Joana had finished packing, all that was left now was to sneak out of the house without raising any suspicions from her dad.
"I think you should go out and check if he is still in the living room," Joana suggested.
"What if he asks about you? I told him I was going to call you."
"Tell him you didn't see me."
June gulped nervously.
"Come on Ju, we don't have time," Joana said.
"Okay, I'll go." She said then walked out of the room.
"Daddy." She said as she walked by her parents' room door. There was no response. She called him out again but realized why he wasn't answering as soon as she got to the living room. Exhausted, her father was fast asleep on the couch she had left him some minutes ago. June quickly tiptoed back to her room.
"Is he there?" Joana asked.
"Shhh!" June warned with her fingers on her lips.
"Stop shushing me, I'm not loud." Joana glared.
"He's sleeping in the living room," June whispered. "We have to go, fast!"
"Okay."
They came out with June in the front. Out of fear, she made them tiptoe when they got to the living room as they watched their dad snore with every step they took. Just then Joana's phone rang. The ringtone was so loud they crouched behind a chair.
Joana quickly brought out her phone from her pocket to put it in silence.
"You still have this crappy ringtone?" June whispered harshly.
"It's Margret," Joana said, then ignored the call.
They remained on their knees.
"Do you think he is awake?" June asked.
Joana held the top of the chair to support herself as she peeped for an answer. Fortunately, the sound wasn't enough to wake him up.
"He isn't, let's go," Joana replied.
"Wait, you want us to crawl out?"
"Yes, go go go!"
** ** **
John was sitting in his room staring at his phone impatiently when Joana and June walked in.
"Hey babe," Joana said, dropping her bag as John rushed up to grab her by the waist and kissed her on her lips.
"Why didn't you text me? We agreed you were going to text me when you were coming. And why is she here?" He said glaring at June.
"Hi, John."
"Don't hi me. Joana told me what you did. How could you do that to your sister?"
"Please just leave June out of this," Joana said, defending her. "It wasn't her fault, it was that snake Veronica that pushed her to call my name."
"Still, no one pointed a gun to her head to do anything, she thought it through and still did it anyway meaning a part of her wanted to... Stop defending her and let her own her shit."
"And you think I haven't been doing that ever since? Owning my shit?" June retorted. "Every time I close my eyes all I see is the stupid mistake I made and I will forever be haunted by it if my sister dies, don't you think that scares me?"
Her words seemed to shut John up.
"So let's stop trying to point fingers, we already know it's my fault. Now when is your cousin coming?"
"He just left his place of work, he's on his way," John replied. "Have you girls eaten?"
"No but we're okay--"
"Wait here, I'll go get you something."
Just as John left, June's phone rang.
"It's Margret." She said to Joana.
"Don't pick it."
"But won't she suspect something is going on if we ignore her all day?"
"Fine, go ahead," Joana said, folding her arms and looking away.
"Hey Margret," June said as she picked the call. "What's up?"
"Babe, I've been calling your sister since and it's like she had been ignoring me. What's going on?"
"Nothing," June said looking at her sister.
"Ju, don't lie to me."
June was a bit hesitant.
"Joana is leaving with John."
"Oh my God! Why didn't you tell me? Where are you guys?"
"June, don't!" Her sister warned.
"I'm sorry, she is our friend," June replied before speaking back to the phone. "We are at John's place."
"Okay, I'm on my way."
** ** **
"Mum, I have to go see my friends now," Margret said to her mother who was busy preparing lunch for Mr. Rilwan. Meanwhile, Margret is in charge of taking care of Stanley.
"Why? Is everything okay?" Her mother replied.
"Yes, sure. But I have to see them for something really important."
"Okay, where is Stanley?" Maryam asked.
"He's sleeping in the other room."
"Okay, please be back early oh." She pleaded as Margret ran off.
"Yes ma," Margret replied.
It took Margret about twenty minutes to get to John's house on a motorcycle. And as though John had been expecting her before, he opened the door immediately she pressed the doorbell.
"Hey Margret, oww--" John said as Margret punched him in the guts.
"Don't hey me," Margret said, pushing him aside. "You're not my friend anymore."
"Ouch, that hurts even more than your punch," John said massaging his stomach. "Although have you ever considered trying boxing?"
"I'm not in the mood for your teases, John. You are running away with my best friend and you didn't tell me... Where are they?"
"They're in my room," John said but couldn't help but laugh at Margret.
"Ode."(1) Margret said then hissed as she headed towards his room. Joana and June were sitting in the bed when she walked in.
"Gosh, I could punch you right now like I did your boyfriend!" She said to Joana who looked away.
"Look at me jhor! Why didn't you tell me anything?"
"What did you want me to say? That I'm scared to death and I don't want to die?"
"We know that already! You were going to leave without telling me anything, that's wrong Jo."
"Well, I'm sorry, okay. My mind isn't particularly straight at the moment."
"Fine, does Grace know?"
"I just texted her now, she said she would call as soon as she gets home."
"Oh my God Ju, you're too soft," Joana said, slapping her head in disappointment.
"Well, she is doing the right thing."
Just then, John walked in with three hot plates of rice and stew.
"Who's hungry?"