"Stay poised, smile, and joke your way through a sensitive question, your head should be straight and your shoulders poised at all times. Looking away is a sign of weakness avoid it." Laura quickly mumbled as the tech guy announced that the interview was about to commence in five minutes. "Lastly, don't ever be silent, being quiet is an admission of its own. Avoid it."    Maya smiled at her even though she felt like screaming and asking her to stop making her even more nervous.    Xavier had refused to come to the studio saying that he can't watch insensitive questions being jabbed at her and not be tempted to hit the annoying popular news anchor of everything celebrity, Mr. Sampson on his mouth.    The bigger the party, the merrier and that was why they had decided to go on National TV rather than the local reporters who wanted an interview.    Consequently, that decision also came with the infamous anchor know

"So what next?" Maya asked Mrs. Laura.   It has been two weeks since the interview and there has been no sign of her blackmailer, taking the bait.   The interview was meant on publicizing where she stayed which was in turn supposed to make her vulnerable to their attacks but so far nothing has happened even the threat mails have abruptly stopped coming.   "It is obviously not working," Xavier snapped, "Can't believe you have to go through all that trouble for nothing at all, even worst I can't believe you talked me into agreeing to such ploy."   She rolled her eyes, "Don't you think you are crying More than the bereaved. I was the one interviewed, the one who has a serial killer on her tail and probably with any slight mistake the one who might end up ___"   He slapped his hand firmly over her mouth and then with a warning glare he shook his head, "You should never talk about that ever. You won

Maya waited impatiently, even as she heard the doorknob turn, to resist the urge to take a little peek of where they went she placed her palm over her face.   She understood that he didn't want her to know where his treasure laid so she didn't go there all the time hence the blindfold but damn, the wait was Killing.   The smell of paint hit her nose even before he lightly shoved her and then removed the blindfold from her eyes.   In split seconds her eyes was adjusting to the light in the room. Pale grey walls, windows that showed off the city but she could tell the pedestrians didn't have the same luxury.   Her eyes then landed on the paintings hung on the wall. Her legs made their way to them before she could stop herself, her fingers tracing one of the pictures of a boy writhing in his bed, underneath it lay hands clawing on his neck more like a Dropbox exposing his horrifying dreams.   Maya

Xavier: A Paradox "You know mum wanted to be a ballet dancer before she met him." Melissa stopped her story halfway, the smile on her face as she held onto Xavier's hand deciding to be a storyteller to reduce the anxiety just waiting and silence could bring.   They all knew that the "he" was the reason why they were all huddled in a hospital's reception room while holding each other's gaze and hands. He who shouldn't be mentioned.   "She'll tell me about how she had thought of being a part of a musical or something more Frenchly." She paused, her lips tilting into a smirk even as Maya laughed.   "She really didn't know what she meant by Frenchly but all she had thought was pirouettes and ballet shoes well until she had met him." She shrugged her lips set in a tight line.   "You know no matter how many times she told us the story as a bedtime fable while tucking us to bed, never ever using herself bu

His car was not in the lobby when she got out.   She swore underneath her breath, rubbing both her arms simultaneously because of the chilly weather outside and how underclothed she looked in her pale pink nightwear.   Still standing in the hospital's driveway, she ordered an Uber.   She almost was about shedding tears when the Uber driver finally arrived. She entered the taxi and with her head down tried calling Xavier as she headed to the mansion.   She had felt alarmed in her heart before it had happened right in front of her. Two masked men waited in ambush for them in a factory bus.  All she could hear was cussing and for sight, her driver fidgeted.   The passenger seat was opened and before she could even have the opportunity to scream, a hard hand was over her mouth and she felt the sting of a needle.   She fell limp on the kidnapper's body and with her in