The Externals Reloaded - Chapter Seven

 Where Is Lily Allen?

Outside the compound of a yellow bungalow with a narrow walkway and ten rooms, a girl bent to begin tying her shoelace in preparation for school. This girl was no other than Khadijat Mohammed. She was one of Lily's Allen classmates in book one. As Lily narrated, she was the eldest daughter of a woman who chose to still get pregnant after three girls because she was in search of a male child to please her husband's family. She didn't even consider the fact that her husband didn't have enough money to cater for another child and wouldn't hesitate to use part of Khadihat's school fees to buy baby products. Her joy knew no bounds the day her scan result showed the unborn child was male.

"Khadija! Khadija oo!" Mrs. Mohammed yelled even though she was already moving close to where her daughter was.

"Mom, do you have to shout all the time? Don't you know it's not good for your state? Do you want your baby to become a gangster?" Khadijat replied after getting far from her.

"It's your child that will become a gangster", Mrs. Mohammed spat out some saliva inside the gutter in front of their home while trying hard not to inhale its horrible urine smell. Yet, she caught a glimpse.

"That can never happen because I don't shout like you", Khadijat beamed with joy, trying to imagine how cool things will be when she gets pregnant in the future. She didn't wish to be like her mom who transfers aggression to those around her due to lack of resources to receive adequate care.

"Oti to e, elenu razor. (That's enough, talkative) Come and start hawking because I want you to meet all our customers", Mrs. Mohammed changed the subject after realizing time was going and she could lose her morning customers. She had handed over her business to her daughters since she could no longer work in her state.

"Mom, can't you see I'm already dressed for school?" Khadijat was shocked.

"Oh", Mrs. Mohammed examined her daughter from head to toe. "I see. What are you going to do in school? Didn't you resume the second week last term?"

"I can't do that this term again. My WAEC..." Khadijat tried to explain things to her mom but she was prevented from talking further.

"Shut up! Is it not the money you make that you will use to balance the money for your WAEC", Mrs. Mohammed hissed.

"Mummy now", Khadijat remained adamant.

"If you mummy me again, I will slap you. Go inside right now and put on your work clothes!" Mrs. Mohammed ordered her.

"Iya Khadijat, what is it now? If this girl should fail, you'll be the same person that will abuse her most", Their landlady, the most respected woman in the house said in pure Yoruba.

"It's okay. Sha don't come and ask me for any food money", Mrs. Mohammed entered their room and slammed the door furiously.

"I'll be fine, Mom", Khadijat grabbed her partly damaged bag from a nearby wooden stool and started her journey to school.

On her way, Khadijat came across Aminat, another classmate of hers who became Kaira's best friend after Halima ditched her for Janet. Aminat complained bitterly about how life had been hard for the family because her Dad passed away during the holiday and they don't get help from anyone, even though they lived in a family house. Unlike Lily, Khadijat was good with words so she was able to make Aminat forget her sorrow and start talking about the good things that happened during the holiday, like the makeup tutorials her mom enrolled her for. Khadijat expressed how happy she was about that, and also told her how lucky she was to have that kind of mother, not someone like hers who's only focused on making money off her children. However, Aminat did not support her saying bad things about her mom. She advised her to be patient with her because no mother would ever want to turn her children into hawkers - she was forced by circumstances beyond her control.

When they finally got to school, Khadijat and Aminat met the greatest shock of their lives. They saw media vans lined up in front of their school and a few pressmen snacking there but assumed their purpose of coming was to get an exclusive story about their school since a group of press members led by Lily, who went to one of their studios last term did well. They never expected that their school building which had been serving students' academic needs for over two decades would collapse in the middle of the night before the resumption date.

The sudden deterioration of the building was brutal but the proprietor was still grateful to God that no one was there when it happened. He was glad he didn't have the cause to be arrested for any child's murder or make any family sorrowful. Nevertheless, he was still scared of what will happen because government officials were certainly going to carry out their investigation on the issue. Besides, he didn't have enough money on ground to pay for the necessary repair. In fact, the damage done was beyond repair. He had to reconstruct the building from scratch.

Amusingly, every member of Lily's class was around to give each other the support they needed to get through their trying moment. Well, everyone except for Lily. In between guessing what fate was in store for them, they wondered what could be wrong because missing school wasn't her thing. Then, they resolved to visit her home and find out what was wrong since she did likewise for them the previous term, despite being an introvert. Neither of them cared that her Aunt was a strict person and still weren't discouraged to ask about their beloved classmate when they got to her, only to be welcomed by her grumpy face.

When they finally asked about Lily, she refused to give them any information about her whereabouts but they didn't give up easily. She was about to go out before their visit so they blocked the way out, refusing to let her go unless she told them where Lily was. Eventually, she confessed that Lily had been missing since she followed her dad to the car park the previous day and she would have probably started telling policemen about her case if they hadn't come to look for her.

Having decided to follow Aunt Tolani to the police station and do any other necessary thing to find Lily, her classmates apologized for their rude attitude towards her. They actually wouldn't have gotten any info from her if they didn't act that way but still had to plead for forgiveness by kneeling and prostrating. Before then, Kenny and every other person who had a phone tried calling Lily but her phone was unreachable as Aunt Tolani said. Strangely, her siblings and dad's number too were not reachable.

"God! Where could Lily be?" Jess was most concerned about her.

"I know her well so I don't think she's at a boy's place like her Aunt's insinuating", Khadijat rolled her eyes.

"People change you know", Kenny smirked. "And that Lily seems like the type who would naively do anything for a boy she loves".

"Kenny, if you don't have any better thing to say, just shut your mouth", Jess clenched her fist, ready to pounce on him if he kept portraying her friend as a weak and stupid person.

"It's okay, you two. This is not the time to argue or fight", Halima, despite being Lily's sworn enemy in book one, was affected by her disappearance. She wasn't ready to lose the person who inspires her to do well in math.

"Hold on, everyone", Aza made them stop walking right in the middle of the road. "I think I know where she might be.

"Where?" They chorused. Their voices depicted anticipation, anxiety, and amusement.

"Em...it's...just kidding and trying to lighten the mood here", Aza smiled feebly with faint wrinkles appearing on his light-colored skin.

"Why don't you always use your sense, Bene? How can you joke in this kind of situation?" They murmured against him.

"It's okay, guys", John made them calm again."I'm thinking of tracking her phone since we're sure the police won't be of use to us.

"Go on, baby", Janet encouraged him with a pat on the shoulder and others did the same with mere words.

"I'll assist him", Kenny followed John to the cyber cafe where he worked so he could use either of the computers there to carry out his plan. 

At the police station, they weren't offered any help because the law doesn't permit law enforcement officials to carry out any investigation regarding a missing person until two days after the incident. Instead of hurrying to leave since they didn't get what they wanted, they waited patiently for John's response and slightly hoped the policemen would do something for them once they saw how serious they were but that never happened. It was not until Kenny texted the location John discovered to Halima that they went out of the police station.

As soon as Aunt Tolani heard the location of her niece, she spoke to two tricycle riders who agreed to take her there with Lily's classmates at a cheaper rate since they were many. Of course, she wasn't comfortable taking a bunch of high school students to a hospital but she didn't want to be alone in her emotional state which only got worse when they got to the hospital and discovered Mr. Allen was admitted after being involved in a brutal accident. Only Lily had some minor scratches.

Aunt Tolani was furious that even her immediate younger brother who lived across knew what happened and didn't bother informing her so she yelled at him, not minding where they were and the purpose for which they came. Everyone actually forgot to inform her because they were busy making plans to get blood and other things needed to sustain Mr. Allen but she wasn't willing to reason with them. She believed they purposely chose to keep things from her, thinking she was a witch. Lily, who felt embarrassed soon ran out of the reception room in shame while she fired on.

"Hey, where are you going?" Kenny caught up with her. Even his slippery black slides couldn't stop him.

"You didn't have to follow me. I don't need anyone to babysit me", Lily said through gritted teeth. She was beyond angry about her dad's accident. Her assumption that it might be because she insisted on going together, was really getting to her. It was the very first time she offered to follow him to the airport.

"Like it or not, you're my baby and it's my responsibility to look after you", Kenny replied with an assuring look. His eyes never left her even though she avoided his.

"Cut the crap, Kenny. You don't have to be nice to me because of what's going on. I don't need anyone's sympathy. What I need is for people to stay away from me. It appears I'm bad luck", Lily crashed on a long seat among the rows of trees surrounding them and hid her weeping face.

"Oh, come on. None of this was your fault. Shit happens all the time", Kenny sat beside vulnerable Lily, made her rest her head on his shoulder, and patted her back.

"It shouldn't have been my dad. It should have been me", Lily wailed more.

"Shh..No one deserves to be in that kind of position. Not especially you, my first love", Kenny spat out and Lily immediately adjusted herself.

"Thank you for everything, Ken.." Lily sniffled.

"It's not proper for you to thank me for carrying out my responsibility", He gave her his new handkerchief. "I think you should just keep it. Maybe it was designed for you".

"Yeah", Lily smiled, remembering how he also gave her his new notebook in year one.

"There you are, lovebirds" Aza approached them, panting heavily.

"Hey, I don't want Halima to give you the beating of your life oo", Lily chuckled.

"I meant what I said when I called you the love of my life", Kenny gave her his dimpled signature smile.

"Ken, seriously? My dad's in the hospital and.." Lily wasn't allowed to finish her speech.

"Don't you know girls in your state are easy to win over? You don't expect to lean on his shoulders for free", Aza said and got a high-five from Kenny.

"Jesus! Ken, what have you done to poor innocent Aza", Lily eyed him but he remained dumbfounded.

"He loses his mind and words fail to escape his lips whenever you call him Ken", Aza winked at her.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Quite a shocker isn't it? I hope you enjoyed every bit of it. So, yeah, Lily's back. What do you think of her return?  How much do you think her dad being in the hospital will affect her? And there's Ken professing love after the shege he showed in book one...do you think he's serious about his feelings. How will Lily and her classmates cope with not having classrooms? This book keeps getting more spicy! Ensure you drop your comments below and don't miss any updates. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Your Dearest Writer,
Eniola Oluwamuyiwa😁😍