Delay can be dangerous, so they say. But what Deborah Vashmore didn't know was that her delay was lethal.

She felt the inner prodding of the Holy Spirit to leave her car and take a cab home. But the rational part of her took charge. How could she abandon her vehicle and leave when all she had to do was wait a few minutes so for the arrival of her mechanic?

She had spent the last drop of battery life on her phone to call him. Now that it was dead, she wasn't sure the man was even on his way. The way these artisans lied these days was a marvel to her. If only this place was close to an alternative mechanic so she could simply pump the tyre with air and get home before she'd need a total replacement.

She waited for close to 45 minute before he arrived, apologizing that he was held up in traffic.

By the time he was done, she was bone tired. She wondered what Ella must have had for dinner. Bitten by hunger, she bought a burger and chilled yoghurt, munching with all sense of relief while she sat underneath a shaded tree. An extra 30 minutes of boringness later, the job was done and she was good to go.

She used her spare key to open the front door and enter in. The lights were out. Deborah smiled as she switched it back on only to discover Ella sprawled on the couch, snoring softly.
She also saw the white envelope.

Jael stepped closer to Deborah, wings dipped and golden whip shrunken and curled on her blonde, shimmering hair. She tsked as she looked at the trio standing helplessly on the further side of the room. Griel, Ammiel and Haliel just gave her a nod of greeting and returned to looking grave and almost helplessly pained.

One look at Ella and Jael could see that she was already reinfested with those imps. They hissed and trashed at her in an attempt to bite. She swatted them with her whip when they tried silly nonsense, trying to stir up fear in her ward. Oh, how she loathed them!

Jael moved closer to Deborah who was dragging her weak body to her room.

"Check the envelope before leaving."

Deborah waved off the thought. It could be bills. Why bother myself when I can sort it out tomorrow morning?

"Pray before you sleep... Pray for Ella," Jael prompted again, desperate to get this lady to do something that would charge the trio to action.
But Deborah was so tired that she plomped on the bed and fell asleep right away. 

The next morning, Ella was shocked when we met herself on the couch. Her neck ached from sleeping all night in awkward angles.

The first thing her mind landed on was Jeremiah. His dark macho eyes. His broad chest. His manly scent. His thick eyelashes. The way his hand filtered through his brown hair repeatedly when he was worriedly pacing. She could lie in one spot all day and fantasize about the man who set her heart in motion. Somewhere in the far side of her mind, her conscience told her this wasn't right.

However, disturbed that Deborah wasn't back yet, she rose up to look for her. On a second thought, she felt it wise to first ascertain by calling her phone.
As she reached for her phone which lay beside the envelope, her eye caught something on it that was vaguely familiar.
It was a tiny symbol on the upper right corner of the envelope. She took a closer look. It looked like fire and water swirling together in a circle. 
No! It couldn't be! How in the—

"Good morning," Deborah's voice rang, startling her. On impulse, she hurriedly hid the envelope behind her.
"You startled me," Ella retorted, panting and holding her chest.

"My bad!" Deborah said chuckling.

"Where have you been? I was so worried and your phone wasn't going through."

"It's a long story. I waited ages before my supervisor showed up and by the time I was through and on my way home, my tyre went flat. Had to wait for the mechanic to come over and fix it. Sorry."

"It's okay."

The next thing she should have done was to let Deborah know of Jeremiah's visit yesterday but the suspected sender of the message made her keep her mouth shut.

Deborah felt that she had forgotten to do something, but couldn't place a finger on it. She let the nudging feeling slide again. Whatever it was would surely pop up as the day wore on.

The day did wear on, in fact in dull colours, and still Ella held on to the letter. While Deborah was taking an afternoon nap, Ella carefully went outside, sat on the steps and with trembling fingers pried open the letter.

The scent of the ink only confirmed her suspicion more.

To Miss Deborah Vashmore,
You must think yourself an heroine given all the things you have achieved so far.
It seems you are on a mission to bereave me of my child so that you can through your craftiness hijack all my fortune. Let me assure you that all your efforts are nil.
And yes, after years of searching for Aquifer, you have finally revealed to me her hideout.
I will therefore ask that you return back to me my very own object of interest within the next three days, else I will make sure life becomes miserable for you. After all, you are the vile kidnapper who had taken the girl hostage for the past 3 years. Who knows what evil you have done with her and how deeply you have brain washed her into your pervert lifestyle.
I have attached the address to my location at the back of this paper.
I believe you will do what is necessary.
Mr D.

"D," Ella growled through clenched teeth, the disgust evident in the way she enunciated the solo syllable. "Just as expected."

This was a living nightmare! She loathed and feared him with every vein in her flesh, even though the same blood flowed through them both.
She should have thought twice about her hideout once the concealation spell had worn off after she lost her supernatural powers. Why hasn't he tired out of searching for her?

She sat there a moment more, staring into space, thinking about her next move. She wasn't just going to sit back and let this man wreck more damage to her already shattered life.

She had to take action now.

If she could still recall, his lair—which the ignorant  called an office—was still in that ramshackle—which the blind called the State Union Building— where it had always been.

There was no time to waste.

She went inside and changed into something less recognizable—Deborah's slightly oversized beige shirt over a grey pant. Taking extra caution, she sprayed a generous amount of Deborah's deodorant on herself, you know, just in case he still remembers how she smells, and also wore a black sunshade even though it was absolutely needless.
The clouds covered the sun today and the sky was clear blue. For that, she was grateful. A perfect weather to walk the distance and possibly burn some fat—that was if she wasn't lucky enough to hitch a ride.

She made sure to leave a vague note on the kitchen table just before she left, just so Deborah wouldn't worry her pretty head.

This was her battle and she'd have to deal with it alone. Even though she knew alone wasn't safe, she couldn't afford to drag yet another person to her troubles. 

"Mom, I miss you," she whispered softly. "I miss you bad." She thought her tears would have dried up by now, after all these years, but the wet feel trailing her cheeks told her otherwise.

Taking a deep breath as she stepped outside, she said, "Let's do this!"

Yet, another thought nagged at her brain. Why did the letter come through Jeremiah?

~~~

He could not sleep all night. Somehow, apart from the fact that he still couldn't explain the tingling feeling all over him ever since Ella was at such close proximity to him, he just couldn't will his eyes to close of their own accord.
Gosh! he chided himself, what are you doing dude? Remember that you're engaged.

He tried listening to soothing Worship and even tried reading the Bible. They had always helped to relieve him when he had nerves. Why then didn't they work now when he needed peace of mind the most?

After tossing and turning for many hours, he had given up and taken time to lounge in his small palour, a cup of warm tea in one hand, the photocopied extract of the letter his father had asked him to give his fiancee in the other.

Something was up, he could tell. He had been surprised when his dad had him come over to his house that evening. It had been a long time since they had spoken face to face.
He was more shocked when his dad asked first and foremost about his fiancee. His father did not approve of their marriage, which was one of the major reasons for the delay.
His curiosity was longer than River Klopr (the legendary 1000km water body that was said to spiral the entire Ivory Island) when his father asked him to deliver a confidential message to her.

For one thing, this was the 21st century, not the ancient Roman empire. Why would he rather send an hand written letter when he could easily get her number or email and send her a message. Or better still, given his high influence, could order her to come see him.

That had piqued his curiosity. Immediately he came out of the office with the letter in his hands, he went straight to photocopy it. Somehow, he dreaded reading it, but he had to.

He couldn't make a head or tail of what it meant. Was this a threat? And who the hell was Aquifer?

His mind was everywhere. He didn't particularly hate his father, but after surrendering his life to Jesus, he just had to distance himself a bit from that man. It was clear that he was into some shady business. Jeremiah had suspected that fact right from the times of his early childhood. Besides, what politician wasn't into shady business?

Once, he overheard a muffled conversation his dad had over his phone in the secrecy of his library. The tone with which he heard his father order those he suspected were riff-raffs to extinguish a particular opposition brought chills to him. Within 24 hours, the news had it that the rival was dead. He had been shot at night.

Jeremiah had battled within him on whether or not to give the message to Deborah. He didn't know what was going on so he just prayed about it.

The next morning as usual, he had to attend to some business at his Construction firm. Being the Chief Architect as well as the Manager, it was mandatory for him to show up. After delegating tasks to his team, signing some pressing documents and handing over the rest to his PA, he excused himself, feeling the urgent need to make sure Deborah had not been kidnapped and that she had at least gotten the letter.

As he drove past the intersection two streets to Deb's house, he espied someone who wore awfully similar clothes to the one Deborah had worn to a Christmas tour they both went for. He brushed it off. Besides, he was far gone to have a closer look.

At the rate that his relationship with Deborah was going, he didn't have to knock. Still, out of his gentlemanliness, he did.

Two more knocks and no reply later, he guessed either no one was home or they were asleep.
Trying the knob and finding it unlocked, he ventured in.

"Hello!" No answer.

He tried again, taking a step further as he wiped his face with his hand towel before shoving it back into his pocket. "Anyone home? Deb?"

Getting no reply, he went to the room wing.
What's going on? His heart was thumping.
Was his fear coming to pass? If so, then where did Ella—just thinking up her name make him cringe inwardly—go?

Tentatively, he opened the first door. It creaked quietly.
This was definitely Deborah's room. It even smelt like her—like pine wood and vanilla. He scanned the room, taking in the warm decor with a chair, vanity, wardrobe and even curtains sporting a complimentary colour of teal and brown.

His eyes stopped at the sleeping beauty on the bed and he couldn't restrain the sigh of relief that escaped his lips. She was breathing lightly. He smiled. See who he was all worked up for.

As he stood there, contemplating whether to stay or not to stay, she stirred ever so slightly.

"Deb," he called, smirking a little bit as he saw her turn, still disoriented and obviously not wanting to get out of the bed.

This scene was priceless. He could watch her beautiful and pure form for all of his life. Wait! That's why he's going to definitely marry her. On a second thought, he could take out his phone and video this moment so he could tease her later but he was too late.

She woke up fully, saw him. Her eyes got so much wider and she almost screamed, clutching the bedspread closer to her chest. That was when he saw that she was in a black and purple silk nightdress. (Author's note: Don't be scared. It wasn't see-through. Deborah is wiser than that!😅😆) 

"Hey, don't panic. It's me."

She relaxed visibly.
"Jay? What in the world are you doing here?"

"Well, no one was answering the door. I just wanted to make sure you're okay," he said, in a voice etched with concern.

"Well, I'm fine. Now turn around let me get into something more proper," she said in a giggle.

He tuned around alright, but had to focus on his speech in order to drown out the images of what she'd look like changing into another cloth.

"Hmmph! It's no fault of mine that you're sleeping at," he glanced at his silver watch, "12:24pm on a Wednesday afternoon. And you left the door open!"

He heard her muffled voice emerge from the wardrobe, "Uhn? Opened? I was just about asking you how you got in here. Didn't you see Ella?"

He was a step away from exasperating. "No!" His reply was curt.

He felt her hand on his shoulder. She patted him and smiled into his face, understanding his dislike of her. He liked what she wore. A simple blue, twirling-fringe gown. She had her hair packed in a ponytail.
Then her face slowly turned to concern as she grabbed his hand and pulled him to the kitchen.

"That's weird. She always tells me where she's going. Possibly she didn't want to disrupt my sleep."

"I guess," was all Jeremiah mumbled. She sat him down on the dining chair in the middle of the kitchen and that's when she saw the note.

"Oh, it says here that she went for a quick walk."

He let out a short grunt. "In the afternoon?"

"Gosh, Jeremiah Drestor, allow this girl to at least breathe." She put her hands on her hips. 

He clamped his mouth shut. She only called him his full name whenever she was annoyed with him or wanted to get a point across. But what would be her reaction if he told her about last night's incident with her?
That reminded him of his reason for being here.

"By the way, did she deliver my message?"

"What message?"

Jeremiah was shocked and angry. That daughter of Eve!

"She didn't give you the letter? I was here yesterday, worrying my butts out over you!"

"Chillax Jay. She probably forgot."

"How can you be so calm about this? Do you know how close to the edge of an icy cliff you're walking on?" His voice was getting higher.

"What's gotten you all worked up?"

"This!" He brought out the photocopied letter from his pocket.

Thank goodness I had a second copy, he thought.

She took it and read it slowly. He could see her face betraying incredulity and he just wanted to wish it wasn't his father's handwriting on that white sheet of paper.

Her voice was almost inaudible. "I should have listened," she said to herself.
Facing Jay, she said, alarm filling her face, "We have to find Ella right now! She's in grave danger."

In his mind, he scoffed. When isn't she?
But to her he said, "How come? This letter was a threat to you from my own father. I should be stowing you away to a secret cabin or something."

"You don't get it," she said as her knees began to tremble. "Ella is Aquifer!"

It took him a moment for his brain to process the foreign and weird information.

"WHAT?!"

**********

Author's note: What's up dudes and dudettes? 😁😁😁

I hope this chapter was as thrilling and exciting for you to read as it was for me while I wrote it.

And ooohhh! Cryptic Mr D shows up in the picture. 🧐 Anyone bold enough to guess the full picture of what his intentions are?☠️

Fellow writers in the house, have you ever felt such blast of inspiration that you feel as if Heaven is open over your head😇💫 only to be interrupted by the hollering of your mom calling you into the kitchen?😂😂😂

Don't forget to leave your sweet comments and votes. 💖

Peace and blessings. ✨
Your girl,
PeculiarPraise.🔥🤗