Lies, Love and Deception

Chapter 21

         
                          Dedicated to arrestthatqueen

Four days had passed since the kidnap of Dami and there was still no viable information about his whereabouts. Ore frequented the police station with Philip against his pleas that she stay at home and try focusing on her studies. But she couldn't. Whenever she carried a textbook to read, the image of Dami with his cheesy smile and expensive tuxedo filled the pages.

And it wasn't helping that exams were fast approaching. Ore had been thrown into an intense state of anxiety with no lead whatsoever on Dami's case. The police were doing the best they could but it seemed that every new piece of information they got and followed, led to a dead end. Ore was distraught and confused.

Confused because she couldn't believe her boyfriend that she was growing accustomed to would actually disappear in the blink of an eye. Ore was distraught because whenever she walked on the roadside or laid on her bed at night, all she could think of was him.

What he'd be doing, if he was safe, if he had been given food or if the thought of her crossed his mind. Ore paced back and forth with tears burning in her eyes. Her roommates did all they could to support. They followed her to the station in the evening's when they came back from school and comforted her with hugs and words of encouragement.

Martha and Mercy took it upon themselves to fast and pray for him to come back safely while Ore would be on her own corner, muttering her silent prayers to God and crying bitterly. Philip also did his part in questioning his course mates and contacting his parents to see if they'd found anything. But so far, their furtive search yielded no results.

Ore barely slept at night. It was either she was having a troubled dream about someone in a mask being beaten and sliced with a knife or she was going through their snapchat pictures that he had sent from his phone to hers through airdrop. Nothing could compare to the growing ache in her heart.

She needed to hear from Dami at least to know if he was okay. Her studies were suffering because of her lack of concentration and she hated not being in control of her life. To have someone so precious snatched away from her heightened her antsy and was making her fall sick. Fever and cold was slowly setting in and most times she'd stay wrapped up in a blanket rocking on her heels.

Mercy would look at her with pity and walk to her side and she'd cry on her shoulders. Trying to let the frustration out. Martha herself frequently called Philip to find out if he heard any news and somehow over the couple of days, they grew closer than was thought possible.

She could be free with him, crack silly jokes and rest on his hairy chest. Then he would pull her closer impossibly closer and kiss her forehead. Martha didn't tell anyone though. She felt it wasn't the right time because everyone was busy tracing anything remotely related to the kidnapper.

On the fourth night, Ore was sleeping and mumbling strange words when she was woken up by a troubling phone call. She blinked her eyes open slowly, unplugged her phone from charge and slid the button to answer the call. On the other end, she could hear pensive breathing and the sound of chains rattling.

"Hello," she kept on saying frantically. She sprang up from her bed, making her roommates who were sleeping with a watchful eye on her to jerk awake.

"Ore, it's me," Dami croaked so low she could hardly hear him. Ore heaved a deep sigh of relief and put the phone on loudspeaker for Martha and Mercy who were hovering about her to hear.

"Where are you baby, tell us so we can come get you." Ore was close to breaking into sobs and Martha began patting her back.

"Somewhere . . ." Dami was cut off mid sentence with a hard smash on his jaw. The phone was kicked away from him and the person's booted feet collided with the lighted screen, shattering it into a million pieces.

"Oooh God," Ore shrieked in despair. She held onto Mercy tightly as Martha placed a quick call to Philip. She waited till the call was answered on the fourth ring.

"Dami just called, do you think we could trace the kidnapper with the phone number he used?" She asked in a rush.

Philip rustled here and there trying to understand what she was saying with sleepy eyes. "I suppose so but that's only if the sim wasn't squashed. Why, what did he say?"

Ore heaved a deep sigh. "He could barely get a word out before the line went dead."

Philip sighed. "Is Ore okay, hope she isn't crying again?!"

Martha looked at Ore who was wailing helplessly on the floor. "That's a lost cause."

Philip blew out a breath. "I am coming over first thing tomorrow morning."

Ore was trying to recover from the effect of the call. She hadn't been able to go back to sleep, what kept on ringing in her ears was the hard jab she heard on the other end of the phone. It was obvious that Dami was being tortured but by whom? Ore pondered as she groaned aloud.

She didn't know any of his friends apart from a few others who had been introduced to her on the night he'd asked her out. She could barely recall any of the faces because that day, drinks were flowing and everyone was grinding to the loud beat of the music. But there had been something odd that she refused to acknowledge up until that moment.

A guy in a black leather jacket obscured by the palm tree fronds. He sipped his drink and observed cautiously from a distance. She caught his eye a few times but immediately, he threw his gaze away. She wanted to mention it to Dami but it didn't seem relevant at the time. She thought he was one of Dami's paddy paddy that was quiet and liked their own space.

She didn't imagine that he had been stalking her. But why Ore couldn't recall seeing his face somewhere else was a mystery to her. Perhaps, it was time she gave the police a statement.

Ore stepped out of her hostel block for a breath of fresh air. It was early in the morning and birds were chirping loudly accompanied by leaves swirling in the breeze. Ore didn't care where she was walking off to, she just wanted to get the heaviness off her chest.

Her roommates were still asleep from a late night and Philip was to meet with her in a couple of minutes. The song Perfect by Ed Sheeran was playing softly in her air pods reminding Ore of the first day she saw Dami. She had been speechless, unable to say a word but he didn't even glance at her.

She snickered. That particular night, she listened to the song with her earpiece before falling asleep and dreaming of him. Anytime she saw him, a surge of excitement rushed through her. It was like something vague and undefined. It was simply a feeling, a high that she couldn't quite descend from.

She reminisced on the nights she had spent with Dami at his luxurious home. He always slept with socks on and she had questioned him about it on several occasions but he never did say. Ore knew he was a child at heart even though he appeared tough like he could take on the world.

The times she watched him sleeping, his long eyelashes obscuring a view of his coffee brown eyes. He looked peaceful, happy even. His heart beating steadily with a slight smile on his perfect lips. Ore jogged until she was out of breath and gasping for air.

It was then she remembered. The guy she had seen in the dark.