ETCHED X

Hi there!..We've reached a chapter 10 landmark!... Hurray!... It has been an interesting journey so far hasn't it? 😁

We'd like to dedicate today's chapter to Boakye Boateng Hayford, Audrey, Sister Jennifer  and all of our silent readers whose names we've not had the exciting pleasure of knowing... We love you! 😘

And ooo Awurabena, I raise a glass to you too Hunnay! 😀😍🙌. 

We present to you today's chapter...Happy Reading!😆😉

 Chapter 10

Eloise stared at the road that lay ahead of her and stretched into an endless space. She had packed by the roadside just to clear her mind and it wasn’t even working. She doubted if she could actually make the trip home and arrive safely at that.

She had convinced herself she was over Phyll and that being his best man was the best thing she could do for him. Turns out it was the worst decision she ever made as her plan had backfired right in her face. She still loved him and the feeling was so real that it was consuming her whole being.

Noting she did could mitigate the feeling.
‘Why had she denied him back in college?’ she mused silently. She knew she loved him but circumstances just didn’t allow it. It was no fault of his though. Phyll had played all his cards right. The problem was with her.

 She was the one who wouldn’t let him in. She couldn’t control her emotions and she didn’t want them to burn him and leave him scarred. She knew this because even she couldn’t handle her own emotions.
 She sighed audibly. Eloise remembered that night vividly.

It was as if it had just happened yesterday. She was just a little over five years old and she was out on a stroll with her elder brother  and his friends. Their parents had travelled and her brother wanting to make her night a pleasant one, had decided to call up a few friends so they could just hang out.

 They were the only two children of their parents and Percival never ceased to show Lois how much he loved her. He was so protective over his little sister and would literally do anything for her. The two were inseparable and Eloise adored her elder brother so much. The events of that night therefore marred her life forever.

That night as they strolled through the neighbourhood, they were suddenly attacked by muggers. It was a silly prank that had turned sour. Apparently some kids in the neighbourhood thought it funny to scare them with a gun one of them had found in their parents’ bedroom.

 No one thought the gun was loaded and the one who yielded it had carelessly brandished it at her. Percy not liking what was happening had jumped in and had tried taking the gun away from the one who held it. Unfortunately the gun went off, which left them all startled.

Lois looked up at her brother and saw the silly smile spread across his face and there she knew something was terribly wrong. He slumped to the paved floor on the sidewalk and clutched his tummy. It was there that she noticed he was bleeding. Then it dawned on her. Percy had been shot.
She screamed and rushed to his side, pleading with him to stay alive for her.

Though she was young she was smart enough to know her brother was dying. She loved him too much and didn’t know what would happen if he died. All along, the one who had shot him was standing aside looking unconcerned. He looked to be in his late teens, probably nineteen or even twenty.

The other friends had just fled as they didn’t want to have anything to do with the police. He quickly came to her side and shook her roughly, warning her not to breathe a word of that incident to anyone and that if she did, she was dead meat.

Lois remembered how scared she had been and had just nodded her compliance. The guy just left her and run away. Lois was therefore left alone with her brother on the pavement. She hugged him and just stayed by his side. Luckily for her, one of his friends had called up the police and an ambulance and some minutes later her brother was receiving the help he needed.

 Lois remembered being relieved after seeing the ambulance and she conveniently passed out.
She woke up to find herself in the hospital surrounded by her parents and without being told she knew Percy was no more. She was inconsolable.

 That incident had left her traumatized to the extent that she could not even speak for a week. The police who could not get any information from her had given up on arresting the perpetrators of the crime and each day Lois relieved the experience in her head. Life was just a living hell for her.

Her parents had to finally get her a therapist and slowly she begun to get over the ordeal. This took a period of five years. She never really got over her brother’s death, she just learnt to deal with him not being around.

Then the worst happened. One day , having been sent on an errand by her parents, she bumped into the guy who had shot her brother, which immediately brought back memories. He had seen her as well and looked scared thinking she’d say something. All Lois remember doing was running all the way back home and locking herself up in her room.

 Her parents never understood why and she never breathed a word of it to anyone.
Few days after that encounter, she realised this guy had begun stalking her but she was too scared to report to her parents or to anyone at that, as she was constantly reminded of the threat from five years ago.

One day, walking back from school she had realised she was being followed. She instinctively knew it was him and she had begun to run. That was her mistake. He caught up with her, grabbed her from behind and carried her into some bushes nearby. He tossed her on the ground like a bag of potatoes and lay down quickly over her. Try as Lois did, she couldn’t not fight him off.

She struggled with all the strength she could muster but he was just too strong for her. He covered her mouth with one palm, stripped her pants down with the other and had his way with her.

Three times over. Lois screamed and pleaded with him to stop but they all came out as muffled sounds. After he was satisfied, he had leaned in to kiss her and that was when she started shaking violently and tore at his chest.

He suddenly stood up, satisfied with himself and told her that was a warning to her. She was never to breath a word of what had happened to anyone. First to her brother and now her. He walked away with a satisfied grin etched on his face.

That incident changed Lois. She picked herself up after a while, rushed home and run all the way the way into her room, into the shower. She scrubbed herself with scalding cold water and scrubbed herself clean from his filth.

Afterwards she just jumped into bed naked and sobbed herself to sleep.
That night, was when she vowed never to love any man. That night she locked her heart away securely and threw the keys into the abyss of nothingness. That night a new Lois was born. The scared little child was gone and in her place was a woman.

One who was on a mission. A mission of vengeance. Instead of this paralysing her it rather made her strong but in a terrible way and even more so, a bitter tigress.
She never encountered him again and she was grateful for that. Turns out that family had moved and over the years Lois had never told anyone.

It was her little secret and her hatred for men had silently festered as she grew. At a glance she was a perfect lady but deep within was a wounded and bleeding tigress.
Then she had met Phyll and everything had changed. She found herself loving him and that had scared her. She thought she could not be loved the way he did love her. So she had fled.


The tap on her window jolted her back to reality. A policeman stood at her door and she rolled the glass down.
‘Ma’am are you okay?’ the policeman asked.
Lois quickly nodded and wiped the tears that had marred her makeup. She didn’t even realise she had been weeping. She stole a glance at her watch and realised she had been sitting in her car for over an hour.

 It was getting late and she needed to get home. It wasn’t safe being out alone and the police told her as such. She thanked the policeman and started the engine.
As she drove along, images of that night kept on flashing in her mind. Lois didn’t know what happened next.

She just lost control of the wheel as a truck crashed into her side of the car out of nowhere.

 Her car somersaulted for a while and finally came to a standstill. Lois saw a bright light and suddenly all went blank.....

PS: Champion please don't keep it to yourself yeah, share with your paddies and classmates or coursemates , spouses, boyfriends or girlfriends,  long and short distance relatives... Even if you share with your enemies ... U no gbaa kraaa 😀😊😊

PSS : Let us hear your thoughts by leaving a comment in the comments box right below. 😊😄

Zataraxia ©