Ini

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕱𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓

A loud car's honk snapped Inioluwa out of her train of thoughts. She shut her eyes for a brief second as she took in a deep breath, before opening her eyes. She rubbed her eyes and looked around, marvelled at how beautiful the evening was with  the light that the moon shone. She yawned as the bus drove into its bus stop. She stared out the window, as Araba village was now a taxi or a motorcycle ride away.

The bus came to a halt beside another bus. Passengers became to highlight the bus, as Inioluwa tailed behind some. The boot was opened and Inioluwa quickly took out her luggage. She had remembered some years back when she travelled with her mother and they were too slow to take out their luggage–it ended up being stolen.

She watched as some passengers were welcomed by their family members, and somehow, she wished someone was here to welcome here and take her to Araba village. She looked left and right, as she wondered which way she had to take. It had been ages since she last visited Araba village and getting lost wasn't something she had in mind.

She waited for a few minutes, hoping that a motorcycle rider would pass by, so that he may take her there. She looked down at her watch, and found discomfort at how time flew. It was getting too dark, and every other passenger seemed to be leaving the bus stop. She hated night travel, but it was inevitable as the bus had broken down in the early afternoon and wasn't fixed until three hour later.

Silently praying, she wanted a motorcycle rider to pass by. She couldn't stay here for too long, and she couldn't leave either because she feared she'd get lost and end up being kidnapped. Thirteen minutes later and she knew that she had to get going. She heard an engine rev, and she looked to her left and saw that a bus was about to leave the park.

Maybe she should ask the bus driver, she thought and hurriedly walked towards the bus, waving her hands just in case he wanted to leave and he didn't. She pulled her luggage beside her, as she tried to jog towards the bus.

Holding onto her bag, she had a polite smile as she said, "good evening sir. Do you have…" She trailed off when she realized who she was speaking to. The bus driver was the Woman in white staring at her, her eyes were full blown red as she got up from the driver's seat. Inioluwa slowly walked backwards, trying to keep distance between herself and the woman in white and at the same time, pulling her luggage with her.

"Leave me alone." Inioluwa screamed, as she wanted to sound brave, but the woman in white could sense that she was afraid and that only made her work easier. She got down from the bus, and stopped in her steps as she watched Inioluwa shake. Inioluwa's eyes roamed around the ground, as she checked for any hard materials she could use to smash the woman's skull.

"It's time." The woman in white whispered, and Inioluwa heard it clearly as she watched the woman take in a deep breath. Inioluwa was about to run when the woman lunged at her, and she heard herself scream and cry. She thought she was already dead, until she heard a very familiar voice.

"Ini, are you okay?" She heard, and opened her eyes to see another bus parked a few metres away from her and Ayo standing in front of her. She got up, dusted herself of sand and pulled him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around her, as he let her scent become more familiar with him.

Inioluwa needed this hug so much that she didn't even care to ask how he got here and why. Finally getting herself together, she pulled away and her smile was replaced with a disapproving frown.

"What are you doing here, Ayo?" She asked, her eyebrows creased in confusion, as she noticed that he had his travel backpack on.

"I came here for you." Ayo said, as they began to walk away from the other bus. Inioluwa shook her head as she didn't want him here. She didn't want her family here, let alone Ayo. She had a feeling that he was oblivious to what was going on, because if he did know he wouldn't be here.