Hello, guys. Sorry for the long wait. At the end of this chapter, I have an announcement at the end of the chapter, so please make sure to not skip.

That being said, carry on....🍸🍸

~DABI~

Blood.

Blood.

Blood.

It was everywhere. The stench of it all around the room, all around the house, the way they stuck to my dress and fuelled me more with an insane urge for vengeance, the way it dripped down her, and dripped and dripped and didn't stop dripping down that red, blood red dress of hers.

Screams.

Screams.

And more screams.

They were  everywhere. From all the corners of the house, and ironically, the loudest came from her. Her screams rose in pitch, rose in terror and rose in torture, and deafened me by the second, but I stayed still.

And just watched her.

Glass shattered at all corners of the house, from all corners, and one hell of a turbulence broke out, but I stood there and took joy and pleasure in her suffering...

I just watched her.

Over and over, and over again, and the sound of flames over inflammable, the burn of flesh and furniture, the screams, oh, the damned screams of anguish and pain, tormented me, destroyed me...

But I only watched her...

And watched her...

And watched her...

And kept watching her...

As she burned and burned and burned and burned, and screamed and screamed and screamed, and cried, cried, begged for her life...

I watched her.

I was satisfied.

I was satisfied.

I was satisfi-

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

I woke up.

I woke up to an anxiety attack.

"Mum!" I croaked in pain as I tried to let out her name, and scream back for her just as she had screamed at me a few minutes ago.

"You killed her!"

The room was hot and in the heat of my nightmare, I was sweating profusely, beads and beads of sweat dropped down everywhere from my forehead, and down, down, down, to all areas of my body that sweat shouldn't even be.

"You killed her!"

"You crazy, pathetic bitch! You KILLED HER!"

"Mum!" Air couldn't get into my system, it felt like my lungs were constricted, and I got up to kneel on the bed and press my helpless, hopeless hands to my neck, squeezing them hard like I wanted to force out the obstruction from it.

"PATHETIC, PATHETIC DABELUCHI!"

"CRAZY, PATHETIC DABELUCHI! YOU KILLED HER!!"

"MUM!" I found my voice and screamed out with a voice that wasn't even mine, as my entire nervous system was breaking and breaking by the second, my entire body was trembling in fear of what I didn't even know, and I fell back against the bed, shaking with fear and anxiety.

Strong hands grabbed me immediately, holding me in place as I thrashed around, and at the same time, hugging me with an urgency to keep me calm and steady.

"What happened to your Mum?" He said to me, holding me tightly against himself as I convulsed and convulsed.

"Look at you! Always running away from your problems! You brat!"

"LEAVE ME ALONE! I'M NOT A BRAT!" I screamed back at those multiple taunting voices that sneered angrily and spitefully at me.

"Aurora!" He was still holding me, trying his best to calm me down as I exchanged words with someone he couldn't see.

"FOR HOW LONG DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING TO KEEP RUNNING! HOW LONG! HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU BEEN RUNNING!"

"I'M NOT RUNNING FROM ANYTHING! I'M NOT RUNNING!" I screamed back.

"Jesus Christ, Aurora! Are you sleep talking!-"

I muffled everything he was saying, everything he was screaming in all his alarm and concern. I knew someone else had walked into the room, and they sounded like a woman, but whatever the both of them said, I didn't process. However, they held me down, I kept struggling, even though in vain, to jump out of their holds and launch an attack. Meanwhile, I screamed back at them.

"LEAVE ME ALONE! YOU ALL ALWAYS HAVE A WAY OF RUINING THINGS FROM ME! I AM NOT RUNNING AWAY FROM ANYTHING BECAUSE I DID NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING!-"

There were new voices now, calming understanding voices that assured me that I was right. That I did nothing. That I did nothing. That I did nothing wrong.

"It's okay, Aurora,"

"It's okay, Dabeluchi, baby,"

"You did, nothing. We understand,"

"Aurora, just stay calm and go back to Bed, we believe you. We know you did nothing, okay?"

"Yes, darling. You did nothing, so just go back to bed, okay? We love you,"

And I fell asleep to those new voices.

They kept going on and on, and I was able to fall asleep eventually.

And all the way, I felt the same strong hands, holding onto me, and letting me sleep on him, on his body, as he whispered words of assurance and sweet nothings onto me, things that were an instant lullaby to me.

I fell back into sleep.

And this time, when I woke up, I couldn't remember a thing.

I knew I was afraid, but I couldn't remember why I was so filled with panic an hour ago.

I completely forgot where I was.

And how I got here.

It was the moment I realized that I was alone, that I was slapped with the brutal reality.

I want to believe that it was Marcus that was holding me and taming me back to sleep, but he wasn't with me anymore.

A flash memory of my nightmare flashed through me, shook me once more and I was so confused and unable to tell if the part where he had walked in here to help me back to sleep was also part of the dream, or reality... I was so confused.

Quickly, it all came back to me.

Why I was here. How I was here. Everything. It all came back to me, and in an instant, thinking about my Mum and how her well-being must have been like at the moment scared me.

It was morning. The sun was still setting, and I wasn't even sure if she was alive or not at this time. I was scared and curious, thinking what on Earth would have happened at home by this exact time. How my Dad would have reacted to the incident with Delilah. Knowing him, he would be livid, he would probably want to burn the house upside down. And just how much of a scene had the entire thing caused by now? How many people knew about this? What if we were trending already all over the news and I was hiding here in the Acha's residence? What if the Internet was booming with news by now? What exactly was happening right now? What was going on, while I hid in here? What? What? What?

And where was Marcus Acha? Why wasn't he here? He slept over on the floor with me last night. Right there on the floor. But as I looked to the floor, nothing was there, not his duvets and blankets nor himself. At that point, I started getting scared, and I questioned my sanity.

Everything that happened last night happened right?

I stood up from the bed immediately to rush out of this lonely room, but the moment I stood up and felt a painful contraction in my lower abdomen, and a whoosh feeling of liquid literally draining out of me, and wetting my panties.

I froze. My heart skipped ten thousand beats as I realized what the hell just happened.

What the hell was happening.

"No." I shook my head, horrified, sat back down on the bed abruptly, panic-stricken. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

It couldn't be. No, it couldn't be. Not now! Not now! Not HERE!

Realizing I should be doing anything, but sitting back down on the bed in this situation, I sprung up to my feet, and my head, in reflex, whipped quickly towards the bed, and my eyes widened in horror on seeing it.

Blood.

Blood.

Blood.

"How can I start my period right now!?" I screamed in frustration, nearly ripping out my hair of.

The first thing I did in reflex was to rush in and deal with the flow, using a tissue. Something I knew was unhealthy, but what on earth was I to do first hand?! I didn't even know which was worse; The fact that I had to start my period here, or the fact that I had stained the bed the way I did. The bed was so stained!

I felt more and more contractions as my frustration heightened and it seemed as though my intestines were in a battle, twisting and churning against each other in fury, and in that state of pain that I knew was just the damn beginning of it, I had an instant instinct to check something else.

I flashed towards the mirror by the right of the room and turned back to get a good view of my back side, and my eyes widened in more terror as I got a view of my back that was well stained as well.....

This is Marcus's hoodie.

I stained Marcus's Hoodie.

I felt faint.

Literally, I literally felt faint. I wasn't sure of it was my situation or my condition, but I started feeling dizzy, and considering the kind of pain that started to build up within me, I wished I was numb as well. Gathering up every atom of strength left in me, I walked, although slow, steady, and pathetically, out of the room to get help.

Probably from Marcus's Mum.

The house was quiet and all I could hear were voices, quiet voices seemingly in a conversation -coming from a distance downstairs that I supposed was the Living room. And me, having being new to this place and unsure of which corridor led there, I just followed the voices and hoped and prayed that I wouldn't get lost in this massive mansion.

Bare feet, I stopped on the cold, tarred grounds, and hoped I wouldn't drip, as I carefully took steps that would not only make sure to not trigger more cramps, but also, not trigger flow. And flow co-operated, but damn it, each step I took, it felt like I was applying pressure onto a strong weight attached to some strings in my lower abdomen that dragged down heavily, with each step.

It was horrifyingly painful.

And this was just the beginning.

I stopped walking when I got close to the end of the stair way and that was when I started decoding the words of the new voices I was hearing in the living room.

"And, baby, you know we have to find out what the problem is with her, eventually. We have to find out why she ran away from Home, so we can think of better ways to help her-"

I took another painful, suicidal step down the next step, and waited for the strength to take the next one to come.

"I know that, but Mum, I don't want to force her into anything she's not comfortable with, I know she'll speak up eventually-"

"And I understand that, but she is living under your father's roof without permission, and you know how much your Dad hates that. And baby, you know that is even a big crime. And so as much as you are trying to be understanding, she also has to understand that this is huge and she needs to give us enough information to help her-"

I dropped my feet onto the next step and rested again, leaned on the protection railing for support and stayed there.

"And also, about Sean, are his parents even aware of what those boys in your School are planning to do to him? You know death threats shouldn't be taken lightly-"

I willed myself to take another step.

"His parents are separated, and all, so I don't know, it is not easy to reach them. I feel his Mum would be a better person to handle the case since she's a Lawyer, but she is so unreachable. She's not even in Nigeria at the moment, Sean said she flew back to the Netherlands this morning, and her return in still uncertain... And besides that, telling the School wouldn't even help matters, because even if they expel Kaniru, Sean wouldn't be in any less danger. And of course, you know the Police wouldn't do much to help too, Mum-"

"I know that, especially when you don't even know who is working for who in the background.."

What on earth were they talking about?

I took the second to last step and opened my mouth to call out to them, but no sound came out in all my struggle and pain.

"Advice Sean to stay at home, baby,"

"I already did; He insisted I tell him why, and when I finally did, he just stayed quiet on the phone for a really long time, and then, abruptly hung up on me minutes after. I can't tell what that means, if he's going to listen to me or not. What I do know is that Sean is an extremely stubborn daredevil-"

I came down with the last step, whimpering slightly in pain, and it was enough noise to get both Marcus and his Mum, halting their conversation.

"Oh," Mama Acha sat up, noticing me first, and raising her brows at me in concern.

I held the protector for support, and tried to stand properly, but all to no avail.

Marcus turned next, immediately, and once his eyes caught mine, I saw his pupils dilate in panic and the guy was literally about to bolt his way to my side if not for his Mum who stopped him immediately.

"Stay back, I'll handle this!" She got up, and made her way quickly towards me, and when Marcus was about to protest, she shut him up with one sentence, "This is women's emergency, stay down, baby."

Marcus seemed to understand, because as Mama Acha rushed over to me, he stayed on the couch, sitting there, not coming towards me, but visibly looking very, very disturbed.

"What pad do you use?" The woman asked me first off, taking my hand and leading me back up the stairs, gently, "Later during the day, I will send Marcus to rush to the pharmacy to get more, okay, honey?"

"Thank you," I smiled at her, took the nylon she gave me, felt it and instantly knew what was inside.

We were now back in the room they had given me.

"Thank you," I said again, I meant it.

It was the way she knew first hand what the problem was, and exactly how to help. I told her all she needed to know, because I knew I needed all the help I could get.

"I stained the bed..." I swallowed, hesitantly, as I told her what she could obviously see.

There was a look of understanding on her face as she waved it all off.

"It's okay," She said to me, "Just clean everything up; It's fine, Dabeluchi. It happens."

"And also," I stopped her as she looked like she was turning back to leave.

"Yeah?" Her eyes glinted with compassion as she turned back, a kind of compassion in her eyes that was similar to that of Marcus', and once again, I was reminded of this woman's unearthly beauty.

"I..." I stuttered, rubbed the back of my neck, "I also.."

Mama Acha only watched me, brown eyes patiently watched mine, waiting to hear what I had to say.

"I also stained Marcus's hoodie," I let it all out, turned around to see it as I had been hiding it from her the entire time.

Mama Acha still stared at me.

And kept staring at me.

And kept staring at me.

Until...

"Wait, what!?" She broke down, laughing her damn ass off.

This woman was laughing.

Mama Acha was seriously laughing at me.

The kind of Laughter that wasn't even ending. She just held onto her ribs and laughed and laughed, and against my will, my lips cracked a little smile as that laughter of hers was trying to contract me like a sickness - it was contagious.

"But, gurl, you're adorable and all, but you know you're handling that mess yourself, abi?" Mama Acha jabbed at me.

I couldn't believe this woman.

But I'll give it to her. This laughter temporarily made me forget that I was in pain.

"But don't worry, Baby doesn't have to know, yeah? But you have to wash everything off this morning, and fast," She said to me.

"I'm aware," I said, a small laugh escaped my lips as I made my way to the bathroom promptly.

"And Dabi, I'll go downstairs, and distract my son, okay? I know he doesn't know what the hell is going on, and he'd want to come up here and check on you," She called behind me.

Not surprised.

I nodded at her in appreciation before softly closing the door shut inside the bathroom.

"Sis, I am telling you," Mama Acha was still vibrantly and actively talking to me from outside, even if I heard her footsteps walking towards where I supposed was the door, "I know he'll want to come in here, even if I try to stop him. That boy is either going to back off from here or get a customized Mama Acha karate chop from me, you know what I'm talking about, right?"

I laughed from the bathroom, and made sure to call out to her hearing, "Yes, ma."

"Ehe nu na!" She was still talking, fired on with my response, "Dabeluchi, I'll have you know; Men in this family and stubbornness are like 5 and 6; They're made for each other. Soul mates, I tell you! And that's why I'm in their lives. It's not only for beauty oo, no other woman can handle the Acha men like Mama Acha!"

I heard the door shut and silence following, indicating she had left the room before I could even urge her on with another 'Yes, Ma!', and I couldn't help, but laugh to myself at this woman's wits and ability to lighten up any situation.

For a moment, she actually made me forget the fact that I was hiding away at her home, without proper explanation, after running from home - Home that was probably on fire right now, if care wasn't taken.

I was scared all over again.

So, so scared.

I really wanted to hear from my Mum, but I was so scared. Thinking about the possibilities of what must have been going on at home scared the daylights out of me. I knew I had to call my mother...

Yet, I didn't.

"Are you all dressed now?" The door creaked open for me to see Mama Acha's brown eyes, looking at me through a small space, and I wondered why she was being so careful when she could just walk into the room.

"I guess so," I answered, "But can I ask you of one more thing?"

Mama Acha seemed to be pondering on something for the briefest of seconds and when she fondled with the door and whispered something to someone else, behind the door, I knew someone was there and I had a feeling  I knew who.

"What's that, sweetheart?" She closed the door behind her gently. Carefully.

"I want to talk to you about something." I whispered to her, careful enough to not have anyone else behind the door hear me.

I honestly wished there was a way I could let Marcus know the details of why I was here, but I wasn't sure what he would think of me if he knew. I knew I had to tell him eventually, but for now....

"Marcus told you I ran away from Home; He's right," I started off by telling his Mum.

She listened so efficiently, so aptly, and the look she gave me made me feel like she would understand... Hopefully.

"Will you tell me why you did that?" She asked softly.

She had a way of really making me feel at ease with opening up to her.

"I did something I shouldn't have done..." I stammered, looked away from her to gather up the courage to say it to her. Say everything to her. She only patiently waited for me.

"I..." I looked back up to her, lips quivering, as I breathed in. Out. In. And out.

Mama Acha was quick to run up to me and hold me in a warm, gentle embrace and everything died down in my throat as I tried to muffle the ugly cry that was building up in me for an explosion.

"Can I use your phone to call my Mum?" I asked her in tears, staining her robe with my tears, "I really want to hear from her."

"Alright," She easily agreed, whipped out her phone from somewhere, "Call her number out for me," She was already set and ready to dial.

I was honestly touched at how sweet Marc and his Mum were. This woman didn't even know anything about me and yet she was going out of her way to help me.

Heeding, I called out my Mum's number and watched in extreme, nauseating anxiety, as the phone rang out in speaker.

My heart was beating so fast I feared that Mama Acha would hear, and there was this dull aching feeling in the pit of my stomach, a sickening wave of nausea in there that absolutely destroyed me, and knocked me off my feet. 

Literally.

I couldn't stand anymore.

Mentally wrecked, I fell back on the bed and supported myself up by sitting.

And I kept watching the phone ring.

I watched it ring.

I watched it ring.

I watched it ring.

I watched it ring.

.. Until it stopped ringing.

"Sorry the number you've dialled is not answering..."

I looked at Mama Acha and she looked right back at me.

Then, she dialled the number a second time, and it was the same response. Over and over again, my Mother was not picking up the phone.

There was a lump in my throat.

"Is she okay?" She had to ask me.

Honestly...

"I don't know." I told her the truth.

She looked very sympathetic.

"I'll keep trying to reach her," She promised me, "By the time you and Marc are back from School today, I'll let you know what she has to say."

A knife slashed into my heart and having her remind me of something I had completely forgotten existed.

School.

School!

It was a Friday. How could I have forgotten that there was School today?!

Mama Acha seemed to notice my discomfort.

"Do you think she'll be away from her phone?" She asked me.

"Most likely not," I answered, "That's why I don't understand why she isn't answering."

"Look, Dabeluchi, your mother is okay, I promise you," She assured me, "If she wasn't, it would be more likely that her line wouldn't have been going through at all. I will reach her, I promise."

The thought of having to go to School even made this entire thing ten times worse for me.

"Please call one more time," I insisted. Desperately.

Her eyes softened on mine and she heeded, and dialled my Mum's number again.

This time, as I watched it ring, my anxiety heightened worse than before and I had to hold a hand to my chest to control myself from passing out. Like the action was going to somehow give me more strength to hold on.

I felt faint.

And then, the call was 'busied'.

That was when I knew it that Mum was in fact at the other end of the line, and deliberately ignoring all the calls. She was there. She just refused to pick up her calls. And she was doing it on purpose.

That realization slapped me. Hard.

Why would she be doing that?

"Text her, please," I suggested to Mama Acha, "Text her and tell her it's me, that it's Dabeluchi."

Her hands were in a hurry, typing as fast as they could, and I knew she was at it.

"Done," She told me.

We waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"Why doesn't she want to call back-"

I was cut off by Cardi B blasting off Mama Acha's phone, and I knew that there was a call coming.

"She's the one!" Mama Acha triumphed, answering the call in a rush, "Hello? Hello?" 

There was silence for a while over the line. 

"Hello?" Mama Acha tried to urge a response, "I am Mrs Obianuju Vanessa Acha, and your daughter spent the night in my household. We took good care of her and she is fine. However, she would like to speak to you, she's been very worried..."

There was no response from my Mum for over a minute.

I could tell because the call was on speaker.

"Hello?" Mama Acha called out again. "Are you there?"

"Give the phone to Dabeluchi." I heard Mum's cold, stoic voice say over the line.

Mama Acha seemed taken aback by the hostility of the voice and so did I.

However, she gave me the phone.

"H-Hello?" I stammered over the line, "Mum?"

"Can that woman hear me?" Mum started off.

The call was on speaker, so definitely Mama Acha heard.

I was convinced there was something wrong with the way Mum sounded. There was something different about her voice. She asked the question like it wasn't a question, but a statement. Her tone was dead. Weak. Yet, dead. Very dead.

It mellowed me. Badly.

What on earth happened while I was away?

I put of the speaker, and answered, "No, Mum. She can't hear you."

"Delilah was sent to the hospital," Mum told me.

I stayed quiet for a while, and she stayed quiet too.

"I didn't hear what you said." I finally said.

"I said Delilah was sent to the hospital," Mum repeated herself.

It was like a bulb in me shut off and I swallowed. "Okay."

That bulb stayed off.

There was silence between us for the longest time.

"Dabeluchi?" Mum called out to me.

"Yes?" I answered.

"Why aren't you responding?" She asked me.

"You weren't talking." I said.

"That's not true." She countered.

I stayed quiet. Absorbed what she said. There was an utmost look of confusion on Mama Acha's face as she watched me on the phone.

"You weren't talking before now, Mum," I told her calmly.

"I was talking and you KNOW I was talking!" Her voice switched off from what it was in the beginning and to a sharper, more angry tone.

I stayed quiet again.

"Well, maybe it's network," I concluded. Shrugged it off and changed the topic. "Enough about Delilah, how are you, Mum?"

There was silence, another deafening row of it, for the longest time.

Until I finally heard her voice.

"I am alive and that's all that matters," Was all she told me.

She wasn't saying more afterwards and I hung up the call.

"Here you go." I quietly gave Mama Acha back her phone.

She didn't take it. She just stared at me like I grew seven heads.

"Why did you do that?" She asked me.

I was genuinely confused.

"Do what?" I asked back.

"Cut the call in the middle of your Mum talking," Mama Acha said, "She sounded very distressed. Why didn't you listen to what she was saying?" She looked extremely hysterical and disturbed by something, something I wasn't understanding. Something that didn't make sense to me.

"I cut the call because she wasn't talking," I explained to her.

"No, she was talking as you cut the call," Mama Acha argued, "I could hear her talking, it was right there on speaker!"

"I put it off speaker," I debunked.

"No, you didn't," Mama Acha looked at me, her pupils dilating as she seemed to be in a state of absolute confusion and madness.

She looked at me.

I stared right back at her.

"Yes, I did," I told her, "She asked me to put it off Speaker and I did."

Mama Acha looked like she was beginning to doubt her self. I mean, she was the one who was confused. I put it off speaker because Mum asked me to, and I cut the call because Mum wasn't talking anymore. How was she seeing things differently?

"Okay, so, if the call wasn't on speaker, then, how did I now hear her talk about  a Nancy?" Mama Acha looked at me, challenged, as though she wanted to prove she wasn't the crazy one.

I furrowed my brows in utter confusion.

"Who is Nancy?" I asked her, genuinely and utterly confused out of my mind.

Her eyes grew wide in horror, as she stared at me, and I got scared.

"W-What?" I swallowed, I had to ask.

"Why do you keep doing that?" She asked me. Quietly. She seemed flabbergasted for some reason. Utterly shook by something.

At that point, I was just very scared and confused.

"Doing what?" I had to ask her.

She stared at me again.... Seemingly, more shocked.

"You just did it right now," She said to me.

"What did I do?" I asked her.

"You ignore most of the things I say, and only answer a few of your choice," Mama Acha said, "Just like what you were doing to your Mum over the phone."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said to her.

Mama Acha stared at me and realization seemed to dawn on her, and she stepped back. Once. Twice. Three times. And took in a deep breath.

"You're not doing it on purpose, are you?" She asked, her eyes suddenly softened on me.

Doing what?

"Or, are you?" She raised a concerned brow, a very concerned brow, and her voice came softer with her next words, "Dabeluchi, are you okay?"

There was a sharp, striking pain that hit the side of my brain, nearly bursting the vein open with a splitting migraine, and I screamed out in pain.

Where are my Einsteins at? Give you theories. There's a 99.9 percent that you're wrong sha😂❤️

I'm sorry if it felt like you were getting confused by the second, but honestly, that's how Dabeluchi felt too, and it's safe to say that the girl isn't even sure of what is going on in her life, and it's now more complicated since she is the protagonist, so we are seeing things the same twisted way she's seeing it😅💔 But oh, well. Let's see how good you guys are at picking up pieces together.

Oh, and before my announcement, I wanted to give a shout-out to three books I believe you all should read now, if you haven't already started on them. They are really good, and if you're looking for nice Nigerian reads, this is for you❤️

First is "Birds with Broken Wings" by Rihanna_Adedeji

The second one is "365 DAYS" by AddictiveRose

And the third one is "Perspectives" by chiomachris

Let me know which of them you are already following, and if you aren't, you're missing out on a lot sha!

Oh, and for the main announcement, guys!

We may have to do some minor adjustments to the update schedule because it is becoming extremely hard to balance school and Wattpad especially since I am a final year student and this department wants to me have my head on a platter, but bear with me, okay? Update days are now only on Fridays. And it can vary, I can give single, double, or even triple updates, depending on my mood. But the day is Fridays only. The time still remains the same- 7-9am or pm.

See you next week! ♥️❤️