Deadly as trust

Thirty-three: Miriam

About a month ago...

I looked at Jamilah as she removed her shower cap and exposed her long jet-black hair. I'm sure she had relaxed it. It looked so healthy and beautiful. If I had hair like that I was sure I wouldn't hide it, not even under a hijab.

She looked at me and smiled. She must've noticed the look on my face had been less serious.

"So impressed with my hair again that you don't hold anything anymore against Jide?"

I hissed and folded my arms. She had reminded me of why I was angry in the first place.

"He's annoying, two-faced and arrogant.", I sputtered out, earning laughter from her.

"Really? What did he do this time?"

"He just randomly told me to go back to this room after we sat together in the sitting room. You'd have seen him take me here if you weren't having your bath."

She folded her arms this time and looked sternly at me before releasing a sigh.

"And you don't know what happened?"

I shook my head, no.

She turned her face and muttered something before looking back at me with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Nevermind that.", she moved to her bed and sat down.

"Tell me something, Miriam. What's the relationship between you and my cousin?"

I wanted to say that he was someone I couldn't stand sometimes, someone that just kept me in the dark even with things that concerned me but then, I couldn't say anything. I couldn't say anything when I remembered how I felt warm sitting near him on the couch, or when he actually showed me that he did care or when I realized that I couldn't stop trusting him when he asked me to, even when my instincts were against it. It was like I was at his mercy.

"I... I don't know. What do you think?"

She sighed.

"I don't know what to think actually. It's okay though, if you don't want to talk about it. I just want to know how far you can go in trusting him. What if he hurt you? I know my cousin can be unbelievable sometimes, I've seen it first hand. If you trust somebody, how far will you go in trusting that person?"

Judging by what was happening, I had gone pretty far. But I didn't answer.

"Jamilah.", I said instead, "What if it was you that broke my trust or Jide's?"

In the bright light from the bulbs luminating the room, I saw a dark look flash on her face.  It became harder for the smile to stay on her face. I felt like I was missing something.

"Well, there's something you should know. If I ever did break your trust or Jide's, it would be because of something important. Little moments like this can't be thrown away like that."

My brows were crunched in trying to understand what she was saying but then she changed the topic immediately before I could ask anything.

Present day...

I stared in horror at his body on the floor. Jide was the one who shot him before he could pull the trigger near my head and how Jide was actually able to cock his gun and aim in seconds was more than a mystery to me.

Then it could be that he had gained so much experience from his days as a criminal. The problem was that he had a lousy aim and shot Gabriel in his leg instead of somewhere that would've killed him on the spot but he shot again to immediately follow his first shot, impaling his head with the bullet.

He moved on fours — or threes this time — dragging his injured leg along to where his brother's body was, beside me and stopped to sit near it.

"The problem with you Gabriel is that in the course of slowing down to observe and take joy in people's pain. You become blind to quick attacks."

He aimed the gun at his back and shot. I screamed again.

Jide moved his attention to me and removed my gag gently. I noticed he was beginning to lean on the chair I was sitting on.

"Miriam. I'm sorry you had to go through all this.", was the first thing he said but shock had stuffed my throat so I couldn't reply.

He tried to stand while leaning on the chair I was sitting on and removed the ropes binding my hands before moving to where my legs were and doing something about the ropes there as well. I could see him grimacing in pain as he offered me his hand, I looked at it like it was an eyeball.

If what Gabriel had said about his past was true, then could I really still trust him? In my blind shock I was beginning to hear Gabriel's voice in my head again, my breathing came out ragged.

No. Gabriel was dead, he wouldn't come back to life and Jide wouldn't hurt me, right?

"Miriam, take my hand, we don't have much time before his henchmen come in and find out that he's dead."

Jide's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. He was resting on one arm holding the back of my chair, using it to balance himself in front of me now, but I still didn't move, I couldn't, in the next instant, he pointed the gun at one of the windows and shot, scaring me.

Was that supposed to make me budge?

"Here, take it.", I looked at his hand, at the gun he was offering me but I couldn't bring myself to touch it.

"Come on Miriam, please. You need to get out of here. Just take the gun."

His eyes were pleading and I had to remind myself that if I didn't he would die on me. I brought my hand out slowly and reached for the gun.

When my fingers connected with it, I felt this extremely unwelcoming feeling. I kept reminding myself that I could do it, that I was bigger than my fear.

A teardrop fell on my hand. He noticed that there were more on my face and dropped the gun on my lap to wipe them and stroke my chin before going back to pushing the gun into my hand.

"You can do this Miriam, you're strong. And I know you're stronger than this.", his voice was soft but also wavering.

The teardrops turned to full sobs, there was no doubt that I was scared but I was trying hard to calm myself down and he did the best he could by giving me a hug in his best possible way before dropping to the ground, leaving the gun heavy in my hand.

I screamed at his body on the floor and prayed deeply that he wouldn't die. I hadn't realized how much blood he was losing. I tried to swallow my fears in the best way I could.

This is for you, Jide.

I reached down and carried him up. His body felt heavy but I still tried, praying he wasn't dead. Then I took one look at the gun in my hand. He had set the safety on the gun before giving it to me but it still felt like I was holding a ticking time bomb.

I distracted myself by turning my mind to Jide.

"Jide... you rascal... If you're not alive after this I'll... I'll kill you.", I whispered admist sobs.

He had to be alive, I wouldn't be able to live without guilt if he died now.

"Really? Then I have no choice but to be alive then.", it was weak but it was there.

I couldn't believe it. I looked at him fully.

He managed a weak smile too.

"Miriam move quickly before you break down again and get ready to use the gun, I'll tell you what to do about my bullet wound."

~~~

Author's note: Sorry to have kept you in a cliffhanger and thanks to Ivyfrancis2002 for motivating me to type.

Surprise! 😁
This is for getting my book 1k+ reads. Now please let's do the same for the votes 🙏

By the way, I need to hear your thoughts on this one: Do you think Jide and Miriam should end up together after all?