Chapter 9

Azelia

The drop of dew felt cold in my closed eyes, and I suddenly felt cold, goosebumps gripped my arms, making me sneeze, trying to catch my breath almost immediately, my body seemed sticky and itchy, I quickly pulled off the blindfold in my eyes, searching through where I had lay, the sky blue medical gown was stained in the black sticky sand like clay, my heart beat fast in my chest making me raise on my feet, surrounded by wet flowers with thorn, and green leaves with mix grass on the ground, the early morning cold made me shiver, not knowing where I was.

Footstep approached me with flashes of light in my direction, making me scared, my hands tremble and I felt lost confusion took the whole of me, being in a strange land with a diversity of tongues and tribes which could be mainly dominated by the British people, the property belongs to a native of the country or the government and I could be charged for invading of property and it could be difficult for me to get out of it

"Who's there?"

The voice of a man echoes loudly in the atmosphere, it could have sighted me afar with his torchlight, but there was no place to hide, I quickly lay down on the ground, trying not to get seen, I shut my eyes, and the flashlight pointed at me, I opened my eyes and noticed he was a security officer, dressed in a white and black uniform and ankle black boot, with a face cap matching the colour of his boot, the average height young man moved closer to me, then I realize he didn't see me after all, he walked passed me, checking the garden, perhaps he felt a suspicious movement in the environment

The horn of cars caught my attention, I ran towards the direction I heard the sound and arrived on a main road, I took in a deep breath and scanned my body with my eyes, looking dirty with ruined clothes, I tried stopping several cars to get help from but no one seems to pay attention to my distressed looks, making me giving up and slowly walking with my bare legs, my eyes flow down tears because I couldn't hold it, my memories flashback in time, which made me regret leaving my country but I couldn't go back with nothing to show for it.

Suddenly, I heard a horn behind me, jerking me off like I was on the run; perhaps I was on the run, running away from the man who almost raped me and the other who held me captive like a prisoner with an unforgivable crime, I sighed and dragged my hair in frustration.

"Hi lady, can you hear me?"

I heard a voice behind me, I quickly turned to see a young man in a black jeep, driving slowly behind me

"You look miserable and dirty, I could tell you need a ride" he didn't stop talking

"It's 4:30 am, you wouldn't see a car easily on this path this early morning" he added, this made me stand still, his appearance didn't want me in his car, but it seemed he was telling the truth, I haven't seen many vehicle drive past this route since I joined in it, and there's a statement, doesn't judge a book by it cover, he might be a good guy, taking no risk is taking a greater risk, perhaps I could risk been offered a lift considering the state I was

"Fine, you won" he opened his car door, I sat on it, perceiving an awful smell from my body, I hadn't bathed in almost a week, and it's expected, I thought to myself

"You won, baby"

"Don't call me that" I gazed wanting him to know how serious I was, we locked eyes and his black eyes looked hardened and suddenly softened, he smiled at me, I pulled the string of hair in my face and focused my attention on the road, he drove and didn't say anything

"What happened to you?" he couldn't hold back his curiosity anymore, his eyes wandered in my body, as I watched him from the corner of my eyes, pretending to pay less attention to him

"Mind your own business" I mindlessly to replied him, he made a funny face, and I almost laughed about it, but decided not to let him get through to me with his friendly attitude

"That's expected, anyways I'm Joseph Mc Gray, but you can call me Joseph the carpenter" I looked at him wondering why he'd want to change a great name into someone else

"Are you a carpenter?" he slightly looked at him and focused on the road once again

"No, I'm an engineer, what about you?"

"I'm a waitress" forgetting I quit my job

"Sorry, I was once a waitress" I corrected my statement

"Was, what happened? Hold on, but you haven't told me your name?"

"I'm Azelia, just call me Azelia" faking a smile at him, as I tried to feel comfortable in the possible way I could

"Are you a Carpenter?" I found it stupid to ask such a question because I had no interest in him, but this could buy me some time, he gazed at me and back at the road as he drove fast, he seemed like a good driver, as he drove smoothly giving me reason to worry less

"No, my grandfather was, so I'm a grandson of a carpenter and when I was a little boy I loved helping my grandpa with his work, carrying and arranging wood, and sandpaper some of his furniture, sweeping and having everywhere look tidy, driving with him to buy woods and nails and other materials to make furniture for his customers"

"You have clear memories of your grandpa and yourself, you might have loved him too much" he nodded his head at my word

"Yeah, I like him but he died four years ago " he had a sad expression on his face and he quickly smiled not letting his sadness get into him, he foggy sky slowly faded off and I could see his face, he looked handsome and wasn't like what I think he was the first time I saw him

" Which country are you? I looked suspicious at him because I didn't know what his intentions are

" Why do you ask? " he smiled at me, he couldn't stop smiling at everything I said to him, and never got upset about my attitude towards him, and he could notice my reaction

"Aela, I'm not a bad guy, I'm a good guy you'll want to know after now, you got it all wrong" he pronounced my name wrongly, it happens many times and I'm not surprised about it

"I'm Azelia and not Aela" I corrected him

"I'm sorry Azelia, you know so much about me but I know nothing of me because I'm open-minded but you're so uptight" he seems kind of pissed off, as he speaks in a hurry and his face suddenly turns red, he calms down and smiles once again

"I never asked you to tell me anything about me; you offer to do so; why get pissed about it?" I gazed at him

"I did that because I want you to feel comfortable with me" he quickly attacked me with his words, saying it in a hurry as I owed him

"I'm sorry, you know what, I wouldn't say anything throughout the rest of the ride if that makes you feel comfortable" he drove past a speed bump, but didn't slow down making me jumpy, he quickly apologized but said nothing else after that, I felt guilty about how I had treated him, he held me and like a saviour of my life, but how rude of me to treat him that way

I could see the sky, I looked around where we were and suddenly realize both sides were Woods and the voices of birds singing loudly in the atmosphere, I looked at my ruined clothes and suddenly felt embarrassed, but his reaction didn't show he cares about how I look, I should be thankful to him and not pissed off with his questions, at least after now, we wouldn't have to see each other again, and I could see we're in the uptown part of the city, how I got there in the first place I didn't know my abductor had dropped me far away from the main city where I live

Joseph looked at the back seat, and slowly parked his car by the side of the road, with a questionable gaze in my eyes, he ignored me stepped down from his car and hurriedly walked to his car booth, my eyes watched his every move, he stepped in the car, placing a black pant and a horizontal black and blue long sleeve shirt and black sneakers on my lap, the sticky black clay has dried out, he handed a big bottle of water to me, I didn't know why he was doing all this, but I was grateful to him

"I should have done this before now, but I don't want you to have any idea about it, I have no interior motive, I'll stand outside the car, you can get changed into these clean clothes and wash with that water, you can have a bath here, but you can do that later when we arrive the main city, there is a police checkpoint before we arrive the central gate, they'll ask so many questions if you look this way, and you might be interrogated"

His statement got me scared, I wouldn't want any police case being an illegal immigrant in British, I quickly took the water from him, and he stepped out, giving me time to change my clothes, I did that in less than ten minutes I had washed my body with the little water and changing clothes

"Hi Joseph, I'm done" I yelled out, he quickly dropped the cigarette on the ground, stepped on it and walked back to the car, his eyes focused on the road, and didn't bother looking at me, I tied my blonde hair in ponytail, and I looked different from how I was with the medical clothes

"Thanks, Joseph" I calmly said but he paid less attention to him, perhaps he was still angry, I turned looking out the window, and big trucks and tractors drove past us, causing dust in the atmosphere, the dust didn't make us see outside, Joseph parked his car off the road, creating space to the tractors and trucks to drive past the broken floor, it a construction road, that would be tile soon, the broken road could cause an accident if the driver isn't careful enough, I thought to myself

"The road is too bad; haven't the British government observed this?" I asked him, wanting to start a conversation he ignored me, I let him be and Cillian handsome face flashback my mind, I quickly shook it off my head, Cillian and I live in two different worlds, and I wasn't a match for him and perhaps I might not be the kind of lady he would want to have by his side, moreover I can't his girlfriend he's a bloody killer, he kills for a living, how can I be ever seen with a man like him, I thought, Joseph drives past the police checkpoint, and I almost didn't notice it, my mind has gone far away, I turned behind to see policeman checking the booth of another car, my heart skipped, and I suddenly felt uneasy what if I'm caught up in all of this mess, I could get arrested been an illegal immigrant, they check each vehicle in the rows,

"Wear this" Joseph offered me a black face cap, I quickly wore it on my head, covering part of my face