VILE

Chapter 45: The Present

Tomike knocked on the door frantically. Annalise opened after a while. She was suprised to see who it was.

"Tomika! What's up? Are you alright?"

"No. No I'm not fine Annalise. I can't find Dayo. I don't know what to do" Tomike was at the brink of tears.

"Okay, okay calm down Tomi" Annalise seemed to be hiding something in her apartment as she left no space between herself and the door.

"When last did you see Dayo?" Annalise ignored the noise that came out of her apartment.

"Is there someone in your apartment? Is it Dayo?"

"No! God no! I have company" she replied with a shy smile on her face.

Tomike felt embarrassed. "I'm so sorry Annalise. I should leave, besides it's really late"

"No don't. You never come to me for anything, I can't possibly turn you down now that you need help. Give me a minute to get out of these" she looked down at her almost transparent linen robe.

"Alright, I'll just wait at my place. Apologies to the Mr"

"He'll be fine, I'll be right up"

Tomike took an elevator back to her apartment, and a few moments later Annalise was at her door.

"Thank you for coming. And sorry again for my intrusion"

"Tomika! It's fine. I'm actually a bit glad you called me. Asides work, you seem to forget I exist"

"I'm sorry about that. You want some coffee?"

"No thanks, I'm fine. So about Dayo, when last did you see him?"

"When I came back from work. That was around eight. He was gone a few minutes later. Truth is we kinda had a fight"

Annalise had a knowing look on her face. "Oh I see. He's been gone about three hours, it's getting really late. What about that friend of yours, I can't remember his name"

"You mean Todd?"

"Yeah"

"He's out of town, that's why I'm so worried"

"And that's why you came to me. I get it now. So what do you want to do?"

"Look for him. I just don't want to go out at this time alone"

"Alright then, let's go. I'll drive, you seem way too tense to do that. I don't want to die before we find Dayo" They both chuckled.

"Thank you some much Annalise"

"It's all good. I can only hope you'll repay the favour some day" she smiled.

**********

"You said he was on his bicycle?"

"Yeah. I thought he was just going to ride around and come back home but... "

"It's alright, we'll find him. Are you sure you've called all his friends?"

"Yes. None of them have heard from him. I really have a bad feeling Annalise, it's a really bad feeling"

"Relax okay, relax" Annalise drove slowly and kept her eyes on the road, watching closely everything that moved. "Is that him?" She asked Tomike at the sight of a man riding a bike.

"No. He wore a t-shirt, a brown t-shirt and a black coat. That guy is in a grey coat"

"Alright"

"Wait, there's someone I haven't called" Tomike picked up her phone and desperately went through it.

"Who is that?"

"This girl in Dayo's class. I can't remember her name, Jenna or was it Jane? I think she's Dayo's little girlfriend or something. I should have her number somewhere here"

"You don't know if your son has a girlfriend?"

"Well Annalise Dayo never tells me anything. Found it!" She immediately dialled the number.

"Hello dear, this is Dayo's mom, I mean Caleb's mom. Sorry for calling this late but I... Oh, Oh is that so. Alright, that's fine. Around what time did this happen? Twenty minutes ago, okay. Thank you so much Jane... Oh sorry Jenna. Thank you"

"What did she say?"

"Dayo came by her house, but it made her parents a bit uneasy so they sent him home. She said he looked really upset and tired. This was twenty minutes ago. She lives in..." Tomike's phone started ringing.

"Hello. Yes this is she. Oh no! Oh my God. Not my Dayo please"

"Tomika! What's wrong? What happened?"

"It's Dayo, he was in an accident. A car hit him while he was riding his bicycle" Tomike was sobbing and trembling uncontrollably.

"Oh my God!"

"We've got to get to the general hospital right now!"

"Yes, yes, yes" Annalise immediately stepped on the gas and zoomed off.