On second thought, she walked to the closet, further to the black trunk under the shoe shelf. She squatted to her knees, opened the trunk, and punched 6 digits on the buttons of the appliance inside the trunk. Stacks of 1000naira notes in 100k met Laila's eyes.

She sighed a disappointed one.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

She stood to find a black leather and tossed its content out before returning to the trunk. She threw stacks into it along with the green permit.

As silently as she could, she wore her jilbab and abaya again before slowly unlatching the door.

Site, clear.

She waltzed into her room and clicked the door lock.

She was dialing a number in a flash as she went in search of a large backpack.

The line rang and rang and rang until it ended. She was relentless as she threw two sets of her longest hijabs into the bag and redialed the number. She tossed 2 t-shirts, a palazzo, perfume, and her polo club face cap.

"I see you've missed me..." a sultry voice from the other side came. "I know-"

"Manu I need your help." She cut in, out of breath as she shoved packs of painkillers in the side zips of the backpack.

The man on the other side went serious.

In a single breath, she was spilling. "I just got married. Or, i just got married off-"

"You Say what? Ma-what!?"

"Ma-rried."

"Bura uba! Garin yaya?"

"I'll explain, but right now. I need your help to transfer money into your account that i can use while i am away for the-"

"You're running away?" The man exclaimed.

She yelled back. "Yes! Daddy married me off haka kawai. Are you going to help me or not?"

Without hesitation, with a bit of stammering though he responded. "Y-yes. Of course. You deserve some time to yourself." She nodded in agreement as she tore open the new, but dusty translucent wrap off the iPhone 6 box.

Without ending the call, Laila checked into her bank app to make the transaction.

They were regular when it came to transactions, so, without asking for his account details, she wired him enough and threw the new phone and her wifi into the bag, and struggled to zip up.

She then exited the app and deleted it off the phone. Next, she did the same to the debit alert text with her body shaking in turmoil.

Her eyes snapped to her bed and she went silent over the sound of the man talking on the phone.

"Laila!" She flinched, almost losing balance along with her phone at the shriek from her phone.

"Yes...i got a better idea...are you close by?"

"A few blocks away actually..."

Laila's weak, sleepy body jerked at that. She lightly fist bumped the air at that.

"Yes. Picture this..." she painted the art and waited until his slight hesitation came. She shook her head, determined to leave her house and town at all cost.

"I can't..."

Her shoulders slumped, knowing if he said he couldn't, then he couldn't.

She nodded, respecting his decision but still standing firm on hers.

Before she ended the call, the man warned again, "Be careful...Laila. You're not exactly safe to travel in public."

Laila nodded, her mind already made up as she walked out of her room and the line went dead.

She walked around, slowly taking her environment in. Few maids.

Checking the time, it now only sunk into her that it was Friday. An hour from now, the palace would be dead empty as everyone made their way to the central Mosque for prayers.

She called over a maid with a tray in her hand.

Laila pulled the foil off the fruit tray.

"You have more of these?"

The lady nodded. "They're for the Queen."

Laila knew who the maid was referring to, she just wanted to seem calm. She swayed on her feet a bit, bringing her hand to her head to hold it.

She wasn't being dramatic. She actually felt dizzy for a second. She waved it off and took the coaster of fruits into her hand, pulling out a sliced apple. "Make another for her. And tell my mom I'll be asleep, i took some sleep aids, tell them to please not disturb me. Do you understand?"

The maid nodded meekly, "I understand."

"Great." Her face split into a big smile before she turned. Like a shot, her smile dropped as the piece of apple found the confines of her mouth.

She chewed gently, whilst walking back to her mum's chambers and back to her room. She clicked the key into lock and slid down to the floor.

Face ID recognition hit her phone and she was dialing a number in a second. She brought the phone to her ear and wiped the sweat off her face with her jilbab.

"Hello!" Maya's voice came forth.

Laila's eyes closed. "Hi, partner."

Shuffling from the other side came before Maya enquired, "Baleri You need something?"

Laila shook her head, staring lifelessly at her vanity. "No."

Maya sighed, "Okay. That's good."

"How's exams?"

"I don't wanna talk about it. Just here in school doing nothing."

Laila cleared her throat. "Go home."

Maya inhaled deeply, "Nah. I think I'm just going to stay in school where i can see people and try not to feel alone."

The line went silent for long seconds before Maya broke the serenity. "You okay?"

At the question, Laila's tough expression cracked. She closed her eyes to stop any tears from falling, her breath held and her lips spread, but not with a smile.

"Guy, what's up? What's going on?"

Her hand came to cover her eyes as she weakly shook her head. "Laila, you good?"

Laila sniffled, resting her head on the door as she attempted to speak.

Her throat hitched, and her voice caught in her larynx.

"Are you there?"

She nodded, a moan escaping her. She sobbed into the phone for a few more minutes as her fingers agitatedly ran up and down her head and face.

When she found her voice, her eyes shut. "I uh-i just got married, Halima." She wiped the mucus dripping from her nose with her jilbab and dropped her hands to the floor, sighing. "To a prince. In um-Yola."

The line went silent and Laila checked to see whether it had disconnected or not. It didn't, she returned the device to her ear just in time for Maya to ask. "Laila, we-you...why?"

Laila chuckled humorlessly, moving her phone to her right ear and sandwiching it between her ear and shoulder. "Wanna-want to come over and ask him?"

The line went blank and Laila shakily added, "I uh-I am going to leave..."

"Leave to where?"

Laila shook her head, "I don't...I don't even know. I'm scared. Jus-just anywhere, Maya. Anywhere..."

"What Laila? What are you talking about? I can't let you do that."

Laila nodded, placing a palm over her forehead. "You can."

"No. No. I can't! You're going to suffer. You've suffered enough. He got you married? How-how can...God. How can they do that to you? You're not a toy..." Maya's voice collapsed along with shuffling and door bangs. "You can't. It's wrong. On so...so many levels...do you know him? I know you don't know him! What the-the fuck? I can't-i don't let you...I don't want to see you have a relationship like that of Mami and Daddy-you just. You can't. You can't run away either-you-you just gotta do..like um-"

"Halima," Laila called out, tears still running down her cheeks, "I need you to know that I love you."

"Laila."

"I. need. you. to. know. That. I. Love. You."

"Sadiya!" Maya screamed. The sound died down as she sniffled and sighed.

Laila continued, "I love you."

Maya's sobs filled Laila's ears as she tried her best to hold hers. "Laila, sister..."

Laila nodded, sniffling, "It's okay, Maya. It's okay." She said that more to herself than her best friend.

Objects thrashing came from the other side and Laila shook her head, tilting up to hold her phone with her hand.

"No. It's not okay. What if you have a relationship like that of Mami and Daddy? What if he hits you? What if he-" Laila couldn't go on, her weak fingers loosened around her phone and it went tumbling down her lap. For the first time that day, she let out a loud wail, her right palm flying to cover her mouth and her other palm resting over her forehead in realization and doom.

Her life crumbled and flashed before her eyes.

Laila inhaled deeply and sniffled, nodding her head as she accepted her fate. She exhaled sharply, "God. I can't-i can't do this!" She picked up the phone from her lap, turning to replace her arm with her back against the door. "I'll talk to you-I'll talk to you soon. All right?" She hung up without waiting for an answer. The photo on her phone screen, which was of her, Mami, and Maya with genuine smiles brightly flashed her face. She clicked the off button and the screen went blank.

Laila tossed the phone on the floor and picked her glasses up. She slowly walked to the restroom and turned the faucet to continuously splash water on her face while avoiding her reflection in the mirror. When done, she washed her hands, took a pee, dried her face, and wore her glasses before turning back to her room and laying lifelessly on the cold tiled floors with her jilbab still wet and dirty with tears and mucus.

Life goes on, bruh.

When the clock hit 1;55Pm, when she was sure everyone in the palace was in the Masjid, and in place of the queen and her mother, in her dad's chambers which were the royal women prayed their Jumu'ah prayers at, she picked up her backpack and immediately groaned at the heaviness.

Laila strapped and shut up about the bag then decided to curse her family on her journey rather than stay and wait until they completely destroyed her life.

Her jilbab mask on, she looked at her dark circles that were slightly shielded by her specs, the dot in her sclera in the mirror before walking out.

She branched into her mum's room to pick up a key which was a bitch to find as it had her so frustrated, that she had almost trashed the room down.

Thankfully, she only trashed the armoires which would take a second for anyone sensible to realize someone was desperately looking for something. All she could hope for was that by the time they put 2 and 2 together, she'd be gone.

Like she had deducted, the palace was in eerie silence except for the signature bird chirps and faint footsteps.

Laila maneuvered through the empty hallways, pathways, and route that lead to the not-so-used backyard door of the palace.

Discretely, she headed to it or at least that was how she thought she was going about it until a guard called her out a few feet to the door.

"Hey! Hey! Who are you? What are you doing here?"

She kept mum, her footsteps fastening as her eyes rose from the ground to the red metal door within her grasp.

Laila plucked the key into the lock just in time for the guard to grab her arm. "Ke! I am talking to you," She froze in her spot, and so did he. But that didn't stop him from talking. "Ke wayece? Ba'a bi ta nan."

1.

2.

3.

Laila groaned as she bent to the floor to grab a handful of the sand. She turned to throw the sand at the man's face who immediately staggered back and let out a scream, releasing her arm.

"Kin kashe ni! Kin makanta ni!" Over the annoying sound of his whinings, Laila managed to unlock the door. She stepped out and locked it back in a second.

She let out a shaky breath, then sighed.

He'll be fine. The guard will be fine.

She stood there for a few more seconds to level her breath, and calm her nerves. When she did, her eyes landed on a group of men with kaftans and darduma's each on them as they looked at her in confusion on their journey to her dad's Masjid.

She couldn't stand there and allow anyone the pleasure of finding out she wasn't in the palace before she was far. As such, she willed her still slightly weak and sleepy figure to walk steadily but quickly.

Despite a few other confused eyes on her, Laila unpeeled the jilbab away from her body as she whisked to the road a minute or 2 away.

She struggled with the backpack straps around her chest and dipped her finger into her abaya pocket as she craned back her neck to look at her jilbab on the ground.

She heard faint gasps and screams.

Oh get over it you judgmental pieces of shit.

She ignored them and dialed Maya's line just in time for a speedy car to make a screeching sound as it abruptly slowed down.

And then, gunshots.

The little number of people who were in the area screamed and she screamed along. She lost focus and her phone flew in the air in her attempt to get down and escape what was undoubtedly coming closer to her, as well a white van.

The ground pulled Laila face on with her lips parted, subsequently hitting her forehead and nose, sand flying over her face and into her mouth. She lifted her palms to support her while she reflexly coughed out the sand she had managed to swallow in a few seconds.

Another screeching sound came, was it a car or gunshot? Blame it on the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system but she couldn't tell. What she could tell though, was rough hands grabbing her and forcefully throwing her into the slid doors of the white van. The doors closed sharply as more gunshots were fired from the now over speeding car.