"Bring blessings back with you okay?", a girl's Mum told her aloud, waving her a goodbye.
"No problem Mum, I'll bring blessings back from Church", she replied. She left the compound while her Mum went back in.
After a short walk, a boy came out of the bush when she walked past where he hid. He tiptoed quickly towards her and gave a loud sudden boo right on her heels. She jumped and turned behind to see who it was, her heart missing a beat. It was her boyfriend.
"Why did you do that?", she squeaked with a scorn.
"I'm sorry babe", the boy giggled and hugged her.
She pushed him away;"Leave me alone. Is this how you pay me after lying to my parents just to see you? Creeping on me? You never told me you'd be hiding around here. Thought we'd meet at church."
"I'm sorry babe. Don't like it whenever you scold me. I won't do it again", the boy gestured for forgiveness, holding both his earlobes.
"Don't do what ever again", she warned him, gazing at him.
"That's a promise. You know I've never broken a promise to you before", he gave a silly smile.
"So where are we going tonight?", she asked curiously.
"I don't know...but we'll surely find a place suitable for us to have our first kiss", he smirked at her, crossing his hands on her shoulders.
"Please let's just get out of here. Don't want my Mum to catch us red-handed", she said with urgency. Both of them swiftly ambulated away from the surrounding, both holding hands.
* * *
Detective Dominic stopped by a small eatery to have some food before heading home. He sat close to the entrance door so he could see what was happening outside.
A man who knew him, who was already having his meal smiled and greeted;"Good evening Dominic!"
Dominic recognized the man and smiled in return. "Good evening", he responded.
"How was work today?", the man asked amicably.
"Work was okay. How about yours?", Dominic sent back the question.
"Well", the man shrugged, "It was okay I think", he replied, carrying a cup of water and having a gulp.
"All is well brother", Dominic grinned at him.
"Thank you", he replied and resumed with his meal.
A waitress attended to Dominic. "What do you want Sir?", she asked him.
"I'd like rice and tomato stew please", he replied.
"Okay Sir", she said and walked away.
"You don't want beans?", the man asked Dominic playfully, showing him the one he had in his spoon.
"No please", Dominic gestured with a smile on his face squeezed face. The man chuckled over it. Dominic logged into WhatsApp and saw a text from Tricia.
"Come back home bro. With what's happening, I'm scared of you being outside this late", Tricia's text read.
He smiled at the text and replied to her. "Don't worry Sisi. I'll be okay...and be back in the next few minutes", his text read.
"Here's your food Sir", the waitress said to him, holding his food on a tray. He kept his phone on the table, ready to relish on his food. The lady kept his food on the table and walked away.
"Thank you", he appreciated and began having his food quickly. From time to time, he looked outside to know what was happening around.
When he was done with his food, he signalled to someone to come take away the tray where the plate and spoon were kept. He cleaned his mouth with serviette and drank some water.
The man who greeted him earlier was about to go and patted his hand on Dominic's shoulder. Dominic turned to see who it was and smiled. "Good night man", the man greeted. Someone went to Dominic's table and took the tray away.
"I finished up my food same time you did yours. You're this slow?", Dominic asked playfully.
"The beans was hot", the man giggled. He turned to go.
"Goodnight man", Dominic greeted, turned to watch him leave.
"Yeah! Good night", he replied.
Dominic picked up his phone and logged into WhatsApp. He saw seven messages from his sister. He smiled over it. "So she cares for and misses me this much?", he thought. He decided to send a text and let her know he was coming home.
He had a look outside once more, but this time saw something that raised suspicion. A boy was trying to take a girl into the woods but the girl reluctantly wanted to follow him. "Something wrong is going on for sure", he said inwardly. He got up and was about to leave the eatery.
"Sir", the waitress called on him, "You haven't paid your bill", she informed him.
"Oh!", he exclaimed. He had a glimpse at them and saw them entering the woods. "How much is it?", he asked the waitress in a hurry.
* * *
"Seriously? Our first kiss in this kind of place. I left the house for this?", the girl gawked at her boyfriend.
"Do you have a better place in mind?", her boyfriend asked.
Knowing she had no place in mind, she argued;"But you are the one meant to plan everything."
"This is the best place babe. We can't kiss in the church and my parents are home right now", he explained in an amusing manner.
"Hmmmm..."she sighed, "I don't know what else to say", she gave up.
A growl was heard somewhere around them and they looked round to check out what it was. At the meantime, Dominic was just going into the woods, searching for the two lovers.
"What was that? A wild animal?", the girl questioned her boyfriend, feeling tensed. The growl was heard a second time, which made the boy swallow hardly in fear.
"But a wild animal has never been seen here", he said feeling perplexed.
"Let's get out of here please", she said, beginning to walk away.
"But wait", he called on her in a low voice.
"But what?", she turned backwards to him, "Please let's get out of here", she implored in a low voice.
In the twinkling of an eye, the boy saw a frightening Father Christmas standing some steps away from his girlfriend. Because of terror, he stuttered to her;"Watch out behind you!"
"What is...", she looked back and yelled on seeing Father Christmas. She took to her heels to where her boyfriend stood and hid behind him. Fear gripped both of them right on the spot. Father Christmas made some steps towards them.
"Let's get out of here", the boy held the girl's hand firmly and both of them ran away.
At the same moment, Detective Dominic was still in search for the two lovers. "Where did they go to?", he thought as he went deeper into the woods.
The girl kicked a foot against a tree stump and tripped. Her boyfriend turned to help her at first, but when he saw Father Christmas approaching them quickly, he ran away, leaving his girlfriend helpless on the ground.
"Where are you going?", she squawked, trying to get herself up. Father Christmas gripped her by the neck so tightly that blood flowed out of it in all directions.
Her boyfriend looked back as he was fleeing away, he saw Father Christmas dumping her one side. Father Christmas looked up at him with a glaring look, making a long growl.
He thought he had really sprung away from danger. "Forgive me Sarah!", he said inwardly feeling guilty. Just as he turned to face forward, he saw Father Christmas standing on his way by about a step.
He held his brakes immediately, having a short stare at Father Christmas as he tried catching his breath. He experienced exactly what happened to his girlfriend and got tossed away, making him bump into a tree and fall to the ground. He was now gone.
Dominic had been watching the scene from when the boy's neck was gripped tightly. He swallowed dryly, extremely petrified as he watched Father Christmas walk away swiftly. "This is not ordinary, and definitely has something to do with the Late Father Christmas", he thought. He watched Father Christmas traipse beep into deep darkness and was nowhere to be seen.
Dominic dialed the police department line. As it rang, he felt he should go check out the hapless victims, but withdrew his steps when the murder of the boy played in his memory. "No! I'd rather stay here", he thought.
* * *
As early as 7am the next day, Magdalene walked into the Joseph's room to wake him up from sleep. She shook him gently. "Wake up! Rise and shine!", she said. She shook him again, a little less gently though and repeated what she said when Joseph did not move a muscle after the first attempt.
Joseph moaned and stretched himself in a ridiculous way which made Magdalene give away a gentle laughter. Joseph opened his eyes and squinted, making out a smiling Magdalene just beside him.
He sat up quickly, feeling energetic. He rubbed his eyes with his hands to take away all sorts of sleepiness left in them. He inhaled the fresh air around and exhaled it heavily; happiness was clearly shown on his face.
"What did you dream about?", asked Magdalene with a curious smile.
"Huh?", Joseph looked at her, expressing confusion for her question.
"I'm talking about the...", she amusingly repeated all of what Joseph did after he woke up, in a dramatic way though. She then gestured for an explanation to all what he did.
"Nah! There's no reason", he smiled, "But wait! Why did you wake me up?", he asked.
"As long as I stay here, I'll treat you as a husband", she said cheekily.
"Oh really?", he nodded his head with surprise.
"Or you want me to leave your house?", she smirked at him.
"No oh! I don't want you to leave", he replied, keeping a serious look.
"I know you'd say just this", she giggled and held his nose playfully. "As a good wife...", she joked.
"Good wife?", Joseph interrupted, finding it funny.
"Shhhh!", she hushed him, "As a good wife, your food is downstairs. Let me just go down and set everything up. See you downstairs at the dining room where we will have our first couple meal", she winked at him and pecked him on the cheek.
"It has got to this", Joseph chuckled over it.
"No time for unnecessary discussions. See you downstairs!", she hurriedly went down the bed and out of the room, not forgetting to close the door.
Joseph shook his head in disbelief with a giggle. "She's annoyingly sweet", he said. He went down from his bed and headed for the bathroom. "Got to brush first before having breakfast", he said.
As he just opened the bathroom's door very slightly, he felt a sharp sudden pain in his stomach and quickly went to ground. He held his stomach with one hand and used the other to crawl into the bathroom.
He then vividly remembered the orders from his Master; he was meant to take some human blood to his Master. He got up slowly, supporting his belly with his hand.
"I better get some blood before it clocks 9 or I'm done for", he said in a low voice with extreme difficulty.