THE WITNESS

Chapter 8

Adriana woke up feeling anxious. She had a dream - nightmare - about Ben. She saw him being captured and almost killed. It was a bad dream. A person like her that her dreams come true, she was really scared. She was restless throughout that morning. She knew that until she saw or heard from Ben, she would have no peace.

After doing all her necessary chores and taking her bath, she tried calling Ben's number. There was no response. She tried it for the second time. There was still no response. She tried his number for the third; fourth time, still the same. No response. She became very scared. She felt something was really wrong because Ben never did that; not answering his phone.
"it is possible he is not with his phone", a part of her mind told her,

She wanted to believe that but she couldn't. She decided to check on him later. Just as she was about preparing to head out, her phone rang.
Thinking it was Ben calling back, she rushed to pick the phone almost tripping in the process. To her disappointment, it was Malik calling her phone.
"hello Malik! ",

"hello Adriana ",
"are you sure it's me you meant to call? ",
"what do you mean? Of course you are the one I wanted to call",
Malik noticed that her tone wasn't friendly, so he asked,
"what is the matter? You sound apprehensive"
"It could be nothing but I feel something is wrong with Ben"
"why would you think that? ",
He also felt something wasn't right but said nothing,
"well I have been trying to call him, but there was no answer",

"same here. I can't reach him. It is very unusual ",
"I am thinking of checking him at home",
"where are you now?",
"my house. Why? ",
"let me pick you up then we will go together. I am heading there now? ",
"okay",

***
Back at the ' people's voice ', Bens coworkers hadn't seen him that day and they were starting to worry. He was the kind of person that never missed work. So It was highly - that's the word - unusual that he hadn't shown up. Their boss - Job - was also worried and decided that they should check on him after work.

***
Later that day, Malik had picked up Adriana and they were heading to check on Ben. On the way, Malik was wondering why it was that Adriana wasn't at work, so he decided to ask,
"don't you go to work?",
She looked at him confused,
"why do you ask? ",
He shrugged then said,
"it's just that you were at home at this time of the day",

She eyed him then asked,
"what about you? ",
"well I am a novelist",
"well I am a blogger",
"is that a job?", he asked, bewilderment evident in his voice,
"what do you mean? ",
"I just don't understand that......job. do you get paid or something? How do you earn money? ",

"even if I told you, you wouldn't understand ",
He didn't say anything but shook his head,
It wasn't the time for arguments so he kept quiet the rest of the journey to Ben's house. He wondered what Ben ever saw in her that he was head over heels in love with her back then.
He always felt she was an arrogant woman. He couldn't stand a girl like her not to talk of having her as his wife.

They arrived at Ben's place moments later. Looking at the house, Malik knew his friend wasn't in the house because the windows were closed. He checked the mail box and the mail was still there; another indication that Ben wasn't there. He wondered if his friend ever returned home. He was supposed to meet him the previous night.

He was about telling Adriana that they had to leave when he saw her at the door step just standing. He wondered why so he went to her,
"what is the matter? ", he asked,
She pointed to the door,
"the door is opened",
He looked towards the door and saw it was slightly open.
He gestured to her to get behind him, opened the door and went inside;walking slowly careful not to make noise.

He searched the house. He didn't know what or who he was expecting to find, but he was expecting something. He looked at Adriana and he saw she was frightened; even he was.
Fortunately and unfortunately they didn't find anything; they didn't find anyone. He understood that whoever opened the door was long gone.

He feared something bad had happened to Ben. But he prayed otherwise. They then went outside closing the door behind them. Then they saw a woman walking by. Malik decided to ask her about his friend.
"good day ma",
"good day ",she said back,
"my name is Malik. I was wondering if you knew a certain person that leaves here",he said pointing at the house,

"do you mean Ben? ",
"yes ", he replied
"well I haven't seen him since yesterday ",
"so you mean you haven't seen today? ",
She nodded then looked at Adriana,
Malik noticed this and asked ' what is the problem? ',
"I have seen her before ",she said still looking at her,
Adriana herself hadn't seen the woman from eve,
"where? ",
"I have seen her with Ben",

"oh",
He looked at Adriana and she shrugged,
"well thanks for the help and I am sorry if I've taken part of your time",
"no problem", the woman said and went on her way,
Adriana looked at Malik and saw a smile on his face,
"what?",
"you have something to tell me?",
"nothing",
"okay", he didn't ask anymore, it's okay if she didn't want to tell. There was something more important to deal with,

***
Derrick had done exactly what he was told. He had searched all the places he thought Ben could go. Ben was nowhere to be seen. The only left for him to check was the media house he worked.
He went there praying that he would find Ben. That he wouldn't have to search any other place.
Going there he had to be careful, so he decided to go as a delivery man.

He got a cap and an empty carton and wrapped with carbon paper.
Wearing the cap, he actually looked like a delivery man. He walked to the reception and spoke to the beautiful receptionist.
"good day ",
"good day", she replied,
"I have a package for Mr Benjamin ", he told her,
"you can drop it with me", she said nonchalantly,

"I have to give to him", he looked sternly at her, "I don't want to get in trouble with my boss",
"well let me see if he has checked in today", she told him, one eye looking at him,
He waited as she checked the time attendance for the day. he didn't wait long cause she then looked up and said,
"it seems he hasn't come in today",she said staring at him,

"he isn't in? ",he asked looking disappointed; he was disappointed,
"what do you want to do? ",she asked him,
"I guess I should drop it with you. When he comes you give it to him",he said giving the ' package ' to her.
He was about leaving when she called him back.
"don't I have to sign?", she asked,
He shook his head and said "no".
He then turned and kept on walking hoping that by the time the package is opened, he would be long gone.
From the few minutes he had talked to the receptionist he had come to know that she was curious person. Very curious person. So he was sure she would.

He decided to go to the station after that.