𝔼𝕂𝕀𝕃𝔸

27

"Who wants to play cards?" Amelia asked, walking into the living room with a pack of cards.

Chikaima, Kamsi and Paschal all looked up at her from where they were seated, cross-legged, on the floor. They exchanged glances before shrugging.

Amelia squealed, doing a little dance before she joined them on the floor. She brought the cards out of the pack and began to shuffle them before she paused and looked around.

"Where's Mmachi?" she asked no one in particular.

They all shrugged while Chidiogo just remained watching them all from the corner where she stood.

"Chidiogo?" Amelia called, snapping her attention to her.

"Do you have any idea where Mmachi could be?"

Chidiogo shook her head. She'd been wondering too about Mmachi's sudden disappearance. After she'd welcomed her friends, she suddenly went missing.

Surprising enough, Justin was also nowhere to be found. But Chidiogo was almost certain she'd seen him arrive with the others.

"Let me go find her," Chidiogo said, turning to leave.

"No, don't worry. Why don't you just join us and play one round before you go?" Amelia asked, her words a bit too rushed.

Chidiogo glanced between the pack of cards and Amelia.

"I'll pass," she said, walking out of the place.

She was vaguely aware of Amelia's voice coming after her but she ignored it as she made her way up the stairs. When she was almost on the top floor, she started picking up strange sounds.

The sounds came from Mmachi's room and she decided to check it out. She took slow steps as she approached the room while the sounds increased in magnitude.

Once in front of the door, she placed her hand on the door knob but couldn't get herself to open it. After about a minute, she finally gathered the courage to twist the knob. She cringed at the sound of the door creaking open.

The door cracked open a bit before stilling. She didn't bother pushing the door any further but peered through the little opening the door had left.

She could still hear the sounds but for some reason she couldn't understand what was going on until she caught sight of Mmachi and Justin half dressed.

Her heart dropped at the sight and she didn't bother to know what was going on before turning around and dashing towards the stairs. She made a right turn when she got to the bottom of the stairs and blindly headed towards the other side of the house.

Her eyes were clouded with tears by the time she pushed open the screen door leading outside. She ignored the chills which ran up her feet the moment they met with the granite floor outside and the blast of wind which tousled her braids as she walked further away from the main building.

She stopped in front of the swimming pool and stared at it for a few minutes. Of course she had been stupid enough to not put two and two together the moment she realized that both Justin and Mmachi were missing.

At least the thought of the both of them being together would have been less painful than having to see it herself. Amelia had probably realized what they were up to which was why she tried to stop her from going but she just didn't listen.

As daft as she could be, she should have at least understood what was going on when she started picking up the sounds from the stairs. But her brain just chose to lag at that particular moment.

She closed her eyes, suddenly overcome by the urge to scream. It felt like someone had stabbed her in the chest and the knife only sunk deeper by the second.