Safe

twenty

"Is there something you'd like to share with me?" Hannah asked, standing with her hands on her hips and looking half ready to deck her friend if necessary.
To Nike's credit if she had been surprised by the question, she hadn't shown it. She paused and turned slowly to face Hannah with what was supposed to be a bored expression but which Hannah could see right through.
"Well? Start talking!" Hannah prompted.
"What are you going on about? What!" Nike responded in a tone just as dry as the one she'd used earlier.
"Don't try me." Hannah tutted, "just tell me the truth. Packages from anonymous senders and what else are you hiding?"
Nike let out a tired sigh and turned to return to her place on the couch. Hannah followed quickly and snatched the TV remote from her as she moved to turn up the volume.
"You cannot avoid this conversation alright? I drove all the way here to talk to you about this and you have to tell me!"
"I don't have to tell you anything." Nike muttered.
"Like hell you don't! If you're foolishly putting yourself in danger I want to know about it."
From her seat, Nike looked up at her friend and wondered how much she knew and if telling her the truth would get her even more worked up. As it was, she was already raging, holding up the end of her abaya style dress against her waist as she glared down at her.
"How do you know about the shoes? It was Lola wasn't it? That snitch!"
"Nike! This isn't about who snitched. It's about what's got you so knotted up that you're keeping secrets and lying to the police."
Nike opened her mouth, probably to counter but Hannah held up a hand to stop her.
"Don't even! I want the truth, now!"
"Fine." Nike sighed before telling her the story. By the end of the tale, Nike was certain she should just have lied because if she'd thought Hannah was angry before, she was absolutely livid at that point.
"You did what! Nike! Have you lost your damn mind?" She screamed.
"What was I supposed to do? Let him get arrested?"
"Yes! Nike, he's a criminal. He deserves jail time, instead you lied to let him go and kept something he sent you?" She was pacing at that point looking at Nike like she couldn't believe her eyes or ears.
"I thought it was a sweet gesture." She said quickly in her defense.
"Sweet? You have lost your mind!"
"Stop yelling at me, you're driving me nuts!"
Hannah shook her head and threw the remote down on the table, "I'm not driving you nuts, you're already nuts! Give me one good reason I shouldn't march right to the police station and turn you and your criminal friend in right now."
Nike was up in a flash, "no please. You can't tell anyone. You don't get it, he was kind to me!" She cried holding onto Hannah's arm.
"Nike, he kidnapped you!"
"Because he had to! Don't you get it? If he hadn't gone along with it they would have hurt him."
Hannah took a step back in surprise when she saw that Nike was crying and asked herself if she'd stepped into some alternate reality. Was her friend really justifying helping her abductor?
"You can't let them arrest him." She was saying as she cried. "Promise me you won't say anything, promise me!"
Hannah looked around in panic wondering if there was anyone else at home to hear the commotion before hesitantly wrapping her arms around her friend and patting her awkwardly.
"Alright, I won't say anything. Just please don't cry."
"You know I would never do something so crazy but he doesn't deserve to be punished for helping me. He took care of me." She whispered harshly at Hannah who just nodded and guided her to sit back down.
"I won't tell anyone I promise."
After a few more minutes of crying and trying to calm her, Nike finally calmed enough to explain the rest of her side of the story which to Hannah sounded insane but after seeing how she reacted earlier, she was hesitant to speak.
"Hold on a minute, I need to fix something really quickly, okay."
Nike nodded and Hannah quickly went out the door and out of the compound where Hameed was still waiting even though it's been almost an hour. She filed him in on all that had happened and he whistled at the end.
"Is she okay?" He asked.
Hannah shook her head, "I think I'll stay with her tonight. She's alone right now and I don't think it's right to leave her like this."
"Do what you need to do. I'll come back and pick you up tomorrow okay?"
She nodded and gratefully accepted the reassuring hug he offered. As short as it was, when he drove away she felt like she had the strength of ten men but she wasn't sure even that would be enough.
•
•
     The girls spent the evening together in tense silence. Nike sat quietly and stared at the TV and Hannah sat off to the side wondering if it would be wrong to grab her friend by the shoulder and slap common sense into her. Both girls knew better than to say anything though and the quiet stretched out till about seven that evening, Nike's mother came home.
She stopped to peep in on whoever was in the living room and gasped gleefully when she saw Hannah curled into the couch.
"Hannah! How are you? I haven't seen you in a while!"
"Good evening ma. I'm fine, work has just swamped me." Hannah said with a smile as she got up to help carry the bags in her arms to the kitchen.
"I didn't know you would be here but thank God I got enough food for everyone." Mrs Makinde said as she washed her hands at the sink. "Ah where's Nike?" She asked checking to see it her daughter was in the living room as well.
"In her room. I think she's taking a shower."
"That one showers ten times a day." Her mother said with an eye roll. "I hope you're hungry, I bought enough for an army. Must be because I miss Lekan, he has a cast iron stomach."
They began to set out the food together and Hannah offered to finish up so Mrs Makinde could get changed. She agreed gratefully and disappeared upstairs while Hannah opened the take away bowls containing yam chips, pepper sauce and what looked like barbecue beef.
She was setting plates on the table when Nike came downstairs, "woah! Where'd all the food come from?"
"Your mum." She slapped Nike's hand as she reached for a chip and glared at her. "Shouldn't we wait for Lola?"
Nike hissed through her teeth and sat, "God knows when that one will be back. You better eat so you don't starve."
Hannah was about to address the hostility in her friends tone when the door opened and Lola herself came in, bag and briefcase in tow. She dumped everything on the hallway table and took off her shoes with a sigh before looking up and taking in the scene before her. She looked surprised to see Hannah as if they hadn't just spoken that morning and looked between both girls as if to determine the dynamic before she spoke.
"Its a yes to whatever you're thinking." Nike said in a bored voice from the table without looking up. She picked up her fork and drummed it against her plate before saying nonchalantly, "you're right on time. We were going to start without you."
Hannah rolled her eyes at her antics and smiled at Lola.
"Welcome, you look tired. Maybe change before we eat? We'll wait."
Lola sent her a grateful smile and ignored her sister who groaned in complaint as she went upstairs.
"You know we could put Chucky in your place and still have better dinner conversation with the way you're acting. Behave!"
Hannah said to Nike when she'd disappeared.
"I'm the one who has to behave?" Nike gasped in outrage. "She's the one spreading my personal business around the city."
"A city is hardly made up of one person, don't you think." Hannah said dryly and sat to wait for the other women. As they waited she wondered if anyone would notice a piece of barbecue missing. It all looked so good she was ready to devour it all, she hadn't realized how hungry she really was.
Finally, both women came down and dinner commenced. It appeared Mrs Makinde wasn't a fan of conversation at the table which was fine with Hannah, she'd take anything that kept a cat fight from breaking out between the two sisters at the table. As it was, the hostility was apparent as both girls stared each other down across the table.
A bottle of wine Hannah hadn't noticed earlier appeared and glasses were filled though she declined respectfully and stuck to juice.
"Wow, this food is amazing." Hannah groaned happily. "I'm stuffed." She noted patting her non-existent tummy for effect.
"It is. The restaurant just opened near my office and I thought it would be a treat for all of us.".
"Well I'm lucky I was here then."
"I'll leave you girls to it now. Goodnight." Their mother said giving all three girls air kisses before disappearing upstairs again. There was silence at the table for all of three seconds before all hell broke loose.
"You snitch! I can't believe you searched my room!" Nike accused hotly.
"And I can't believe you're hiding a criminal to evade law enforcement. Makes two of us!" Lola shot back.
"You had no right!" Nike was on her feet now, pacing away from the table as she struggled to keep her voice down.
"I would have had to deal with the fallout so I do have the right! Grow up Nike!"
"I have to grow up? You're the one who's twenty six and still lives with her parents!"
Hannah froze, fork halfway to her mouth which was ajar with the sudden "ah!" She'd uttered.
Lola looked genuinely hurt as she rose from her seat and threw her napkin down.
"You know what, do whatever you want. Just don't call me when you can't deal with the consequences." Then she turned and marched upstairs.
"You're just mad that I don't need you! You like it when people need you don't you!" Nike shouted after her. When Lola was out of sight, she huffed and sat down heavily.
Hannah summoned the best glare she could and directed it's full force at her friend before getting up and going the same way Lola had gone.
It was hours before Nike came upstairs and Hannah pretended to be asleep when she said into the bed beside her. It was their tradition to sleep together whenever they spent the night with each other but that night, the slept with their back to back neither ready to make peace.  Both hearts drummed loudly  in the quiet night that only hummed with the sound of the fan although for different reasons, Nike with regret and Hannah with fear for her friend.
•
•
        Morning came quickly and Nike was up long before first light though she had nothing planned for the day. Deciding she couldn't stay and face the sister she'd lashed out at or the friend she knew she'd embarrassed with her actions, she seized her wallet and drove out of the compound before anyone even woke up. In desperate need for quiet and control, she found herself driving to the only other place she actually loved to be at, the city recreation club. Her membership gave her access to the complex and all it's facilities so she decided to pay a visit to a place from simpler times.
The building that housed the indoor pool was silent as night and Nike cringed a little as her footsteps exhoed in her ears wondering why it was so damn quiet. Then she remembered it was seven thirty on a Thursday morning and not many people needed so badly to escape from messes they'd created themselves.
With a sigh, she found the key to her family's locker and unlocked it. It was apparent that no one had been there in a while with Lekan gone, no other member of the family often ventured there but the clothes inside were clean and she found a simple black one piece she quickly donned.
Armed with a towel and a cap for her hair, she padded out to the pool grateful there was no one to look at her weird for walking barefoot aince she'd forgotten to bring flip-flops in her hurry.
Diving into the cold water felt like running into a long lost friend and she wondered why it'd taken her so long to return to the water that she loved so much.
The club had been there for years, her father had played there as a child and they'd all grown up taking swimming lessons there so it felt like home. As she treaded water slowly, she spun to look around the building. Seats arranged bleacher style stared back at her, empty and eerie and she leant back to look at the ceiling which was very high above her head. She felt so small that she decided at that time, it was a bad thing. Sucking in a deep breath, she submerged herself.
•
•
     Hannah was woken by her phone ringing and reached blindly for it. It took a minute to realize she wasn't in her bed and that her phone was on the floor to her left not on the right where she'd been patting blindly.
Squinting against the morning light, she reached down and grabbed the phone.
"Hello?" She croaked.
"Good morning ma. Will you be coming today? Someone is waiting for you."
It took another minute for comprehension to dawn and she furrowed her brows in annoyance.
"Who is it Cynthia? Can't you lot attend to them?"
"They asked specifically for you ma." Cynthia replied quickly probably sensing her boss was not on the mood to talk.
"Who is it?" She repeated.
"A new customer ma."
"Tell them I unfortunately won't be in today but so everything in your power to settle them okay."
Cynthia dared not argue. "Yes ma." She meekly agreed.
It's too early for this, she grumbled to herself before burrowing deeper into the bed. Unfortunately, she was one of those people who once awake couldn't go back to sleep so she sat up and got out of bed all while complaining under her breath. Noting that Nike was nowhere to be found, she washed her face and brushed her teeth quickly before changing back into her dress from the day before. After texting Hameed that she was ready, she crept out of the room and down the stairs feeling ridiculous for sneaking around a home that felt like hers.
She hoped there would be no run-ins with either sister or with their mother who'd certainly heard the argument from the previous night. Luck was clearly on her side as she made it down the stairs and out the door with no incidents. The wait for Hameed wasn't long and Hannah sighed in relief after getting into the car.
"Take me home so I can sleep for a week."
"Was it that bad?" Hameed chuckled as he started driving.
"Oh it was. After the episode in the evening, Nike tried to annoy her sister into a fight over dinner all while their mom was there. They argued and I didn't see anyone this morning."
"That's something." Hameed noted.
"You think! I honestly didn't see all this coming. Lying to the police to protect a criminal and watching a family burst at the seams? It's too much!"
The smile Hameed gave in response was slow and knowing and he patted her hand which lay on the console between them, "It'll all turn out fine inshallah."
His soft, kind response made Hannah smile and she once again thanked the Almighty for leading them to each other.