Sunshine over your eyes, I guess you must be one,
Do your thing. It's showtime,
~ Maayaa by Juls, Tiggs Da Author, Santi

Ebun's scar was a lot worse than it physically appeared to be. Her father realized how daft he was to have assumed that she could treat a wound as deep as that on her own, but he was furious at that moment.

The following day, the pain got worse. She couldn't make even the slightest movement with her lips, including brushing her teeth. Brushing her teeth wasn't even a small activity because she would have to open her mouth wide to let the bristles in the brush scrub her teeth.

Slight movement of the lips, such as swallowing and minor chewing that she was unable to do, was what made her parents realize that a lot of damage had been done, so they had a doctor visit that same day.

Her lower gum had been damaged. Was it all as a result of a fingernail scratch? It didn't seem possible, but while stitching her lower lip, the doctor found a broken nail hinged deeply in her gum and the whole procedure only made her face feel so heavy with blood, and her entire jawline felt like granite.

Worse off, she couldn't even scream or dare to move a muscle to express her pain. She could only seeth her teeth lightly from time to time. After the surgery, she was placed on anesthetics and antibiotic pills to sleep off the remaining pain that was left to feel.

She couldn't go back to school any time soon with that much pain, but three days after the surgery, she could swallow liquid from a teaspoon. That was a commendable improvement.

During her stay at home, she had more than enough of having her family worry over her. Especially her mother.

Truthfully, Ebun didn't want to keep fighting dirty. At least, she never wanted to sustain an injury like this ever again. One would wonder why a twelve-year-old girl was busy fighting and throwing fists at older people. Still, Ebun had taken it upon herself since she was eight years old to learn how to fight at all costs because she didn't want to end up being defenseless like her elder sisters were.

Especially Cassandra.

Since the abduction and the slavery experience, Ebun knew she wasn't safe, too, and worse things could happen to her. It was more of a reality that only needed time to be actualized than a probability.

If her siblings encountered near-death experiences, the chances that she would be exempted were very slim. The least she could do was prepare herself in the best way possible for it, and it was tough because she was the last born child, and it was expected for her older siblings to be the ones to look after her, but what was the assurance she could rely on that they would be able to protect her at all?

Even her eldest sister, Yemisi, a lawyer, had lost in some situations due to her inability to engage in physical fights. Ebun knew she had to help herself because no one would even if they tried. She had to learn how to defend herself effectively. If she let the pattern of defenselessness repeat itself, she would only have herself to blame.

But above the need to protect herself, Ebun wanted to defend the defenseless if the need arose. When Cassandra went missing that year, it made her so sad that there was nothing she could do to prevent that tragedy from happening to her favorite sister but the only reason it didn't eat her up very much was that she was just seven when it happened.

A seven-year-old girl with super protective parents that won't let her leave the backyard even. Not like they allowed her now, but she was a bit older and was in high school, so it was best she learned while her bones were still young so she could fight for other people who were visibly unable to defend themselves.

Fighter attitude. Courage.

No one would look at her as a little girl. She wanted to be dared and be able to prove people wrong. If anyone wanted to do their worst, they should do well to bring it on. She would make use of everything within her reach to fight back.

Ebun stayed at home for a week and wanted to go back to school already because she felt so suffocated with all of the nagging and safety talks. If she didn't lock the doors for a second or wandered away from the house for a little bit, the scolding wouldn't end.

But the idea of going back to school at that moment sounded like a very controversial topic. Was it safe for Ebun to return? It was inevitable that people must have heard about the fight, especially if the victim had told the tale to someone, but not many people knew of Ebunoluwa fighting often. At least, it wasn't a solid impression they had about her yet.

If they saw the stitched scar on her lip, they would probably not blame her much. Such stories, when spread like wildfire, always had large doses of cooked-up façades.

If the worst came to the worst and she faced the school authorities, she would tell her truth, and whatever side of the story the guy had to tell would be very much invalid. The news would be that he attempted to rape a student and had even injured her. No one would believe that she beat him to that grievous level.

"What makes you think people won't believe that you're capable of beating that guy to that extent?" Cassandra asked her.

"Well...I've never beaten anyone the way I hit that guy. The highest I give is slaps and kicks."

"I just hope you don't get punished, " Cassandra commented in disbelief, wondering why slapping and kicking weren't a big deal to her.

"I don't even like the school, but I want to go to see how things are going to be. I want to take the risk."

With a heavy heart, her parents allowed her to go to school a week later only because her mother would drop and pick her up at school every morning and evening. If Ebun wasn't going to co-operate, she could as well sit at home because they didn't even enjoy the uncertainty that the whole situation was giving them.

Ebun's first day at school after the incident went better than she had expected. Or maybe it wasn't strictly better, but no one looked at her suspiciously like they knew anything at all. Although Ebun didn't have any friends, she still expected curious classmates to ask about the scar on her chin, and a few of them did. So did the teachers, but thankfully they didn't probe much for fear that she would cry if she used her lips too much.

It made her feel less awkward about the whole situation at school. If everyone kept behaving like they knew nothing or weren't bothered or curious by that scar on her chin, it would only show that they knew something for sure, and it would be a very fishy situation.

Ebun didn't even see the victimized senior present at school. She wasn't sure if the guy was a school student, but she was sure the girl was. No sign led to the happenings of the previous week, and it was strange. Day in, day out for that entire week, her mother didn't fail to accompany her to school, and she suspected it was because of that, that everything was going fine.

She would rather have it all figured out than stay in the dark. The guy's promises were not vain. He would do his worse, but no way would that happen if her mother kept accompanying her to school. It was sure that the guy was keeping an eye on her.

She wanted it to stop so she could face the danger that was lurking around patiently for her head-on. A few more days went by, and the day she was hoping to come arrived.

"Ebun, I won't be able to pick you up from school today. Cassandra was having a serious breathing crisis last night, so your Dad has taken her to the hospital. I have to join in to see how she's doing. You might not meet anyone at home when you come back from school, which is why you need to lock all the doors and walk safely on your way back home. I'm sorry I can't pick you up today. I hope you will be fine."

Ebun wanted to nod her head enthusiastically and promise her mother that she would be fine without her presence, but she didn't want her mother chastising and giving her stern looks, so she acted like she was bothered.

She couldn't help but be on the lookout for the guy during school periods. Her attention span was non-existent as she was either looking out of the window or gazing into thin air. It was a surprise that none of the teachers that taught that afternoon had no reason to call her name to answer any questions.

Immediately after closing hours, Ebun walked as briskly as she usually would to the wall side that gave her a concise view of the corridor from afar. She waited for a good while, but she didn't see the guy or the girl. She just felt like the guy would naturally be somewhere around that arena, waiting for her to loiter around the place so he could do his "worst," but she couldn't help but wonder what lay ahead as she started on her journey back home.

Her home was only a few meters from the school, so trekking wasn't strenuous. As she walked down the road, she hoped to go to school alone like today, and hopefully, she gets to meet with the guy the next time because she wanted to end it once and for all.

The street that led to her house had bushes on the sideways. About two plots of land were void of buildings. Just bushes and just by the end of the road was a tall hill with various trees. The natural setup of the avenue made the street a quiet one. The houses in sight were guarded heavily for fear of snakes and undomestic creatures creeping into their environments.

Ebun heard a footstep. It was distant but not faint. She tilted her head slightly to the left, where she had heard the sound and felt something. Someone moved into hiding. From the few seconds in which she could decipher that someone was behind, she saw black. Maybe the person was wearing black clothes, or it was the shadow that the afternoon sun created out of the person's figure.

Ebun grinned. Someone was following her. And she knew it was the corridor guy that was behind her.

Haha. So this was it. The guy did have eyes on her and planned to attack her on a day like this when alone. Particularly now that she had almost arrived at her house, it was certainly an intriguing concept to the best of her understanding.

One thing the bastard was yet to understand, however, was that Ebun didn't need to have anyone around before she was able to fight dirty.

She continued to walk, clutching her bag dearly to her back. The bushes rustled. Ordinarily, she would have presumed it to be the movement of reptiles and other natural factors, but it was the guy's movement following closely behind.

Her mother's words came to her mind at that moment. "Why are you so stubborn? Why would you fight with a bad boy? He could have done worse things to you!" this was the time, and she felt so bad for having to put her mother through another heartache, but she couldn't back down now that the time had arrived.

When Ebun got to her house, she opened the gate, and without turning back to look at the guy, she said,

"I know it's you. Come out."