TWO

UGO

I took in the orderliness of the little room that had always served as my safe space for the longest time. All my childhood memories were still intact, almost as I had left them.

My mother had taken it upon herself to preserve all the good memories, making sure not to alter the shape of the room and the position of things as I left them.

I tried recalling the last time I visited Lilycity. It's been well over two years. Fairview had found a way to draw me into its tight grasp and sapped me off all my free time. I sighed, recalling my mother's tears at the airport when she came to pick me up. I was initially skeptical that she would be the one to pick me up, but then she somehow managed to convince me with my father's support that she has recovered perfectly since her intestinal surgery.

"Poor woman." I murmured regrettably.

Pulling my hair into a tight bun, I sat down on the only chair in my room, took in the beauty of the modest-looking room and smiled. What my room lacked in size, it made up for in character. There was my doll-sized bed that seemed refurbished, but the color and designs were still intact.

"Mum." I smiled, tapping the bed frame, imagining the stress she must have gone through just to ensure that the bed retained its design.

I pulled my window blinds closed. That was the only renovation my mother made in the room that I seriously didn't mind. The ugly looking suede curtains were off the wall and replaced by stylish window blinds that had me wishing to catapult the same into my home office at Fairview.

Carefully, I pulled out my old sweatpants from the wardrobe, making sure to pick the easiest and elastic one I could lay my hand on, black and ash color it was.

Placing it on my waist, I tried to visualize what it would look like on me.

Over the years, I had taken serious care of my body, causing me to develop more adequate muscles and toned skin, shredding off the unnecessary fats at some absurd parts of my body, so with its elasticity, I had no doubt the sweatpants would be my perfect size.

Putting it on, alongside a sports top, I ran down the stairs. "I'm going for another run, mum." I announced as I passed my mother in the kitchen. But the poor woman ran out of the kitchen hastily causing me to pause in my steps.

"Again!" She almost screamed my ears out. "But Ugo, we've talked about this, it's not safe to jog through the neighborhood alone. Times have changed." My mother said,

"Oh, not to worry, I can take care of myself, Mommy." I tried assuring her but she shook her head in disagreement.

"I'm not letting you out of that door. This is not years ago when you were just twelve. There are rumors of gangs and cartels everywhere. I can't let you out alone."

"Mama..." I protested but she didn't budge. "Fine, I'll just run around a couple of blocks and I'll be home. I promise, it will be just like yesterday." I pleaded, curving my lips in a sober twitch.

"Fine." She finally agreed. "Just within the streets and you make sure to come home as soon as possible. Dinner will be ready soon."

"Aye aye ma." I was outside in a flash and hit the ground running, literally, zipping down the streets.

I dodged people and the heaps of garbage that were piling up on the sidewalks. Grandma May's house caught my attention instantly. A clear image of myself and my best friend, Daisy, playing at the back of that house flashed through my mind and I smiled sweetly.

"How time flies." I whispered to myself.

Now the gorgeous and once-upon-a-time most beautiful house on the street was now a tangle of faded washed-out walls and overgrown plant weeds.

I took a couple of turns to a few familiar streets I used to ply through as a kid, ignoring my mother's warning to run within the area. I'd stuck to that warning the previous day but today is a new day.

Things have indeed changed in Lilycity. There were new buildings, exotic shops and the roads looked way better. A few more turns brought me to the part of Lilycity that was considered the city slum, a stark contrast to the manicured lawns I grew up in.

Rumors always had it that the houses here offer affordable accommodations to a weird mix of underprivileged families, and drug dealers. Seeing the current condition of most of the houses, I sighed regrettably.

What used to be a cute middle-class neighborhood was now a dilapidated, sore spot on the city's good standing. The homes were built about three feet from the street and barely two feet apart from each other, a pattern I used to like until now.

Most of the paints on the houses were chipping away. Multicolored layers had started peering through spots as if the houses bared the scars left by their previous owners before being abandoned for good. I felt a few peering eyes on me, making me cringe with worry, wondering if it was the first time they had ever seen someone run through the streets.

I tried to convince myself that it was because of where I was, in this city or maybe not. Maybe it was something else. It could have everything to do with me being in a neighborhood like this one, it was common for someone like me to be a beacon for curious stares.

Ebony skin, brown hair with bold blonde tips. And to say that I was well built and beautifully endowed in the right places. My regular visits to the gym, Pith's karate classes, Bell's Yoga classes, my dermatologist and nutritionist wasn't just for the paparazzi of taking pictures and making videos.

My body is amazing, so is my skin, spotless and shiny. Now worried, I turned up the sound on my airpod. It's easier to ignore people's stares when you've got music blasting in your ears. Then I ran up the next bus stop and took a sharp turn to the next faintly-familiar street, tracing my way back home.

I veered onto the pathway that led through a cemetery. Like the rest of the neighborhood, the cemetery had been left neglected, with weeds growing everywhere around, and within the slow cracks of tombstones. Street-gang graffiti, spray-painted art covered almost every surface of the graveyard, including some of the stones.

I recalled running through this same route with some of the kids from school almost every day when I was fourteen. Some days we would stop and sit on the tombstones and gist before we continued. Other days we'll keep running until we start dispersing to our various homes.

But today I kept running, trying to make the most out of the lingering daylight, because I was running late, and a graveyard was definitely not where I wanted to be seated after dark.

The pathway snaked the cemetery and eventually led through a fence of overgrowth and trees.

I ran into the opening of the field of weeds, feeling unsettled and tense, then curved into another street, bringing myself closer to home.

The streets held more people and buildings, contrary to the shorty quietness I experienced at the cemetery that had been virtually deserted.

Plying through a few more streets, I caught sight of my home in front and noticed the figure of my parents pacing the lawn with worry all over their faces.

I ran up to the front of the house and stood staring at them. "Where the hell did you go to?"

"Ada, language." My father, Liam Chike chided.

"I don't understand, is there a problem? Mom?"

"I told you not to run past our neighborhood. What if something had happened to you? You just don't listen, you're just a replica of your father. None of you listen until you fall into a ditch!"

"Let's go inside." My Father said to a confused me.

I was completely clueless as to why my mother was upset. I was home, in one piece. Yet, that was not enough?

Still panting from running several streets, I followed them inside the house. "Go freshen up and come down for dinner. We need to talk." My mother finally said after being silent for a while.

I nodded and headed up the stairs, the fear of what I saw in my mother's eyes hunting me while I battled with cleaning my body thoroughly in the bathroom.