THE MANIAC SON OF A MAFIA.

"Dad, come on. I ain't like that. Why are you being so adamant? I have always been an obedient child."

Ashley went ahead to convince her father. She adjusted her hair which was packed into a ponytail as she blinked her eyes cutely at her father.

"Go and meet your mother." Her father, Brown, said as he drank his cup of coffee for the morning. One could see the great resemblance between the two of them - the father & daughter pair were of the same height, they had the same eye color and she even took after her father's hair color. They were indeed splitting images of each other. If Ashley had been a guy then things would have been more interesting than it was.

"But she was the one who told me to come and meet you. Why are you two driving me crazy? Can you not at least choose an option for your daughter?"

Ashley had been invited to the school's party that night. The truth was that she had never attended any before but because she would be done with high school soon, she didn't want to miss a single fun and educative mingling with others anymore but her parents were being so strict and stubborn to convince.

"And the option that we have chosen for you is that you should stay at home, relax and have some family time with us this evening. You can watch one of our shows." Ariana, her mother replied cheekily. Ashley was a bit annoyed and mimicked her mother right inside her head because saying that would be bad. She was taught how to respect her elders no matter the situation and she was not going to lose that respect at this point when she needs their permission.

The father and daughter came to the dining table for breakfast.

"Jennie! Come downstairs for breakfast. We are waiting for you." Ariana called on her first daughter while the others were already salivating at the meal.

"I am almost down, please. Just a minute." Jennie shouted pleadingly. Within a few minutes, she was down as exactly as she said. A young beautiful lady in her late twenties appeared wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and a pencil skirt. Her heels were clicking against the tiled floor with pride as her doctor's coat was hung across her left arm while her right hand was holding her Gucci bag.

Her black hair was braided to the side and she looked extremely beautiful to look at.

"Hi, everyone. Good morning." She smiled, her dimples showing while doing so. She kissed everyone's cheeks and settled down to eat.

"Wow, sister. You are looking so glamorous. I tap from your sexiness and beauty." Ashley praised her.

Jennie rolled her eyes as she picked up her cutlery, "What do you want, Ashley?"

"Now that you have asked, Sis, can you please convince Mum and Dad to allow me to go out to the party? It's a school party and by nine pm the party will come to an end. I won't be the only one going anyway. Josh and Sammie will be there. Moreover, Sammie's elder brother promised to come and pick us up so even if I don't come home, I can stay over at Sammie's. Don't you think that it's high time I started going out?" She gave a long explanation.

"That should be when you are eighteen," Brown answered and put his fork into his mouth. He chewed his meal carefully while staring at his daughter. Ashley frowned and angrily began to pierce her fried eggs violently. Seeing how stubborn she was, Brown gave in.

"Fine, you are allowed to go."

"Really?" Ashley's eyes popped up excitedly as she looked at her father.

"Yes but only with a condition."

"Which is?"

" You should call me at every interval, do you understand?"

"Yes, Dad. Thank you very much, Detective Brown." She saluted him and everyone at the table laughed at her cheekiness. Jennie finished eating and waved goodbye to her family before heading to her car. She was late for work already but she needed not to miss family time such as breakfast.

Ashley jumped up to her room to give her friend a call regarding the good news.

★★★★★

Around 7 in the evening, inside Angelou High School, crowds filled the area partying under the shiny lights both outside and inside the school building with security officers watching them carefully.

Each girl was holding onto a guy who was either her friend [ AKA bestie] or her date or her real boyfriend. They considered it such a wonderful time to spend together. There was a dress code as students were instructed to dress beautifully, handsomely, modestly, and decently and the students rocked out their respective dresses.

"I will pick you guys up by 8:50 pm, is that okay with you?" Sammie's brother yelled as he parked the car beside the school's gate.

"You don't need to yell that much. We are right beside you." Sammie yelled back at her brother before bouncing out of the car.

"Thank you for the ride, Willy."

"You are welcome, Ashley. See you by 8:50. Have a nice time and don't drink alcohol, remember your promises."

"Byeeeeee." His sister yelled and rushed ahead to stop Williams from talking further. They all walked in after showing their students' ID cards.

"Wow, this place is beautiful," Josh said as he struck his palms in amazement. He looked pleased and his eyes were dancing up and down the venue

"I bet it is. Let us have fun, y'all. Don't let us divert from each other because we need to stay close, okay?" Ashley advised them.

"Yes, ma'am. We won't. But I think you will be the one to change that rule because your crush is standing right in front of you." Sammie whistled before pulling Josh along with her.

Ashley's heart raced faster after she heard that and she turned to confirm if that was true. Indeed, Daniel, the school's most famous basketball player was standing right in front of her with a smile on his face. They were both in the same class and were just as brilliant as she was. She always had this secret crush on him but tried to hide it because she wasn't sure if Daniel would be interested in a girl just like her.

"Hi, Daniel." She waved at him. Her cheeks turned pink as she avoided eye contact with him.

"Hi. It's such a wonderful thing to see you here. You rarely attend events such as this." Daniel mentioned.

"Uhm...yeah, my family finally let me out of the cage. I was permitted to come here." She answered and chuckled to cover her embarrassment after blurting that out.

"I..."

"Hey, Daniel. What are you doing over there? Come here." His friend called him.

"I am sorry but I have to excuse myself. Thank you for the little conversation." He smiled at her and walked away. Ashley felt like fainting. He smiled at her...his smiles were warm and she was beginning to fall deep or that was what she thought. She chuckled and immediately walked to mix with the rest of the party members.

~~~~~~~~~

"Heyyyyyy."

"That's wrong. I didn't say that."

"Oh yes, you did. It's a truth or dare, babe. So, you should just follow the rules."

The fun had been going on for the past one hour with the students either enjoying or rejecting the ordeal. Even though Ashley made sure not to step in, she enjoyed the horror and amusement on their faces. This was also because Daniel was sitting there with his friends. She suddenly felt the need to go to the toilet and immediately excused herself.

As soon as she got to the ladies' toilet, she could hear moans coming from inside the place, and that made her stop. She blinked her eyes and looked around the bright yet silent hall. What were they doing and why were the moans so deep? How could students be portraying such an indisciplined behavior in public? Didn't they care about their future and reputation?

Just staying around the area wanted to make a puke so she decided to leave but then her phone rang out loudly and her heart dropped literally. The next thing was that the door was swung open and two guys came out of the toilet. They were displeased when they saw her and her face turned sour too.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" They asked her. Ashley tried to calm her racing heart. She was totally alone at this point so it would not be nice of her to be dumb.

She cleared her throat, "I wanted to use the toilet but after I came here, I saw that the place was being used earlier by the two of you..." She stopped talking when a tiny head sneaked out of the toilet. That caught her attention. The person came out in full and took to her feet after that.

"I mean three of you...I don't know and I am sorry for disrupting your moments. Please go ahead." She turned around.

"How do you expect us to continue the moment when the lamb is gone? You have to make yourself sacrificial after all." One of the boys answered and quickly got a hold of her before she could escape.

She started screaming as high as she could maybe someone would be able to help her but to her disappointment, no one came.

She used all her strength to fight against them but it was futile. Just when she thought all hope was lost, someone barged into the toilet dressed in all black with his hands inside his pockets. His hoodie was covering half of his face, making it hard for people to be able to get a glimpse of what he looked like.

"Hey, who are you? What are you doing here?" This happened to be the last question that the boys asked before things got out of control.