Beautiful Mask
By Ameh Juliet
Episode 9
Caroline:
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God!” Favour squeal and i wince at the loud volume.
“This is an infinix note5. A Newly launched br@nd. You are so lucky. Can we switch?”she asks and i snatch the phone off her hands.
“Its not proper to give out a gift” i say and she wiggle her brows at me.
“Especially when that gift is from your crush right?” she says and i roll my eyes at her.
“But seriously Caroline. This guy is smitten by you. I told you are amazing and a wonderful guy is going to fall for you” she says and i sigh. Maybe Simon likes me. He did defend me against his awful girlfriend. That counts right?.
“Girl, i gotta go. I nee-d to start working on getting my own Mr. Infinix” she says and we both laugh. I hvg her goodbye and she walks across the compound to her house which is just opposite ours.
I cant get Simon off my mind as i sit in front of our house. After the incident with Beatrice, Simon didn’t come out of his office. He had just texted me to go home when it was 6pm. He seemed really down. I should just s£nd him a text to check on him.
Caroline- are you asleep?
Simon- yes
Caroline- then how are you replying?
Simon- am sleep texting.
Caroline- lol. that’s silly
Simon- lol. Am sorry about Beatrice and for going cold on you this afternoon.
Caroline- thanks for standing up for me. P.s. Why is your girlfriend so mean to me?
Simon- Beatrice isn’t my girlfriend. And i think she is just jealous.
Caroline- its stupid. She just so beautiful and i am well, me.
Simon- what’s wrong with being you. You are beautiful isn’t superficial like hers.
Caroline- by the way, what did you mean when you say you owe her?
Simon- a long story.
I am about to reply when my brother walks out.
“cool phone” he says and i am shocked that he is talking to me.
“thanks” I murmur. I wait for him to leave but he just keeps standing beside me.
“umm Caroline. Can you do me a favour plea-se?” he asks and i turn to look at him. This is actually the longest s£ntence he has ever said to me for as long as i can remember that doesn’t involve cursing at me.
He must really nee-d my help.
“what is it?”i ask
“Promise me you’ll do it”
“if its within my power, I would” i say
“i would have gone by myself but i have to umm go barb my hair” he ramble on and i notice his hands are shaking. What is he up to now?
“just ask your favour, Nedu” I say impatiently. Simon must be waiting for my reply alre-ady.
“can you help me return this cap to khalifa?” he asks and hand a cap to me. I narrow my eyes at him and he just shrugs. Just returning a cap is ma-king him nervous?. Something is up.
“Why don’t you take it to him yourself. Or if you are so busy tonight, take it to him tomorrow”i inquire
“look Caroline.. I alre-ady told you am busy. If you cant do this little thing for me just say so. Okay?”
“alright, I’ll go” Isay and he sigh in relief.
“good girl”he says then walk out. I quic-kly s£nd a text to Simon before i set off.
Caroline- be right back. Gotta run a little errand for my brother.
Simon- by this time?
Caroline-I’ll be fine. Its just around the corner.
Simon- alright call me when you get there.
Caroline-sure.
Its so nice to know that someone cares about me enough to worry.
Throu-gh out my walk to khalifa’s house, i have a big grin on my face..I finally get there and i knock. I tap my feet impatiently waiting for him to come out. I better call Simon and tell him i am fine. I dial
his number and it goes throu-gh immediately.
“Caroline” He says as soon as it connects.
“i am fine Simon, just wanted to inform- arggg! St©p it!” I scream as i feel a hand around my w@!st. I turn quic-kly to see khalifa’s behind me. He is clearly high.
“get your hands off me” I say but his grip only ti-ght£ñ and i start to panick. He reeks of cheap beer and India hemp. I try to struggle out
to no avail.
“st©pch struggling. I alre-ady paid your brotherch” he slur. Oh no. I cant believe i trusted chinedu.
“plea-se let me go.. I’ll give you your money back. How much did you give him” what i am saying seems to piss him off and his hand wra-p around my n£¢k.
“do you think i am not worthy scarface? I will teach you a lesson” He pushes me to the ground in spite and i crawl away from him. I quic-kly find my footing and start running but my sprained ankle start to hurt so I don’t get far.
He gr-abs my hand and land a h0t sl@p across my face. My vision blurs but i don’t want to lose consciousness for fear of what would happen to me. I struggle weakly as he carries me on his shoulder inside his house which smell awful. Its a be-dsitter so he deposits me on his be-d which is just close to the door.
“plea-se i am begging you. St©p this while you still can. plea-se”my plea-s fall on deaf ears as he starts ripping my clothes off. I try to fight him off and he lands two b!ows on me. I try to fight unconsciousness but i know i cant. Another b!ow land on my stomach.
Everywhere aches and i start blocking everything out. I see him start unbuckling his belt and adrenaline shoot up in my blood and i start kicking and screaming for help.
“Shut up slut!” he bellows and covers my mouth with his hand. I bite down on the hand till i taste blood. He scream and let go of me and i run as fast as i can. I see a car’s headlight coming toward me and i run in front of it to st©p it. The car st©ps and i see Simon rush out of it.
“Oh my God. Caroline what happened to your clothes” He asks as i run into his arms and he hvg me. I see Khalifa running towards us and i struggle to get away. Simon turns to look at the source of my fear and the next thing i know, he is rushing at khalifa.
He takes khalifa to the ground and pound on him with so much f0rç£ i know that if he continues, he is going to kill him. I drag my depleted b©dy to him and hold his hand.
“plea-se st©p. Just take me out of here”i plead. Simon looks at me with angry eyes which soften as soon as he looks into my eyes. He gets off khalifa who isn’t moving and carry me to his car.
*****
Beautiful Mask
Episode 10
Simon:
“Are you okay?” i ask Caroline who is sitting beside me quiet. Her hands are shaking furiously and i gr-ab it with my free hand as i drive.
“I am so sorry. I should have been here sooner” i say and i see her shut her eyes close. I don’t know how much damage that s¢v-m did before Caroline got away.
I would have been there sooner if caroline’s brother wasn’t being a stubborn fool. I had to beat the location of where he s£nt Caroline to. I knew something was terribly wrong when Caroline informed me of an errand this late at night.
My heart has slowed down from the shock it got when i heard Caroline screaming throu-gh the phone. I kept shouting her name but she didn’t answer. I felt so helpless. Just like i did during that accident many years ago.
I couldn’t not do anything. I had run into my car and driven to Caroline’s house with reckless speed. When i got there i saw a guy of my age smoking in front of caroline’s house.
He was on a call and he was laughing about selling Caroline for just N5,000. I couldn’t control my anger and i beat him to a pulp even after he gave me the address of his friend.
I look to Caroline again and her eyes are still closed. Tears are streaming down her face and i feel like hundreds of knives are piercing at my heart. I don’t know what else to do to console her so i squee-ze her hand. She doesn’t say a word until we get to my house. She opens her eyes looking confused.
“I don’t think it is a good idea to go back home now” I say.
“Thank you” she whispers and get off the car. I quic-kly get off too and walk behind her towards my house. I left the door open when i left earlier due to my panic so Caroline walks in. I quietly walk close the door behind me and drop my car keys on the table.
“I’ll prepare a bath for you” i say and Caroline nod. I walk quic-kly go into my bathroom which is the only one with a big bath tub. I prepare the bath quic-kly so as not to leave Caroline alone for a long time.
After i am done, i walk to the living room to see Caroline staringblankly into space.
“Caroline?” i call and she turn to me.
“Your bath is re-ady” she nods then follow behind me to my bathroom upstairs. I leave her to do her thing upstairs then go downstairs to prepare green tea. Maybe that would soothe her nerves. Its been almost an hour and Caroline isn’t out so i knock on the bathroom door.
“The water should be cold by now so come out or you are going to catch a cold” i say softly.
“I’ll be out in a minute” She croak out.
She finally gets out of there and i hand her my white bu-tton up shi-t and bo-xer short to wear.
“Come down for tea when you are done okay?” i ask and she nod.
Ten minutes later, Caroline joins me downstairs. She takes the cu-p of tea i give her and she sit beside me in front of the kitchen counter.
“Am so sorry Caroline” i say
“don’t be”
“no Caroline. You don’t know how helpless i felt when you started screaming and i wasn’t there to help. It was so frustrating.”
“Its not your job to help me”
“i know but i don’t know what i’ll do if something happens to you again. We just met but what i feel for you is so intense. Its like we’ve met before” i say and Caroline looks at me shocked.
I don’t blame her, i am also shocked at my outbur-st. I should be consoling her not talking about my feelings for her.
“Forget what i said. You don’t nee-d this right now.” I say. Caroline nod and we continue sipping our tea in silence.
Minutes later, Caroline falls asleep on the counter and i carry her to be-d. I know i shouldnt leave her in case she wakes up scared or nee-d something so I place a thick blanket on the floor beside her be-d and lie there.
I must have fallen asleep because i am woken up by continuous thumping sounds. I sit up fast and look towards Caroline. She is currently shaking on the be-d which is ma-king the be-d’s headboard to hit the wall. I stand up quic-kly and sit beside her on the be-d.
Her eyes are clenched shut and she keeps mumbling words i cannot un-derstand. She must be having a nightmare. I tap her but she doesn’t come out of it. She’s still shaking so i gr-ab her shoulders and j£rk her. Her eyes fly open immediately and i sag in relief. Her eyes are wi-de in fear.
“it was just a nightmare” Ias-sure her before she presses her b©dy to me.
“i want you to take the memories away” She says in my ears.
“How?” I ask and she answers by pressing herl-ips to mine.
“No Caroline. I cant. You are not in your right s-en-ses.” I protest weakly as she keeps moving herl-ips all over my face.
“But you said you have feelings for me. I love you so plea-se” she starts to un-bu-tton my shi-t and i am too weak to st©p her.
“Caroline” i whisper but she is alre-ady straddling me.
“This isn’t right” i say weakly but i am starting to k!ssher back.
“Then make it right”she says as she takes her t©p off.
The rest of the night is filled with pas-sion as the two of us make love.
************************
Kelvin:
“I nee-d more money. You nee-d to see me now. The bastard that saved her almost killed me” khalifa whined into the telephone.
“i told you never to call me again. I alre-ady gave you money” I say with a cold voice.
“that was before i got beaten up. You better s£nd me that money or I’ll expo-se you” Khalifa warn and I can’t help but laugh at his stupidity.
“very well then. I’ll drop two hundred and fifty thousand naira at our first meeting point in an hour. Make sure you are there to pick it up” I say and end the call.
“This khalifa guy has served his purpose. Kill him and the money is yours” I say to the rou-gh looking guy beside me. The rou-gh looking guy nods then walk out.
“My plans are going so smoothly. Even though that khalifa guy couldnt finish the job, it has given me anothe wicked idea. Soon the company
will be mine and Simon would be put in his place” I soliloquy
One way or another I’m going to destroy Simon.