Chapter two: A new place, uncovering
“Who the fuck are you! Don’t you dare come close to me!” I thundered, pointing angrily at his face.
“Shhhihhh.. be calm! I’m not going to hurt you.” The man said walking closer to me, as I stood up on my feet I moved closer to the door while he followed me too.
“Don’t you dare open that door!” He yelled at me and I bluntly replied, “I love dares” and slid open the door and took to my heels while he chased me and grabbed me. As he grabbed me, I struggled free from him but felt overpowered by his strength so I lifted my feet and hit his crotch and he groaned.
Immediately, I remembered that I had a hairpin in my head. I slid it out and hit his ass pinning it there and he fell. I took to my heels and ran out of the house, luckily for me, there was no gate to prevent me from escaping, the joy in my heart knew no bounds as soon I got closer to the road.
As I reached the road, a cab drove in my direction and I halted it. “Take me to 5th Smith Avenue. I’ll pay you when I get there,” I pleaded with the driver as soon as I got into the car.
“Better do,” Immediately the car started moving, the man whom I was sold to ran out of the house and I looked back, he had given up already.
In an hour, the man drove into my father’s mansion. As he drove in, my eyes scanned around as it looked like no one had lived there for ages.
“I’ll be right back. Let me go and get some money for you.” I said and ran inside the house. The air stunk with blood and flies flying around while I covered my nose, as I entered a corner, I stepped on a dead body which made me scream.
“You’d have to pay for this Addams!” I cursed under my breath as tears trickled down my eyes. The body that lay there on the floor was my father’s body, and it appeared like he was stabbed.
“What came over Adams and what did my family do to deserve all this!” I cried as I unlocked the drawer where some money was hidden. “Thank goodness!” I picked up the bundle of dollar notes and went to another room to unlock the chest where my father used to place some of his files. I unlocked his chest and took them out.
“Go give the man the cash first.” A voice in my head advised and I ran out, “Take this. Please can you wait a bit for me to change up? I want to go to the airport.” I asked the driver who kept a poker face as I spoke.
“I’ll wait, as long as you don’t take up to an hour,” The man said. With a smile, I nodded and rushed back in, took a quick shower, and changed into one of the dresses that my mom gave to me as a gift on my wedding night.
Quickly, I grabbed a white bedspread, took out some luggage, and picked up my phone which I had stopped using as the one which I used to use was destroyed by Addams in my attempt to escape.
Turning on the phone, luckily for me, it worked but the battery was low. “At least I can manage this until I get a new one,” I muttered under my breath as I dragged the luggage behind me. As I got to where my father’s body lay, I spread the bedspread over my father’s body.
“Rest in peace papa” Those words felt heavy as they escaped from my mouth. My chest burned with anger and remorse, “You’ll have to pay for this Addams! You surely will.”
I dragged my luggage and the driver helped put the luggage into the boot. “Please do you have a power bank?” I asked as I got in.
“No, I don’t.” He mumbled and came into the car, shutting the door behind then he hit the pedal.
As he drove, I tried as hard as I could to hold back the tears that gathered in my eyes. With every blink I took, tears rolled down my eyes. “Why are you crying?” The driver asked me, looking at me from the window.
“No, I’m not. I’m fine. Just drive,” I replied and let out a fake laugh. “I know you are not happy but no matter what is going on, it’s certainly going to be fine,” the driver replied and let out a hum.
“Just drive please!”
I was in no need for pity talks and besides, I hated to be pitied. Within thirty minutes, we arrived at the airport and I paid the driver off. With my black card, I booked a flight to New York.
The one which I paid for was the business class. As I walked onto the plane, my heart started thumping and I felt weak. I was going to be leaving everything that I loved behind as some were already dead.
My children, my late dad who never got a befitting burial, and my mom whom I never heard anything from but I was sure that she was dead too. Left in the world alone, I was now left with one rivalry, Addams and the Williams.
The space where I sat was close to the window. As I looked through the window as the plane started moving, tears rolled down my eyes and I quickly wiped them off to avoid questions from the person who sat next to me.
In an hour, we were already in New York City. I took a deep breath in and looked at the people seated on the other side of the planet, immediately my eyes met with their faces, and I averted it.
“No way they are in this plane with me! This is not possible. I’ll have to let them leave first before I do,” I covered my face and a face cap which I stuck at the top of my purse while packing.
Touchdown New York, I sat down on my seat and waited for Mrs Flaw and Jarvis to come out from the plane.
“What in the world are they doing here?” I thought as they moved out. Taking out my luggage, I slid out a nose mask from one part of my box and I wore it.
As I stepped out of the plane, no one was in the plane again as I was the last person to come out. “Have a nice day,” The flight attendant waved as she spoke.
With no idea of where I was going, I paid for a cab which drove me out of the airport. While in the cab, I told the driver, “You’ll drop me at any hotel or lodge around”
The old man nodded, and said, “Okay but we just passed one behind though.”
“Really can you reverse back please?” I asked, and the driver took me there. When I got there, I paid for a room and moved in quickly. “I’m going to stay here for a while before plotting out strategies to make sure that Addams doesn’t get out of this scot-free,” I said in my head and quickly it rang in my head that I needed to charge this old phone which I stopped using.
As I brought out the phone to charge I discovered that I didn’t carry the charger and that I had to buy one. I dropped the iPhone Xr on the bed and hurriedly rushed out and luckily for me I could see where to buy the cord and charger.
“How much is it?” I asked the seller, “It’s five hundred dollars” The seller replied. “Five hundred dollars?” I rhetorically asked.
“I’ll pay for that!” A voice said to me, and I turned to see who the person was. The face appeared so familiar as I tried to crack my memory to remember. “Excuse me? Don’t bother!” I said to the guy who stood beside me.
“I insist Ava.” At the mention of my name, I asked, “Who are you?”
I wasn’t expecting anyone to know me in this new place. “You don’t remember me? Ava? Okay…I’m Lucas. Lucas Diego,” he said, and immediately everything snapped back into memory.
“Oh…it’s nice to have you here and finally see you, Lucas.” I smiled at him and he spread out his arms and wrapped me in a hug.
“When was the last time we saw each other, I think that was nine years ago. It’s wonderful that you still have that beautiful face of yours intact,” Lucas, while putting his hands in his pocket, brought out his ATM card and handed it over to the cashier.
“Thank you. You know after we lost contact I thought I was never going to see you again,” I replied. “So are you staying here? My place is around. I’d love you to come around even now.” He said and I got the package from the cashier, “Thank you for paying Lucas, gracias.”
Lucas was my childhood friend back when I was still in the boarding house at Luke’s Wake College. Back then at school, we were known as the notorious two friends and we were termed as lovers because of how close we were at school, not until Lucas and his parents moved away to Spain and Lucas never had a chance to say goodbye to me.
“What are you thinking about?” Lucas said, snapping me out of my reverie, and I responded, “No, the memories we had just flashed back. And, I don’t think I can come now, I just moved into that hotel right there and I haven’t taken a nap yet. I am a bit tired”
“Oh.. but that’s not bad. You can just come and stay with me. I live alone actually, and it’ll be fun having you with me. I’ll clear off the bill you paid and ..” Lucas said, but I nodded.
“No..” I declined.
“Yes…I insist Ava,” he took my hands and led me out. Soon we got to his car, “Let me drive you there. You pack your bags and we’ll just be moved to my place” Lucas stubbornly said, he never changed from the way he was.
“Okay… I surrender Lucas. I’ll just stay with you for today,” I replied and we went to pick up my bag. Soon we arrived at his place, “So you said you live in this big house alone?” I asked.
“Yes, I do.” As I got into his house, my phone rang. Looking at the person dialing It read as “Addams!”. My heart skipped and I picked up the phone without saying a word.
“Ava, are you still alive? I’m glad you are.” Addams said and cut the call without waiting for me to say a word. Lucas placed his hands on my shoulder, “You look scared. Is there any problem at all?”
“I’m fine Lucas.” I replied and diverted the question, “So are you still single? You haven’t changed at all too Lucas, did I tell you that?” I asked
Lucas let out a soft laugh and said, “I divorced my ex-wife. Luckily I’m glad I didn’t have any children with her.” His voice seemed heavy with pain.
“I’m sorry dear.” Again my phone rang. This time it was my sister’s number, “Hello Mabel…Jeez, I am so happy that you are alive.” I let out as tears rolled down my eyes.
“Mabel is captive. She is now my wife. Tell her,” I heard Addams say. “I’m sorry Ava. He is now mine and I love him. You don’t know how much I always wanted him to break up with you so badly before the marriage. All the times I used to come visit we had sex so many times and you never knew. The only problem was to get rid of you and Mom and Dad.”
“What? Tell me you are joking. This better be a lie.”
“I’m not lying Ava, remember Mom and Dad cherished you so much while I was the bad sheep. I have no regrets whatsoever.”