David stood still for a long, long time after Celine left with her daughter, Autumn. The sun shone and dimmed its light several times whenever the dark clouds of the afternoon passed over it and still, David remained where he was. The scorching hotness of nature's daylight was not enough to move him from where he stood. In fact, he could have been a perfect model for a sculpted statue if his fingers didn't twitch so often and curled up into a tight fist at regular intervals. The constant gritting of his teeth too betrayed what could have made him a perfect, immobile monument.

And all through the while that he stood, there was only one thought that remained in his mind; one that was strong enough to seize his limbs to perfect stillness:

What could have caused Roscoe to bark like that?

As the thought remained in his mind, he tried to find logical answers to it.

Surely, the keys to the front and back door of the bungalow were still in his possession, right? He rummaged through the pocket of his jeans to confirm it and then he felt the usual bulge in the pocket region of his trousers, signifying that the bunch of keys were still stored in there. Clearly, no one had tried to pilfer the keys.
So there was no way the girls would try to unlock the door and enrage the dog, right? Yes. No way.

Or was Roscoe, his dear pet and bodyguard, in need of food? Did dogs bark whenever the combed an area for a meal? He wasn't sure. Besides, and more importantly, he'd assigned the guards to feed the dog a full bowl of dog feed a few hours ago and they'd reported back to him after carrying out his instruction.

So what then?

As he furrowed his eyebrows in perplexity, he tilted his head this way and that, completely lost as to what must have happened. Then he made a decision that was only logical to do – to visit the house and make his findings.

When he got to the front door, he saw one of his guards – the one he'd assigned to be in charge of guarding the back door entry standing nervously by the doorway beside Roscoe. Suspicion immediately arose in David's mind when he became aware of this irregularity. He glared at the thin guard. The man stiffened all the more and pressed his lips into a thin line as though he was scared that if he let them loose, he'd burst out crying for forgiveness. Aha! right there. I've caught you!

So David went straight to the point.

"What happened? Why did the dog bark? Why are you standing here? This isn't where I assigned you to stand, Mr. Joshua."

"The girls..." the man's eyes widened in overwhelming, contagious fear as his voice lost its cadence. "Zipporah and Gertrude stepped out to empty the trash can. Gertrude then tried to play with the dog and that was when it barked. But they ran back in, before I could even catch them and prevent them from doing such a thing in the first place."

The trash can.

That was when David remembered that he hadn't helped his girls to throw away the contents of the refuse bin for some days now like he always did. He'd been grossly occupied with urgent matters which he couldn't even blame himself for this time. He didn't mind Zipporah throwing away the trash once in a while.

He knew she couldn't run anywhere because he's had her trapped for life. However, David was greatly angered by the fact that Gertrude had accompanied her to dispose the refuse and had even tried to play with the dog when there was a guard in his employ who could have stopped that from happening.

So he strolled closer to the lean man and then pounced on him. This caused the guard to slip to the ground. Then David made a move to strangulate the man, wrapping his arm around his subordinate's neck.

"Why are you in my employ if you can't even do your job properly? How could you let such a nuisance happen under your watch? Are you out of your mind?"

"I... I'm sorry sir," the guard coughed. "This will never repeat itself sir."

"It had better not. If any of my girls do such a thing next time and they get hurt by it, you really will have yourself to blame."

"Y-yes, sir, u-understood, sir."

David released his grip on the guard and stormed into the house, pushing the thin man aside. Inside the building he'd stepped into, there was an eerie silence. The other two girls who constantly watched TV by the couch were fast asleep like the little obedient puppets that they were – children who had been stripped of their vibrancy and willingness to live a colorful life.

Zipporah and Gertrude were nowhere in sight and this temporary fact made David's head swell and throb with an insane rush of fury and fear which lasted for a few minutes. Those sentiments dissipated when he returned from his thorough search in the kitchen and then took a second, careful glance at the dining table.

Then his gaze lowered and that was when he saw Gertrude and Zipporah, crouched beneath the feasting table. He sighed deeply in relief and moved closer to the table as he kept his gaze fixed on them.

His little girls were stiff and didn't seem to be making any fearful movements despite how audible his footsteps were. If they felt any fear at all, then they were doing a good job at masking it well. When he lowered himself to have a better view of their bent forms underneath the table, he realized that his girls were sleeping. Their still and even breathing made this evident.

For how long had they been hiding in there? David wondered. And had they been hiding from...him? As he watched them for a longer time, gazing at them as they breathed in and out, his heart crumbled all the more. Watching them in such pitiful states made David change his mind from what he'd initially planned to do.

He'd wanted to question Zipporah in his own way and ask her why she'd let Gertrude accompany her. He'd also wished to inquire of Gertrude why she'd gone near the dog. Now though, as he watched them with pain in his eyes, all he wanted to do was to run a hot bath for them, comb their hair and serve them a hot meal. He was broken by the fact that they were hiding under the table as a means to cower away from him.

So he helped them out of the table without managing to wake either of them up. First, he carried Zipporah in bridal style and placed her on the couch in the living room. Then he walked back to the dining room and lifted Gertrude up from the chair he'd placed her on. Then he placed her on his back in a piggyback motion. Her hands drooped over his neck almost lifelessly as he took her out of the building.

While he'd watched the two of them sleep under the table, he'd also decided that he wanted to spend some alone time with Gertrude so she could really get to love him. He hadn't done that ever since he took her and now he realized how crucial it was for him. Her parents were still on his neck, pushing him to produce a child that he wasn't willing to let go of. The best thing he could do right now was to make her love him, get attached to him and even abhor the thought of leaving him.

So he took her to the other building in the compound which was his mansion. When he got to his bedroom, he plopped her down gently on the comfy mattress and covered her up with a thick blanket. Then he turned on the air conditioning so the cold breeze from the device could dry up the beads of sweat that had gathered around her forehead. After ensuring that she was comfortable, he locked the door after he stepped out and walked to his kitchen to prepare her a delicious stew filled with meat.

***
The thick and salivating aroma of meat that hovered above the kitchen's air moved like a cloud of scents, found its way into Gertrude's nostrils and awakened her senses with a compelling force. When Gertrude opened her eyes and found herself in yet another unfamiliar and strange place, panic set into her mind.

She soaked in the scenery of her surroundings and realized that she was on a widely spaced bed with huge blankets, pillows and even teddy bears. The walls around her were graced with several frame paintings of a cute little girl in curly buns and rich black skin.

Where the hell was she? What was this spacious place filled with posh and classically colored walls and paintings? She hadn't yet gotten used to that creepy bungalow she was residing in with three other girls that she didn't know from Adam. Now this? What was this?

Gertrude sighed with deep sorrow and covered her face with her palms.

She was fed up and just hoped for the day when she would wake up and find herself at home. She yearned for the time when she'd be able to escape it all – the mind games and the forceful transportation to unknown places. She didn't want to continue on these draining sojourns to strange places. It daunted her heart very deeply and raised fear in her heart too often.

In the middle of her inner lamentation, Gertrude began a short trip down memory lane when the subject of escape came to her mind.

Escaping.

That was what she'd been trying to do a few hours ago, not so? She'd followed Zipporah outside to throw out the trash and then she threw a bone at Roscoe as a peace offering but it showed its rejection by barking and then she fled back into the house.

Afterward, she and Zipporah took refuge beneath the dining table which perhaps, wasn't the wisest thing to do since Zipporah had made that corner her perpetual domain. Gertrude tried to remember what happened after that. Did the guard walk in on them? She couldn't tell.

After waiting and hiding under the table for what seemed like forever, Gertrude started feeling sleepy and began to doze off. The last thing she could recall was the weird sound of Zipporah's weird chuckling as she mocked her for falling asleep in a dangerous situation. Now, she's awake a few hours later and finds herself here. What happened in between?

Then it occurred to her that David must have been what happened in between. This had to be his house; his house – a place where neither she nor any of the other girls have been. Zipporah in all her years of being in abduction had never even been into his house. But she... she was here. He'd brought her in here!

That meant that she was on a serious level of trouble. The fact that he'd singled her out and brought her in here alone meant that what she had done must have aggravated him deeply and he wanted her to be away from the other girls so he could punish her to his heart's content.

When all of this dawned on Gertrude, she began to loathe how fast her thinking process had been – how quick it was for her to decipher what was going on and fix the puzzles before her. Doing that so quickly had left no room for other probable and less scary possibilities. This felt like the only truth and this truth tortured Gertrude in marvelous ways.

Her pupils dilated and the skin of her palms moistened with sweat. Her heart also began to pound and a migraine consumed the fore parts of her head like a cancer as the smell of the food intensified and wafted even closer. That food – it must be a preamble to her punishment before he proceeded to lock her in that mind-numbing room that Zipporah had spoken so fearfully about.

O God!

Gertrude closed her eyes in angst. Several wild thoughts were spinning through her mind to grab one and analyze it. Then the sound of keys jingling and turning came to her hearing.

O God. He's here! What do I do? What do I do? Do I rush out of that door and run for my life at the speed of light? Do I hit an object against his head or what? What should I do?

Before she could reach a conclusion, the door opened, revealing David holding a tray of food. Gertrude fell on her knees with an alacrity that even surprised her. She lowered her head, leveling it to the point of her folded knees. Gripped by great fear, she began to spew all sorts of apologetic words.

"I'm sorry, Mr. David. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I will never do that again. Please sir. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I apologize, sir."

"What? What are you so sorry for?" David gasped, keeping a firm hold on the tray because he'd nearly let it slip off his hands from the effects of the shock he was feeling.

He knew what Gertrude had done but he'd chosen to pretend as though he didn't. Still, the fact that she was terrified by him made him sad. Why was she so afraid of him? Did she think he was going to hurt her or abuse her?

Gertrude lifted her head to look at him. Tears had smeared her cheeks. Her lips quivered as a different kind of fear now consumed her. She began to regret the fact that she'd just exposed herself. It was clear now that she'd done something wrong when he had no idea about it in the first place. David sensed her tension and the inner battle going on within her, wondering how she was going to dodge his question. So he decided to help her out of it – not because it was easy for him to let it slide but for the sake of the relationship he was trying to build with her.

"Come on, baby girl. You should not be scared of me for any reason whatsoever – even if you've done something bad," he went on his knees to be on the same eye level with her. Gently, he dropped the tray containing the meal to the ground and stretched out his hands to touch her face. He stroked her cheeks gently with his thumb. "It hurts me so much to see you in this way because of me."

His eyes grew laden with tears. As he beheld her face and caressed her cheeks affectionately, the image of Sindara began to appear, overshadowing Gertrude's features. That rich black skin, those eyes that never stopped glistening, her fat cheeks. When was the last time he saw her face? Even during these hallucination episodes? When was the last time he had those? His heart was heavy and full of unprocessed emotions. Seeing his little sister look so sad because of him tore him apart.

"Please, do not be scared of me. Don't cower away from me," He begged Gertrude. The vision of Sindara's face had faded away but the lingering effects of it remained in his heart. If Gertrude was afraid of him, it hurt just as much as having his real sister run away from her.

"I love you so much," he continued. "And I wish to take care of you. Please, don't withdraw yourself from me."

Gertrude stared at him blankly, unsure of her state of mind. This was the emotional blackmail that Zipporah had talked about – a powerful tool that Mr. David perfectly knew how to use to keep his pseudo-Sindaras trapped to him forever in the emotional and physical sense.

She was supposed to be wary of it and guard her heart jealously from being polluted by his devices but why did she feel a tinge of compassion for him even in her full awareness of what he was doing? What was this pull in her soul that spurred her to want to give him a hug and promise him that she would not be scared of him anymore?

Was it because of the multiple, thick scars she could see on his hands? Scars that he'd most likely inflicted on himself? Or was it because of the undeniable air of loneliness she could sense in his gigantic apartment? Surely, if he had a wife or a chef, he wouldn't have cooked all of those meals by himself, right?

Why? Why? Why? Why was she feeling these sentiments towards this strange man who'd abducted her and snatched her away from the loving arms of her poor parents? Was Stockholm syndrome something that one could easily contact? Or was she just being gullible?

After a long while of questioning herself without getting any answers, she decided to face this man who was holding her tenderly and weeping on his knees like a defeated man. Taking a deep breath and avoiding his captivating gaze, she asked him a question that does nothing in reaffirming his fears.

"Why did you bring me to your house sir?" To make me feel sorry and then lock me up in that dreadful empty room till I scream my lungs and plea for forgiveness?

She wanted to add these things but remembered that doing that will implicate Zipporah and also betray her trust. Gertrude had decided to ask that question as a way of trying not to get so swayed by the overwhelming cloud of sorrow that loomed in the air.

"I just feel really lonely tonight, uh?" David wore a pitiful smile amid his tears. "Spending time with the four of you in the bungalow always fulfills me but that fulfillment is short lived whenever I have to return to my house. I was having a lot of nightmares last night and I just needed some warmth. I needed someone who could share my bed space with me for the night so I don't have too much of those bad dreams."

"Oh," Gertrude mouthed in a low tone. Her mouth formed into a thin, sad line as the feeling of pity for him slowly crept back into her.

"Please, have a few bites from the meal I've prepared for you," David changed the topic and tore his gaze away from her for the first time in several minutes. He opened the lids of the ceramic plates on the tray, revealing chicken wings and several other assorted meats dipped in red stew then a plate of sumptuous jollof rice rich with lots of condiments.

This was the meal Sindara had always craved; the meal she'd ate when she breathed her last. And he'd wanted to tell this Gertrude so she could feel some sort of compassion for him – like he'd done to the other girls in the past. But he refrained and somewhere in the middle of his thought process, he figured that that might not be what she wanted to hear.

That was the first time that David had thought of someone other than himself. Over time, he'd always treated Zipporah and the other girls for the pseudo version of his deceased sister that he saw in them. He'd never regarded them for who they truly were – as people who were different from his beloved sibling. Yet, he never cared to change his ways even though he knew that it wasn't the best thing to do.

Treating Clara that way back then at The Elixir College had thought him the clear lesson. Still, he didn't give a hoot. What was the point of kidnapping them and keeping them with him if he wasn't going to try to reconnect with his deceased sister through a quality or physical appearance that the girls possessed that was similar to his sister's?

Still, somehow, he didn't think that was the right way to go with Gertrude. Gertrude didn't have a flawed past like the other girls. She wasn't in need of a big brother either. Also, she had parents – parents who were still alive and cared very much about her. So Gertrude wasn't suffering from an identity crisis. She knew who she was. She knew she was loved and belonged to a caring family. She had an assurance in the certainty of her person – whether or not she coincidentally happened to share a feature or a quality that was similar to Sindara's. Hence, David had to look for another way to make her attached to him.

After Gertrude gawked at the meal for some time – one that she was hesitant to eat for several reasons, she took a few spoonfuls so that David wouldn't start thinking that she was still scared of him. As she munched on the grains coupled with the tenderness of one of the assorted meats he'd boiled, she closed her eyes in bliss as she soaked and relished in delight at the juiciness of the meal. She'd even moaned a little.

"Is it good?" he asked, batting his eyelashes innocently as he put on a knowing smile on his face. It was clear that her body language had already answered his question before he'd even thought to ask but he just needed her to affirm it verbally.

"Yes. It's very delicious," Gertrude licked her lips and then felt a sudden pang of guilt for allowing herself to enjoy the food of this evil man. Still, it couldn't be helped.

"I'm so glad," he beamed and wiped off a grain of rice that was stuck on her chin. "Is there any fun thing you would like to do after your meal? We could read some stories together from my shelf."

"Oh, I don't know. It depends on you, sir."

"I don't think it does," he sighed, deciding that now was the right time to play a little game of pity hunting. "You see, it's really lonely here for me and ever since I lost my sister, I've lost an idea of what "fun" things are for little children. All I do now is just business and more of that. I kind of need a little friend like you who I can play games with occasionally. I also want to look after you so you can be happy that you've found an eternal friend in me."

Gertrude was dumbfounded and didn't know what to say. How come he hadn't said a word about the story of his little sister's death ever since she woke up and found herself in his place? He could have seized the opportunity to talk about it while she was eating her meal or while he was pleading with her not to be scared of him. That was even the perfect time to do so.

This whole thing was a bit different from the way Zipporah had narrated it to be. It didn't look like he was blackmailing her emotionally to constantly make her feel sorry. Instead, he seemed genuine; like he'd just wanted to build a friendship with her. It didn't even feel like he saw his deceased sister in her or anything like that – like Zipporah had said.

And for this reason, Gertrude didn't mind staying a little longer in this strange place – to keep him company until he felt a lot less lonely. She didn't mind stopping her prayers for the main time – her pleas of hoping that her parents would find her. So willingly, she nodded to his request.

"Okay. Let's play poker if you've got any cards."

***
After five hours of playing a seemingly harmless but dangerous game of cards, Gertrude started to yawn and squint, desperately trying to stay awake. When David became aware of this, he packed all of the cards and stacked them neatly into a plastic container.

"It's past eleven!" he gasped once he glanced at the clock on the wall. "It's past your bedtime. I'm sorry I kept you awake for so long."

"That's what my enemies do in this poker game. Even if you keep awake till five am, you will still be unable to defeat me," she smirked.

"That's quite audacious of you to say. I defeated you fifteen times, you know?"

"And I crushed you twenty five times!" she stuck out her tongue playfully at him.

David laughed without control. He couldn't decipher what exactly was so funny but this was perhaps a medicine he needed for the longest time. And so he kept laughing like the psychopath that he was. Gertrude who'd joined him in the laughing session stopped midway when she realized that the pure moment of glee they'd shared had morphed into something else. He was probably looking for a way to release his pain. So Gertrude watched him guffaw and cackle till his stomach hurt. Nevertheless, she was happy to see him express himself that way.

Before they finally retired to bed, David gave Gertrude a pajama that he'd wanted to give to Sindara if she were still alive. Still, he was pleased to let her look-alike put it on. Then he placed her to sleep beside him and they both slept peacefully for the first time in weeks – like siblings in a shipwreck who'd finally found a safe space in a small, stuffed cabin.

However, when David woke up the next morning, life showed him the unpleasant, nasty stuff that it was made of. When his phone rang out loudly by the bedside table, he answered the call and saw that it was from Mr. Brown. He took a deep breath. It had to be bad news.

"Will you be able to tell me what it is this time or should I just come over?'

"I think I can tell you what it is, sir."

'Thank God. Now, what?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Okafor are here again. And they claim to have a photograph that proves that you have custody of their daughter."