Safe

Ten

"What you're telling me is that you signed your sister up for therapy without informing us?" Kola asked in shock.
"Yes. That's exactly what I'm telling you." Lola affirmed.
"Have you lost your mind?" Josephine screamed at her daughter. "How dare you speak to your father like that!"
"Mum please, we're having a conversation, there's no need to scream."
Josephine gaped at her daughter then her husband and after putting both hands on her head, let out a loud wail.
"Lola, oti ba aye mi je! You have no respect for me anymore!"
"Mummy, she needs help, you can't tell me you don't see that. You weren't going to do anything so I did something."
"Are you accusing us of neglecting your sister?" Kola asked hotly.
Lola shook her head. "No daddy, I would never do that. What I'm saying is Nike needs professional help to overcome the trauma of what happened and you both weren't over it yet. I decided to take it up to lessen the burden for both of you."
"Lola, did you give birth to me? Are you my mother or am I your mother?" Josephine asked vehemently.
"With the way things are right now mum? Do I need to answer that?"
Their father, who was feeling torn between his responsibilities as a father and a husband, drew out a chair and sat next to his wife with a sigh.
"Omolola, I expect you to speak respectfully if you're going to speak at all."
Lola had the good sense to look contrite after that and apologized to her mother.
"Now that we're calm, can we finally acknowledge my presence?" Nike asked from her seat at the other end of the table.
Everyone turned to her as if they'd forgotten that she was there which wasn't really surprising since she'd been quiet the whole time. Lola shook her head and turned to her parents.
"This is what I mean. We're arguing about what we think is best for her and she's in a corner, completely forgotten."
"So you did forget me!" Nike accused but they just carried on like they hadn't heard her. Realizing they weren't going to listen to her, she rolled her eyes and went upstairs leaving them to their conversation.
In her room, she closed the door and picked up the box sitting on her desk. She carried it to her bed and tore through the tape with a hair pin that had been on her bedside table and pulled out the smaller package inside, the one she actually wanted.
It didn't take her long to tear the phone out of it's box and plug it in by her bed. She inserted the Sim card she'd had Lola get for her and turned on the phone.
When her parents had heard she wanted a new phone, they'd told her to get anyone she wanted glad that she was asking for something from them so she'd gotten an iPhone 11 pro max online the same day and had forgotten about the package after it arrived the day before.
She quickly set the phone up and retrieved her contacts from the cloud then pulled up her contacts, hovering over several of them. She'd never really been one to wonder about anything, she'd always just done things but after what had happened and who she'd become, second, guessing everything seemed to be all she knew how to do. She wondered if her friends missed her, if they thought about her at all, if they'd even be happy to hear that she'd survived her ordeal.
Lacking the courage to call any of them, she logged into her Instagram and was pleasantly surprised. She'd expected many DMs from friends and aquaintances, as she did, but hadn't expected so many sincere wishes and prayers mostly from strangers. At the top of the list was the name Hannah, her closest friend of many years. It broke her heart that she didn't have the courage to call her friend and she sniffled as she read the messages. They seemed to have been sent at low moments when Hannah missed her the most and there were memes, videos and lots of crying emojis. It was difficult not to cry after seeing them and Nike just sat in bed and cried wishing that she had the strength to make the call.
A knock sounded then a head came through the crack in the door, Nike turned to see who it was and sighed when she saw Lola.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Nike started to nod then remembered what Dr Obinze had said about all of them being there to help her so she shook her head lightly.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Lola asked, still at the door and sounding too hopeful for Nike's heart to take. She nodded again and Lola slipped into the room and came to sit beside her.
"What's going on?" She asked softly. Nike sighed again and put her head on her sisters shoulder.
"That's a heavy sigh." Lola chuckled.
"I see you set up your phone. I thought I'd do it for you."
"No, it's alright. I already got it done."
"Okay."
Nike raised her head to look at her sister and asked. "Do you think I'm a coward?"
Lola looked surprised by the question and her brows instantly drew together in a frown.
"What? No!"
"Really?" Nike sniffled.
"Of course not! Are you kidding me! With everything that has happened and how you're dealing with it, I don't think you're a coward."
"But I'm hiding from everyone. Isn't that what a coward would do?"
"Not really. I think it's good that you're keeping to yourself for now. When you're ready, you'll know."
"Ready for what though?" She asked in annoyance.
"Ready to be yourself again." Lola answered and took her hand.
"How will I know that I'm ready?" Nike asked, voice heavy with emotion.
"You know, I've always been able to tell your moods by your eyes. You have the brightest eyes I've ever seen. Baby, when your eyes come alive, you'll feel it."
Nike looked at her sister and saw in her eyes a honesty that was familiar, a look she could trust even if she couldn't trust herself so she nodded. Lola squeezed her hands and stood.
"Do whatever you need to, okay."
She waited for her nod then left the room, shutting the door quietly as she did. Nike turned to her phone and with a heavy sigh, picked it up and dialed her friend.
Contrary to Nike's wish, Hannah picked up on the first ring and hearing her voice brought such a strong wave of emotions that Nike couldn't speak at first.
"Hello? Who is this?" Hannah asked in her thin, flute like voice. She sounded distracted as if she was busy with something and probably would have hung up if Nike didn't manage to breathe a soft hello that caught her attention.
"Yes, who's this?" Hannah asked again obviously impatient by then.
Nike, too nervous to speak was surprised when the tone sounded telling her Hannah had hung up. She put the phone down and put her head in her palms wishing she'd had the strength to say something and trying to fight the tears off even if she failed at that too. The soft vibration of the phone on the bed pulled her head up and she panicked when she saw that Hannah was calling back but she knew she had to get over herself and pick up so she gingerly reached for the phone and swiped.
"Nike! Is that you?" Hannah asked quickly as soon as she answered and Nike nodded before remembering her friend couldn't see her.
"Yeah, it's me."
Hannah gasped and there was the sound of something shifting then a door shut and she spoke again.
"Oh God Nike! How are you? I've been so worried. We've all been!"
Nike smiled through her tears and shook her head feeling foolish that she'd been scared to talk to her friend.
"Are you there? Oh God! Nike, are you at home?"
"Um.. yeah."
"Hold on, I'll be there soon!" Then the line went dead leaving Nike to stare at her phone astonished at what had happened. She knew her friend and she knew it would take her no time to get to her house however, she didn't expect it to take only fifteen minutes.
Lola poked her head through the door with a worried expression.
"So your friend Hannah is here, she says you called her. I can ask her to leave if you don't want to see her."
Nike quickly shook her head and rose from her bed.
"No! Its okay. I called her."
"You did?" Lola asked surprised as her sister followed her out of the room. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Hannah let out a squeal and rushed to wrap Nike in a hug, almost sending her off balance.
"I didn't believe it till I got here."
"I'm here!" Nike laughed awkwardly.
Hannah hugged her again and pressed her hand to Nike's cheek.
"Are you okay baby?" She asked.
"Sort of, in a way."
"Oh baby! Will you tell me about it?"
Nike nodded and they went upstairs together not paying much attention to the parents and sister watching them.
"It's great to see you Nike!" Hannah trilled and Nike almost smiled at her voice just realizing how much she'd missed it.
Hannah chose to sit at the edge of her table and beckoned to her.
"Come on and tell me everything. We were all worried for you. Until you parents told us you were okay. Then it was just a different kind of worry."
Her words made Nike feel guilty as she realized she'd been a little selfish by refusing to see her friends. At least, they'd have the knowledge that she was okay to console them. Was she okay though? She thought as she looked at her expectant friend.
"Um.. I don't know how much you were told but I was kidnapped."
Hannah gasped and put a hand over her mouth in empathy.
"Oh baby, I can't imagine what you've been through."
"It's been rough." Nike croaked as her friend hugged her.
"It's alright my love, we don't have to talk about it. I'm just glad you're safe."
      They spent the rest of the day together after Hannah called her employees to make sure the store would be taken care of. Hannah caught her up on the gist in their friend group and of course gossip that she picked up from servicing her very exclusive clientele at her clothes store and beauty parlour.
Like Nike, Hannah was only twenty three years old but had graduated at nineteen from a prestigious private school and had immediately taken advantage of her parents affluence to open a high end fashion boutique. From one store, she'd grown to two other store locations and had in the last year, added a beauty parlour to her chain of businesses.
Nike knew some people resented them for being as privileged as they were but it wasn't something they could help and if anyone had the right to call themselves self made, it would be Hannah. She'd gone from the quiet, shy nineteen year old graduate to a beautiful and confident young woman who ran her businesses with a surety that people twice her age didn't have.
And Nike had an immense respect for her beautiful friend.
"Daddy is throwing a dinner party next month for the family and I'm going nuts planning it for him. You'd think he'd hire a planner for these things." Hannah complained to Nike who was more content with listening than talking.
"And don't let me start with my mother. Those people will be the end of me!"
Nike laughed at her frustration and even harder at the red staining her friends cheeks. Being a mixed race woman, Hannah was much lighter than most people she met. She'd inherited her fair skin and bright, almond shaped eyes from her Moroccan mother. Her hair was long and fell in a puffy black cloud around her shoulders, it often drew attention to her.
In fact, Hannah drew attention everywhere she went not only because she was beautiful but because she was mixed which was something most Nigerians found fascinating. And she took it all with grace, never letting it go to her head.
On Hannah's prompt, they had spicy noodles made by Lola for lunch and Nike didn't have the heart to tell her friend she couldn't keep anything down so she snuck off after lunch to the bathroom where she threw it all up again.
None the wiser, the other two girls talked non-stop in a bid to keep her company which certainly worked because by the time Hannah rose to leave, Nike wanted to cling to her and not let go. Of course she didn't do that but let her friend go with a promise not to tell anyone else she'd seen her.
All in all, it'd been a pleasant day and a little spark of hope blossomed in Nike's heart that better days would come.