Zaphrina straightened on her seat, tried as much as possible to not erupt her discomfort before him. So far, the night had rolled bump-free. But, Zaphrina knew too well that, just like the pros, the cons existed too. She had foreseen, thought, acquired, rehearsed yet, she felt as blank as a sheet of paper. As scared as a man in a lion's den and perplexed as a History student in further maths lectures. Truth is like a wound, it hurts but cures. Little Thomas Greene's words reflected before her, just like her image would do before a mirror. "I put them on, yes, strictly on special occasions," She didn't lie, so she thought. She returned to the glass of water she had almost choked on earlier, taking huge, throat breaking gulps this time, praying for it to choke her to the point of hospitalization, for she knew, she was drastically going to fall off cloud nine if the conversation wasn't diverted as soon as possible. Yes, cloud nine; She felt something special with Marley interiorly

"Babe, we need to talk. Like right now," the lady, whose arms were crossed above her chest ordered. Zaphrina's gaze twitched to her minted green ones. The girl in person looked quite familiar to her. Yes, she could remember her, like it was just yesterday. Her ponytail glossy auburn barnet freely cascaded down her mid-back. The lass was dressed in a simple, fitting brown lacy dress above a pair of shiny black pumps. She was no doubt the lady who got lipstick and foundation smudges all over Marley's shirt that one and faithful day. Zaphrina's stare fluctuated from hers to Marley's who was already looking at her with a chain of justifications reflecting back at her. She gently shook her head in dismay as her weight vacated the bed. "Zaphrina, I want you to-" he began, rising from the bed too. "I'll be in my work unit, young master," She bowed. "I'll leave you two right away. Now, if you would excuse me."  She rushed to the door, whe

Mason. Mason! Mason? Did that name have to jingle the 'Mason' bell she knew of? No. It couldn't be. There were many other Masons out there--dark skinned Masons to be specific. "God!" Zaphrina whispered in mental exhaustion.  Louisa had left a couple of minutes ago in such a rush, if not, she would've done it. She would've gone ahead to question her about the origin of the Mason she was talking about. "Gracious Lord!" again, she whispered. Seems all her mouth could do was exclaim what her mind processed.  "...be there in a bit," Marley's voice jiggled her back to reality like Christmas bells. "...sure," At the sight of her he smiled and stretched out his arm until he reached her and engulfed her waist.  "...tell him I said not to do anything stupid when he sees her," his hairy hand began parading up her tummy but she was fast enough to ease off of him pretending to wipe off a stain on the counter. "See you

His expression turned flaccid at her question, a little like the way she had felt when he indirectly admitted he had overheard her conversation with Mira. Honestly, she had never known her talent until she was questioned. Hand tremor. How did she even get to know about the medical term? For one thing she knew was, she was neither family or friend related to a physician. Newspapers, TV or any form of information derived commodity were no doubt not her piece of cake so how did... 'It's nothing serious,' the doctor had said to them. 'The hand tremor is as a result of alcohol escape, with time it'll get better. Your dad is ok baby girl.' He reassured Zaphrina's seven-years-old sobbing frame most especially. There. That was its origin.  Some parts of her past just wouldn't die down. They kept popping up at odd times-though not all-reminding her of their existence, of their imprints carved somewhere deep within the abyss of her heart and mind.

His eyes flicked to his mum who had just walked in, satisfaction gracing her facial features, leaving Marley to hope and re-hope she hadn't done or said something stupid to Zaphrina. They were all in the massive sitting room where his dad sat, brooding over Louisa's disappearance with Lauren and himself waiting for an explanation and planning a way forward.  Lauren looked beaten up which left him with guesses of his job crawling his neck.  They both exchanged glances as their mum stood in the middle of the triad, arms folded in apprehension, scrutinizing each and every one of them. Frederick, whose gaze hadn't drifted from emptiness finally said,  "I told her the truth," his expression still void of sentiments. Unlike Marley and Lauren, bewilderment slinked through Anthonia. As if expecting a piece of mind-blowing vital information, Anthonia ambled to the nearest seat which would support her already feeble knees from the