CHINYERE NOW KNEW how it felt to be so close and yet so far.

They were so close to escaping and yet so far from escaping as Mr. Oko and Amadi had already caught up to them.

"Get over here!" Amadi yelled.

She could not explain how she was feeling. Her heart was beating irregularly and as fast as a race car. It was as though it wanted to jump out of her chest. She had never been so scared in her entire life.

"What do we do now?" she asked Tina.

Tina took a deep breath before answering, "I guess we listen to them and follow them."

"Biko, don't waste our time," Mr. Oko said.

"Is that it?" Chinyere asked. "We came this far only to end up back with them?"

"When we get out of the bus, I will run and I want you to run in the opposite direction and find help," Tina said. "Don't forget to run only after I do, that will cause a distraction."

"But what if they shoot us?" Chinyere asked.

"I think it's about time we take a risk," Tina whispered to Chinyere as she stood up, her gaze staying on Amadi the entire time. "If we die, at least justice will be served."

Chinyere sat there dumbfounded. Was this how everything would end? Was Tina already giving up?

She, however, did not voice her thoughts and silently watched as Tina made her way to the front, being careful not to step on anyone who was seated on the floor.

Chinyere unzipped the travel bag and snatched the phone from the bag. She then made her way to the front, all the while hiding the phone behind her back.

She cursed herself for not wearing a skirt with pockets.

"Get out of the bus," Mr. Oko said and pointed the gun to her head. Amadi also had his gun pointed at Tina.

Chinyere immediately turned around, putting the phone in front of her as she walked out of the bus with Tina right next to her and the father and son duo behind them.

Chinyere and Tina looked at each other when their feet finally touched the tar road while Mr. Oko and Amadi were still climbing off the bus.

Tina nodded and Chinyere did the same action.

Tina suddenly turned in the left direction and took to her heels.

The men were in shock when Tina took off and Chinyere took the chance to run in the right direction.

She heard Mr. Oko yell, "Amadi, go after your wife! I'll take care of the other brat."

She knew that Mr. Oko was running after her but she didn't dare look back.

Chinyere couldn't believe the irony. Just a few months ago, her older brother had joked that she couldn't run to save her life but that was exactly what she was doing. She was running to save her life.

She ran until she felt her legs give in. She was tired of dodging people and cars as she ran, all the while trying to maintain her balance. She was exhausted but it was worth it.

She had ran quite a distance but she could tell that she was still in town by the many stores surrounding her.

She ran into the store closest to her. It seemed to be a grocery store and it was empty, save for the man seating behind a desk.

There were many shelves and the store looked larger on the inside.

Chinyere wasted no time and walked up to the man behind the desk.

The man looked at her and asked, "What do you want?"

Chinyere took a deep breath to steady her breathing rate before replying, "Can you direct me to the closest police station or at least call the police?"

The man stood up from the chair, "Ehn? So you are not even going to buy anything but you want me to help you? Gerrout jor!"

"P-please," Chinyere rubbed her palms together, pleading with him, "you'll be doing the world a favour, you'll be doing me a favour -"

"Favour what?" the man hissed and sat back down on his seat and put his earphones in his ears. "I don't want to do any favours for this country or anyone in this country, after all they refused to promote my music career."

The man completely ignored Chinyere as she tried to beg. Chinyere no longer wondered why no one was in his store. Who would want to purchase something from such a rude man?

Chinyere decided to find someone else to help her but as she neared the door to exit the store, she saw Mr. Oko coming in her direction.

He had not seen her yet but she could tell that he was searching for her by the way that he was looking around.

Chinyere ran back into the store and looked for somewhere to hide but there was no where to go.

She decided to hide behind the shelf farthest from the door of the store.

Her heart was beating even faster than before. She peeked from behind the shelf at the door and saw that Mr. Oko was standing outside the door, his back facing the door.

She turned away quickly. It was, after all, her head that made Mr. Oko see them in the first place.

She stood still and deathly silent but when her stomach rumbled, she grabbed a packet of biscuits that was sitting on the shelf and began to munch on it after opening it.

She wasn't eating to satisfy her greedy stomach but to distract herself from her current situation and pass time.

After eating the biscuits, she threw the packet on the floor, an action her mother would have reprimanded her for.

She still had Chibinobim's phone in her hand and she knew exactly who to call.

She was in the middle of typing her father's phone number when she heard Mr. Oko's voice.

"Young man, has a young girl come by here?"

She peeked from behind the shelf and saw the shop owner slowly remove his earphones from his ears.

His eyes were large and his mouth was opening and closing like a fish. Chinyere had never seen a black man go so pale.

She looked back at the phone and pressed dial, hoping that her father would answer her call this time.

"I asked you a question!" Mr. Oko yelled and pointed his gun at the man.

The man stammered but was unable to bring out real words.

"Get out of my sight!" Mr. Oko yelled and then hissed when he saw the man fall on his way out. "Nawa oo, this country is filled with useless people. At the sight of a gun, they lose their voice. Mtchew. Stupid people. Have they never seen a gun before?"

Chinyere wanted to laugh out loud at Mr. Oko's ramble but she held it in when she realised that her father had answered the call.

"Hello? Hello?"

Chinyere whispered into the phone, "Yes, Daddy, it's Chinyere."

"Chinyere, where are you?"

"I am in an empty store in town," Chinyere whispered. "I think there's an Airtel booth outside the store and Obi Oko is after me. He's chasing me with a gun. He wants to kill me. I'm scared, Daddy."

"I know you're in here, Chinyere Awaziem," Mr. Oko said. "I can smell your fear."

What are you? A dog? Chinyere thought.

Chinyere could hear footsteps getting closer to where she was standing.

"Did you say Obi Oko?" her father asked her.

"Yes, and he's -" the phone was knocked out of her hand before she could complete her sentence.

"I've got you now, little girl," he grabbed a hold of her arm and his nails dug deep into her skin.

Chinyere tried to tear his hand away from hers but failed. "I don't get this. Why do you buy girls?"

"At first, I used to buy them to do work and I wouldn't have to pay them on a monthly basis," he answered. "But when Amanda told me to buy Tina and get her married off to Amadi, I realised that revenge was sweet."

"What did Tina's family even do to you?"

Chinyere then tried to bite his hand but he noticed this and slapped her with the hand holding the gun.

Chinyere was in a bit of a daze and her sight was blurry.

"Her stupid father arrested my first born son, Daniel, when he was still stationed in Ebonyi state," Mr. Oko answered. "I may have bailed Daniel out but his life was never the same again. He was made to drop out of school as all schools rejected him. He had no choice but to find a job. Do you know what he became? A gardener!"

Chinyere's head was paining but she could now see clearly again, "Does it make sense for you to get your enemies' children married to yours? Aren't you ruining your sons' lives?"

"Tell me who has suffered more in this marriage," Mr. Oko said. "You or Chibinobim?"

"I know that I have suffered but so has Chibinobim," Chinyere replied. "I can tell that he's a depressed man."

"It's all because of that Priscilla!" Mr. Oko shouted. "He fell head over heels in love with her and the day he wanted to propose to her she just had to die in that terrible accident on her way to meet him!"

"A-are you the one who killed her?" Chinyere asked.

"Of course not. I care about my son's feelings. I wasn't even in America when that happened."

"Then how do you know all this?"

"I had one of my men spy on him when he still lived in America," Mr. Oko answered.

Chinyere was about to ask another question but a slap to her face immediately shut her up.

Mr. Oko let go of her hand and punched her with the butt of his gun.

The punch was so hard that Chinyere fell backwards and crashed into the shelf, bringing it down with her.

Her sight was blurred and it wasn't coming back no matter how hard she blinked.

She could only hear the words of Mr. Oko before she blacked out.

"Rest in peace."