Chapter Five

I was left with no touch of reality, my phone, iPad and old laptop I'm very sure I had kept in my room was gone. I didn't know what was happening in the world around me, or more importantly what the hell was going on right now.

I woke up hours ago, shocked to see that I was in my room in my parents house. I knew immediately who was behind my 'kidnaping' and that person is none other than Mr. Caleb Black.

The door was locked and no matter how hard I pulled and kicked, it didn't budge. My balcony door was locked for the first time since we moved into this house, I had used my chair to try to break the glass but it was just too thick or maybe I was just weak.

I had cried for so long that my head began to ache after my pathetic attempts to escape turned so I sucked it up and sat cross legged on the floor and I began to think of how much I missed Andrew.

From what I remember he picked the call just before I was taken and knowing him, he would have tried to call me back a hundred times, that's if my SIM cards weren't broken immediately. He'd have called my parents and basically everyone in Lagos to look for me, that's if my dad didn't already give him some silly excuse after assuring him that I was at 'home.'

Dad knew what was going to happen, that's the only explanation to why he took me against my will and if I know my dad well, once he wants something, he gets it.

The locks were heard readjusting and my first reaction was to get up but I sat back, I'm too tired for that.

"Victoria," he called but I ignored him. "Victoria?"

"What dad?" I wiped my head up and glared at him.

"I'm sorry," he said and sat on the floor opposite from me, tucking his legs under him.

"For ruining my life right? And you think your pathetic sorry going to fix it?" I've never been one to be rude to my parents, my mum especially, she'll kill you in the blink of an eye but today was different, I guess I deserve this one chance.

His shoulders dropped, "it's for the best."

"The best?" I chuckled dryly. "So you think handing out your daughter in marriage to some stranger is the best?"

"Miles Jacobs is not a stranger, he's a good man and I'm very sure he'll take good care of you, you'll be in good hands." He tried to touch my hand but I retracted it and gave him the meanest glare I could muster.

"What about Andrew? Am I supposed to just forget about him?"

He stood up and dusted the back of his slacks before tucking his hands into the pockets, "yes." He left the room and locked the door behind him while I sat there with my mouth on the floor

I don't know how long I sat on the floor for or how I closed my eyes and was able to sleep but when I opened them again, the night sky had already taken over and my entire body felt like it was crushed.

A covered plate with two bottle of water was at the foot of the door and my stomach grumbled in response. With a heavy sigh I crawled to the door and took the plate and bottles of water with me to sit on my bed.

It was rice, beans and stew. I wolfed down the food like someone who was just breaking a fast of  forty days and when I finished I dropped the plate on the floor back to it's original position and finished a bottle of water before laying on the bed and sleeping.

***

I knew it was risky but I didn't have an option. It was past eleven pm, how I knew? NEPA had given us electricity at their appointed time every evening which is eleven pm.

I had decided to try and pick my lock and to my greatest surprise I got it so I was going to sneak to my dad's office to get my phone. I know dad wouldn't keep the phone in his room, he's that predictable.

I sucked in a breath and slowly opened my door, lucky me it doesn't creak when it is opened unlike other doors in the house. The hallway was empty, another luck, so I tiptoed downstairs, the lights were off meaning everyone was upstairs. Knowing my way around the house in the dark getting to dad's office was easy and another luck on my side, he wasn't in the office too.

I checked his desk drawer and I found my phone, I told you he was very predictable. I sat on his chair and quickly switched it on then dialled Andrew's number. The first time the machine told me it wasswitched off, I tried again and it rang but he didn't pick, the third time it didn't ring at all, the fourth time was not reachable. I tried ten more times but all were basically the same thing, not reachable and switched off.

This is why I hate Nigerian network, it doesn't chose one to tell.

"I'm very sure I closed this door," I heard Temi's voice and I quickly ducked under the desk.

I heard her footsteps draw closer and I held my breath, she stopped walking before she closed the door and walked away. I sighed in relief and decided to call James instead, he didn't pick his five calls so I went online but no one was online even Funke and Adrian who are most of the times online weren't. I sent a quick message to the group chat saying that I needed help and with that I dropped my phone back where I saw it and walked out of the office.

When I got back to my room I threw myself on the bed and let the tears spill. I've never felt more hopeless in my life.

I tried to put myself to sleep but I kept turning, tossing and hissing uncomfortably. When I got tired of just lying around I got up and decided to do some arranging in my wardrobe.

I started with my hoodies and sweats, then skirts, shirts then gowns and finally underwear. I basically took out every clothe in every drawer and folded them back into the drawers.

I dumped the contents of the underwear drawer on the floor and I heard a loud thud, like something solid had hit the ground.

I scattered the clothes on the floor and my eyes widened when I saw a small phone. I opened the Itel phone and I found a SIM card with a memory card in it.

Discarding my clothes on the floor I ran out of my closet and began rummaging my drawers for an extra charger which I found and plugged the phone with.

Back at the beginning of final year in college I remember having the phone but I forgot it at home, or rather I 'lost' it and I never bothered to look for it when I got home another time. I don't know how the phone got there but I'm glad it did because now I can keep trying to call Andrew.

I should really cultivate the habit of emptying my drawers and rearranging it's contents, I can imagine if it was something perishable that I had mistakenly dropped inside. Though it would be cleaned immediately it is sensed but that may take time.

All the while watching the phone charge well enough to make calls, I was praying for Andrew's number to be reachable.

I had memorized his number so I dialed it and my face dropped when the machine still told me that it was not reachable. I tried calling all night long not catching a single blink of sleep, at least not until  the sun started to come up.

***

NEPA (National Electric Power Authority): now known as PHCN, Power Holding Company of Nigeria is in charge of electrical supply in Nigeria though despite the change people still refer to them as NEPA

Stew: Basically tomato sauce.

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