[kiasusam]

Cont'd....

She watched him drive away for a minute then walked to the front door. She knocked and called out Felicia’s name countless times. She was getting nervous. She remembered that Felicia kept a spare key on the top of the door frame. She found the key and unlocked the door.

She felt a cold chill crawl up her spine and turned around. She couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling at the pit of her stomach. She looked around and saw nothing out of place. She silently told herself to calm down and think happy thoughts.

When she stepped inside she called out Felicia’s name with no response. After looking around she knew that her friend was not here. Her car was gone and so was her handbag.

‘Damn Felicia, where in the world are you!’

Felicia spoke to herself as she checked again that all the doors and windows of the small 2 bedroom were locked or closed. It was 10 o’clock in the morning and she felt so scared. Thoughts of Bastino strangling and raping her floated in her mind. She remembered that after she had refused counselling at the hospital the doctor had prescribed something for her to sleep better. She took 2 pills and washed them with water.

She decided to call her boss to tell him that she won’t be in for work for another week. Being a cook in a small restaurant was not the best job in the world but she enjoyed it and it paid her bills. She had been afraid of losing her job but her boss was fair and said he understood her situation. After feeling restless she made herself food and did a bit of cleaning while she waited for the pills to kick in. Hearing a knock on the door, her paranoia kicked in and she found herself crumbling again.

She stood on tip toe as she peered into the peephole. All she saw was an old lady whose posture and skin complexion didn’t match her expensive looking clothes. Her instinct told her to go back to sleep and ignore her. But instead she stood there thinking what would a rural woman be doing in a luxurious place like this anyway?, but what if she is just a sales person trying to make ends meet? Or what if she is one of Felicia’s relatives? Maybe,… maybe I should just find out.

‘hello!, who are you?’

A hoarse voice that consisted with people who drank too much filled the doorway.

‘I AM A JEHOVA’S WITNESS, PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR SO WE CAN TALK’

'No, am not interested’ Olivia shouted back as she hugged her aching body tighter.

‘THEN ATLEAST LET ME LEAVE THIS PAMPHET FOR YOU!’

Olivia could hear shuffling and as she peered through the hole she saw the lady gently place the booklet on the ground and turned to leave.

‘AT LEAST PROMISE ME THAT YOU WILL LOOK AT IT!’ PLEASE!

The woman looked so desperate as she walked down the road, she kept looking back as if she was waiting for Olivia to open the door. She finally disappeared around the corner and Olivia let her breath out. She decided to take a look at the so called pamphlet left outside. She had opened the door and looked around, nothing seemed out of place, there were a couple of guys from the gardening crew going about their business as if nothing mattered in the world. The parking lot on her right had a few cars in it. She shrugged off her panicky thoughts, Damn girl, you got to get it together, now that she was feeling better she thought: maybe I should fix myself a drink to calm my nerves. Without a care in the world she swung the door shut with her leg, threw the Jehovah witness pamphlet on the couch and raced to the kitchen.