Chapter One Hundred and Forty Annabelle_ Brooklyn walked into my room with a look filled with concern for me as she approached me. I'm sure she wasn't wearing that gait until she saw me holding my head like I wasn't feeling good at all. “What is the matter again? Are you fine? Your head hurts?” She rushed to my bed, sat beside me and asked. I smiled at her, I knew she was concerned and I didn't mean to get her so worked up. “I'm fine. I just woke up and I felt a sharp headache. That's all. It's nothing serious.” She took a deep breath. “You look like you've been beaten by life. You got me so scared when I saw you looking like that. Why are your clothes all over the floor?” She dropped her bag on the bed and stood up to pack them off the floor. “Don't worry about that, the cleaners will come and take them out soon,” I said to Brooklyn who had picked up the clothes from the floor and put them into the dirty cloth basket. “You should keep your space tidy even though you have pe
Chapter One Hundred and Forty One Annabelle_ I didn't have the intention to take Henry's call but I showed Brooklyn. “Why would he be calling me? What does he want? I am not going to pick up this call.” “You should take the call and put it on a loudspeaker. Let's hear what he has to say. I will record his voice with my phone just in case he says anything that can implicate him.” Brook insisted. I didn't want to speak to Henry at all and I didn't like the idea Brook proposed but I agreed. Brook turned on her phone recorder and put the phone beside my phone. I picked up the call and waited for him to say something. “Are you home?” Henry asked after a long pause of not saying anything to me. I didn't want to say anything because I was angry he didn't even think to greet me or ask about my well-being, but Brook encouraged me to speak so I answered, “Why are you asking me if I'm home?” “Can't I ask my fiance if she's at home or are you cheating on me again?” He asked. I looked at
Chapter One Hundred and Forty Two Travis_ Samantha stormed into my room. It wasn't a new thing for her to do so I wasn't moved when she entered. Even when she wasn't angry at me she always stormed into my room unannounced. “It's been a while since you sent me my monthly allowance.” She stood in front of my bed like someone whose fire was burning on the inside of her. I couldn't believe the words I heard from her and I knew that those words meant I was about to have a long morning filled with arguments and complaints, which I wasn't ready for. “What do you mean by I haven't been sending you your morning allowances? Do you just wake up every day and strategically think of how to make life more difficult for me or what is all this about?” She looked at me and hissed. “You heard me right. I have not been having money like I used to because your lazy ass has refused to go to work and fetch quality money for this family. I don't know why I ever thought something good could come out
Chapter One Hundred and Forty Three Travis_ “Why would you say something that terrible in the presence of Norah?” I yelled at Samantha. She looked at me and said, “Oh you think you think she is not going to know how useless of a man you are. You're not a good example Travis. You will never be!” She hissed and walked away from us. Norah cried as her mother left. My heart was sore to see her cry and was even more sore because I didn't know what she must be thinking about me. “Do not mind your mother. Don't take anything she says seriously. She just made them up. I don't know why she's always paranoid.” I wiped her tears again, “You don't have to cry. I've told you several times. Do not cry. You're now a big girl.” “But Dad, why does Mum say all these things about you? Why does she always say you're a cheat? Is this true in any way?” I paused for a moment and said, “No, it's not true. Adulthood is a very complicated period, you can not understand. You don't have to worry about
Chapter One Hundred and Forty Four Annabelle_ I got up very early in the morning because I felt like cooking Johnson's food by myself. It had been a while since I did that Andi knew he was going to be excited when he realized that I prepared his meal. I walked down the stairs and met Nana in the kitchen already. It was just five o clock and I wasn't surprised to see her there already. “Nana,” I called out to her in a happy tone but she seemed to have been frightened. “Oh my! You scared me.” She held onto her chest and looked like she had swollen up. I laughed. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I was just surprised to see you here by this time.” I knew what she probably had in mind to do but I decided to ask her so she could tell me herself. “So what are you doing in the kitchen by this time?” There was nothing on fire but I could see her arranging food materials on the table in preparation to cook a meal. “I want to make a beautiful meal for Johnson.” She responded wi
Chapter One Hundred and Forty Five Annabelle_ “Johnson, pray for us,” Brooklyn said with a smile, as we sat at the dining table to eat breakfast. I looked at him with a proud look and nodded my head as he looked at me. “Dear God, bless this food and bless the hands that cooked it.” His prayer was short yet it was such a perfect one. “Amen!” Brook and I responded. “Good one.” Brook commended him while I stood up and served the meal. I opened the big bowl and the aroma of the food was all over the house again. “Damn! I'm so hungry.” Brook said as she held her spoon in her hands and stretched to look into the bowl I was dishing the meal from. “This was cooked by Nana. It is such a very nice meal.” I said to both of them. “I love it when Nana makes my food. Even when I go to school, I always get complimented that my food tastes so good.” Johnson said with a joyful voice. “Mum, why doesn't Nana join us at the dining table whenever we are eating?” I didn't know why but even aft
Chapter One Hundred and Forty SixAnnabelle_I rested for a while before Brooklyn and I began to prepare ourselves for where I wanted us to go. “Where are we even going to?” Brooklyn kept asking me. “Why do you keep asking me ahead? It's not a big deal, I just want you to accompany me to where I would meet with someone because I don't want to go alone. I don't trust the person. I don't even know where exactly the place is for now but I made sure to let the person know that if it's not an open place and during the day, I would not be present.”Brook paused with the makeup she was wearing and asked, “Annabelle, I hope this is not something dangerous that you've gotten yourself into. What does the person want to do for you or what business do you have with the person?” “The person wants to give me evidence about what Henry had been up to but I'm not sure if I want to know because I think I rather I do not know about anything bad that he can do.” I honestly did not want to go to see th
Chapter One Hundred and Forty Seven Annabelle_ I yelled at Brooklyn while we drove into the restaurant. She apologized after that but her reactions were calmer than she was when we left the house earlier. I could feel it because she said very few words to every question I asked and insisted she wasn't going to order her strawberry croissant anymore. Left to me, I wasn't going to beg her but I couldn't just sit around and watch how she gazed at the snacks she got like she was forced to get them. “Brooklyn, are you acting this way because of the way I spoke to you earlier?” I put the snack I was eating back on the table and asked her. “No.” Her response was brief. “So what is the matter? You know I can't deal with the way you're behaving. I really can't. I wasn't saying you shouldn't have driven like that but it was during the day and you know the amount of trouble I get into because I drive like that. It's as though the police always watch out for my car to drive like that.” I sa
Epilogue Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Six Annabelle_ Months after the nightmare I had with Henry. I woke up in my new home with the perfect peace of mind I had always wanted. My life was in a better shape and even though It wasn't perfect, I was living the future I had always dreamed and hoped for. I stood in front of the large windows in the parlor, looked out of it and took a very deep breath. “Come back here! If I catch you, I will eat all your candy.” “You won't catch me then!” Johnson was running after Norah. It was not going to be my first time experiencing such as they have both been best of friends since we all moved in together. “I've told you two. No running around.” I said and shook my head. Travis was the one handling the major companies owned by my dad. He and my dad had become very close following the incident with Henry. Travis held his suitcase, walked down the stairs of our new home and said, “Anna, do you know where my car keys are? I couldn't find them
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Five Annabelle_ The tunnel led to one of the trees in the compound. I walked out of it and snuck to the back of the several police vans that were parked in the compound. I was on the lookout for Alex because I wasn't sure of who to trust. I saw Henry and hid behind the car. I couldn't afford him to see me and then come up with another lie that he wasn't the one behind my kidnap. Someone touched me from behind and I lost my breath for a while. I turned back slowly towards the person and found that it was Alex. I took a deep breath of relief and hugged him. “What happened?” He asked, concerned. I was still trying to get my breath, when he yelled, “Medics, medics.” And the whole attention drifted towards us. Immediately, I could see them putting handcuffs on his hands and leading him into the car like the criminal that he was. “Travis, Travis is badly injured. He has lost a lot of blood.” Those were the first words I said to Henry so they could go a
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Four Annabelle _Henry went out of the basement he kept us in. He went out through a different door this time. I saw him but I was not fully conscious.I didn't know what to do to get us out of his place but I knew that if we did not try to get help from the cops or whoever was around, things would get worse for us all and Travis could die.“Travis,” I called out to Travis who lay in his blood on the floor with his eyes swollen. I wasn't even sure if he was still alive. “Travis, can you hear me? Travis!” I yelled. I couldn't afford his death.“Yes, I can hear you.” He said in a very low voice. I knew he was losing a lot of blood and he was in severe pain.“Can you loosen me? I know it's hard for you to get up but if you can try, it would help us out. We can't stay here. Now is our time to get out of this house because I can hear people walking back and forth in his house. I'm sure they are looking for us.” I said to him to encourage him to get up. Travi
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-ThreeAnnabelle_All I saw was the blood of Travis spilling on the floor like someone had made an incision on a bottle.I picked a cloth that I saw in the room and used it to tie around his arm. I was very displeased with Henry as he stood and watched me take care of Travis' hands unremorsefully.“What has gotten into you? Why are you doing all this?” I asked with so much pain in my heart. I couldn't understand how Henry became the way he was all of a sudden.“Get back to your seat and tie yourself at this moment, Annabelle.” He yelled at me. “You should not have pushed me to the wall all these years. You are the reason why I'm like this. Yes, it's all your fault.”Travis tried to help himself up from the chair I sat him on so that I could help him with his hand and reduce his bleeding. The cloth I had used to tie his hand was filled in no time and I could see that Travis was losing a lot of blood at that time.“Let's take him to the hospital. You know he
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Two Travis_I broke into the house through Henry's kitchen window after I was sure he had gone out of the kitchen.I walked to the slap where knives were kept and I picked one very sharp one.“This should do a good job,” I said and hid the knife behind my back.“What you don't understand is, I'd catch a grenade for ya!” I could hear Travis as he sang in his voice to the song he played out. I used that opportunity to search around the room for any sign of Annabelle and Johnson.“Annabelle! Annabelle!” I whispered as I entered every part of the room downstairs.Then while walking on the corridor, I walked on a part of the floor that felt like something was beneath it.I went back to look at the stairs to be sure I could still hear Travis playing his song, which he was before I went down to check what it was.“This very strange man. Heaven knows where he kept Annabelle.” I tried to open the thing but I couldn't get how it was being handled. It had a complex
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty OneTravis_I received a call from an unknown number. It was very late at night. I had thought it was probably Annabelle because I had been expecting her to call me but I did not receive any calls from her.When I saw that it was unknown, I did not take the call because I was still hurting from the fact that Henry was playing the hero when he did not help to find Johnson at all from the onset. “He's my son. She's supposed to allow me to come along irrespective of what Henry was going to say or do. Don't I deserve to see him too?” I said to myself inwardly.Norah had slept off on my leg. We sat together in the parlor watching a movie.My phone kept ringing and ringing so I became forced to pick up the call. I did not say anything after picking up the call.“Can you hear me?” The person whispered and it made me curious. I placed Norah's head properly on the chair and stood up to receive the call in a place where she would not be disturbed.“Who is this?” I
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Annabelle_ I was scared that Henry might hurt me so I began to yell at him before he got closer to me, “Henry, what is wrong with you? Do not try anything funny. I'm warning you. You know how this will end. It will surely end badly for both of us. Just let me leave peacefully.” “You are not leaving through that door. Not today and not until you sign the wedding document.” He said and got closer to me. He pulled me with force to himself and began to kiss my body against my will. “Get off me! Get off!” He disgusted me but he held me so strong. It was very hard for me to move my body away from him. It was as though he wasn't the same Henry I had known. “Stop it, now!” I continued to shout at him but he would not let me go. I stretched my hand to reach the vase that was used to decorate his parlor. I was able to reach it and I slammed it on his head with all the force I had. I didn't know what to do next and he did not give me any option. All that was
Chapter One Hundred and Fifty NineAnnabelle_Brooklyn and I got to Henry's place very late at night. We had to drive for a long time for us to get to Henry's place. “Why does it look as if Henry is not around?” We were able to get into the house because the gate was not locked. “It's very strange that Henry's gate is open. He never opens his gate.” I said to Brooklyn who was driving the car.“Just be patient. It's late already and he was expecting you. So why wouldn't he leave his gate open?” I knew Brooklyn was tired of hearing all my complaints.“I don't feel good about this honestly. Something is wrong somewhere.” I said to Brooklyn, “Don't drive to the front of the building itself. Park around here.” Henry's compound had some gardens and big trees that one would go through before one would get to his house. I just wasn't comfortable with the way I felt.She sighed but did as I said.“I'd go in by myself alone. You should stay in the car in case anything bad happens.”Brooklyn ga
Chapter One Hundred and Fifty EightAnnabelle_Travis drove us into a very nice apartment that he said belonged to Samantha. It was a more beautiful apartment than the one that he lived in. “This apartment is nice. You guys could have lived here instead of where you're presently living though.” Brooklyn said. I was surprised she said that out loud so I turned to look at her.Travis smiled and said, “Well, Samantha loves her things to be perfectly the way she likes them. She fixed it several times, that's why it looks as good as this.” We got out of the vehicle and we could tell that Johnson was not in that building because everything there was so calm but we walked into it irrespective of how the environment felt, leaving Brooklyn and Norah alone in the car.Travis unlocked the door and led me into the room. “I don't think anyone is here at the moment but we can search the apartment to see if there might be any lead in the house,” Travis said to me as he walked into the living room