The cliff is so high and I can hear my heart beating violently against my chest.

Beads of perspiration roll into my shirt.

I look down again and the waters are dashing mercilessly against the deadly looking rocks.
I can hear their voices behind me. They are far away but they are approaching quickly. It's only a matter of time before they would find me.

I look back but the rain is too heavy for me to see clearly. I have to depend only on my sense of hearing to identify thier presence and that is already greatly disturbed by the sound of the rain.

Suddenly, I feel a push behind me and down I go.

Down, down, down......

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! "

I jerk up violently and the covers fall down to my waist.
I look around in relief to see I'm in my room not falling down the cliff.

My chest is rising and falling uncontrollably and I switch on the light.

It was a nightmare.

I look at the clock.

9:am.

Mom must have left for church. I climb out of bed and wrap my dressing gown around my shoulders.

It's cold and the sweat rolling down my forehead doesn't make me any warmer.

Slipping my feet into my bed slippers, I walk across my room to the door and push it open and head down the flight of stairs to the kitchen.

I open the cupboard and pull out a bottle of wine and pour myself a glass.
I don't drink much, it's just that in cases like this, some alcohol helps.

After draining the red liquid, I pour myself another from the transparent glass bottle.

Grabbing the now full glass, I leave the kitchen and walk towards the verander and push open the screen door still sipping from my glass quietly.
with my other hand folded under my chest.

My mind begins to wander back to the nightmare. The weather, I noticed greatly resembles the one on that horrible night dad died. I suck in a huge column of air in the bid to calm my nerves and not think so much on the subject.

The gentle breeze caresses my face and I take in the cool and fresh smell emanating from the trees in the garden below.
Obviously, the gardener is doing a very good job.
Placing my unfinished glass in the cup holder attachced to the lounge chair and flop on the chair, letting out a huge breath.

My mind replays Mr. Stanford's words,

"Are you really happy?

I bury my face in my palms and sob.

Why is life so unfair? I've worked so hard to get to where I am now.

For crying out loud, I live in one of the richest neighborhoods in New York!
This have been my dream and I have achieved it.

Why isn't it enough.

Why do I still feel this gaping emptiness inside. What else do I have to do.

Tired of crying in the lounge, I walk back to the sitting room, fumble for the remote and turn on the TV.

While sniffing and wiping my nose with the sleeve of my shirt, I scroll through the channels.

1 minute,

2 minutes,

3 minutes, and that's it.

I click on a random channel and let the remote drop on the sofa with a soft plop.

While I attempt to recline on the sofa and go to sleep, I hear something, someone, from the TV,

"He loves you more than anything else, he wants to be the shoulder you can lean on.......... "

I sit up and stare at the TV screen.

"Who cares that much?" I say dryly.

"God just wants to be close to you. That's his greatest desire, that you get to know him better. He wants to beautify your life.
But he can only do that if you let him in. Stop fighting God and let him in...... "

I chuckle to myself.

Really? If he did care as much as everybody says he does, dad wouldn't have died, mom and I wouldn't have suffered so much, and my childhood wouldn't have been taken away from me.

My eyes become blurry as I look away from the TV too angry to even continue watching.

On that fateful evening, as we screamed on top of our voices for help, all I could do was pray.

I prayed earnestly for God to save dad. I trusted God to save him, but he let me down, just like he always has ever since.
I was so stupid to think that he would do anything at all in the first place.

After that incident, I found out that if there was a God at all, he didn't care and that I was on my own.

"Yes, you may have lost a loved one, and you feel that God should have done something about it, but things don't always go as we plan.
Remember that he said that the plans he has for us are plans of good and not of evil, to bring us to an expected end.
Whatever we meet on the way is to prepare us for what is coming.... "

I lift my tear stained face and look back at the TV screen angrily.

Who is this man and how can he talk with so much confidence?

He sounds like he knows beyond all reasonable doubt that what he's saying was true.
He sounds like he can prove his words.

But can he really?

There is a long moment of silence except for the sound of the TV in front of me.
Despite my unwillingness, I find myself listening.

Thoughts of doubt ravage my mind as I ponder the words of the preacher.
Doubt in myself, doubt in the words of the preacher, doubt in the life I have strived to mould so far and am now living in, doubt in what I have trained myself to believe over the years.

No, no, it can't be true.

But what if it is? What if I've been angry at the wrong person all my life?

Then I shake those ridiculous thoughts away.

It probably is all a lie to get people to trust in God and get disappointed, just like I was.

Oh, I don't know what I'm supposed to believe anymore.

I turn off the TV and decide to call Tomi. She should have returned from church by now.

I pull out my phone and dial her number.

"Yo girl, what's up?" Trying to make your voice sound merry on the phone when you're truly not is the greatest ordeal.
Unfortunately, Tomi knows me more than I care to admit.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Stop lying. You should know it doesn't work with me. Something's wrong, what is it?" I can imagine her scrunching up her nose in disbelief.

"Okay, I had another nightmare."

"It's alright. I'm on my way. We'll talk about it when I get there. I'll just tell Max."

I smile to myself and remember how they met.

                       ※※

Tomi and I are seated on the bench backing the garden munching on some cookies Tomi had just purchased from the food vendor.

"Oh dear Lord, these are so good and with sugar coating, my favorite." I bite off another piece and munch happily.
Tomi looks at me amusingly and smiles.

"Maya, you never change. All you need is junk and you're good to go. Anyone finding it difficult to get you to do something need only offer you junk." She chuckles and gets up.

I eye her grudgingly for talking about my love for junk in such a way and stick my tongue out at her.

"Humph, very funny Tomi." I go back to finishing up my cookie before she can make another comment.

We were interrupted, however.

"Hello, please can you show me the way to the laboratories. I am sort of lost."

I snap my head up to see a young guy about our age, maybe older, looking down at us, confusion clearly written on his face.

Tomi immediately gets up and offers to escort him to his destination. I have never understood how Tomi can just visit a place once and find her way back unaided. I would go to the same place more than five times and still ask for directions on my way back.
I wave her off nonchalantly and go back to finishing my cookies while eyeing hers that she had just left on the bench.

Hmm, these cookies will be too soft to eat by the time she's back and she'll most probably throw them away.

I think I should save her the trouble.

With that, the cookies were never heard from again.

From that day, Max and Tomi became friends and as time progressed, they began to date.
They would make a wonderful couple one day.

"Oh no, you don't need to. It wasn't right for me to call you, I can handle it alone."

"No you can't. I'm coming over immediately." She insists.

"But......"

"No buts. Bye." The beep signaled the end of the call. I let out a large sigh and climb up the stairs to take a shower and change into something presentable.

                        ※※

I wrap the towel round my dripping hair and wring out the water from it before I ruffle the towel against my hair vigorously to dry it as quickly as possible. I pick up the comb now lying in the sink and run it through my hair under the dryer, then I hear a faint knock coming from the living room.

I guess that must be Tomi.

Since she's my best friend, there's no need to inform me when she arrives. The security man just let's her in and she walks right up to the doors.

Wrapping the towel around my still wet hair, I sprint down the stairs and to the main doors.
Immediately I open the doors, Tomi pulls me into a choking bear hug.

"How are you?." She breathes.

"I'm fine. How's Max? "

Without answering, she raises up her left hand displaying a diamond studded ring.

Author's note.

Maya's nightmares don't seem to be getting better do they. I think not. 
Don't forget to vote and tell me what you think in the comment section. I love hearing from you guys.
Until next time, my lovely readers.

Chinwe_epislte ❤