𝔼𝕂𝕀𝕃𝔸

32

Ignoring her splitting headache, she tried to force herself back on her feet. Hands shut out from all sides, restricting her movement.

She took away her gaze from Mmachi for a moment, staring at the people holding her with wrinkles lining her forehead. She pushed off their hands and forced herself up.

Another wave of pain hit her the moment she stood, the feeling of lightheadedness returning. She held onto her head for a moment, trying hard to fight off the pain.

Unable to do so, she fell back on the couch, her vision blurring. Through her blurry vision, she could make out Mmachi walking towards her.

Mmachi came to a halt when she arrived to where Chidiogo was seated, her eyes moving between Amelia and the people there before finally landing on Chidiogo. A frown graced her face, her brows knitting.

"What happened to her?" Mmachi asked no one in particular.

Amelia attempted to speak but Chidiogo's words stole away hers.

"Don't! Don't pretend like you don't know what happened!"

With the way Chidiogo gritted her teeth, it came as a surprise that her words even made it out.

Mmachi's face remained neutral, the corner of her brows lifting in such a slight motion, it was almost hard to catch onto.

"What are you talking about?"

A crease dented Mmachi's forehead as she stared at Chidiogo, waiting for a reply.

"This is sickening, I swear and I won't even start this with you right now. I have no strength to play pretend. You can pretend that you didn't attack me in the garden with God knows what that thing you used to hit me was but-"

A surge of brain shattering pain hit Chidiogo, cutting off the rest of her words. She let out a yelp which caused those surrounding her to begin worrying again.

Hands reached out to comfort her but when she saw Mmachi stepping towards her, she held out her hand to stop her.

"Don't pretend like you care now," Chidiogo said, trying to hold back the tears threatening to slide down her face.

"I'm not pretending!"

The tic in Mmachi's jaw was noticeable as she stabbed Chidiogo with a glare. She let out a sigh after a while, relaxing her jaw.

"Besides, I have no idea what you're talking about. I just came in and-"

"I find that hard to believe," Chidiogo said, interrupting Mmachi, "To think you were just trying to kill me in the garden a minute ago and now you're faking concern."

Her voice was detached, her eyes refusing to meet Mmachi's. Mmachi shook her head, releasing a deep sigh.

"You know what I find hard to believe?" she asked all of a sudden. Chidiogo still refused to meet her gaze but she continued, "I find it hard to believe that you were 'attacked', 'brutally battered', bruised even and somehow you're still alive."

Chidiogo finally looked up to meet Mmachi's burning gaze.

"You finally admitted it. You wanted me dead."

Mmachi let out a loud groan, running her hands through her hair and messing it even more. "For fuck's sake Diogo, I didn't do anything!"

Chidiogo rolled her eyes, ignoring the extra effort it took to do so and trying not to make her discomfort evident by wincing.

"So you're trying to tell me you didn't do anything? You weren't in the garden? You didn't try to kill me? Can you explain why your shoes are muddy?"

Mmachi's eyes moved down to her shoes on hearing Chidiogo's words. She scrunched her face, as if just noticing the brown colour marring the sole of her Nike converse which had once been white.

"Speechless?"

Her eyes moved away from her shoes to meet Chidiogo's piercing stare.

"Oh my God. Is this what this is about? Yes, I was in the garden but I didn't even see you there. I was only there because I was helping Kaima!"

"Oh please, spare me the trash. You don't even like Kaima. Why exactly would you want to help her!?"

Chidiogo's screaming made her head throb and she kept quiet for a moment, placing her head on her palm.

"She's telling the truth."

Chikaima's voice came out of nowhere, drawing all eyes in the room to her. Her shirt which had been white was now a dirty shade of brown, her black jeggings also covered in mud.

Part of her face and hands were covered in the same substance and for a moment, Chidiogo wondered what had happened to her. She spoke up at that moment, answering Chidiogo's unasked question.

"I was heading towards the fountain side but I hadn't gotten close. I was still around the side where construction was going on. I don't know, it felt more like someone had pushed me because it just didn't make sense how I ended up in the ditch."

Chikaima played with the hem of her shirt before she continued speaking. "I was there for a few minutes before Mmachi showed up. She helped me and it took quite a while for her to get me out. It shouldn't have been less than thirty minutes.

"It's not possible that she could have been helping me and been attacking you at the same time. Maybe you were mistaken?"

Chikaima's voice was calm and for a moment, Chidiogo was almost convinced that she had gotten her thoughts wrong. Almost.

"Did you hear that?" Mmachi asked Chidiogo, a maniacal smile on her face. "You refused to see Dr. Kumar, you have this silly idea that someone wants to kill you. You've even conjured up glowing blue eyes that follow you around. Darling, you need help."

Mmachi spun around to face Chikaima when she was done speaking. "Let's get you cleaned up."

Her tone didn't leave any room for bargaining. Chikaima glanced between her and Chidiogo before giving a small nod.

"What happened to your hand?" Voile asked all of a sudden, stealing the show.

Her question was directed at Sky and Chidiogo followed her gaze to see a patch of red on Sky's hand, like the one which had been there before.

She was a bit surprised to see Sky. She didn't even know she had been present. Sky glanced at her hand as if just realizing something was there.

"Oh! It's still the allergy."

Her accent laced her words, making it a bit hard to make out what she said. The occasional ache in Chidiogo's head returned once more, distracting her from what was going on.

Voile just nodded, pressing her lips together.

"I thought you said it disappears quickly?" Amelia asked out of the blue, peering at Sky.

Her question made Chidiogo look at the mark again. It was bright red, almost as if it had worsened over time.

"Yeah, it does. I don't understand why it's still here. I guess the allergy must have been stronger than I thought."

Sky shrugged before Chidiogo looked away. Her vision worsened by the second and it was a miracle that she still managed to keep her eyes open.

"I think we need to take her to the hospital."

Chidiogo couldn't make out who's voice it was at first until a blurry image of Amelia staring at her clouded her senses. Slowly, her lids became heavier.

She made out a baritone voice. Then next thing, a brown skinned boy blocked her vision. She could only make out a name that started with a 'P' before she blacked out.

A/N: MY PHONE IS NINE PERCENT AWAY FROM DYING SO I'LL KEEP THIS SHORT.

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