This story is in 2 parts. It is a story that is filled with dark past of a teenager which kept hunting him in the present. Watch out for this intriguing and scintillating experience you will get from this book.

[center][/center]EPISODE 1

“Charles,” Mr Philip called the third time, reaching out to tap his sleeping son roughly on the back. Charles stirred and stood up, stretching and yawning loudly at almost the same time. Mr Philip sighed aloud, once again his teenage son was being irresponsible. Charles was over fourteen years old yet he had no sense of responsibility, not even a tiny bit. Mr Philip started to speak, “you know, this whole house is a mess and you have been at home all day! What in goodness name have you been doing! Locked up in your room? Sleeping...” As his father ranted, Charles travelled down memory lane…

It was a bright Tuesday morning, Charles and Deborah had just returned home from school. “I can’t believe you have turned into a bully! How could you bully that poor girl in your class! You are better than this Charles,” Debby muttered as they walked through their cramped passage into their sitting room, she had to halt for her brother to go in first so that they wouldn’t end up hitting each other.

Charles sat down heavily on the only armchair in the room, it was their father’s. Deborah diverted, “dad said no one should be sitting in that chair and you are well aware of that,” with hands akimbo she faced him. Charles remained silent while stripping himself of his clothes and shoes and tossing them on the floor. Deborah swallowed hard, was he trying to upset her the more? “Charles!” she called in an irritated tone. “What?” he replied in the same tone. Debby resigned with one statement, “it’s all David’s fault, I warned you to stay away from him!” Giving him that stare that told him she could not recognize him anymore, she dashed into the bedroom she shared with her brother.
The house was a two-bedroom flat apartment of a one storey building. It was not as spacious as the kids had thought it to be at first but it was cosy.
“Charles!” Charles father’s harsh voice snapped him out of his reminiscences. He stared into his father’s face and stood up, “I’ll clean up right away sir, happy?” he muttered and left his room. Mr Philip sighed heavily and left for his own room.

“Hey neighbour,” her voice was loud enough for him to hear but Charles was determined not to even give her a glance as he hurriedly emptied his trash into the trashcan beside the gate of their compound. He finished and turned to go back inside but Stacey blocked his path. He nearly pushed her aside and walked away but on second thoughts he restrained himself.
For the first time he paused to stare at the girl standing in front of him, she appeared to be about three years younger than him, she was as dark-skinned as he was and for some reason, her sweet smile provoked him. “Get out of my way!” he spoke harshly. Her smile narrowed, “but, I am just trying to be nice, we are neighbours after all. It has been two weeks since my family and I moved here, yet you and I have barely spoken a word to each other even though we run into each other quite often. That ought not to be so, don’t you agree?” Charles could no longer bear it, he used one hand to push her to one side and started walking away. “Hey! don’t you dare treat my sister that way!” a masculine voice rang out not too far from where they were. Charles looked in the direction of the voice, now completely annoyed. Franklin was walking towards them, he stopped when he reached him. “Why did you shove my kid sister like that?” he questioned, his face was red with anger, literally. Unlike his sister, Franklin was fair-skinned. “How about asking your sister why she was blocking my way. Both of you should just stay out of my face!” Charles replied coldly and walked away.

Charles got to his room and locked himself in, he could clearly hear his father calling him out for dinner, but he did not care about dinner or his father, not after all the old man had put him through, not after he had caused his mother’s departure. Charles saw his father as the biggest failure ever. His father was a tailor and owned a small shop just across the street of where they resided. Charles could never understand why his father had quit a great job as a construction manager at one of the best constructing company in the country and for what, to start up tailoring! He was sure that this was one of the reasons his mother had left them six months ago. He had thought that she would come back after a day, or a week, even a month would have been fine but she had not returned, he had not set his face on her since the day she had walked out on them. Now he was stuck in his own world of hate and anger but it had not always been like this.

To be continued…

Episode 2

The rush of breeze into his face as he walked into the school compound made him sneeze. Charles used his palm to rub his nose, and then spared a quick glance at his worn-out leather wristwatch. He could never part with this watch, not even for the most expensive watch in the whole wide world. The watch was the last gift he had gotten from his sister. As he glanced at the watch, he could see that he was thirty minutes late to school, but that was progress to begin the term with. He had not been this less late in a long time. He almost smiled at himself but stopped when he saw a familiar figure approaching him. “Hello neighbour,” Franklin muttered a greeting. Charles nearly screamed, what the heck was this neighbour of his doing in his school and even putting on the school’s uniform! “Franklin, we are late for the school assembly, let’s hurry to the hall right away,” another voice spoke, approaching from behind, it was Stacey. Without a word, Charles walked on, leaving them, he was definitely not going to the school assembly, he rarely went anyway, but then he was not going to be around these two imposters either. Why were they even talking to him? They should just leave him the hell alone and stay the hell away from him! Well, he would excuse them just for the day, if they stayed in the school for just one day, they will probably know better than to associate with him.

The school bell rang to indicate the dismissal of school for the day. Charles hurriedly packed his bag, slung it over his shoulder and left the class. The day had gone on like every normal day – based on his own definition of normal. Charles was an average student, though he barely read or paid attention in class, he had always managed to pass every examination with at least good enough grades. He wasn’t the type to cheat during exams either, most of his classmates called it luck that he had never failed any examination but Charles had never really put much thought to it. Once there were some boys who tried to copy his indolent and irresponsible nonchalant behaviour, they failed that term woefully and even had to repeat the class that academic session. Charles was just Charles, that’s what his sister Debby would say. Back then, with Debby around, he had a direction but now, he was just lost, living each day trying not to care about anyone or anything.

“Hey Charles, please wait up,” he heard Franklin’s voice from behind, his shaky voice told that he had been running for a while to catch up with him. Charles kept walking, totally ignoring Franklin. Franklin ran past him and came to stand in front of him, blocking his path a bit. Charles spoke irritated, “What’s with you and your sister always blocking my path.” Franklin heaved in a deep breath and said, “You have got quite the reputation at school you know. Do you know what they are saying about you?” Charles had an idea but didn’t care, “What do you want?” he asked. Franklin smirked, “We live at the same place, so can’t we go home together? Oh, here comes Stacey, she…” Charles did not even wait for him to complete whatever rubbish he was saying, he just walked away.

At home, after tossing a lunch of bread and butter into his stomach, he went to his room, locked himself in and continued his journey down memory lane.
After Deborah left for their room upset, Charles got up and picked up his things from the floor, and then walked to their room. He paused to knock since she could be dressing up, she did not respond. He waited and then knocked again, still no response. He waited a bit more, and then walked in. Deborah was sitting on the bed just staring into space. Charles dropped the things he was holding and bent towards her by the bed, “Debby, I’m sorry, please don’t be mad at me anymore,” he muttered. She turned to stare into his face, and then replied “big brother, I don’t need you to be sorry, I just need you to promise me that you will stop being friends with that David boy.” Charles stood up and let out a sign. “See, you can’t even do that for me. You used to brag about how you could do anything for me! I guess that’s all talk.” Deborah stood up and continued, “I’m going to Kate’s place, we are doing a group study this evening, I’ll be back home before seven.” Kate was One of Deborah’s best friends. They were three in total; Kate, Carol and Gabriel. The four of them will often hang out together, thick as thieves.

As Deborah reached the door, Charles muttered, “but Debby, what will I eat?” Deborah glared at him and chuckled, “I don’t know Charles, you are the big brother, figure it out.” Having said that, she left. Charles heaved his body onto the bed and sighed again, he hated times like this, when he and his sister were having misunderstandings, mostly because he suffered the most.

Charles and Deborah’s parents were rarely home. They were what you would call typically business-minded fellas. Mrs. Rhoda Philip their mother was a journalist and she travelled a lot. At the time, she was in Abuja trying to cover a story about a recent happening there. Their father Mr. Daniel Philip was a Construction manager at a huge construction company. He worked all the time, even on weekends, so his kids barely saw of him. Due to this, the two kids were mostly on their own. Charles had to be the one to take care of his kid sister and himself but often times, it was his kid sister taking care of them.

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EPISODE 3
The classroom was as silent as a graveyard. Charles's head was bowed on his desk; he seemed oblivious of what was going on around him since as usual he was buried in a world of his own. Suddenly there was a loud thud above his head, he hastily raised his head and was just quick enough to avoid a bouncing ball that was initially headed for his head. He stood up, red-eyed, “who threw that fucking ball!” Everyone in the classroom suddenly had their eyes fixed on the enraged boy. They all seemed visibly shaken; no one would ever dare to upset Charles, not when in their right frame of mind. He started walking away from his seat and threw one icy stare at the nearest classmate; Jenny was the unfortunate one. She stuttered, “It, it, it was an accident, he, he hadn’t…” she was coldly interrupted, “Save that rubbish explanation for someone who cares! I only asked for a name! Do you want to die?” The girl trembled like a leaf being blown about by violent winds.
There was a momentary silence as the air reeked of tension and threats until Franklin stepped out. “It was me; I threw the ball but…” Charles did not wait for the poor boy to complete his statement, he dealt him with a rough blow, which landed on the boy’s cheek, blood gushed out of the boy’s mouth and everyone except the villain gasped. Before Franklin could regain his stamina, he received a kick on his stomach. He staggered like a heavy drunk but managed not to fall on the floor, he knew he had to fight back so he did. With all his might he pushed Charles, who slipped and landed on the floor, hitting his head hard on one side of a chair; he hadn’t expected that Franklin would fight back, his anger hit rock bottom.

Some students had already rushed to call for their class teacher’s help. The fight had gotten ugly with both boys having black eyes, bruised bodies and blood-stained shirts. When Mr. Adekunle dashed into the classroom minutes later, he was horrified. “Both of you, to the principal office now!”
To be continued...

EPISODE 4
Standing face to face with the principal, Charles had a little bit of regret. Lately, he had tried so hard to keep his head low and avoid all sorts of interactions with his peers as well as everyone else but this neighbor of his had to push him beyond his limit. The principal, a middle-aged woman was fair-skinned, the tribal marks on her cheeks made her beautiful face quite hardened. This was the first time Charles was seeing the new principal who had resumed office at the start of the term. Charles lowered his gaze from the woman’s face to the floor as she started to speak, his mind raced; the woman looked somewhat familiar. “You rascals! What caused this bloody fight?” her voice compelled trembling from both boys who each started speaking at once, each trying to defend himself. “Shut up!” she quieted them.

Jenny was standing in a corner of the room with their class teacher. She was asked to explain what had happened. She looked frightfully at Charles whose eyes warned her to be cautious with her words, but the Principal’s eyes were even scarier so she soon found herself spouting the truth.

After hearing the terrified girl out, the principal turned to both boys. “Is she speaking the truth?” Both boys nodded. She turned to Franklin, “I didn’t expect that you would get into a fight son! That’s not how I raised you!” Charles blinked, “Son…” The woman turned her gaze to Charles, “And you.” Charles could guess that he was doomed, “He had gotten into a fight with the principal’s son!” Distantly, the woman spoke on, “I will not tolerate any more insolence from you, I have been briefed about you, and you are a confirmed troublemaker. One more mistake and you will be expelled and you can be sure that I will ensure you find it extremely difficult to get into another respectable school.”

Charles swallowed hard, was he the only one that found this woman’s verdict extreme? When had he ever looked for trouble? Ever since he began schooling at Great Academy College, a year ago, he had mostly kept to himself. Truthfully, there had been times he had been involved in fights but he had never been the one to start it; he hated his peace and quiet disturbed, that was the one thing that had caused every of such fights. He heard the principal say that both boys were to clean the whole school, every day for the remaining part of the term, at least the punishment had included the both of them.

Later that evening, Charles was throwing out the trash when Stacey approached. “You fought with my brother, why would you do that?” she questioned with hands akimbo, with the same tone Debby would use whenever she wanted to reprimand him. He ignored her. She smiled and continued, “Of course I expected that. Anyway, my mother was a bit harsh, I heard from Franklin. She is super strict most of the time but she means well, I am sure her words were more of a threat than a warning…” She was coldly interrupted. “And you are telling me all this because?” he asked. A frown replaced her sweet smile, “You are really cold, you know?” she muttered. Charles glared at Stacey and said, “no arguments. Now will you get lost!” Stacey snapped and walked away furious. Charles smiled, and then frowned almost immediately, for some reason he was not pleased that he had upset Stacey.

To be continued…

EPISODE 5
“You got into a fight again Charles! Don’t you recall the reason we relocated and changed your school was to give you a chance to get a fresh start. Now you are messing it up!” Mr. Philip was yelling at his son who just sat coiled up on a sofa in the sitting room. He continued, “You heard the principal, one more nonsense from you, you get expelled and I promise you if that happens, I won’t get you enrolled in another school.” Charles remain fixed in his position, not uttering a word, this flared his father up the more. “Don’t you have anything to say?” Charles coughed, “dad, you once warned me not to speak when you are speaking. I am only trying to heed to that warning.” Mr. Philip laughed, how dare his son try to play smart with him! He was about to continue scolding the lad but taking one close look at him, he discovered that his son was more depressed than usual. He moved to his side and with one hand on his shoulder asked, “what’s wrong?” Charles threw his dad a confused glance, was anything right? he wondered but bit back the words. “I will try not to get into trouble again dad even though that’s what I have been doing all along. You didn’t even ask who started the fight, I was on my own but that fool attacked me first.”

Mr. Philip sighed, maybe he was being too hard on his son. Charles spoke on, “now you care about what goes on in my life? In my school? Well, I think I prefer the times when everyone minded their business. When you and mom only cared about your work!” Where was all this coming from, Mr. Philip wondered. “Just stop Charles,” he mumbled. His son continued, totally ignoring him, “My sister and I had had to take care of each other. Do you remember Debby’s award Ceremony? She won a huge competition and the school was celebrating her but you and mom never showed up at that event. Debby was heart-broken and that was not the only time you had hurt her! I am not even talking about me! I am sure my sister would still be alive if you had been a better father!” He could not bear the slap anymore, “shut up! You don’t even remember what happened and you are throwing blames, if only you remember what really happened!” Mr. Philip yelled and dashed into his room.

That night, Charles cried himself to dream. As soon as his eyes opened to the world beyond, he saw Deborah. She was standing in their favorite spot, a big mango tree just in front of the house they once resided together. She had that beautiful smile on her face as she gazed lovingly at her brother. Charles muttered, ‘I miss you.” She smiled sadly and he wanted to apologize for not being the brother she deserved, but stopped when he noticed that her dress was stained with blood. Debby suddenly pointed towards him and started mumbling some words, he tried but he could not hear what she was saying. With a scream, Charles woke up.
To be continued

EPISODE 6

The air whispered terror. Charles clutched onto his pillow tightly as he glanced around the room. He was really shaken after the nightmare he just had. Debby had been pointing at him and muttering some words; he wondered what she had been saying. And her dress was stained with blood!
Charles could not recall the events leading to his sister death, he had tried so hard to remember but it was just as if that memory had been completely erased. All he knew was that, his sister had died in a car accident close to their previous home. He sighed; the coming month would make it a year. Debby had been gone for just a year but it seemed like no one remembered her anymore, not his father or his runaway mother. It was as if they had just completely erased her from their memory, acting like she never existed. However, it could never be the case with him, she lived on in him. He was reminded of his muse every second, he missed her so much.
Breathing in deeply, he stretched on the bed and closed his eyes as his mind flooded with the happy moments he had shared with his sister.

Mr. Philip dashed into Charles room hours later, he was enraged as he reached out to wake the sleeping lad. It was already past eight and he was still in bed when his mates were in school learning. However, as his hands touched his son’s bare skin, he withdrew immediately; Charles was burning hot! He had a high fever! Sitting beside the bed, Mr. Philip called his son’s name calmly, “Charles, are you awake?” Charles twitched his eyebrows; his face was pale as he opened his eyes weakly. “Come on, let me help you get dressed so that we can go to the hospital.” As he spoke, he tried to help his son up. Charles shook his head in disapproval; hospital! He dreaded that awful place! Mr. Philip understood and smiled. “I’ll call our doctor then. First, let me help you to the bathroom, you need to take a bath and change your clothes, it will help lower your temperature.” Charles nodded and complied as his dad helped him to the bathroom.

Charles was sick for a few days; he could not go to school. On the third day however, he felt a bit better. It was a cool evening, so he decided to take a stroll on the streets. His legs had felt sore since he had been all coiled up in bed because of his illness. As he returned from the stroll, he collided with Stacey, who was just returning home from school. She stared at him and muttered, “you are really reckless; how could you miss school for three whole days! Is your father even aware? How could you not take your education seriously?” Charles glared at the nosy girl, how could a person just jump into assumptions? Why couldn’t she just mind her own business! He hissed and turned to leave, Stacey held him back, upsetting him the more. Annoyed, he pushed her, tossing her hand away from his body. Stacey gave a loud shout as she slipped and fell down, and then there was silence. Charles turned to where she had fallen down and gasped. Why was there blood on the floor. He bent towards her and realized that as she had fallen, she had hit her head hard on a thick wall; it was bleeding. Shivers of fear ran through Charles spine as he blinked repeatedly.
To be continued…

EPISODE 7
To say that Charles was terrified would be a grand understatement; he stood transfixed as he watched the whole scene before him. An ambulance was already taking Stacey away. He could hear Franklin yelling and threatening behind him while shaking him vigorously. As the ambulance disappeared from his sight, Charles could feel himself gradually fading; he found himself lost in an unclear memory. The whole scene seemed so unusually familiar, which only worsened his shivering.

“If anything happens to my daughter, your son won’t go free. First, he attacked and fought my son and now he wants to kill my daughter! Your son is seriously not okay! He needs to see a psychiatric doctor as soon as possible.” Charles could hear Stacey’s mother threatening fire and brimstone in the sitting room. Earlier, Charles’ father had dragged him to his bedroom and warned him strictly to remain locked inside until he said otherwise. So, he was locked up in his room, with one of his ears pressing against the door, listening to his father being humiliated. Stacey’s father who happened to be a Lawyer, was unusually calm, he spoke calmly, pleading with his wife that they leave. As they left, Franklin muttered, “if anything happens to my sister, I will never forgive that arrogant son of yours. I will make sure he suffers a hundred times more than he is making my sister suffer!”

The house was enveloped with a grave silence. Mr. Philip paced about the sitting room lost in thoughts. His son was getting out of control. What if something does happen to Stacey? The girl’s father was a lawyer for goodness sake! And her mother happened to be very influential; they were definitely doomed.
As he recalled his daughter Debby and the events leading to her death and how it had forever changed his son, tears welled up his eyes. And to think that Rhoda his wife had left them without looking back.

A gentle tap on his shoulder brought him back to the present. His eyes fell on his son’s face. “Dad, is that tears in your eyes?” Charles asked. Mr. Philip sniffed, “I told you not to leave your room until I say so” he muttered. Charles lowered his gaze to the floor. He had never meant for things to reach this point. He had just wanted to be left alone but the girl had kept bugging him. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. Regret and anger flooded him. He was so angry at himself; maybe Stacey’s mom was right, maybe there was something seriously wrong with him and he needed to see a psychiatrist. “You are trouble Charles. All you bring me is pain and humiliation and disappointment. You better pray hard that Stacey recovers! You heard her family; we will be in big trouble if anything happens to her.” Charles bit his lower lips as his father reprimanded him. He sank on a sofa after his father left the sitting room…

EPISODE 8
Charles entered into the sitting room, he had been playing with his friends outside and had only just come in for a cup of water. From the sitting room he could hear his sister on the phone with someone; she seemed to be in a bad mood as they spoke. He wondered who it was but then he caught a statement, “it’s fine mom, I should have known all along that you would break your promise yet again. Have a great time working! Don’t even bother coming back home to us, ever!”

Charles dashed into the bedroom just as Debby ended the call and was about to smash the phone on the wall in anger. He was quick enough to take the phone away from her hand. “What’s wrong Debby?” he asked calmly, reaching for one of her hands. Deborah opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out, instead she sobbed and Charles drew her close into his embrace, his heart hurt as he watched her cry. Not knowing what to do, he patted her back until she gradually stopped sobbing. “Mom won’t be coming home as planned. She won’t be around for the award’s ceremony. And dad, you know how he is, I am sure he won’t make it either. None of my parents would be around for my big day,” Debby muttered and Charles sighed. Deborah had represented their school; Great Academy College in an Inter school Science quiz competition and she had emerged the final winner, breaking history and returning to the school with a gold medal. The school had therefore decided to host a small party to honor her. Great Academy College had been participating in the science quiz competition for years but this was the first time they had gotten the Gold Medal, all thanks to their best outstanding Junior secondary school two student of just twelve years old.



Deborah sniffed and released herself from her brother’s embrace. “Mom and Dad do not love us Charles. They do not care about us, they only care about their work! I hate them both!” He placed a hand on her shoulder and muttered, “it doesn’t matter if they are around for your big day or not, at least I’ll be there with you. You can always count on me Debby.” Deborah shifted her gaze from the carpet to her brother’s eyes. “Do you really promise that I can always count on you?” she asked searching his eyes. He heaved in a deep breath and started to reply…

“Charles, get up!” Mr. Philip’s voice brought his son back to reality. Charles stared at his father and stood up from his bed, he had literally been in bed all day. “You were sick before so not going to school could be justified but you are okay now, don’t you want to go to school anymore?” his father’s voice was calm. Yawning, he stretched, and then replied flatly, “I will go to school tomorrow.”
Mr. Philip sighed, and then said, “get dressed, we are leaving for the hospital in 30 minutes. We need to go and see Stacey; I was informed that she has gained consciousness.” Charles could not hide his sigh of relief, Mr. Philip smiled, at least his son cared. He added, “even though Stacey will be fine, you drew a clear line when you assaulted her. Her family will be definitely hard on us. Try your best to steer clear from trouble henceforth.” Charles mumbled in an extremely low tone, “I had not assaulted her.” Mr. Philip turned to him sharply, “sorry, I did not hear you.” Charles replied, this time in an audible tone. “I am not going to the hospital dad. It is fine now that she is fine, I don’t need to go there…” he was interrupted “Don’t be arrogant Charles, you owe them especially Stacey an apology and if you do not apologize it will only complicate things.” Charles sighed and sank back on his bed, “I will be back, be dressed up by then,” his dad muttered and left the room.

EPISODE 9

The incessant murmuring in the classroom was becoming unbearable. Charles wished the school had not prohibited them from bringing phones to school, he could have just plugged in his earpiece and escaped this hell of a place! It was the long break period and as usual, the class had gone wild. Charles sighed; a little bit louder than he had intended, attracting the attention of a few classmates. He hissed and stood up; his eyes caught Franklin’s fiery glare; the boy had been giving him that accusing expression all day. Charles rolled his eyes and looked away. Stacey was fine now so why won’t Franklin stop. Besides, the whole school now saw him as a monster that had wanted to murder the principal’s precious daughter. The news of the incidence had unfortunately spread like wildfire, kudos to the principal and Franklin. Before people were just confused about him but now, they despised him; like he cared!

As Charles started to walk out of the classroom, someone pushed him from behind. It took a lot of energy for him to maintain his stamina, swallowing hard he turned to the courageous idiot. It was Ade. Ade had been the most feared boy in the school until Charles had enrolled. He had tried on different occasions to befriend Charles but had been snubbed. Charles had preferred being a class loner, his personality was complex in the sense that even though he had never really bullied anyone, the fact that he had never really interacted with his peers was seen as bullying and hence his reputation.
At first, when Charles had enrolled in Great Academy college, people like Ade had thought that he was timid and had tried to take advantage of that by intimidating him. They had however learnt the hard way that Charles became a wounded lion once he was stepped on.

Staring at Ade now, Charles was not stupid enough to not realize the idiot’s intention – once he ventured to fight back, it would be back to the principal’s office receiving his expulsion letter. Ade wanted him gone that bad. Did the lad want his “most notorious” reputation back that bad? Well whatever he wanted; Charles was sure not willing to let him have it. Turning swiftly, Charles walked out of the classroom without looking back even once.

School dismissed and Charles had to assume the punishment assigned to them by the principal. He had not been in school for a few days so Franklin had been the one carrying out the punishment alone according to their class teacher. He had only done the punishment on the first day it was given. Mr. Adekunle had said earlier that morning, “The principal had instructed that you take on the whole punishment since you chose to skip school just to avoid carrying out your punishment in the first place!” So, Charles was now left to clean the whole school by himself! The twenty classrooms, plus the eight laboratories and six staffrooms… He was lucky that the toilets were an exception, that would have been really unbearable.

As he rounded up and took the trash to the big Trashcan mounted at a corner of the school, he caught sight of Franklin and Stacey walking towards the gate with their mother. They passed by him; Stacey avoided his gaze completely while Franklin still glared at him accusingly, their mother on the other hand only spared him a quick glance before looking away. Pausing to wipe off the sweat on his forehead with his palm, he let out a sigh. He did owe Stacey an apology and he did want to apologize; the problem was he had no idea how to go about it. Back then when his dad had forced him to go to the hospital to see Stacey, he had just moped at them without uttering a word, so his dad had been the one to do the apologizing. Then, he just had no idea what to say with everyone glaring at him like some hardened criminal, even his own father! Now he wished he could at least get her alone and apologize to her. Moreover, his apology would sure not matter, especially now, so was there even any point in apologizing?

After tossing the trash into the rubbish bin, Charles went back to his classroom. All the students had gone home already and even only few teachers still remained. At least, he had managed to clean the whole school! it had taken him over 3 hours to complete his punishment. He checked out with Mr. Adekunle and was soon on his way home. His whole body ached from the tedious work he had just carried out but the ache in his heart was more.
To be continued…

Episode 10

Gradually the weekend came and like every other weekend without Debby, Charles planned on lazying about all day. He literally remained in his room till noon doing nothing but lying in bed. Even the movies and video games he had always busied himself with was not appealing to him at all. A soft knock on his door broke the deafening silence in his room. He glanced at the door as his father stepped in. "Hey dear, do you want to go out? There is a live football match airing in about an hour, it's our club Chelsea against Arsenal, we could go out and watch it together at some restaurant and eat lunch there too. What do you say?" Mr Philip said excitedly. Charles sighed aloud and shifted his gaze from his father to the ceiling. "Not interested," he muttered flatly. "Huh?" his father could not hide his disappointment. He tried again, "okay, how about we just watch it together at home when it is time. I will go to buy some drinks and fix a quick lunch." Charles spared him a quick glance, "what do you want?" he asked not hiding his irritation. Mr Philip who had been standing by the door all this while took the initiative to walk towards the bed. He sat down on the bed with a calm expression on his face. Charles sat up watching him closely. "Son, I just want to spend time with you, is that wrong?" Charles could sense the hurt in his father's tone, he felt guilty a bit but he was also upset at the same time. Spend time with him? Well, there was a time he would have loved that. Swallowing hard he replied truthfully, "dad, I really don't feel like watching football or anything." His dad nodded and stood up, seconds later he had left the room. Charles sighed heavily and lay back on the bed as his mind raced; he once again found himself reminiscing on the events of the past.

“Do you really promise that I can always count on you?”Debby asked searching Charles' eyes. Charles heaved in a deep breath and muttered, "come on Debby, I love you so much, you know that right? Come here," he opened his arms and pulled his sister in for an embrace. "We have each other, always and forever we will be there for each other. I will always be here for you, rest assured. I will never allow you to get hurt!" Debby broke their embrace and smiled at him. "I will go make lunch." She started to leave but stopped after recalling something. She turned to look at him, "you should take a bath, you stink!" Charles giggled at her words. She smiled and left for the kitchen. She was right, he needed a bath since he was all sweaty. He had been playing football with his friends before he came in for some water and found her in that state.

"Charles! Charles!" Charles blinked as he was brought back to present by his father's voice. What did the old man want now! he thought as his father sat beside him again. "Lunch is ready and served. I made your favourite dish; beans and bread," his father announced. Charles could not hide his smile, satisfying his father who grinned. He was indeed touched this time around. He left for the dining room with his father and as they settled down to start eating he suddenly thought of something and sighed! "Are you okay?" his father asked and he nodded. As they ate Charles struggled inwardly but hid it pretty well.

"How is school these past few days?" Mr Philip initiated a conversation. Charles frowned, all he wanted to do was eat in peace was that too much to ask! And a school in the past few days had sure been hell, what did his father expect anyway after the incident with the principal's daughter. When he did not respond, his father muttered, "I know it must have been hard for you especially after what happened with Stacey." Charles remained silent, totally ignoring his father. Mr Philip sighed sadly and decided to focus on his food. A tense silence ensued and just as it was becoming intense, Charles phone which was on the table suddenly rang, almost startling both father and son. Charles glanced at the screen, it was an unknown caller. He hesitated for a while, and then picked the call. "Hello," he muttered emotionless. The other line was silent. "Hello!" he repeated getting impatient. Still, the silence remained. Sighing, he hung up without putting much thought to who the caller could have been.

Mr Philip watched his son, he wondered who the caller could be. Charles barely got calls, he did not even have friends which surprised him when his phone had suddenly rung. He thought for a while and then his face suddenly turned pale as a possibility occurred to him. There was only one person who would contact his son like this.

EPISODE 11

"I am stepping out for a while dear, be good okay?" Mr Philip muttered to his son who was sitting on a sofa leg crossed, busy with his phone. The boy spared him a nod without looking up from his phone. He smiled contentedly and left the house. The house in which they lived in was a three-bedroom flat apartment of a two-storey building. Their apartment was on the ground floor. The house was quite spacious compared to their previous residence.

It was a cool Sunday evening, Charles had been home all day and he was quite bored. For some reason he still wanted the day to last much longer. After all, the next day, it was back to school; that hell of a place! After toying with his phone for a few more minutes, he decided to step out too. He took a stroll to the end of his street and bought a bottle of Coca-cola drink. Next, he walked back to his gate and stood by it, sipping the drink slowly. After a few minutes, he caught a glance of Stacey walking towards the gate from a distance and his head began to ache. His heartbeat increased simultaneously. He knew he had to apologize to her right at that moment. As she reached the gate he blocked the entrance with his body.

Stacey glared at Charles, her eyes filled with fear for the creature before her. Seeing her terrified gaze and noticing that her breathing was gradually turning into pants, his heart broke a little. She was terrified of him! She slowly retreated and was about to turn back when he gently reached out to hold her hand, her panting increased and Charles became afraid that she would scream for help. He released her hand and called softly, "Stacey." She replied in a terrified tone, "What do you want? Please don't hurt me!" Charles sighed, she really only saw him as a monster now. Her eyes were even beginning to tear up. "Stacey I never meant to hurt you that day, I swear!" he spoke as gently as possible. Stacey just kept glaring at him, his gaze shifted uncomfortably to the floor. Her breathing gradually became stable and he continued, "I am so sorry for hurting you and I am so sorry that I am only just apologizing now. I hope you can forgive me one day. " He spared her a quick glance after speaking all at once and then dashed into the compound leaving an appalled Stacey.

The next day after school, Charles carried out his punishment and prepared to go home. The day had been uneventful, even the threat Franklin had not been in school that day. As he walked down the remote street that leads to the main road where he would board a tricycle home, his mind wandered. Suddenly there was a loud bang and the quiet street turned chaotic. People ran helter-skelter and Charles had to quickly dodge an angry mob that ran past him from behind. A girl fell down just a few meters away from him and he rushed towards her on impulse and helped her to her feet. A familiar set of eyes stared back at him and he immediately released his grip on her hand. "Stacey, are you okay?" he asked in uncertainty, she nodded letting out a relieved sigh.

Glancing around, Charles tried to comprehend what was happening. Just in front of them, a young boy was being beaten mercilessly by some young men. There were bruises all over the young lad's body, he was a bloody mess. Subconsciously, he reached out and took Stacey's hand in his again, and then he tried to listen to the conversation of the people around him. "He stole from that woman's shop," a man was saying. "He is only a young boy, let him go already, you have beaten him enough," an elderly man screamed to the men beating the boy up. A familiar scene played out in Charles' mind, except this time the boy was much younger. Charles inhaled deeply as he tried to wave away David's daring image from his mind, he had not thought about this best friend of once upon a time, in a long time now. Before anyone could say, Jack, a man poured petrol on the poor boy and was already striking a match. "Someone please call the police!" someone yelled from the crowd. Charles could feel Stacey shivering uncontrollably as she sobbed beside him. As the man threw a lit match on the boy, Charles turned swiftly and used his body to block Stacey from seeing the horrifying scene. The boy gave a loud scream as his whole body went up in flame. It was too late when the police arrived. The crowd dispersed as everyone took to their heels. Charles held onto Stacey's hand as they ran towards safety.

to be continued...

thanks for this interesting piece...... its wonderful
I think there is something Charles needs to remember, so he can forgive himself I guess, And move on too

You are doing a great job. More ink to ur pen

juninhouj:
thanks for this interesting piece...... its wonderful
I think there is something Charles needs to remember, so he can forgive himself I guess, And move on too

yes

ikechukwu72:
You are doing a great job. More ink to ur pen

thanks alot

Pls op what happened to this story?