CWRC Anthology

GRACE

©2024 Idowu Kehinde

_*Reader's advisory*_
...

"Hello? A-Are you still there?"
Grace held the phone with trembling hands as she tried to negotiate with her younger brother's kidnapper.

The hooded man at the other end of the receiver smirked. "Oh, Grace," he whispered as he stared almost lovingly at the sickle in his hand.

"How much do you want? Just name your price!"
His smirked was replaced with a crooked grin.

"You know that's not what I want."
Grace swallowed, her hand was already getting clammy from all the sweat that was beginning to gather in her palm.

"What do you want?"
There was a pause before an exhale.

"Remember when we used to go to that wretched place together when we were kids? You would hold my hand so tight as we walked towards that altar filled with sickening incense and gaze up to that statue of the man on the wooden cross."

"Even at that age you showered a myth with such devotion and affection."

Grace let out a shaky sigh as the voice at the other end became more sinister.
"Cai—"
She attempted to call his name but he cut her off.

"It irked me to no end. I thought it was dumb that you prayed to a statue. I went along with it because I wanted to be with you."
Grace swallowed.

"I wanted you to shower me with that kind of adoration," his voice had quieted.
"Grace."
Hearing him say her name sent shivers all over her body. She couldn't comprehend or understand how he turned out this way.

"C-Cain, you're unwell, y-you need help. Josh has nothing to do with this!"
"Let him go!"
Cain chuckled despite himself. "You haven't changed one bit. You're not listening. I'm going to kill your brother and everyone you've ever loved till you have no one else to love you."

"Till I'm the only one who loves you," he whispered.
"C-Cain wait, tell me what it is you want."

"You know what I want, Grace. All I'd ever wanted was you but people always got in the way."
"They told me I couldn't have you; the voices in my head, they told me you could never love me."
"It's not true, right?"

Grace placed a trembling hand over her mouth.
"Right, Grace?"
Tears fell down her cheeks as she tried
"Alright, Cain, I'll give you what you want, just let my little brother go."

Cain swallowed at the other end. "Really?"
Grace bit her lip so much it drew blood. How could she ever negotiate with a psychopath?
"Yeah."

"He won't get hurt as long as you don't try anything funny. Meet me at the abandoned chapel we used to go to as kids in two days, I'll let your brother go."

"O-Okay."

The line went dead and Grace leaned against her bedroom door and slid down. She raised her knees to her chin and wrapped her feeble hands around them.

She had no relative, no parents, no one to turn to. Her younger brother was all she had.

"Cain," she whispered.

The tears began to flow like an unrestrained tap.
It was her fault he turned like that, she knew. He'd been just like her, orphaned but he had been alone since he was a baby. He'd been found in front of an abandoned school and rumours had it that he'd been there for days before anyone found him.

He didn't have any kin or relation. An old woman who had no children had picked him up to take care of him. She and Cain had played in the same neighborhood and he'd quickly grown attached .