Safe

Eight

Two days after Nike came home, Sade walked into her room to check on her and Nike, hearing the door turned to see who it was. Sade stopped short, looked at her then screamed. The noise brought everyone running and talking all at once.
"She looked at me!" Sade cried grabbing Lekan's arm with more excitement than was needed.
Stepping forward to see for himself, Kola bent to her level since she was sitting on the bed and softly said good morning.
Nike turned her head and gave a slow smile.
"I'm sorry I scared you, I didn't know if any of this was real." She said making everyone gasp joyfully and rush into the room.
"Wait! Don't crowd her. Don't you remember the doctors advice?" Their mother called loudly which jolted Lekan who raced from the room saying he had to call the doctor.
"Does this mean you want to talk now?" Their mother asked.
"I guess so." Nike answered.
"Besides, I missed everyone so much."
Everyone found places to sit and got comfortable all looking earnestly at Nike who after the shock she'd been in, had finally woken up and seemed better already.
"Do you want to eat anything? I could make you breakfast." Josephine offered and Nike shook her head saying she wasn't hungry.
Lekan came back from calling the doctor and announced that the doctor would come to see her the next day then sat next to her on the bed and smiled. Content to be with her family, she just laid her head on her brother's shoulder while they talked.
Of course it was very raw that she'd been missing for such a long time, almost twelve weeks, and it was obvious, because everything that had happened revolved around her disappearance and she didn't exactly have fun stories to tell but they all tried to ignore the elephant in the room and just acted normal.
They moved downstairs to the kitchen when the parents left to see the police and together they made more pancakes than they had any business making and ate it all between four of them.
It was nice to cook together then sit drinking cold Milo but it was hard to ignore the obvious.
"You can ask about it, you know." Nike said finally when she'd gotten tired of acting 'normal'.
"Are you sure? The doctor said it wasn't advisable." Lola said.
"I think talking about it would be better than sitting here pretending we all don't want to. Right?"
Sade nodded reluctantly, looking at Lola and Lekan for approval as she did.
"Daddy said they arrested three guys on the scene?" Lekan tried.
Nike nodded and told them about the men and how many of them had come and gone. She realized she didn't have an exact number which could have helped in the investigation and wished she didn't have to say anything about Tj. She hoped he hadn't been arrested and that they wouldn't catch him at all. After all, he'd been nice to her.
"They didn't... You know..." Lola trailed touching her hand very lightly. She looked up at her and gave a very sad smile.
"No, they didn't. They were too busy beating me to think about that."
Nobody knew what to say to that so they pretended she hadn't said anything and agreed to watch a movie together. They brought down blankets from their rooms, turned the air conditioner down and huddled together on the couch to watch Aladdin which Lekan would normally have complained about, but didn't for obvious reasons.
After that they watched another cartoon and Nike dozed off while they watched because she was still really tired from everything that had happened.
Not wanting to disturb her, her siblings finished the movie and moved on to other things quietly.
Nike slept fitfully and was uncomfortable though she didn't wake up. She shivered sometimes and Sade, who saw her, thought it was the AC and turned it off but it wasn't about the AC and a little while later, she woke up feeling miserable and damp from sleeping under a heavy blanket.
She had lunch with everyone else then went back to bed where she just sat and thought about nothing in particular. It was weird that she kept thinking about her things left behind at the house in the forest. Her phone and her sister's sandals. They were replaceable she knew but it still bothered her for some reason and she wondered if they'd told anyone she was home yet. It didn't seem like it because she'd only been home for two days of which she'd barely spoken to anyone and if word had gotten around, there'd definitely be more phone calls and guests than were necessary.
         That night the family had dinner together and while the children knew that their parents had gone to see the police, none of them wanted to ask the obvious question so they ate quietly, ignoring the obvious tension at the table.
Falling asleep was easy for Nike, everything except feeling alive had been easy lately. She took a shower, changed into her favourite nightshirt and burrowed under the blanket while blasting the air conditioner, she was out like a candle in a gale.
Staying asleep however was another business entirely. She tossed in her sleep, her head filled with memories of running and stumbling in the dark. The terror was fresh in her mind and her legs worked in tandem with her memories, thrashing around in the bed. Terrified of what lay behind her eyelids, she tried to open them, to wake up, only she couldn't and she found herself struggling, caged in her own head.
Nike came awake with barely any air in her lungs, terrified and lost. For a minute she thought she was still in the forest and she tumbled out of bed reaching for the lamp next to her bed. Light flooded the room and she sat on the floor panting as she tried to remove her legs from her tangled sheets. Of course no one had heard her struggle and as she fought the sheets, the terror of the nightmare fresh in her mind, she burst into tears. They flowed freely down her cheeks as she scrambled away from the bed and into the corner leaning her head against the cool wall and hugging her knees to her chest. Her slender frame shook and she struggled to get her breathing in control. All she could hear was the sound of feet slapping the earth and the terror she'd felt being caught in a circle of her abductors.
It had felt so real, like she was back on that dirt road, running for her life then being beaten within an inch of it. It took forever for her breaths to deepen and even out and she slunk to the ground lay on her side and stared at her bed wishing she didn't have to sleep in it.
In the aftermath, she realized how silly it was to be so frightened of something that was over. She wasn't in the forest anymore, she was safe at home with her family and it was ridiculous that she was having nightmares about it. Of course that was what she tried to tell herself. Deep down, she knew she'd never be the same again.