I walked right into the arms of someone that looked too much like him. Of course it was him. Liam.

Shit.

And he tried to put his slimy hands on me.

"Get away from me bastard! I already told you. I won't let it happen again!" I yelled and desperately searched around for something to bash his head in.

I'd already sworn it wouldn't happen again.

"What won't happen again?" He asked in an alien voice. A voice so foreign from the sinister, gruff voice he used to talk with. Yet it sounded familiar, and friendly. Almost like....

"Earth to Ella!" My vision cleared.

Oh.

It wasn't him after all.

"Hi." I muttered coldly and walked away. I only got as far as two steps before I was yanked backwards.

Not again.

"Don't fucking touch me!" I growled in a level of coldness I didn't know I was capable of, making him flinch and withdraw immediately.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"Just stay the hell away from me! I won't let it happen again!" I started to run away like the coward I was once again but what he said stopped me dead in my tracks.

"You're bleeding Ella, calm down."

'.... I don't care that you're bleeding okay, just calm down.. '

"Why are you here? What happened to you? And why are you covered in blood?" He asked in bewilderment then as if suddenly realising something, he quickly brought out a gun and ran towards the direction he saw me come from.

It took a while to snap out of my daze and comprehend what was going on. I took off behind him immediately I did.

He'd discovered Jide when I caught up, and he was already making contact to someone else via a walkie-talkie device. My eyes widened in realisation.

"Jide is not the killer Sir. He's not involved," I heard myself say in an incredulous voice, I guess it was then hot cop noticed I had followed him.

"Oh my God dear, you're not supposed to see all this. Wait-"

"I bashed his head with the bottle." I finished for him and it was his turn to be surprised.

I dropped to my knees in emotional exhaustion, very far away from the unconscious, probably dead man in his NYSC uniform.

"Ella?" He started with caution, "why would you do something like that?"

"I swore it won't happen again. Not when I can help it." I replied with a voice void of emotions. All I could see was Liam's face as he said the word 'bitch' I hadn't been able to forget it.

Thankfully, hot cop didn't question me any further after that. He simply took me to his own space at the staff quarters, threw me a big shirt and advised me to freshen up and stay indoors before leaving me all alone to make sense of the most recent happenings.

Corper Jide was a typical stereotype of a male corper; handsome, young, agile and a very very very big flirt. He had no limits whatsoever when it came to whoring, he would literally sleep with the plastic model of a skeleton in the biology lab provided that it would wear a skirt.

He had the complex that the female gender of the human specie were feather brained conquests to be conquered and abandoned afterwards and he'd been doing justice to that since he was deployed here eight months ago.

He had the looks and sweet words to achieve his aim, but he didn't appreciate it whenever his conquest proved to be stubborn. That was the reason behind his earlier actions.

He could never be the killer. The killer was meticulous and intelligent, he wasn't.

He was just a slimy, atrocious rapist. Not a serial killer.

And whoever said a rapist can't kill?

Sigh.

But he didn't succeed in the act, I didn't let him. That didn't make him a rapist, right?

Did they tell you he hasn't tried it before? Did they tell you he didn't succeed?

Hot cop walking in with fluent strides put a halt to my train of thoughts. He paused for a moment to to take in a sight of me seated rigidly on his couch by the window of his room, in his shirt. The already small room suddenly reduced in size.

He resumed his movements and shuffled about the room for fresh clothes before disappearing into the adjoining room for a shower.

He appeared minutes later with a black tank top, a towel around his neck and a pair of worn joggers, I sighted tiny flowery ink on his left bicep, but said nothing to acknowledge it.

He sarted moving around again while I focused more on the depressing view outside the window, wishing more than ever that he would put on more clothes and get the hell out of the room.

But its his room, you should be the one getting out.

Sigh.

A big Styrofoam containing black coffee suddenly appeared in front of me. I traced the hand holding the cup to behold hot cop seated opposite me, with a similar cup in his hand.

How did he manage to get here without my notice?

Probably because you're staring out the window. Durh!

"You haven't eaten anything in days. Take it." He explained his reason behind the gesture and my brow shot up.

"And black coffee will fill me to the brim like food will?" I couldn't help the sarcasm that seeped into my question, but I accepted the cup of coffee from his shaky hand anyways.

I took a sip and remained silent. We both maintained the silence for a while. An uncomfortable one if I may add, he was doing that staring thing again.

Sigh.

"Jide's condition is critical. He suffered a concussion and is currently in coma." He informed between sips, not averting his gaze on me for even a millisecond. I nodded without an idea of what to say.

Serves him right? I wasn't sure he would appreciate that.

Silence reigned for a few more moments and I resumed staring out of the window and taking tiny sips of the coffee I was now grateful for.

"I'm surprised." He finally said when my coffee was drained halfway.

"Why so?" I braced myself before meeting his penetrating gaze. Knowing fully well that another interrogation was underway.

"You seem relaxed, unperturbed even after witnessing a very disturbing situation earlier today." He wasn't probing. Instead, it seemed he was relaying his findings, which he thought was interesting and surprising.

I didn't.

"Discovering the body of the only human left to love you back in the world and getting yourself out of a situation you've been in so often and have sworn will never happen again. You tell me, which one is more disturbing?"

I finally broke off eye contact and stared at the dancing squirrel from the Moringa tree not far away.

The poor animal was totally oblivious of the danger that loomed over it's head as it had already been sighted by a group of boys who liked to kill things for fun. They called themselves the oasis hunters. I call them cold blooded murderers.

"I can't help my confusion Ella, would you care to explain?"

I wanted to warn the squirrel, I wanted it to run for its life but I knew I couldn't in time. The boys had already surrounded the tree discretely with stones set in their respective catapults and I wasn't even within hearing range.

"Ella?"

I guess a countdown was made and at a single go, they all shot stones at the animal.

"Can you hear me?"

The poor animal had no chance, it was clearly outnumbered. It dropped limply to the ground. Dead.

"Ella?"

It died because of its ignorance, it should have been alert, knowing no one was there to warn it of impending danger.

Or maybe it was relying on another of it's kind for safety, but that hero was nowhere in sight when it was needed the most.

'Don't let my mum know Elly, I love you more than her, you'll never let me down'.

The taste of my salty tears brought me back to earth.

"Liam started fucking me when I was ten." I whispered in desperation.

Anything to take my mind away from the haunting memory of the dying squirrel, anything to stop the drowning memories of my Tiny, anything at all.

Including a walk down memory lane?

I heard hot cop mutter something under his breath, something I couldn't decipher. I saw the expression of shock on his face, but I was busy blocking away the sight of the dead rat from my peripheral vision.

"Who is Liam?" He breathed carefully, fearing that I wouldn't come through with the details. I gave a rueful smile.

"Liam Adeoti. He's the man that married my mother to save her from the shame of having children out of wedlock when my father bolted off after putting us in our mother." I recited the verse mother had drummed into my brain so early in life before downing the remainder of my lukewarm coffee in one gulp, like I would a bottle of scotch.

Hot cop said nothing, silently expecting me to continue my word vomit. I wasn't going to disappoint.

"He's one of the richest men in town. He's into business, politics and fetish for fucking my brains out just to spite me for looking too much like my bastard father. Apparently, they had a past together. A past that wasn't so pleasant."

I could hear his lust-laden voice clearly, I could feel the hate in every thrust. He'd even tried to yank off my locks one after another, just because my father had the same kind of hair.

"And he knows how to hide the latter well. Mother never suspected, she was too busy with work and her social prominence to notice that the man she owed her life to was busy destroying her daughter's life. And even if she did, she didn't care. I was the one who reminded her too well of my father -a past she wanted to forget. I did deserve that little punishment, right?"

I could see it creeping up on hot cop's face, that expression that depicted the feeling I, for the life of me, hated the most.

"I'm not telling you so you can pity me okay? I don't deserve your pity. I'm not the helpless little girl you think I am. I defended myself. I finally found courage to slice him open. It doesn't matter that it took two long years of torturous assault. What mattered was that I finally stood up to him with a knife. Do not pity me. I'm not worthy of it." I clarified quickly and stood up to draw the curtains.

Out of sight, out of mind they say.

Didn't they also say absence makes the heart grow fonder?

I needed a distraction bad.

"It started on my tenth birthday," I continued like one under some sort of compulsion. "He slipped into my room that night and took my innocence away with my limbs cuffed to my bed. He didn't stop after that. He came in night after night, it didn't matter that I was on my period, it didn't matter that I was in pain. Oh it did matter that I was in in pain and he was the one giving me that pain." I smiled at a particular memory, when he marked me with a hot iron. I stopped rubbing the testimonial scar on my collarbone when I felt the cop's eyes on it.

"Why didn't you .....you know, report him?" I laughed humorlessly at his question.

"Who would believe what a minor says? He had society wrapped around his fingers. Mother disowned me when I tried to tell her the truth after he told her his own version. That was how I ended up here, she had to send me away to save her marriage. If my own mother didn't believe me, how would anyone else."

"I believe you," he ventured.

"Only because you don't know Liam. I assure you, you'll probably hate me after a meeting with him. He's a very convincing man."

"I doubt that." He said stubbornly and I shook my head slightly.

"Why does it matter? He didn't dare touch me after recovering from stab wounds and even if he tried, I'd sworn I wouldn't let it happen again." Realisation dawned on him when I was done.

"Jide tried to take advantage of you." It was a whispered statement. Not a question.

"I didn't let it happen. Did I?" I crumpled the empty Styrofoam and located a bin to dump it in.

"Can I sleepover? I have a pest that is insistent on following me about and I would appreciate it if I'm not followed to class tomorrow."

He was still very rigid in shock when he nodded. I grabbed the blanket on his narrow bed and made myself comfortable on the couch I had just vacated.

Hopefully, I wouldn't have those nightmares in which I would see the haunting eyes of Tinuke and her mocking smile whenever she breathed the letter 'x'

I typed the entire two thousand, two hundred words at a single go😱. Ella is so in a rush to get her story heard😇.
Who else thought she ran into Dave apart from me?😁.

My life has been a busy wreck recently so sorry about waiting a while for this chapter🙏.

Although nothing much happened in the chapter, I assure you it's a very important filler.
Now please vote and comment your thoughts so far, while I go give my numb fingers a hot tub treatment.
Till next chapter cupcakes.
Ily still,
✌illusionistic.