Adja

Ayo Train

It will be weird to eat a pantie, much less an old lady's.

Cutting it up, the man thrushes the pieces and resumes his meal. Forty minutes later, he's having a shower, washing off her blood with her lavender-scented soap. The old lady is quite affluent, so the man doesn't mind spending a night in her abode. He enjoys all there is to enjoy, sleeps like a king, and runs off the next day with her most-priced belongings.

*

"They said someone else was eaten yesterday."

"Who?"

"Some old hag."

"Sheesh. What's become of this world?" Farley lights a cigar. His informant of a lousy friend snatches the lighter and twirls it. "All I know is that if I get eaten like that. That motherfucker is gonna get an awful stomach ache."

"Ya, cuz you'd taste like shit."

"Excuse me?" The friend feigns offence. Farley smirks, causing him to roll his eyes. "YOU ARE ANNOYING, FARLEY! WHY ARE WE FRIENDS AGAIN?!"

"Cuz you can't do without moi."

"Fuck off." His friend checks his watch. "Anyway, gotta go for lectures. See ya."

"See me in your dreams."

"Again. Fuck off." His friend leaves. Farley turns in the opposite direction, walking home, wondering if it's his client that ate the old lady.

*

Meanwhile, Rain is in his room, cuddled up with Kiko. He holds her as close as possible, causing the bright girl to laugh.

"You are really needy today, huh?"

"Mm."

Kiko looks up at him. He grins. She doesn't. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just schoolwork."

"Ah. Good thing the holidays are coming." She tips her head back. Nodding, Rain unlaces his sneakers, before briskly entering the washroom.

A break sounds nice to Rain, but he isn't particularly fond of Christmas. Where would he go anyway? Not home. Home is horrid. Stinks of poverty. Outing is a huge no; he can't fathom being in a crowd, outside his comfort zone. Teetering at the edge of the water closet, he tabs some out a condom and then grimaces at his callouses.

"Rain?" Kiko's voice can be heard from a mile away. What's a loud, fun girl? Exactly what he needs, he thinks. He rushes back and beams as if everything in the world is alright. That night, they have a well dragged-on intercourse with breaks too short to enable Kiko to read her notifications.

On another part of campus, Adja's sister frowns at the lack of a response from her sister's roommate. For Adja, she can expect the studious girl to be in a library with her phone on ' do not disturb', so Kiko was her first bet.

Losing her grasp on the phone, she shivers and tucks it in her jeans, wondering where she can sleep now. Or maybe she should just head to their room in case they are just asleep.

*

Hearing her sister at the door is a great relief. Adja quickly barges out to hug her, before rebuking, "Why are you so cold? Why have you been outside so long? Why didn't you call me?"

"I thought you were in a library."

"Well, I don't learn there that much now that -" Adja pauses, gulping. Her sister's gaze doesn't leave hers.

"Now that?"

"Someone died. A student. And then yesterday, an old lady. All eaten apparently."

"Huh?" Her sister can't help but say. It sounds ridiculous. What Adja is saying is like... "So, what, there are cannibals in the school?"

"There's even a lecturer being suspected -"

"Wait, wait, hold on." Her sister struts in to collapse on the bed. Then, dramatically, Ayo takes a seat, straddling it from the back, clearing her throat, and blurting, "Ok, now, explain everything to me!"

So Adja does, to the best of her knowledge, after which she puffs to her bed. "Ayo, this is bad."

"How so?"

Adja sits up. "What do you mean by 'How so?' People are dying."

"And you are just gonna hide in fear?" Ayo snickered, "This is a perfect time to use your talent to help yourself and others. That unease, that emotion you feel, write it down."

The advice catches Adja off guard. She ponders it for a second and then chuckles, "Ok, I'm not like traumatised or something."

"No need to be defensive. It's just a thought."

"Psychic Ayo, I'm not being defensive." Adja squeezes her pillow, oozing sarcasm.

Ayo sighs. Maybe 'defensive' is not a good way to put it. All bad situations must have a silver lining in Ayo's view though, so there has to be something... Inspiration... Inspiration to write... How is Adja not seeing this?

*

No one knows the story. Ayo tries to see the light in it, but there's too little information.

Taken back to her school days, when she had a true crime podcast, Ayo knew everything. She even caught deviants from other universities, though never for a crime as grave as murder.

The last case in Ayo's time, had to do with 'sex-for-grades', and it earned her podcast about a whopping four hundred thousand new viewers.

It rose Ayo to the pedestal of journalism before she even considered it an option. Her career path is settled now, and she knows Adja is undecided on what to do with her life, despite her gifted writing.

In the morning, Ayo heads to a salon gets her edges laid and returns with a dozen newspapers. A confused Adja just shakes her head.

"What is this?"

"I'm going to find him."

"Huh?" Adja sits up.

Her sister smirks at her. "I am going to find this 'cannibal' guy. Well, not literally. But I don't like seeing you so scared, so I'm going to start something... Something to ward him off."

"Ayo, don't go crazy -"

"Relax," she assures Adja. "It's nothing crazy. But I'll need your help."

Adja face-palms. Of course, Ayo will strategies to get her back to writing.
"You have no idea what you wanna do but you need my help? How - how, where will you start -"

"Just look up all the cases, find their similarities, trends, what type of psycho this is."

Adja stands to this. "The cops already suspect my lecturer. I told you this."

"Then we will look into him," Ayo says liberally. The sisters have a lengthy stare-down before Adja realises there's no stopping the Ayo train.

"Fine."

*