*NOT EDITED*

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Dedicated to Ifebodee__ Mummy wa at WNI.

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So, for the first time in a while, I closed my eyes and said a little prayer.

❦︎

~[JASON]~

She was looking at me, eyes wide like a doe's, body still like a statue.

She heard me, I was sure of that. So I couldn't figure out the reason she was staring in such incredulity, like I had asked her to jump off a cliff.

Gathering more patience, I repeated, "Come with me."

But this girl was still seated, fixed in that same spot, still staring at me in utmost shock. At that point, I had lost all the patience I was holding on to. So, I rose from my seated position and walked across the room to stand before her.

Her eyes followed me as I moved, yet she did not blink.

"I know damn well you can hear me, Miss Kanayo." I said to her.

Three powerful alleluias, because she finally blinked; She opened her mouth to speak but shut it right back.

Impatiently, I snapped my fingers before her face. That did the trick, little Miss dazed spoke.

"Uh... um— yeah, sure." She swallowed, blinked almost a thousand times and then finally got up.

Three more powerful alleluias for that.

Then I took a moment to glance at Tracy and Charles. They were both quietly watching us, but Tracy had already moved farther away from Charles.

"Later." I nodded curtly at them before excusing myself from the room.

I was surprised by the heavy sigh I had let out immediately I had stepped out; The thick tension and awkward atmosphere must have locked up air in my lungs. At that moment, I could only hope that they would actually sort things out.

"Wh—where are we going?"

And that was when I recalled that there was a whole human being trailing behind me. For a second there, I almost believed that my friends' house was hunted. I chuckled at my silly thought.

By now, we were already going down the stairs, only the soft taps of our feet against the floor was heard.

"Where are we going?" She inquired again.

And in the most uninterested tone I could muster, I responded, "Downstairs."

I wasn't sure, but I heard her mutter something like, "No shit."

I chose to believe I was hearing things.

Silently, she followed me past the living room, out the front door and into the veranda.

"Where are you taking me?" This girl asked me again. This time, alarm laced her voice.

Did she think I would abduct her? I scoffed, shook my head.

"Sit down." I told her, gesturing at one of the benches there in the veranda.

As expected, she didn't take the one I sat on. She went on to sit on the one opposite me, closer to the lawn.

Perfect.

It was a little bit cold outside due to the night breeze. But we were just fine, we had freaking onesies on.

The sound of her clearing her throat caught my attention; She had what was obviously a forced smile on her face.

"So—"

"Please, no." I stopped her right there. God knows I was not in the mood for any kind of conversation at that moment, especially not with her. "The silence is just fine."

She nodded, shrank back in embarrassment. And I was this close to feeling bad for her.

Just this close.

So, we sat in peaceful silence. Occasionally, we'd hear the soft whoosh of  the masquerade trees around the compound.

And suddenly, out of the blue, lighting struck, a thunder clapped and the clouds rumbled. In alarm, I jerked, sat up straight and looked at the sky with wide eyes.

And then I heard laughter. A sound with rich melody and pleasant to the ears, made me want to smile for some reason. And like every other time, I stopped to listen. I swear, I would have tuned it out if I could, but I found myself wanting to keep listening.

So, I laid back on the chair and gave in to that incessant want.

But she must have noticed my eyes on her, because she paused. Quickly, she wiped the tears glistening in her under eyes and muttered a low,

"Sorry."

And that was when it even occurred to me that she was laughing at me. Victoria Kanayo had just witnessed me get frightened by a thunder clap.

I felt my cheeks heat up, and unless a miracle had happened, they must have been turning red too. So, I buried my face in my palms, both in embarrassment and frustration.

"A—are you okay?" I heard her speak in that alarmed voice again.

I lifted my head, looked at her. "Yes, why?"

"Well, I thought you were crying." She shrugged.

I frowned, taken aback by her assumption. Before I knew it, I blurted out the question, "Why would I even cry right now?"

"I don't know... probably the same reason your face is all red, I guess."

Lord...

If my cheeks heated up before, they were boiling now. And I was certain that my cheeks were just about the colour of a fresh tomato.

"It's— it's the cold, okay!?" I found myself getting all defensive. For what reason? I wish I knew.

"Chill, I'm not even tryna argue with you." She said to me, crossed her arms. "The silence is just fine."

My eyes reduced to slits as I glared at this girl; She had picked up my words and thrown them right in my face.

With a huff, I turned my face, took in the drizzling rain.

The drizzling rain?

I let my eyes roam around; it was actually drizzling. And with every second, the intensity of the downpour increased.

Goodness...

Lightening bolts flashed, thunders clapped and the clouds rumbled again. This time, I caged my fright and sat in place. But only God knew how long I could hold it in.

From the corner of my eyes, I noticed movements. She had gotten up and was moving towards me.

"What're you doing?" I spat the question, eyeing her.

"Raindrops are splashing on me over there," she pointed back at the bench she initially occupied. "So, I'm going to sit here."

She sat, and then shocked me by moving closer.

The hell?

"Move." I told her in a flat tone.

She looked at me, shook her head, "No."

Ehn?

"You said?"

"I said no." The girl even repeated. "The rain is splashing from this side too." She pointed to her right.

Truly, it was; that part of the bench was wet.

"I promise, I know better than to sit near you." She added, chuckled to herself. "But I don't have too many choices right now."

"Suit yourself, abeg." I waved her off, folded my arms and turned away.

I didn't think it was possible, but the rainfall intensified. On the roof above us, it sounded like huge rocks were landing.

"We should go inside." I had to yell a little to get my words to her.

She turned to look at me and said a firm, "No."

Isi gini?

"The rain is getting worse!" I told this girl, just incase she was deaf and blind all of a sudden.

"I know, genius." She didn't even bother to look at me this time. "I want to watch the rain."

Watch what exactly about this rain? I asked myself.

I had a hypothesis that she was crazy, and the proof was her freaking smiling at those deadly drops of water.

The sound of the thunder caught me off guard again. This one was the loudest so far, even Victoria jolted with me.

I placed a hand on my chest, released a shaky breath. I was beginning to freak out, and our Einstein was back to admiring the rain.

For goodness sake...

Then I noticed something. Our thighs were touching, that space between us was no longer there. This girl had moved closer.

I was about so ask her to move, but a fruity scent invaded my sense of smell. And despite myself, I inhaled deeper; There was something about it that calmed my nerves, relaxed my taut muscles. And I realized that that was the first time I noticed she smelled like citrus.

"You can go inside though," she told me, eyes still focused on the rain like mine on her. "I'll remain here."

No.

I mean, whether I liked it or not, she was my responsibility. She followed me out of that room. And given that she didn't know her way around the house was even more reason to not leave her alone. I would be held accountable for whatever happened to her.

And then she looked at me, her forehead creased as she frowned. "What are you looking at now?"

Her eyes are brown, I had to observe. She was looking straight in my eyes for goodness sake. And I could not break that damn eye contact for the life of me.

My chest panged. Why can't I breath?

Must have been the cold. It had to be the cold.

"Let's go inside." I let out in a low rasp, swallowed hard. "It's a thunderstorm."

And at that very moment, something flashed in her eyes, she inhaled sharply and then she went stiff. In her eyes were so many emotions. So many.

Guilt, fear, regret. Or was I seeing things?

It wasn't the time to decipher emotions, so I repeated, "It's a thunderstorm. And it'll get worse, let's go inside." I made sure to sound as firm as I could, maintaining our eye contact.

It worked.

The pluviophile was on her feet in an instant, even headed toward the door already.

I walked in behind her and I didn't fail to notice how unsettled she looked as she took her seat on the wine couch. With her palms between her thighs, she stared into space; The constant taps of her feet on the beige tiles caught my eyes too.

Maybe she had caught a cold.

I decided I needed a cup of hot chocolate, and I was going to get her one too. Why? Because I was responsible for her at that moment, and she was catching a cold.

As I made the hot chocolate, I really wished I had a doughnut to go with it. I could have easily gotten one upstairs but Tracy and Charles needed their privacy. But still, I was craving a doughnut, the one made by Chris to be particular.

I had lifted the two mugs of hot choco when it hit me. It felt like a jam to my skull as it dawned on me.

I shivered.

Chris...

Oh no, I shook my head, lowered the mugs back on the counter.

God, no.

I sucked in deep breaths as every way things could go bad played in my mind, I imagined the worst of events and in my heart, I deeply hoped that real life would not play out like that.

So, for the first time in a while, I closed my eyes and said a little prayer.

Because Chris was out there in that storm.

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A/N

🙂

Short ass chapter, I KNOW. But this is all y'all get for now, okay?

Say a little prayer for Chris, cos may we no see evil this early in the book.

And how do you think things are going up there? With Tracy and Charles, I mean. They may or may not have—

Anyways, Tracy's POV is coming soon😗. Serious revelations dey.

One last thing, I'll be releasing a collection of short stories next week Monday 🙂. It's a collection of prompts I've written for WritersNetwork . Anticipate 😗.

Okay so, that's all for now.

Vote, comment, share.

And stay safe!
Love ya.😗💕