BOOK TWO
IN SHADOWS
_Second book in the P.I.E.C.E.S series_
Everyone knew. They didn't say it but it was heard. In whispers and prolonged stares. On the way, her footsteps brought stillness to a lively room. Everyone knew Andrew Adigwe had been in a coma for a year. And they knew who put him there.
"I'm a monster. It's simple. Every time I get close to people, someone always gets hurt."~ Tokunbo
"I'm finally at peace. I'm doing what I love! Why can't they be happy for me?"~ Elizabeth
"Is it wrong that I thrive on the attention? I know he doesn't love me, but I don't want to believe it."~ Elijah
"I'm losing it slowly. I can feel it. I'm going to end up just like her and everyone will forget I existed. Even you."~ Enoch
"Finding her will always be my number one goal. Not even you guys can change that."~Vicky

"Secrets destroy, but we can't help but keep them".
For a year the crew struggled to reach a semblance of normalcy. But in shadows, the past watches, waiting for the right time to jump out. Will Tokunbo, Betty, Vicky, Eli and Enoch ever be whole again?
"Secrets destroy, but we can't help but keep them"
***
Monday, January 2019
 
                       Tokunbo Oladayo sniffed as her hands felt the bedside table for her glasses. The hairs on her arms stood erect with goosebumps and a sneeze bubbled in her throat. Having a cold was bad enough. Having one on the first day of resumption was even worse. Gloom and silence hung in the air, so thick she felt she could grab it with her fingers. The bedside drawer was the same; brown and woody. Her reading table still rested in a corner and her bed beside a sealed window. There was no electric power so she was stuck with a rechargeable lamp whose bright white light hurt her eyes.
                       She shoved the glasses roughly on her face and made sure to avoid glancing at the cracked mirror on the wall, beside her reading table. The lines across the glass surface held memories. Memories that sat on her neck and made it hard to breathe. The sudden realization that she would be going back to the hell hole called school washed over her causing her to sit upright suddenly, her copper brown almond eyes shifted fearfully behind the huge round glasses.
                        "I can't believe the December break has ended." She groaned and flopped like a deflated balloon back on her bed. Her skinny limbs splayed around in an unattractive manner.
                       The break had lasted only two weeks, but it had been complete utmost bliss. She had spent the whole of it cooped up in her room and occasionally playing Scrabble with her dad - much to her mother's disappointment.  It had felt good. Good to be safe and away from watchful eyes. From whisperings and sly glances, they cast her way.
                        For one year, they drove her crazy. For one year they watched. They studied and wondered and waited. Waited for her to cross the line. For her to give them something else to whisper about and snicker among themselves.
                        The sneeze launched out of her nose and her scalp tingled. She sat up, her elbow to her nose, so she wouldn't wheeze and go through the pain that usually happened when one sneezed while lying down. Her eyes searched the room looking for a way to block the cold out. Her window wasn't even open. It hadn't been opened for seven months. Her father had nailed it shut, permanently at her behest.
                        Memories loomed vividly in her head. She refused to give in to the urge to close her eyes. If she did, the memories would come to life and she certainly wasn't up for a round of self-loathing that morning. Having a nightmare was enough.
                  Her alarm clock let out its irritating but welcomed sound. She would pick listening to the horrid sound over battling with herself any day. She allowed it to ring; the neon green display of 5:00 held her attention; for a while before slamming the button down with a thump.
                     One...Two...Three...
                     "Tokunbo! Timilehin! It's time for morning prayers. Get down here and do not wake the baby!"
                      And the day begins.
______________________________
                    Enoch Fayose resisted the urge to groan at his persistent, nosy and very annoying butler. He gripped his pillow harder and covered his ears.
                   "Go away, Albert!"
                 "You must get up." The old man insisted on standing a few meters away from the bed. "It is the first day of the second term of your school."
                      "Oh really? It is? Golly gosh I hadn't realized." Enoch sneered and rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to school today." 
                      "Your sarcasm is unappreciated. And you must go. Your father is arriving this month. I do not want to bear sad news." Albert stated bitterly and Enoch almost laughed in scorn. Almost.
                       "You mean the same way you told my dad I drove the car."
                       "And took his gun. Such outrageous actions! If the police hadn't pardoned you and given you community service instead, you would be in a serious mess. Right in the middle of it!"
                      "Gah! Will you please just leave?"
                     "I will of course. Perhaps your father is right after all." And with those words hanging heavy in the air, the butler retreated. Enoch knew without looking, that the arrogant man had a smug smile on his face.
                     "Stupid man." He hissed as he stood up from the bed stiffly. "My father is wrong. He's always wrong."
                     He ignored the niggling thought that countered his words and stepped into his bathroom.
                  "I am not that boy anymore." He whispered as he undressed and stared at the mirror. Hooded black eyes stared back at him, hooked nose and full lips, the colour of his brown skin with a tinge of pink on the lower one. His short black hair had grown into a full buzz cut. He couldn't recall the last time he had trimmed it. His fingers clutched a handful full and he groaned.
                    "Thank God it's my last year. Six months and I don't have to do this anymore."  He snatched a toothbrush from the rack, stared up at the mirror and froze.
                      She smiled through the glassy surface. He blinked and shook his head, but she was still there. His hands gripped the brush tighter and sweat broke out on his forehead as he willed himself to look back.
                     "You're not real." He whispered to the reflection. 
                         Her lips pulled into a wide smile. They didn't move. But he could hear her. Just like he had for the past three months.
                        "You're so not that boy anymore. I should know." She purred in his head.
                       "Go... Go away. You're not real." He stuttered taking a step back.
                     "Careful... You might bump into me."
                      Enoch swallowed hard, his chest heaved with each shaky breath. He closed his eyes tight and shook his head.
                       "Not really. Not real." He chanted. "Not really. She's not here. She's not behind me."
                        A ping from the bedroom opened his eyes and he bolted out of the washroom like it was on fire.
                      "Albert!" He boomed as he grabbed his phone and opened the message. It was from Eli.
                       'You going? My parents say I have to go. '    
    
                      "You called for me?" The butler asked dryly as he stood at the entrance.
                        "I want the mirror in my bathroom removed before I come back. I'm using the guest rooms." He ordered and grabbed a towel from a cloth rack.  Albert sighed and shook his head earning a glare from the seventeen-year-old.
                      ' My butler says I have to.'
Enoch typed back, deleted it and tossed the phone on the bed. He stared at his bathroom door warily and ran out of the room.
______________________________
                 
                     "That's how they waddle about like Popeye." 
                     Elijah Adebayo guffawed at his father's words and the two males opened their mouths wide in mockery. They sat at the dining table; The older man at the head of the table and his son at his right hand. The clock on the wall facing Eli read 7:38. He glanced at Betty and his mother who; according to his father's words; waddled towards them with two lunchboxes and a tray of food. Spaghetti stared back at him deliciously and he found himself nodding appreciatively.
                     "Do fast jor. My son must not be late for school!" His father yelled at the two females and winked at him with his monolid eyes. Eyes that he and Betty had inherited.
                     If Eli had known that all he needed to do to gain his father's approval was join a gang, become a fugitive for weeks and almost die in a shootout, he would've packed his bags and run for the hills.  But all that had happened. And in the past year, his father had made him feel needed. Like a man.
                    His mother dropped his plate in front of him with a loud plop, a sour look on her round face. He thought she looked like an angry AGB alum but would not say it. He would never. He swallowed and averted his eyes to Betty.
                     She sat opposite him with a measly amount of food on her plate. Her face schooled into a blank expression he had come to hate.
                    "It's good you're eating that small thing." Segun Adebayo barked, his eyes filled with mirth at his daughter. "You would have grown as big as your mother if not. I wonder how I am supposed to find a suitable husband for you."
                      A snort escaped Eli before he could stop it. The sour look on his mother's face morphed into fury and she stomped away from the living room. Betty however didn't look phased. She lifted her fork to her thin lips placidly and Eli pressed him down in discomfort.
                    Betty had changed.  Her hair was trimmed into a version of Anita Baker's style and she had lost a quarter of her original weight. But those weren't the changes that made him uncomfortable. It was the silence. The detachment. She was barely around. And when she was, her face was placid. Blank. And it irritated him so much.
                    Because you feel guilty.
                    He stood up abruptly glaring at her. A rush of satisfaction moved through him when she looked up with surprise on her face. But it only lasted a few seconds. Those black eyes turned blank and his anger burned.
                       How dare her? 
                      How could she make him feel guilty? Like he had committed the greatest sin humanity had ever known. Her placid stares and serene looks made his stomach churn badly. And he hated it. He marched to his room ignoring the questioning look on his father's face.
                       His room had never looked better, curtsey of his father. His bed was bigger and had the sweetest dark blue sheets ever. His PS console lay beside it invitingly. The walls were painted dark blue and had space-themed wallpapers. The only odd thing was a  stuffed pink unicorn with its horn sniped off. It sat on his shelf looking useless.  He had gotten it for Betty a few months ago and she had sniped off its horn and thrown it at his face. He hissed and walked to his opened window to close it.
                       His eyes fell on the window of the flat opposite. A window he had repeatedly jumped in and out of was now barred and closed off to him.
                  ....  " You shouldn't be here... Go away!"
                    "Skinny..."
                    "Papa! Papa!" ....
                       He closed his eyes and fell onto the bed trying to swallow down the guilt. His phone gave a notification sound. Enoch's name flashed across the screen.
                    Yes, I'm going. I don't have a choice.
                      A small smile sat on his face, he grabbed his bag and dashed for the door. Guilty feelings be damned.
                 Fool, he typed, I sent that text like years ago.