The ice crystals descended in a flurry, flourishing the heap of white powder which gathered around the corners of the window sill. It registered in her brain that it was snowing but not that she was supposed to be in Nigeria.

She found herself drifting out of her room and down the stairs in noiseless steps. The living room came into view, her eyes first landing on the electronic fireplace.

It registered in her brain that the flames looked inviting but not that they were real.

The clock ticked away without ticks as she rounded a corner which lead to the dinning area; filled with domestic staffs preparing a feast.

The word 'Christmas' registered as she walked past the domestic workers who chattered on without words.

The fine China plates landed on the glass table with a deafening muteness; spoons, forks, and wine glasses following suite.

The chill bit through her face the moment she stepped out the front door, tiny flakes landing on her nose and caressing her cheeks before surrendering back to their original form and falling off her skin in droplets.

She was aware of her feet pushing in and out of the snow covered yard. Aware of the unusual pine trees-coated in snow-flanking around the sides of a questionable path paved through the snow, eerily inviting her into what seemed to be a forest.

She was aware but unbothered by the pigeons flying around without their usual flapping.

As she strolled on, she picked up a faint, if not almost non-existent, sound-like that of rushing water. It became clearer as she moved into the forest, coming to a complete halt when she saw a girl seated on a rock, her back to her.

The girl wore a red dress, a reddish orange which brought to mind flames-just like the ones she'd seen in the fireplace earlier; if only she remembered.

The sound had returned, but this time accompanied by male and female voices, an octave louder.

She felt her legs moving back even though she was curious to find out who the girl was. Just as she was about to turn and make a run for it, the girl's neck snapped to her.

She took time to process the dainty snow white face, lacking any trace of blood, with a button nose and tiny lips tilted down in what appeared to be a frown even though the girl seemed to be smiling.

It'd been a year, or was it two? Her brain didn't seem to be working but the name 'Katherine' still popped up.

She turned around and dashed towards the direction she came from in a mad rush when Katherine produced a knife from behind her.

The sound in the background had grown louder. She recognized it as Carol of the Bells.

She kept running with Katherine hot on her trails, the music becoming louder by the second. She made it to the taupe duplex and rushed to the window.

The rest of the family had gathered for the Christmas feast, everyone wearing smiles along with their winter coats. She banged against the window, screaming as Katherine got closer.

She could feel the rush of adrenaline but it didn't work as her screams were drowned underneath the deafening sounds of Carol of the Bells. Through the glass, she saw Katherine's approaching figure.

Mmachi looked up at that moment and she yelled louder, hitting her hands against the window until it should have hurt. Mmachi smiled at her, mouthing 'Merry Christmas', just as Katherine appeared behind her and swung the knife back before thrusting it into her body...

Chidiogo jerked forward, her breathing heavy. Beads of perspiration dotted her forehead and neck in spite of the air conditioning and she found herself trying to calm down as she realized it was a dream.

She hurried through a shower and went downstairs to find her father ready for church. An air of radiance exuded from his very being.

Unlike her mother, he wasn't always available but he was present whenever he was.

She ended up tagging along with him.

When they returned, she first headed for her mother's room but found her asleep. She wanted to return to her room but found herself heading in the direction of Mmachi's room.

She did her best to not stare at the room opposite it as she pushed the door open. A rush of cool air laced with a sweet smell welcomed her.

She closed the door behind her proceeding to flip on the light switch. For weird reasons, the lighting in the room was extremely dim even though it was late in the afternoon.

Mmachi, who sat crossed legged on the bed, looked up from her laptop when the lights came on. She opened her mouth to speak but then closed it and refocused on her laptop.

The action left Chidiogo befuddled for a moment. After a while, she shrugged it off taking it as a good sign. She walked to her bed, taking note of the thick purple curtains blocking the windows from sight which explained the previous gloominess of the room.

She sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to knock down any of the lavender scent candles lined on the floor around the bed for reasons she couldn't understand.

The scent candles were found on a couple other corners around the room, even lining the top of the nightstand.

She crawled up the bed until she was next to Mmachi. She leaned against one of the pillows and peered into Mmachi's screen.

"What are you doing?" she asked after a while since she was unable to make out much from the nearly black screen.

"How many times have I asked you not to enter my room? And you entered and even turned on the lights sef, as per me that was chilling in the dark I don't have sense baa?"

"Sorry."

"Guess that's the only thing you're good at," Mmachi said massaging her forehead, "Why are you here?"

Chidiogo decided to go straight to the point.

"Have you apologized to mom?"

"I said I would do that?" Mmachi asked lifting a brow.

"Yes, you did." The words sifted out of Chidiogo's gritted teeth, almost sounding like a hiss.

"I don't remember saying that."

Chidiogo glared at her for a moment. "Don't start this right now, please."

Mmachi's eyes remained on her screen. "Start what?"

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm saying, okay? Mum's already extremely stressed, I seriously worry if she's sick sometimes. Yesterday I noticed wrinkles around her eyes and—"

"Save me the lecture," Mmachi said, "Mum's stressed. Okay... what does that have to do with me? Besides the wrinkles are probably just because she quit Botox-"

"She opted for it?"

"I think. Not that it matters. They're just wrinkles, they'll leave on their own."

Chidiogo's brows furrowed at her words.

"Wrinkles don't..." Chidiogo sighed, shaking her head. "That's besides the point. All I'm asking for is an apology. Just say sorry!"

"Yeah, yeah. Sure," Mmachi said, returning her attention to her screen.

Chidiogo rolled her eyes. She had never seen a more difficult person.

"What have you even been doing with your laptop sef?" Chidiogo asked, peering into her screen again.

"Shopping. You want me to buy you something?"

Chidiogo blinked twice, she hadn't even expected an answer let alone the sudden display of kindness.

"No."

Mmachi increased the screen brightness and shifted the purple MacBook to let her get a proper look.

"Come on, pick something."

"Um... All I can see are shoes..."

"Yeah, choose a pair."

Chidiogo hesitated. "I have a lot of shoes..."

"You wouldn't even let me get you something! It's alright."

Her voice was plain but Chidiogo couldn't help thinking it harboured some kind of anger and possibly pain.

Chidiogo felt guilty as she watched Mmachi reposition the laptop on her crossed legs and continue scrolling through the page.

"I'll take that pair." The words slipped out her mouth.

Mmachi's face seemed to light up. "Which one?"

Her eyes quickly scanned the screen for the pair with the lowest price. "The black one, suede."

"Um..." Mmachi's eyes browsed the screen.

"The 20k one," she said.

"Oh, that one. Nice."

Mmachi added it to her cart before saying, "I need a small favour."

Her words got Chidiogo curious. "Yeah?"

"Can you borrow me your card? Mine's not working for some reason."

Chidiogo knew why. She'd heard her mom say something about freezing Mmachi's account. But that also explained why Mmachi offered to buy her a gift out of the blue. It was a long shot to think she'd ever change.

"Hmm... How much are you gonna use?"

"I don't know... About 700k should be okay."

"That much!? You're getting a new phone?"

"No. Phones are costlier than that na."

"So just shoes?"

"I'm getting other stuff too but you don't need to bother about that. I'll pay you back as soon as my card's working again. I'll talk to dad about it."

Chidiogo was a bit sceptical about Mmachi's honesty but she let it be as she gave a curt nod.

---††††---

Serene. One word that could describe the atmosphere in the dining room before Mr. Ezenwa arrived. With his arrival came a subtle shift in the atmosphere with it leaning towards the delicate line which with a little snap could burst into fumes of suffocating tension.

Chidiogo felt the change in the atmosphere but couldn't exactly place why it happened. She ate her food in silence for most parts, answering questions from her parents every once in a while.

It struck her that they both tried to engage in a conversation with her but didn't say a single word to themselves. There had been a huge gap between them for a while. She couldn't place when it had started; or rather, refused to admit that it had everything to do with her, but most times it felt too subtle to be detected.

Just like the other day when she asked about her father and her mother claimed she'd text him to come down for dinner. He didn't show up after that which meant she either didn't text him or he ignored the text.

At other times, the gap became conspicuous enough, even the blind would sense it. She found it hard to do something to help dwindle the gap since they both weren't doing much to fix it themselves.

She couldn't do anything major since she'd tried to talk to them countless times but they always gave her the reassurance that they were okay. She tried her hardest to believe it but the truth could never disappear just because everyone acted blind to it.

It'd sit in front of you, in bold, taunting letters, reminding you with every passing moment that you're nothing more than an effing coward.

"How is school going?" her father asked after a while of strained silence.

"It's going well."

From the off-handed nod he gave before returning to his food, she knew her mother hadn't said anything to him.

"We still haven't scheduled an appointment with Dr. Kumar," her mother said lifting a spoonful of sauce covered grains to her mouth.

She noticed the way her father squeezed his eyebrows together, denting his forehead with a crease. She looked away from him before speaking, "I was thinking you and dad could take me there, maybe two weeks from now?"

Her father's face still maintained the puzzled look when he glanced at her mother who didn't bother lifting her eyes from her plate.

"Why the bother? Mike will just drop you off."

Chidiogo glanced between her parents. "Neither of you is coming?"

"Honey, I would love to but I have things to do. I can't speak for anyone else," her mother said with one of those smiles Mmachi gave off, the ones which didn't reach the eyes.

"What's going on? Why do you need to see Dr. Kumar?" her father finally asked looking between her and her mother.

"Mom said that–"

"You know you have to wake up early for school tomorrow, right? Wouldn't want your sister to throw a fit so early in the morning," her mother said interrupting her.

At that point, she could sense the delicate line—which had somehow remained intact all along—snapping. All it needed was a little bit more strain to rip it apart. And the strain came in form of Mmachi.

"Hello family," Mmachi said walking in just the moment Chidiogo thought her father would snap at her mother.

"Where have you been?" their father asked her.

Chidiogo felt grateful for the distraction even though the bright smile on Mmachi's face scared her.

She observed her for a while. She had on a sleeveless romper suit which was weird since she hardly wore sleeveless clothes. That could only mean that she hadn't left the house but then she came through the front door. Chidiogo wondered if she was playing some kind of prank.

Mmachi remained staring at her father as if he hadn't spoken.

"I asked you a question!"

Her father's tone made Mmachi jump and she quickly tried to come up with a reply.

"Sorry. I-I went to search for my dog."

"Your dog? What happened to it?"

"Please give me a minute," she said, leaving everyone puzzled.

She went round the table until she directly stood opposite their mother in such a way that she had no choice but to look at her.

"I'm so sorry mom for what happened yesterday. It was my fault that you fell–"

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THIS HOUSE!?"

Mr. Ezenwa's voice interrupted Mmachi. He slammed the table as he rose to his feet leaving Chidiogo startled. Even Mmachi and their mom looked shaken by the action.

"Don't break my table Eugene," Mrs. Ezenwa said the moment she recovered from the suddenness of the action.

That was the first thing she had said to their father since they arrived at the table.

Mr. Ezenwa's eyes flitted to his wife for a second before returning to Mmachi. His brows pulled tightly together and his facial muscles tensed as he observed Mmachi who clasped her hands in front of her, her eyes on the floor.

"Mmachi can you tell me why you were searching for your dog and what exactly you mean by making your mother fall?" Mr. Ezenwa asked in a firm voice.

Mmachi looked up from the floor, her eyes colliding with his. She shifted her gaze to her mother and then back to her father before speaking.

"Well, mom tossed out the dog before we came home and while we were arguing I lost my balance and caused her to fall."

Mrs. Ezenwa shot up from her seat almost before Mmachi could complete her statement, eyes blazing. "LIAR! YOU'RE A BLOODY LIAR! YOU-"

"Mary! Stay out of this."

Mr. Ezenwa's voice caused her to snap her head towards him with such force, Chidiogo feared her neck would break.

"You don't get to tell me what to do! She's my daughter to-"

"No!" Mr. Ezenwa's voice was loud, overshadowing their mother's. "You made it clear that you only have one daughter. No wonder it was so easy for you to toss out her dog."

"All this fuss for a stupid dog?"

Their mother's brows raised with her question.

"It's not like you treat her any better!"

Mr. Ezenwa's face was deadpan as he spoke.

The argument continued, the two yelling as they left the dining area. Chidiogo watched as they left, unable to describe what she felt at the moment.

She turned back to her food with zero appetite.

Mmachi smirked as she watched them leave before taking a seat next to Chidiogo. She ignored the bigger ceramic bowl containing the main course and filled her plate with liver, garnished with scent leaves, from the smaller bowl.

She wolfed down the food and in a matter of a minute, refilled her plate. Chidiogo stared at Mmachi, her eyes scanning her hands filled with dark lines as though shaded onto her skin and colourful marks as though left behind by the soft fur of a paint brush.

The image of Mmachi smirking as their parents left flashed in front of her eyes and she couldn't help the surge of anger boiling through her; the emotion she'd once learnt to fear bloomed on, undiluted and just as disturbing as the mild purple colour streaking around the injury on Mmachi's arm.

A/N: I'M STARTING TO THINK CHIDIOGO MIGHT NOT BE THE ONLY ONE WHO NEEDS TO SEE A DOCTOR 🤔. AM I RIGHT OR AM I RIGHT?😂

WE GOT TO SEE ANOTHER DREAM BUT THIS SHOULD BE THE LAST WE'LL SEE IN DETAIL. LET'S FOCUS ON SORTING OUT REALITY.

AND I GUESS WE'VE COME TO END OF THEIR STAY AT HOME🕺🕺💃👯👯‍♀️👯‍♂️. *does small victory dance* I CAN FINALLY GO BACK TO TORMENTING DIOGO😭😭😭😂😂.

DROP YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER AND MAYBE PRAYERS FOR THE TWINS' SAKE BECAUSE THEY'RE JUST GETTING READY TO GO THROUGH HELL.

OH AND DON'T FORGET TO HIT THE STAR BUTTON🌟. IT REALLY HELPS.

FINALLY, THANKS FOR STICKING AROUND THIS LONG, YOU'RE HONESTLY THE BEST ‼️‼️

LOVE YOU ALL😘❤️.