PAST

It was an early cloudy Saturday morning with sweet chills everywhere. I, Lily Barth had just said the usual Morning Prayer and was now gulping down sachet water while I gazed into my to-do-list pasted on the wall beside my mirror –it was a to-do-list for the Saturday. I had to take down the last few gulps in a rush like a stream of consciousness had just hit me and dashed towards the bathroom.

Seconds into the dash, I heard a soft knock on my door, “that must be Bee” I thought to myself. I suddenly recovered from the overwhelming rumbling and heat I had just experienced a while ago in my stomach. “Who please?” I asked as I reached for the door handle to my room. A sweet croaky feminine voice responded “it’s me”, “most definitely”, I said to myself. “Bee?” I called out as I opened the door.

“Yeah… good morning…” We exchanged pleasantries as she came in. “you just woke up?”

“Yes”

“Sleepy head, I’ve been to the gym and back and you’re still struggling with sleep”.

“As you can see, I’m awake”, I said yawning.

…

I and Bee had decided to prepare for an afternoon stroll (Bee has been a true friend and course mate).

I had just returned from the market where I went to get some groceries. The atmosphere was quite chilly due to the storm experienced the previous day. We stayed close to each other in the same lodge, we were supposed to be roommates but I refused, owning to the fact that I loved staying on my own most of the time, people often called me a loner due to that fact.

I went to Bee's room and knocked on the door and got no response that was when I decided to touch the door knob and then I noticed it was locked I didn’t think much of it, I went back to my room, picked up my cell phone, dialed her number thrice and got no response, It was unlike her, because she knew we were supposed to stroll as we usually did, and we never skipped. I didn’t want to dwell on the issue much even though I was worried sick about the whole matter.

Evening came by and I got a knock on my door, I stood up to know who it was and found out it was Bee sitting on the floor, I was angry and relieved at the same time and tried to question her on why she left the house, without me even noticing that she was breathing heavily with her dirty and sweaty look. On noticing it, I quickly helped her up and took her inside where she freshened up.

“Bee”, I managed to say

“Hmmm”? She answered.

I really don’t understand what is happening with you these days, you are hardly at your place, you no longer have time for the evening stroll, and it’s not fair, what is wrong?

Bee didn’t talk, she didn’t even look at my face, she was focused on the food she was eating. I decided not to bug her with any more questions.

...

An hour later when I was watching a new movie I downloaded, She tapped me and said “Lily, I am not a bad person, please never change your perception about me. I was confused so I sat up in an attempt to hear her very well

“I don’t understand”, I said

“A taste of violence is all it takes to unleash your inner demons”, she said.

“Bee, you are beginning to scare me. Say something understandable”, I said and laughed nervously.

I was already beginning to sweat even with the fan blowing in its highest voltage.

“I feel like I am scaring you, she laughed, Sorry about that, I’d head to my room now, and with that she left, she left me looking confused and thinking of what just happened, I couldn’t even join the pieces of her puzzle together.

I stood up, eager to know what the problem was and the meaning of what she had just said, I went to her room, IT WAS LOCKED!

I tried her number, IT WAS SWITCHED OFF!

What was going on? I decided to go downstairs to know if I’d meet her anywhere, I strolled down the end of the street and saw shadows, shadows of unrecognizable persons, I tried to turn back but my feet wouldn’t move, Wait!, my feet did move but it only moved forward, towards the shadows and not backwards away from the shadows. So I decided to take a bold move towards the shadows, as I got closer, I heard voices, one voice was recognizable, I kept moving closer to know if I would pick out the voice properly, it was Bee!

Happy and all, I rushed in, “Bee! I have been looking for y…”

Bee turned to look at me and the face I saw was cold, it had no emotions or expressions.