John laid on his bed with his phone in his hand as he listened to afro-pop music blasting loudly from the speakers of his earphone directly to his eardrum. He used this to pass time as he waited for Joanna, he also used it as a means to keep his mind from overthinking whatever happened at the party. He still couldn't make sense of what he saw. Raymond was dead, Grace was arrested for his murder and it seemed like Joanna and her friends knew more to it than they were letting anyone in on.
As usual, Joanna was going to sneak into his room from his window to prevent his parents from finding out. John had left if slightly open for Joana who got without any difficulty. More than anything, John hoped for some explanation as soon as she came in. He sprang to him immediately he noticed her presence.
"Hey Jo we need to talk--"
Joana jumped on him, taking him by surprise with a deep kiss on the lips which propelled them back to the bed. She moved on to send kisses t
Grace didn't sleep during the night, she couldn't. All she did was reflect on her past decisions. Of all her friends, she was the one who people referred to as the bad egg. Parents in their neighborhood were always making her out as a bad example to their children and anytime she and her friends got in trouble for anything, it was a result of her actions and behavior. But she was okay with it then. She would tell herself it was everyone else's fault. It was everyone else's fault that her parents died. She came to realize that night that she acted as a bad child so people would notice her so that people would give her attention so that she wouldn't feel alone. But she never felt more alone than she felt that night.Morning soon came and Grace started dozing off. With each nod came a silent whisper that jolted her back up.Murderer!It wasn't enough to stop her from snoozing until the noisy sound of Patricia's baton clanging against her cell finally ended her slum
"Margret, what are you doing here?"The three girls jumped to their feet immediately. Margret couldn't answer. What was I doing here? What was she doing here? June was almost eaten up by her fear. She held Joana's hands tightly as they both gazed at Maryam."I-eh." Margret stammered."You told me this morning that you were heading to June's house to meet up with your friends," Maryam said. "Why are you in a police station?"Maryam could tell when Margret's eyes shifted from hers to gaze on something else. She spun around to see Grace and the adults in a heated fuss. Everyone else in the station was watching too from a distance."What is going on?" Maryam asked in utter confusion."It's nothing mom.""That doesn't sound like nothing, and you lied to me so you could come here... Something is going on and if you don't tell me right now, I'll go find out myself."Maryam's words sent their heart racing fast. Telling her about Raymon
"Gentlemen please, let's be civilized here. This is not a market place." Inspector Jerome said with an effort to control the uproar between Efe and the Onwukas."Mr man you better sit back and do your job." Mr. Onwuka snapped back at Inspector Jerome. "This girl must not leave here today, she must rot in jail.""I'm sorry but that won't be happening." Veronica chimed in, announcing her presence. Grace's eyes widened in disbelief as soon as she heard her voice. Seeing Veronica's face overwhelmed her with a sense of uncertainty about what could happen next. Everyone including June and Joana was clueless about what was going on."Who is this?" Jerome asked. "And I thought I told you, girls, to wait over there?""Who I am is not of importance right now," Veronica replied. "What is important right now is that this girl right here is innocent and you are going to receive a call any moment from now telling you why you should release her.""What?" Jerome s
"So can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" Efe queried as he stood in the middle of the living room. June, Grace, and Joana took their sitting positions on the only sofa in the room while Veronica sat on a wooden chair close to them."Guys, I think we have to tell him," Grace said as she looked at her friends. They didn't like the idea."Are you sure?" June asked."There's no point in keeping it from him now," Grace replied, glancing over to Veronica for support.Veronica shrugged."Well..." Efe said with gesturing with his hands to indicate his impatience.Grace sighed.
"We're leaving tonight."Grace sprang up to her feet"What? No! To where?""To my place at Ikeja," Efe answered. "My roommate has been out of town for like a week now but that's not an issue, I'll just call and let him know you would be staying with us.""No!" Grace objected. " I don't want to leave. Why are we leaving?""Are you too blind to see all that is going on?" Efe queried. "Do you still see this as a game after all that has happened? You must be delusional and I'll be damned if I let you get killed or go to prison."Grace turned to her friends for support they all kept quiet. It wasn't their place to say anything. Grace had to speak up for herself."But what about school?""Aren't you done with your WAEC exams already? You girls just go there to play.""But graduation is coming up very soon.""And so what? Are you willing to risk your life for just one day? Come on Grace, be sensible!""B-but
Grace said goodbyes to her friends on the agreement that she would investigate Veronica and comeback immediately she is done before getting on the road with Efe. Life in the city was a bit different from town to Grace in terms of how lively everywhere was even late in the night, unlike her town where everyone would have closed their doors shut at 10 pm.They got to Efe's place at Ikeja at exactly 11 pm. The first thing Grace did was to evaluate the place. It was a single room flat, one that Efe had to settle for before because Grace didn't want to leave Ketu but had to get a roommate when he realized his salary couldn't keep up with his expenses too well. The living room had a small flat-screen TV, a music player, and a set of speakers. The furniture all around looked decent too. The only problem Grace had was that the place was a bit tinier than usual."This place looks nice, you would know that bachelor lives here at first sight," Grace said with a smile.
After Grace took a shower, she put on a pair of blue jean trousers and a yellow top before coming out to see Efe and Rose laughing as they cross-checked notes together."Great, you're out," Efe said raising his head as soon as she stepped into the living room. "Hey, that's mine!" He barked pointing at the shirt."Well I like it and I wore it so now it's mine." Grace retorted.Rose couldn't help herself but laugh at the victimized expression Efe wore on his face."What are we eating this morning?" Grace asked."What is in the kitchen?""Noodles?" Grace exclaimed. "What is wrong with you people, isn't there something decent to eat around here?""We don't buy foodstuffs to keep for later because of work." Efe said to appeal to Rose and Grace's disappointed faces. It didn't help change anything."Come on, " He said to Rose "you should be on my side here, we both work in the same place.""That's not an excuse for eating
Vaillant Estate is one of the few places in Lagos meant for the rich to reside away from the rest of the middle and lower classes. It is filled with luxurious and beautiful houses, yet at the same time looked so quiet and desolate to Grace. She could bet none of the neighbors there knew each other closely asides from their names and titles. Efe had warned her before he left in the morning that she had zero chance of getting into the estate but it wasn't enough to discourage her from going.Grace realized why he said so as soon as she saw the security in front of the estate. They weren't armed to the teeth but judging by their attire, she regarded them as the real deal. At that point, she decided to play it cool and try her luck."Good afternoon sir," She said to the man in front. "Can you please let me in?""Who are you looking for?" The man queried with a straight face. Grace thought he looked like he had been wearing that expression all his life."And w