MUNA

PART 25 : PRECIPICE

After a traumatic experience, the human system of self-preservation seems to go into permanent alert, as if the danger might return at any moment.

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"My goodness! Miss, does that have a name?" Audrina asked Folake, who was cleaning the lime-stained surface where she'd just made a drink for another customer while Audrina was drinking hers.

"It's called Dark and Stormy... just like you," she said to Audrina and gave her a wink, swiping a small piece of paper into Audrina's hand that rested on the counter.

"Hmmm I like it." Audrina said, still trying to differentiate the different things she was tasting.

"What did you say your name was again?" Folake asked her with a smile.

"I never said." 

She shook her head and pointed at the paper under Audrina's palm.

Audrina just smiled and watched her as she walked away after collecting the three-thousand-naira Audrina left her. She looked at the paper and saw a phone number, then she shook her head.

She passed the paper to the guy beside her, who had been staring at her the whole time and he told her 'thank you' about eight times.

Just then, the music abruptly stopped and Audrina heard a loud bang, which made her squint her eyes and cover her ears as she made rapid glances around her.

Nobody seemed to be reacting to the sound like she did, so she assumed it was a normal thing or probably it was time for something.

She immediately put down her hands and folded her arms. Trying to look composed as opposed to how scared she felt on the inside. But the exterior must not reveal the pains of the interior, as she'd read somewhere or probably something Sylvester Stallone had stated in one movie.

"Time for our surprise performer for tonight!" A male voice at the front of the bar shouted into a microphone. The lights in the entire building began to dance and change colors and Audrina felt dizzy for a bit.

She finished her Dark and Stormy, dropped the glass on a table within her reach and stood up on her bar stool to get a good view of the main stage.

Many others were standing on their seats too, so nobody cared.

"I present to you, Muna the Diva!"

As he made the announcement, a drum-roll followed for a minute or two, then he walked backstage, and the curtain behind him—which Audrina hadn't noticed existed before—began rolling upwards.

Audrina couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the person who stood behind the curtain.

It was not the splendor of what occurred next that confused her mind and brought home to her the full meaning of fear. It was the brilliance of it.

Her jaws dropped and her eyes widened.

The lady in a see-through red gown was wearing a dazzling silver heel, which had some straps wrapping up to her calf.

Her hair was a braid but set in a magnificent bun, perfectly in place, with silver pins poking from the bun.

Then her bust was glorious. Audrina knew that bust all too well. 

The men in the room were clamoring and banging their cups, mugs all-together. The clanking sound was painfully irritating to Audrina's ears.

She got down from the bar-stool she stood on and forced her way through the crowd, as she headed upstairs. She needed to be sure.