Hello, guys. Sorry for the long wait. At the end of this chapter, I have an announcement at the end of the chapter, so please make sure to not skip.

That being said, carry on....🍸🍸

~DABI~

Blood.

Blood.

Blood.

It was everywhere. The stench of it all around the room, all around the house, the way they stuck to my dress and fuelled me more with an insane urge for vengeance, the way it dripped down her, and dripped and dripped and didn't stop dripping down that red, blood red dress of hers.

Screams.

Screams.

And more screams.

They were  everywhere. From all the corners of the house, and ironically, the loudest came from her. Her screams rose in pitch, rose in terror and rose in torture, and deafened me by the second, but I stayed still.

And just watched her.

Glass shattered at all corners of the house, from all corners, and one hell of a turbulence broke out, but I stood there and took joy and pleasure in her suffering...

I just watched her.

Over and over, and over again, and the sound of flames over inflammable, the burn of flesh and furniture, the screams, oh, the damned screams of anguish and pain, tormented me, destroyed me...

But I only watched her...

And watched her...

And watched her...

And kept watching her...

As she burned and burned and burned and burned, and screamed and screamed and screamed, and cried, cried, begged for her life...

I watched her.

I was satisfied.

I was satisfied.

I was satisfi-

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

I woke up.

I woke up to an anxiety attack.

"Mum!" I croaked in pain as I tried to let out her name, and scream back for her just as she had screamed at me a few minutes ago.

"You killed her!"

The room was hot and in the heat of my nightmare, I was sweating profusely, beads and beads of sweat dropped down everywhere from my forehead, and down, down, down, to all areas of my body that sweat shouldn't even be.

"You killed her!"

"You crazy, pathetic bitch! You KILLED HER!"

"Mum!" Air couldn't get into my system, it felt like my lungs were constricted, and I got up to kneel on the bed and press my helpless, hopeless hands to my neck, squeezing them hard like I wanted to force out the obstruction from it.

"PATHETIC, PATHETIC DABELUCHI!"

"CRAZY, PATHETIC DABELUCHI! YOU KILLED HER!!"

"MUM!" I found my voice and screamed out with a voice that wasn't even mine, as my entire nervous system was breaking and breaking by the second, my entire body was trembling in fear of what I didn't even know, and I fell back against the bed, shaking with fear and anxiety.

Strong hands grabbed me immediately, holding me in place as I thrashed around, and at the same time, hugging me with an urgency to keep me calm and steady.

"What happened to your Mum?" He said to me, holding me tightly against himself as I convulsed and convulsed.

"Look at you! Always running away from your problems! You brat!"

"LEAVE ME ALONE! I'M NOT A BRAT!" I screamed back at those multiple taunting voices that sneered angrily and spitefully at me.

"Aurora!" He was still holding me, trying his best to calm me down as I exchanged words with someone he couldn't see.

"FOR HOW LONG DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING TO KEEP RUNNING! HOW LONG! HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU BEEN RUNNING!"

"I'M NOT RUNNING FROM ANYTHING! I'M NOT RUNNING!" I screamed back.

"Jesus Christ, Aurora! Are you sleep talking!-"

I muffled everything he was saying, everything he was screaming in all his alarm and concern. I knew someone else had walked into the room, and they sounded like a woman, but whatever the both of them said, I didn't process. However, they held me down, I kept struggling, even though in vain, to jump out of their holds and launch an attack. Meanwhile, I screamed back at them.

"LEAVE ME ALONE! YOU ALL ALWAYS HAVE A WAY OF RUINING THINGS FROM ME! I AM NOT RUNNING AWAY FROM ANYTHING BECAUSE I DID NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING!-"

There were new voices now, calming understanding voices that assured me that I was right. That I did nothing. That I did nothing. That I did nothing wrong.

"It's okay, Aurora,"

"It's okay, Dabeluchi, baby,"

"You did, nothing. We understand,"

"Aurora, just stay calm and go back to Bed, we believe you. We know you did nothing, okay?"

"Yes, darling. You did nothing, so just go back to bed, okay? We love you,"

And I fell asleep to those new voices.

They kept going on and on, and I was able to fall asleep eventually.

And all the way, I felt the same strong hands, holding onto me, and letting me sleep on him, on his body, as he whispered words of assurance and sweet nothings onto me, things that were an instant lullaby to me.

I fell back into sleep.

And this time, when I woke up, I couldn't remember a thing.

I knew I was afraid, but I couldn't remember why I was so filled with panic an hour ago.

I completely forgot where I was.

And how I got here.

It was the moment I realized that I was alone, that I was slapped with the brutal reality.

I want to believe that it was Marcus that was holding me and taming me back to sleep, but he wasn't with me anymore.

A flash memory of my nightmare flashed through me, shook me once more and I was so confused and unable to tell if the part where he had walked in here to help me back to sleep was also part of the dream, or reality... I was so confused.

Quickly, it all came back to me.

Why I was here. How I was here. Everything. It all came back to me, and in an instant, thinking about my Mum and how her well-being must have been like at the moment scared me.

It was morning. The sun was still setting, and I wasn't even sure if she was alive or not at this time. I was scared and curious, thinking what on Earth would have happened at home by this exact time. How my Dad would have reacted to the incident with Delilah. Knowing him, he would be livid, he would probably want to burn the house upside down. And just how much of a scene had the entire thing caused by now? How many people knew about this? What if we were trending already all over the news and I was hiding here in the Acha's residence? What if the Internet was booming with news by now? What exactly was happening right now? What was going on, while I hid in here? What? What? What?

And where was Marcus Acha? Why wasn't he here? He slept over on the floor with me last night. Right there on the floor. But as I looked to the floor, nothing was there, not his duvets and blankets nor himself. At that point, I started getting scared, and I questioned my sanity.

Everything that happened last night happened right?

I stood up from the bed immediately to rush out of this lonely room, but the moment I stood up and felt a painful contraction in my lower abdomen, and a whoosh feeling of liquid literally draining out of me, and wetting my panties.

I froze. My heart skipped ten thousand beats as I realized what the hell just happened.

What the hell was happening.

"No." I shook my head, horrified, sat back down on the bed abruptly, panic-stricken. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

It couldn't be. No, it couldn't be. Not now! Not now! Not HERE!

Realizing I should be doing anything, but sitting back down on the bed in this situation, I sprung up to my feet, and my head, in reflex, whipped quickly towards the bed, and my eyes widened in horror on seeing it.

Blood.

Blood.

Blood.

"How can I start my period right now!?" I screamed in frustration, nearly ripping out my hair of.

The first thing I did in reflex was to rush in and deal with the flow, using a tissue. Something I knew was unhealthy, but what on earth was I to do first hand?! I didn't even know which was worse; The fact that I had to start my period here, or the fact that I had stained the bed the way I did. The bed was so stained!

I felt more and more contractions as my frustration heightened and it seemed as though my intestines were in a battle, twisting and churning against each other in fury, and in that state of pain that I knew was just the damn beginning of it, I had an instant instinct to check something else.

I flashed towards the mirror by the right of the room and turned back to get a good view of my back side, and my eyes widened in more terror as I got a view of my back that was well stained as well.....

This is Marcus's hoodie.

I stained Marcus's Hoodie.

I felt faint.

Literally, I literally felt faint. I wasn't sure of it was my situation or my condition, but I started feeling dizzy, and considering the kind of pain that started to build up within me, I wished I was numb as well. Gathering up every atom of strength left in me, I walked, although slow, steady, and pathetically, out of the room to get help.

Probably from Marcus's Mum.

The house was quiet and all I could hear were voices, quiet voices seemingly in a conversation -coming from a distance downstairs that I supposed was the Living room. And me, having being new to this place and unsure of which corridor led there, I just followed the voices and hoped and prayed that I wouldn't get lost in this massive mansion.

Bare feet, I stopped on the cold, tarred grounds, and hoped I wouldn't drip, as I carefully took steps that would not only make sure to not trigger more cramps, but also, not trigger flow. And flow co-operated, but damn it, each step I took, it felt like I was applying pressure onto a strong weight attached to some strings in my lower abdomen that dragged down heavily, with each step.

It was horrifyingly painful.

And this was just the beginning.

I stopped walking when I got close to the end of the stair way and that was when I started decoding the words of the new voices I was hearing in the living room.

"And, baby, you know we have to find out what the problem is with her, eventually. We have to find out why she ran away from Home, so we can think of better ways to help her-"

I took another painful, suicidal step down the next step, and waited for the strength to take the next one to come.

"I know that, but Mum, I don't want to force her into anything she's not comfortable with, I know she'll speak up eventually-"

"And I understand that, but she is living under your father's roof without permission, and you know how much your Dad hates that. And baby, you know that is even a big crime. And so as much as you are trying to be understanding, she also has to understand that this is huge and she needs to give us enough information to help her-"

I dropped my feet onto the next step and rested again, leaned on the protection railing for support and stayed there.

"And also, about Sean, are his parents even aware of what those boys in your School are planning to do to him? You know death threats shouldn't be taken lightly-"

I willed myself to take another step.

"His parents are separated, and all, so I don't know, it is not easy to reach them. I feel his Mum would be a better person to handle the case since she's a Lawyer, but she is so unreachable. She's not even in Nigeria at the moment, Sean said she flew back to the Netherlands this morning, and her return in still uncertain... And besides that, telling the School wouldn't even help matters, because even if they expel Kaniru, Sean wouldn't be in any less danger. And of course, you know the Police wouldn't do much to help too, Mum-"

"I know that, especially when you don't even know who is working for who in the background.."

What on earth were they talking about?

I took the second to last step and opened my mouth to call out to them, but no sound came out in all my struggle and pain.

"Advice Sean to stay at home, baby,"

"I already did; He insisted I tell him why, and when I finally did, he just stayed quiet on the phone for a really long time, and then, abruptly hung up on me minutes after. I can't tell what that means, if he's going to listen to me or not. What I do know is that Sean is an extremely stubborn daredevil-"

I came down with the last step, whimpering slightly in pain, and it was enough noise to get both Marcus and his Mum, halting their conversation.

"Oh," Mama Acha sat up, noticing me first, and raising her brows at me in concern.

I held the protector for support, and tried to stand properly, but all to no avail.

Marcus turned next, immediately, and once his eyes caught mine, I saw his pupils dilate in panic and the guy was literally about to bolt his way to my side if not for his Mum who stopped him immediately.

"Stay back, I'll handle this!" She got up, and made her way quickly towards me, and when Marcus was about to protest, she shut him up with one sentence, "This is women's emergency, stay down, baby."

Marcus seemed to understand, because as Mama Acha rushed over to me, he stayed on the couch, sitting there, not coming towards me, but visibly looking very, very disturbed.

"What pad do you use?" The woman asked me first off, taking my hand and leading me back up the stairs, gently, "Later during the day, I will send Marcus to rush to the pharmacy to get more, okay, honey?"

"Thank you," I smiled at her, took the nylon she gave me, felt it and instantly knew what was inside.

We were now back in the room they had given me.

"Thank you," I said again, I meant it.

It was the way she knew first hand what the problem was, and exactly how to help. I told her all she needed to know, because I knew I needed all the help I could get.

"I stained the bed..." I swallowed, hesitantly, as I told her what she could obviously see.

There was a look of understanding on her face as she waved it all off.

"It's okay," She said to me, "Just clean everything up; It's fine, Dabeluchi. It happens."

"And also," I stopped her as she looked like she was turning back to leave.

"Yeah?" Her eyes glinted with compassion as she turned back, a kind of compassion in her eyes that was similar to that of Marcus', and once again, I was reminded of this woman's unearthly beauty.

"I..." I stuttered, rubbed the back of my neck, "I also.."

Mama Acha only watched me, brown eyes patiently watched mine, waiting to hear what I had to say.

"I also stained Marcus's hoodie," I let it all out, turned around to see it as I had been hiding it from her the entire time.

Mama Acha still stared at me.

And kept staring at me.

And kept staring at me.

Until...

"Wait, what!?" She broke down, laughing her damn ass off.

This woman was laughing.

Mama Acha was seriously laughing at me.

The kind of Laughter that wasn't even ending. She just held onto her ribs and laughed and laughed, and against my will, my lips cracked a little smile as that laughter of hers was trying to contract me like a sickness - it was contagious.

"But, gurl, you're adorable and all, but you know you're handling that mess yourself, abi?" Mama Acha jabbed at me.

I couldn't believe this woman.

But I'll give it to her. This laughter temporarily made me forget that I was in pain.

"But don't worry, Baby doesn't have to know, yeah? But you have to wash everything off this morning, and fast," She said to me.

"I'm aware," I said, a small laugh escaped my lips as I made my way to the bathroom promptly.

"And Dabi, I'll go downstairs, and distract my son, okay? I know he doesn't know what the hell is going on, and he'd want to come up here and check on you," She called behind me.

Not surprised.

I nodded at her in appreciation before softly closing the door shut inside the bathroom.

"Sis, I am telling you," Mama Acha was still vibrantly and actively talking to me from outside, even if I heard her footsteps walking towards where I supposed was the door, "I know he'll want to come in here, even if I try to stop him. That boy is either going to back off from here or get a customized Mama Acha karate chop from me, you know what I'm talking about, right?"

I laughed from the bathroom, and made sure to call out to her hearing, "Yes, ma."

"Ehe nu na!" She was still talking, fired on with my response, "Dabeluchi, I'll have you know; Men in this family and stubbornness are like 5 and 6; They're made for each other. Soul mates, I tell you! And that's why I'm in their lives. It's not only for beauty oo, no other woman can handle the Acha men like Mama Acha!"

I heard the door shut and silence following, indicating she had left the room before I could even urge her on with another 'Yes, Ma!', and I couldn't help, but laugh to myself at this woman's wits and ability to lighten up any situation.

For a moment, she actually made me forget the fact that I was hiding away at her home, without proper explanation, after running from home - Home that was probably on fire right now, if care wasn't taken.

I was scared all over again.

So, so scared.

I really wanted to hear from my Mum, but I was so scared. Thinking about the possibilities of what must have been going on at home scared the daylights out of me. I knew I had to call my mother...

Yet, I didn't.

"Are you all dressed now?" The door creaked open for me to see Mama Acha's brown eyes, looking at me through a small space, and I wondered why she was being so careful when she could just walk into the room.

"I guess so," I answered, "But can I ask you of one more thing?"

Mama Acha seemed to be pondering on something for the briefest of seconds and when she fondled with the door and whispered something to someone else, behind the door, I knew someone was there and I had a feeling  I knew who.

"What's that, sweetheart?" She closed the door behind her gently. Carefully.

"I want to talk to you about something." I whispered to her, careful enough to not have anyone else behind the door hear me.

I honestly wished there was a way I could let Marcus know the details of why I was here, but I wasn't sure what he would think of me if he knew. I knew I had to tell him eventually, but for now....

"Marcus told you I ran away from Home; He's right," I started off by telling his Mum.

She listened so efficiently, so aptly, and the look she gave me made me feel like she would understand... Hopefully.

"Will you tell me why you did that?" She asked softly.

She had a way of really making me feel at ease with opening up to her.

"I did something I shouldn't have done..." I stammered, looked away from her to gather up the courage to say it to her. Say everything to her. She only patiently waited for me.

"I..." I looked back up to her, lips quivering, as I breathed in. Out. In. And out.

Mama Acha was quick to run up to me and hold me in a warm, gentle embrace and everything died down in my throat as I tried to muffle the ugly cry that was building up in me