"WHAT?" CHINYERE ASKED.

"You heard me," Amanda said. "Your father was the cause of my mother's death and I'm just collecting the debts which my father never did."

"What debts?" Chinyere asked.

Amanda was about to say something but a knock on the door interrupted their conversation.

"Who is it?!" Amanda yelled.

"Mary," the person from behind the door answered.

Mary was Amanda's personal maid. She responded to Amanda's every call.

"What is it?" Amanda asked.

Mary opened the door slightly and said, "The driver is here for you."

Amanda nodded her head and Mary silently shut the door before leaving.

"As you heard Mary say," Amanda smirked, "the driver is here for me. I have to get back to school before my absence becomes suspicious."

It was then that Chinyere noticed the suitcases standing by the dresser in the room.

"Why are you going back?" Chinyere held Amanda's hand as she was about to leave the room. "What about your mother's death anniversary?"

"As soon as Dad said that we weren't going to celebrate her death ceremony, I called the driver to pick me up from here," Amanda said. "If I can't celebrate my mother's death anniversary, I might as well go back to seeking my revenge and collecting debts."

"What debts?"

"The ones that Rachel owe me," Amanda smirked and pulled her hand out of Chinyere's grasp. "I have dealt with Tunde's family and your family. All that's remaining is Rachel's family."

What did she mean when she said that she'd dealt with Tunde's family? What was she going to do to Rachel?

"Did Mary seriously think that I would carry my luggage on my own?" Amanda muttered as she walked out of the room, leaving a shocked Chinyere to her thoughts.

Chinyere couldn't describe how she felt. Her heart was beating faster than usual and she felt afraid. Not for herself, but for Rachel.

She dropped to her knees and tears pooled out of her eyes.

Was she going to stay trapped in the house forever? How could she warn Rachel?

     THAT NIGHT CHINYERE had no appetite.

She played around with the food on her plate, using her spoon.

"Is everything alright?" Mr. Oko asked her but he got no response.

All she could think about was home, her family and her friends.

Mr. Oko glanced at his son who was sitting by Chinyere's side.

Chibinobim was eating with his father for the first time since he'd returned from the states.

He remembered how his father had immediately sent him to the states after the death of his mother just three years back.

It had barely been three days after her death before his father sent him packing.

He stayed in the United States for three years without a phone call from his father.

His father had called him three weeks back. Not to find out how he was doing but to inform him that he was looking for a wife for him and that he should return to Nigeria.

Stupid man, Chibinobim thought.
His fiance had died in a tragic car accident just a week before he received the call. Priscilla was her name.

Chibinobim ignored his father and continued to eat his food.

"Chibinobim, wake up your wife," Mr. Oko said.

Chinyere wasn't sleeping but she was dead to the outside world. All her thoughts flooded her mind and she was sunk in them, nearly drowning.

Her father had always told her, "A close friend can become a close enemy."

He was right but she also didn't know what to think about her father.

Had he killed Amanda's mother?

She didn't even know that Amanda was motherless.

She'd met Amanda two years back at the beginning of JS2/ eight grade but she had a seemingly perfectly life.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a slap to the back of her head.

Shocked by the slap, she nearly fell off her seat.

She then focused her attention on the person who had slapped her; Chibinobim.

Full of rage, she grabbed her cup of iced water and threw it on his face.

She placed the empty cup on the table and walked out of the dining room.

She wasn't going to take nonsense and abuse from any person that she wasn't related to.
Only her parents and teachers could beat her.

A rapist? No way!

She stormed off into the kitchen and lucky for her, it was empty.

She closed the kitchen door and leaned against it. She wanted to cry but she didn't have the energy and time to do so.

She was exhausted, angry, sad and confused at the same time.

By now at home, she would have been eating and cracking jokes with her family.

A loud bang on the kitchen door made Chinyere jump.

"Who do you think you are to disrespect me?!" Chibinobim yelled from behind the door as he banged on it.

"Calm down, Chibinobim," she heard Mr. Oko say.

She locked the door to the kitchen so that Chibinobim couldn't get in.

"No!" Chibinobim yelled. "Who does she think she is to insult me like this?"

"Just relax," Mr. Oko said. "I'll deal with her."

Slowly, the banging subsided and Chinyere heard footsteps walking away from the door.

She blinked back the tears that were forming in her eyes and looked around the kitchen.

Soft knocks filled her ears, "You can come out now. I've sent Chibinobim to bed."

Chinyere ignored the words of Mr. Oko and focused her attention on something else.

She focused her attention on the cell phone that was lying on the table in the kitchen.