the room.
Elsewhere
Collins strode with long determined
strides to Judith’s house. A hard frown roughened his brow.
Frowning had become a part of him nowadays. You did not have to
look too far to know the reason for his awful temper_
JUDITH!!!
He spat her name out through tightly
clenched teeth. The girl was insufferable. The devil and his
accomplices must have been on high alert the day he ran into her.
Since she had had the abortion, she had not stopped complaining.
Her stomach was paining her, she was bleeding excessively, and the
pain was too severe to stand. Blah blah blah!!
He stirred clear of her house since
she had the abortion. He was on his way there now, because she
threatened to tell her parents what he had made her do. Fear
entered his heart when he considered the disastrous consequences
that would have.
He would be in a real pickle if
something happened to her. Her getting pregnant caught him
unawares. If it had not, he would have been better prepared
financially and could have taken her to a better place to get it
done. Everyone knew the Oloriburuku* (Bad head) doctor was a quack.
However, when you had a serious cash flow problem and a pregnant
girlfriend breathing down you neck; life forced you to take certain
risks.
Her house loomed up in the distance
and another sigh burst from his lips. Seeing her house made him
want to turn and hightail it back the way he had come. He played in
his head about half a dozen ways his encounter with Judith would
play out and none of them was in any way cool.
Summoning courage, he willed his
feet to move. They reluctantly obeyed him. A couple of seconds
later he stood at her front door. He had to quell the urge to flee
again. Sighing deeply and frowning at the same time, he reached
forward and knocked on the door twice.
Chapter Sixteen
“I am coming.” A familiar voice
called out.
His frown became harder. Was it his
imagination or was that____ before he could complete his train of
thought the door was unlocked and pulled inwards revealing a
healthy looking Judith standing in the doorway.
She looked extremely beautiful, clad
in a tight fitting skirt, which reached a point just above her
knees and a pristine blue blouse hugging her young and supple
looking top half. Collins eyes and mouth opened wide in
shock.
“You best close your mouth before a
fly flies into it.” She snapped looking so fierce that he was taken
back.
It took him almost fifteen seconds
to recover and put together a coherent stream of words that he
could spit at her which could best describe what he was thinking.
But even with that the best he could manage was__
“How could you?”
“How could I WHAT??” She screeched
in fury. He jumped, startled by her outburst as he took two steps
back. Judith always had a fiery temper. Her volatile nature was one
of the things that had attracted him to her in the first place. Her
ire however was something he could very much do without
now.
“It’s been almost three days
Collins! You have not even bothered to call text or even find out
how I was doing. I could have been dead for all you
cared.
‘Might have been better__” He
mumbled in a low tone, too low for her to hear. He let her rave and
rant for five minutes. When she stopped for a breath, he quickly
cut in.
“How dare you threaten to report me
to your parents? Is something wrong with you?”
“Would you have shown up
otherwise?”
A long silence ensured after her
question.
“I thought not!” She snapped with a
furious and somewhat pained look on her face.
A short silence followed and then
she hissed stepping back to slam the door in his face. Thoroughly
incensed now he lunged forward, holding out his right palm in front
of him. The door and his palm connected with a loud crack and he
winced at the pain that coursed through his arm.
Enraged, he shoved the door hard
flinging her backwards. She barely managed to keep her balance as
the door slammed into the wall with a
Landon Dixon, Giselle Renarde, Beverly Langland