School wasn't against me as I had expected them to. This was what was going on in the background the whole entire time? Wow.

"You're most welcome, Dabeluchi, and believe me, it was absolutely nothing to us, because we were still going to do this if Acha didn't reach out," Casper said.

A part of me felt warm and grateful to Marcus Acha...

But I remembered Kelechi.

"And in case you may be bothered; No, I promise, I'm not a stalker, so don't let the fact that I passed letters into your bedroom freak you out," Casper started to joke around.

I looked at this boy, and couldn't believe that he made me put a smile on my face.

And in that moment of coming back to Earth after suspending myself in that world I was in, a few minutes ago, all I could now hear was the multiple notification sounds that were bursting out right through Casper's phone. Notification sounds that my brain had muted for a few minutes prior.

"Oh, and in case, you were wondering, I was the one who sent you that Letter that day of School..." He told me.

And he lost me for a moment as I tried to recall what he was talking about.

"The 'Hey' Note?" He prodded, "After Charlie Ba's Physics Class?"

It all came back to me.

"Oh," I remembered.

I remember that day.

I remember someone squeezing that note into my hands, but I always thought it was Marc who passed it. Not Casper..

"I was just trying to get you attention, and I wasn't sure if walking up in person wasn't risky, so I passed on the note to you instead," He explained, "I have been meaning to have this conversation with you since then, and I promise I'd rather talk in person than in a cowardice letter, but before I go any further, since this is our first real conversation, I'd like to properly re-introduce myself - if you don't mind," He got out a firm, introductory hand as he spoke, "So, hello there, Dabeluchi Orji. My name is Casper Otobong Bassey, and we go to the same secondary school. Please,don't hangmyhand,Ibegyou."

I laughed. I really, really laughed.

And in as much as I wanted to know why Casper Bassey was suddenly so eager to talk to me, I couldn't help, but chuckle and divert a little by asking, "Why a letter though, you could have just texted or something?"

Casper looked at me with right about the most iconic mock glare look I had ever seen and I couldn't help, but burst right into laughter again.

"You see?" He started a whole petty rant that got me rolling, "See how technology has brainwashed this our generation! I keep saying this, but everyone thinks I'm exaggerating!"

There and then, Casper Bassey - though playing around - started a whole ass rant on Technology and how it had supposedly killed all our intellect, and I was dying, wondering where all of this was coming from.

"Oya, tell me now, when was the last time you wrote a letter?" Casper threw the question at me like I was in the middle of a hot pop quiz session. He threw the question at me like a bullet.

"Like an actual letter," He elaborated, "With a pen and paper. Tell me the truth!"

"I don't know," I shrugged and laughed, "Last school session?" Decided to give more details, "Like, during Ms. Owunam's Final English Essay Exam."

"English Essay Exam," Casper mimicked me mockingly in an awful, hilarious personation of a girl's voice, and I nearly fell off the pavement, tears accumulating in my eyes from all the Laughter, and the boy didn't stop with his rants.

"See your mouth as you're even saying it," He fired on, killing me more, "You see that's the problem with our generation! We are always looking for the easy way out instead of stopping to appreciate the beauty of our past ways of life!"

Just because I haven't written a Letter? I couldn't believe this boy brought me here so I could laugh till all the air in my lungs gave.

"Come, come, come," Casper motioned me, "Do you know that phones and gadgets are the reason that half the population of children in our generation are always crying to themselves and saying that they don't even know what skill or talent they have, that they don't know what thy want from life?."

"I don't care!" I screamed at him in all my laughter.

"Let me tell you why!" He fired on, without a care in the world, "It's because, instead of them to be recreational with their spare time, you'll see a child at the age of seven using the time he or she would have used to discover their talent of writing to play Super Mario!"

He killed me, guys.

Casper finished me.

"What does that have to do with me?" I asked him in tears.

"Don't even let me get started on the Music, oo." He said instead.

"Please, don't!" I stopped him earnestly.

"Come, come, come! Come and look at this!" He pulled me in, and started to shuffle through a part of his phone that I guessed was his Music.

Amidst all my protest, Casper didn't even back down and before I knew what was going on, somehow, the boy had gotten me to stream a collection of old songs from his phone, successfully getting one called Waterloo stuck in my head. Amidst all my protests, he still made me listen to more songs like 'Somewhere over the rainbow', and 'Edelweiss' and even though, I screamed and fought against all that, I couldn't help, but feel a sense of calm and peace, as I listened to those old time classics.

Waterloo gave me a feeling of immense joy and one hell of freedom and breakthrough, and while 'Some where over the Rainbow' made me sad in a sweet kind of way, and 'Edelweiss' made me temporarily tap into a timeline that wasn't mine, made me forget my present for a moment - a feeling I much appreciated.

And before I knew what was going on, I even thought about recommending an all time favourite that I had always known. A classic song that I learnt from Dance Class, a song that had gotten a new meaning to me since the time I had danced it with Marcus Acha while those homeless children watched, a song that had started to give me sweeter but painful, tear triggering yet peaceful, and heart wrecking, yet bliss and euphoric meaning - Moon River.

"What are you thinking?"

I snapped out of my thoughts when Casper's voice volumed up in my head.

"Yeah? What?" I was back to Earth and snapping my head his way in immediate response.

Casper looked at me, his brown eyes registered concern as he asked cautiously, "Are you okay? You zoned out, again."

He said 'again' like I had been zoning out before now, meanwhile I haven't. This was the first time I knew well that I had actually zoned out.

"Nothing, I just-"

"Hey," He cut me off with a calm, probing voice, "You can talk to me. That's why I am here."

Why? I asked in my head.

"If there is anything, and I mean, anything, you want to talk about, I am here," Casper kept eye contact with me, straight, yet almost desperate eyes, kept it's hold on mine as though he was waiting, just eagerly waiting and waiting hard for me to say something, anything.

And boy was he good. I had no idea what he was doing or trying to do, but it was working. I completely and utterly felt I could talk to him right now about anything. He was good. He had made me sit here and talk to him, even against my adamant will. He had made me laugh my heart out with his incredible wits, and even used his easy going charisma and humour to change my taste in music, and now, he was making me feel like I could be completely bare and vulnerable with him, just with mere words.

Casper was good at this.

Very good.

And I almost gave in.

Almost.

"What are you trying to do, Casper Bassey?" I asked him, straight forwardly.

It was like all the music of tension around us and dramatic crescendo seized in one second.

"Huh?" The colour seemed to drain from his face and he looked pale.

"I don't get it," I said the truth, "Why would you come to my house and just start talking to me and being all like this, and trying to get me to be personal with you? It feels sketchy, and I'm not stupid."

Casper's eyes seemed to sober up a little, and his eyes, slowly looked away from mine and set to the ground; He said absolutely nothing in response.

"Are you up to something?" I asked him.

"Fine," Casper shrugged, "You caught me."

I looked at him to continue, so I'd understand what he meant by that.

"The truth is Dabi, I know what goes on in your home," He started off.

And yes, I was well aware of that.

"I hear everything, I know everything, and I don't like it." He confessed.

A part of me was softened, but I still felt reluctant to believe him for some reason. I mean, if he did know, then why had he been so quiet about it all along? Not that I expected him to do anything, but with the way he was so silent, it almost seemed like he didn't care.

But then I remembered that very first letter he sent me that first day that he and his family moved into this Estate...

"I want us to talk, Dabi. I could help you," Casper said to me.

There was a certainty to his voice that was the slightest bit relieving, and for the first time, I thought to myself, believed it myself, that there was a possibility that I could get freed from the clutches of Dad and Delilah.

Still...

"I just can't trust you, I'm sorry," I shook my head at Casper.

I couldn't.

And besides, even if I could, what difference would it make? There was nothing Casper Bassey could do about it.

People had tried in the past and failed. Down from my Primary School Teacher who had to pay with his own life and to Efua, an old friend whom I never saw again. Casper would only end up like these people if he tried to get himself into my mess. I couldn't get any help, and that sucked.

"You can't trust me?" Casper repeated my words.

I nodded, not changing my mind.

"I don't trust you," I rephrased my words, "You or Aaron. Both of you; Something tells me there is more to all these 'help' you all are so eager to give me that I can't see. Something that isn't good, and I'm not going to let you nor Aaron fuck my life up, so please leave now."

There was silence for a century.

Until Casper broke it.

"You know? Not everyone has an agenda to harm people, some just want to help." He said to me.

"Go." Was all I responded.

"Why do you hate me and Aaron so much?" Casper seemed to not help, but ask the question.

"I don't hate you." I said.

"But you don't like us either," He prodded.

"I'll leave if you don't leave." I warned him.

"Why? Dabi?" Casper said, "I'm serious, tell me why you're so skeptical about us, I'm very curious and bothered."

I stayed quiet and so did he.

Silence.

Silence.

And more Silence.

Then, I spoke;

"If you aren't aware, you and Aaron had quite a reputation in School, and before now, neither of you acted like I existed, and now, all of a sudden, Ss3 is here, I have what looks like a nightmarish breakthrough, and you two suddenly care so much and want to be friends with me. Just like that."

No. Something was wrong somewhere. I was missing a piece out of this puzzle.

"Dabi-"

"The first encounter," I cut Casper off, "The very first thing that was close to an encounter I had with you and Aaron, your best friend literally beat the living demon out of an Ss2 boy, and yes, even if he did deserve it, I watched in horror, live, as he beat and beat and beat that boy with his belt, all over his entire body, as he screamed like a lost soul from Hell, completely wrecking the kid like a total maniac who had lost all sense of self control and reasoning, and you watched the whole thing, completely unbothered and unfazed, like it was...." God forbid, "A normal thing you both do on a regular day."

"I can explain that-"

"And then, it took you two months!" I cut him off again, "Two WHOLE months to break out of your silence, and finally act like you gave a shit about what we were going through in this house, so you care now? But before, so it meant nothing?"

"Dabi, let me talk please," Casper tried to speak.

"There is actually nothing you can say that will make me understand why you and Aaron are doing this? Jss1 to Ss2, you seldom ever bothered much about my case, and now you're carrying it all on your head, defending me everywhere, and all that shit. I genuinely feel there is a catch to it that I'm not getting yet. I don't hate you, Casper, but I most certainly do not trust you or Aaron, and that is it."

"Aaron isn't as bad as you paint him, I only hope you know that," Casper forced a sentence in the heat of my rant before I could cut him off again.

It was the way he jumped to defend Aaron first before defending himself, for me.

"I don't think anything about him, I just don't trust him." I told Casper plainly.

"I agree he went a little overboard that day, but believe me, he is not always like that," Casper said to me.

"But he could be," I shrugged.

"Aaron is really complicated," He told me softly, tenderly, "His only problem is that he cares too much about too many things and too many people. So much that he gets too emotional to be rational, and that's when he blows things out of proportion."

"He's not a bad guy, his feelings are very fragile and his emotions are just extreme. It's very easy to make him happy, and even easier to hurt him, and he gets overwhelmed by every emotion he feels to the extent that he doesn't even think anymore, he doesn't hear anymore, he just lashes out all his pain, so Dabi, you met Aaron at his worst moments that day. Do not use it to generalize his entire person, because that isn't who he is." Casper told me.

I was quiet.

"Heightened emotions could be a good thing sometimes," He said quietly, "At least, Aaron's happiness is extreme too and rubs off on others. So does his love, care, and support. So, why focus on the one bad part of him, while there are a million other good things to love about him?"

I didn't know what to say.

"Oh, and for the record," He went on, " I remember talking to you a few times before SS3, just wanted to make that one fact clear."

I scoffed a little laughter. True, I forgot. Casper had lived off that legacy of being the one guy in the set who knew everyone, and yes, he may have talked to me a few times before Ss3, but I was certain he hadn't said more than five words to me. And Aaron? It was like I was dust to him, until now.

"Contrary to popular opinion, Aaron is not picky with who he talks to," Casper made that fact clear to me, "Believe it or not, he gets socially awkward sometimes. Most of the friends we have are from my extensions, and most of the people we talk to, I actually talked to them first."

Umm.... Hard to believe, but okay.

"He probably wouldn't have spoken to you, till we graduated, believe me," He laughed.

Ouch.

"But not because of any messed up reason, he is just the kind of person who is scared of pulling the wrong people into his life. I have that fear too, but I guess, people are wired to think differently. I believe in the notion that states that it is better to have an acquainted and generally peaceful relationship with everyone, while being careful enough to know who and who should be in your circle and who should not, and Aaron just believes that he shouldn't get close to anyone at all if they aren't going to stay in his life, so it's complicated really." He explained.

Hmmm.

I wasn't even sure where I stood on that.

"But, maybe, that's why Fate made us neighbours," He realized, "It almost seems to be like this all was for a reason, you know."

"Figures." I nodded.

Casper shook his head as though he remembered something that posed a regret to him

"That day, I messed up too, sef." He lamented, "That day you witnessed that shit, I should have handled that SS2 boy myself before he had a chance to disrespect Aaron, and maybe things would have been less brutal, but the risks involved in doing so, stopped me."

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"In as much as I have to take a lot of shit from these SS2 Boys, I love my post as the Social Prefect," Casper told me, "And getting aggressive with students, even if they may deserve it has its down sides. I could get deposed. I could get expelled. I can't risk that."

"But, Aaron did it and he's fine." I said.

"People's luck differs," He said.

"But there are two sides to a coin," I went on.

"Yeah, but you could get Heads, and I get tail," Casper said, "I mean, if there is a possibility that something could go wrong, then, why go for it?"

This all just reminded me of the whole conversation he had with Soma about taking back cheaters, and I came to the conclusion that this guy's view of life was just one of a kind. A bit pessimistic, but generally, very realistic. Like an adult with experience in a teenage boy's body.

"Casper, you seem really smart, although a bit of a realist, but I don't know, sometimes, I feel you should take risks," I said, "Sometimes, it may not be as bad as you think it's going to be."

I swallowed hard as I even thought about taking my own advice.

So many risks to take. Should I tell Casper the details of this home and bring him in this mess? Do I tell the Sisters about Marcus Acha? Do I let the whole set know the truth? I just don't know.

"You know? I'm actually taking a risk right now though," He smiled a very catchy smile at me as he said so.

"What risk?" I asked him.

"Sitting here to talk to you," He said it, "And not because you have a scissors in your hand," He reminded me and I laughed, "But, also, because I was well aware of how much you didn't want to see anything that looked like my incredibly handsome face, especially after you nearly flipped a table at me the Last time at S.A Café."

I remembered that.

The day he called me crazy. I couldn't just get it out of my head, how he looked me in the eyes with a smile on his face and asked me during that Polygraph Lie Detector Test, in words I can never forget, "Do you know that you are crazy?"

And I ended throwing a temper tantrum and disorganizing the place. As I sat here with him, I thought about addressing it, but I decided to just let it be and slide.

"Honestly, after what happened back there, I made up my mind to never talk to you again because I couldn't bear the thought of taking the risk to talk to you again and have something similar happen again, but hey, look at me, sitting right in front of your house gates with you. C'mon that's character development, you have to give me some credit," He joked around with that signature smirk on his light skinned face.

I laughed. I actually laughed.

Casper was very funny.

In a moment of realization, I came to the conclusion that he may not be so bad after all.

Meanwhile, my senses of hearing were able to finally un-mute the notification sounds that were literally playing a fine tune of music from Casper's phone as they barged into is phone, leaving us no breathing space. Through out our conversation, I was somewhat able to filter all that noise, and now it was all back.

"Why do you have so many messages anyway?" I asked Casper.

He smiled again that signature smile and I knew he was about to say nonsense.

"I mean, with a handsome face like mine, is it that shocking to realize I'm one hell of a catch? Before na! I'm a hot keg, girls full my DMS!" He said.

I knew it. I knew he was going to say nonsense.

"I'm joking oo!" Casper raised his hands in a fake gesture of surrender, "I only have eyes for one girl," He said, and I didn't ask who, "And those messages are all from various group chats I'm in. Some of them are from School: PPC group chats, study GCs', Class GC of course, and some other smaller, cut out group chats of our classmates, created by the Ballers, friends, and just aimless stuff like that. But I take the Party planning group chats seriously because I am also in some groups outside School- some for High Schools, others for Uni, and a few house parties like that, and then, some individual messages are just different people from in and out of School, and they-"

"You can just turn off your data though..." I suggested weakly.

Casper looked like he wouldn't give that idea a thought.

"I am a very important personnel who needs to be online for all these people as much as I can be, especially for the party planning committees that I am literally the head at, I have to be there, 247, or there will be some major fuck up and I can't have that happening, it's too risky-"

Casper stopped talking there and looked at me for a while.

"You know what?" He said, and before I knew it, he pressed against the power button of his phone and switched it off.

I smiled, unusually happy and impressed. Baby steps, I guess.

Casper and I pretty much rounded up our junk since it was starting to get unreasonably dark, and I quickly decided to head back into the house, to where I had left my school uniforms, half ironed on the ironing table.

So much for this evening.

I stepped into the House happy and whole at heart, and the moment tht the chill, eerie atmosphere of this hell around me struck me hard, all my peace was gone.

I hated it here.

It was so quiet, yet so not. Disturbing was the word, and oh boy, in as much as I did my best to ignore it, I couldn't. The only sounds that could be heard in the night of the entire house was the theme song of Powerpuff Girls that I suspected was booming out from from my brother's room, and

I could hear my every step I took, and in a sick, twisted, irritating manner, I could hear the voice of Delilah, that her shrilling, irritating laughter, coming all the way from the living room upstairs, and I fought the urge to spit in absolute disgust.

"Stupid bitch." I cursed as I plugged in the switch and grabbed the iron in anger, pressing it against my school uniform, in sheer lividity.

I heard Delilah's laughter again, coming from upstairs, but I was confused when I thought I saw a figure that looked like her, walk past me, in those quick, heel koink-sounding footsteps that belonged to her, but when I turned around and saw no one there, I figured it may have all just been in my head.

"Bitch." I muttered again, as anger from nowhere riled up heavily in me.

Rubbish, wicked, son-of-a-

"AND WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL EVENING!"

I froze. The iron in my hands stayed there in my hands, pressing hard against the school skirt I was ironing.

I said nothing. Just stayed there, still and unmoved.

"I SAID WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL EVENING!? OH, YOU THINK I DIDN'T SEE YOU TALKING TO THAT BOY FROM THR NEXT HOUSE!?"

I swallowed, but remained still.

"Come oo!" I heard Delilah's fast paced, furious footsteps coming up towards me from behind in a bloody fit of rage at my silence, "Am I talking to myself? What's wrong with you!?"

I grinded my teeth, stayed still, as she threw a whole temper tantrum behind me.

"God in Heaven knows if you're telling that boy anything, I will find out and I will KILL THE BOTH OF YOU AND THAT YOUR WRETCHED MOTHER!" Delilah screamed into my face and even though her voice penetrated my brain waves and shattered it to bits, I made up my mind to not answer her back a damn word.

Crazy Bitch.

"I KNEW IT that there was a boy in your life! I know you were getting some dick, I know a WHORE BEHAVIOR any day and any time! So, it's that boy from next door that you've been going out to see, secretly, right? RIGHT?!"

Delilah screamed even louder at me and against my will, a mental countdown started in my head.

Five.

"So, tell me, what were you telling him, or do you want me to find it out myself?! Because if I do, if I find out you said ANYTHING to him, I PROMISE you on my grave that I will FUCKING KILL YOU!" Delilah screamed.

Four.

"WHY AREN'T YOU TALKING, YOU POSSESSED BRAT!" She shouted again at me, pushed me so hard, yet I shocked myself by not even budging.

Three.

"I'M TALKING TO YOU, SPEAK! WHAT DID YOU TELL THT BOY! I WILL SMACK THAT SILENCE OUT OF YOU, DABELUCHI!" She was mad.

Two.

"IEIOEOSLSJZNZKSLSIZHXNSMSBZNZKZMZBXNODODMDHDF!-"

Gibberish.

Gibberish was all I heard Delilah screaming and cursing at the top of her lungs and the vein in my head was ticking by the second, as Delilah even tried to push me down to the ground, and all the way, I stood my ground, shocked by my sudden strength to stay on my feet, and anticipated the end of the countdown that the voices in my head were doing.

One.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM, YOU THIS EVIL, DEMONIC CHILD! WHY ARE YOU SO-"

Delilah pushed me hard at the end of my countdown, and all I could say in my head, was....

Bingo.

I acted as the voices told me to.

Cursing out profanities at the bitch, I turned around to grab her by both hands and slam her against the wall.

And for a moment, I was shocked at how strong I suddenly was - either I became twice as strong, or Delilah became weaker. Too weak to even struggle out of my tight hold.

I looked her in the face, savoured that pretty face of hers that had a particularly youthful glow tonight, and with venom in my voice, I said to her, "Burn."

The frizzy sound of melting rubber and the oddly satisfying smell of synthetic wax fuelled me with insane pleasure as I pressed the hot, burning iron against Delilah's face.

All the way, my heart bubbling with immense joy and satisfaction at the shrill, helpless, pathetic scream that came out of her mouth as she struggled to get out of my hold, in vein, and I pressed the hot iron to her face, harder and harder and harder and harder and harder-

"DABELUCHI!"

Instantly, the iron dropped from my hands, and Delilah dropped to the ground, limp on the floor, whimpering in pain and agony and screaming in terror, crawling to get away from me and that was when I got slapped back into reality by an imaginary force, slapped back enough to understand what I just did.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

The sound of my Mum's voice was shrill and shrieking and her eyes were bulged out of her socket in utmost, insane shock. The woman was literally shaking, vibrating, trembling in shock and horror before me...

And I stood there, looked at her, like the monster I was, holding the iron in my hand that still smelt of blood, skin, and electric burn...

And in that exact moment, I started to hear rushed footsteps, thundering footsteps coming from upstairs and pounding above us, and it didn't take m a second to register and understand that there was only one person left in this house, who could process what I did if he came down here.

My father.

I knew it was him.

"Dabeluchi.." Mum called my name, terror and horror in her eyes, and fear, shaking the firmness her voice.

I looked at her and waited to hear the order.

"Run."

That was all I needed.

I ran.

I ran out of the house.

I had no idea where I was going to, but I ran and ran and ran and ran...

And didn't stop running.

Omoh💀

Say everything on your mind. Down from Casper, and to what tf just happened. One, two, go.....

If you don't see me tommorow, expect me on Friday, people! Bye!!!♥️♥️