CHINYERE GRABBED THE towel that she hung on the door of her room.
Her mother had scolded her about keeping her used towel inside the house but Chinyere had refused to listen.
She grabbed a pair of black, high waisted jeans with a fitting grey T-shirt.
Upon opening the door, she saw Ikechukwu standing outside the door with a toy gun in his hands.
Ikechukwu was her eleven year old brother – the second of her mother's three children.
"Where are you going?" Ikechukwu asked.
Unlike eight year old Onyedikachi – her father's second wife's only son – Chinyere liked Ikechukwu.
Ikechukwu was home schooled like most of Chinyere's others siblings.
Only Onyedikachi and Chinyere had the desire to go to a real school.
"What are you doing here?" Chinyere asked her younger brother.
"Daddy said I should watch over you and make sure you don't leave your room."
"Well, I have to wash my school uniform," Chinyere said. "Unless you want me to go to school with a dirty uniform tomorrow."
"Fine," Ikechukwu shrugged and walked away.
Chinyere made her way to the bathroom to take her bath.
She and Mystery Boy had agreed to meet at eight thirty. He wanted to meet at ten but Chinyere found it odd for them to meet that late and they settled for eight thirty.
They were to meet at Shoprite's parking lot. Mystery Boy would be leaning against a truck.
Chinyere made sure to scrub her body well to get rid of any foul stench.
After drying her body, she changed into her change of clothes and brushed her teeth then snuck her way back to her room.
Her parents were strict and didn't allow for any of the children below eighteen years of age to wear makeup so Chinyere just applied lip gloss to her lips.
Chinyere tied her hair up in a bun and posed in front of the mirror. She was satisfied with how she looked.
She chose to wear her sandals that were kept under her bed.
She used her phone to check the time and it read: 08:03.
Shoprite was only fifteen minutes away from her home but there was no harm in being early.
The earlier the better.
Chinyere snuck through the passage way to the kitchen. The kitchen was linked to the backyard, through which she would leave the house.
From the kitchen she could hear the clattering of plates and laughter. Her family was having their dinner. Happily, without her.
Chinyere snuck out of the house without any guilt in her heart.
On her way there, she texted Rachel, Amanda and Tunde, telling them that she was going to meet her mystery boy at Shoprite.
Chinyere put a smile on her face as she entered Shoprite's parking lot.
The store was not closed yet but the parking lot was nearly empty. Only a few cars here and there and the street lights were off.
Chinyere craned her head as she walked through the parking lot in search of a boy leaning against a truck.
"Eh'm," she heard someone clear their throat from behind her and she turned around to meet her Mystery Boy.
"Are you Mystery Boy?" Chinyere walked up to him. He was indeed leaning against a truck with his arms crossed.
He was dressed in all black from head to toe but his looks did not disappoint.
Chinyere couldn't see his face well because it was dark but the little she saw satisfied her enough. He looked like a real model.
"That's what I'm known by," Mystery Boy took Chinyere's hand and placed his soft lips on them. "And you must be Chinyere Awaziem."
"I am," Chinyere said, "can we hurry up with this meeting? I have to get home before nine fifteen."
"A-about the meeting," Mystery Boy said at the same time a stranger's voice said, "But we just got started."
Chinyere jumped and turned around. The hairs on her neck standing up as the man who had spoken stared at her with a large grin on his face.
"W-who are you?" Chinyere asked.
The man slammed Chinyere against the truck and used his thumb to stroke her chin, "Tobi, you've attracted a really pretty one here."
Chinyere moved her head to look at Tobi who had his own head down but the man who was currently holding her against the truck forcefully grabbed her jaw and forced her to look at him.
"Get the ropes," the man told Tobi and Tobi climbed into the truck to do as he was told.
"Who are you?!" Chinyere yelled as she tried to pull herself out of the man's grip and run away but the man grabbed her arm and threw her to the ground, her head making impact with the cold, hard ground.
Chinyere shook her head slowly as she looked into the darkness. Everything seemed so blurry to her and she couldn't see clearly.
It didn't take long for her to go into complete darkness.
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Chinyere groaned as she opened her eyes.
Her head was aching badly and her body felt weak.
She looked around only to see wooden boxes and sad faces of girls and boys who were her age.
She kept looking until she saw the face of the person who she was supposed to meet the previous night: Mystery Boy (Tobi).
That wasn't all. She was in a vehicle, and it was moving.