EVANGELISTA'S POV
I was not too happy that my brother sent a woman and a child to our house. I was used to staying alone, and Dan, my boyfriend always visited and slept over. The presence of the woman and child meant that Dan was not able to visit me anymore. Who was she anyway? Could she be trusted? To think that I never asked Israel what the woman's name was, and I never even asked her! Could she be Israel's wife; or rather girlfriend? And the baby? The baby looked nothing like Israel. And besides, she was referring to Israel as Eden. Eden? Who on earth was Eden? Why was she being protected and supposed to be locked in the house all the time? I felt irritated just thinking of it, but then I could not do anything but to obey my brother's instructions.
Throwing the thoughts at the back of my mind, I drove the car into the CBD and then I called Dan.
"Hey babe," he whispered. "I'm in the middle of a group discussion for my final paper tomorrow."
"Step out for a few minutes", I said in excitement, and I ended the call.
After a short while Dan called me back.
"Hey babe? Sorry to disturb you." I apologised whole heartedly, but still I was unable to keep the news to myself. I needed Dan to be with me, and to see the very posh car that I was driving.
"You're disturbing me because you're done with your exams," Dan teased.
I decided to go straight to the point; "Guess what, I have a very nice car. Do you want to drive it?"
"What? Where did you get the car from?" he asked eagerly.
"I think it belongs to Israel. It's a Mercedes Benz and he said I must dump it, so…."
"Dump it? Why would anyone want to dump a Mercedes Benz?"
"With Israel anything is possible. Maybe he stole it. Anyway, I was saying before we dump it, why don't you and me have a nice little ride in this sparkling Mercedes? What do you say, love?" I tried to use my most seductive voice.
"I'm coming right away!"
"Are you done with your group discussions?"
"No, but I'm coming right away. My last exam is tomorrow afternoon, and it's an easy paper!" I could hear the ruffling of papers in the background, and I knew that Dan was packing up his papers and books. A few moments later Dan and I met. He was obviously impressed by the car.
"Oh my word, isn't she one of the latest models? Wow! Wow!! I have only seen it in pictures; never have I ever dreamt of seeing it in reality, worse off getting a chance to drive this beast! Oh! My! Word! Your brother is loaded! How does he get to dump such a lovely toy?" he spoke as he was walking around the car, opening its doors and looking at everything with a wide smile on his face. He looked like a little boy admiring a new toy. It was my first time to see Dan that happy.
I told him everything about the car, and I told him what Israel had said about dumping it immediately. With a wide smile, he started to drive the car. We drove for a long time around the suburbs of Yellowleaf, seeing all the beautiful places; the winding roads going up and down the mountainous city; we drove through the many trees and forests, and we enjoyed every moment of it.
"We could have gone to many places, but there are too many roadblocks these days!! I will look for some roads which are not too busy; I need a freeway where I can drive it and see the maximum speed I can go!", he beamed with joy.
"Dan, remember my brother said we need to urgently dump it!" I reminded Dan when I realized that he seemed to have forgotten that the car was on its way to being dumped.
"I wish there was a way I could keep it", he sighed, then "wow look at that! Look at how it beeps whenever it senses that I'm going off the road. Look, I am intentionally driving off the road…like this! Did you see that! It's beeping and flashing a warning. See that warning message written there? Oh my word! This is what I call an ultra-luxurious car! Look at this button, look...press it and see…"
"Where shall we dump it?" I asked Dan, failing to continue listening to him praising the car. I was starting to have a bad feeling that we were taking too long playing around with the car instead of doing what Israel instructed.
"Eva my love, let's enjoy this moment. How about we just go to the university and show a few of our friends?" Dan beamed.
"No no no Dan please! We have already stayed too long with the car. Let's talk about where to dump it now", I pleaded.
"OK love. First let's go to the park. I need many photos for my social media. Everyone must see and believe that this is my new baby. Oh, Mercedes Benz really knows how to make them!" He stated while the smile never left his face.
After taking the many photos at the park, I was already feeling very uneasy. Something in me told me that we had overstayed with the car, and Israel's voice kept ringing in my ears, telling me that the dumping of the car had to be treated with utmost urgency. I knew my brother too well to mess up with his instructions. He was my brother, yes, but a bad boy too. A very bad boy.
Dan finally agreed that it was time to go and dump the car. We left the city centre and started driving towards the forests. Since Yellowleaf was a very mountainous city, studded with vegetation and numerous valleys and deserted buildings, it was not too difficult to find a place to leave the car.
We were on the road for roughly twenty minutes when from nowhere Dan said to me "love, I have a feeling we are being followed"
"By who?" I asked.
"Check in the mirror. That white car you see is following us." He nervously clutched on to the steering wheel and leaned forward. His breathing became loud and rapid.
I checked and for sure, I had also caught a glimpse of that same car about three or four times before, but I had not given it much thought. I started to get seriously scared, and I suggested, "Let's take the next right turn and see what happens".
Dan took the next turn, and sure enough, the car also took that same turn. Starting to get worried, I fidgeted in my seat. When he increased speed, the white car did the same.
"Call your brother!" Dan ordered. He further increased the car speed.
Fidgeting in my seat, I pulled out my phone and called Israel.
"Eva. Sister, talk to me", he answered immediately.
"Someone is following us!!" I screamed out in a shaky voice.
"Someone is following you? Where? What do you mean?" Israel sounded confused.
"In the car, the car that we're going to dump!!" As I spoke, tears were fast welling up in my eyes.
"Evangelista!! I thought the car was dumped some long hours ago!!" his voice showed utter disappointment.
"I'm sorry, we just wanted to enjoy it a bit before…."
"We? Who are you with?"
"I'm with Dan, my boyfriend!"
"Put the phone on speaker, let me talk to him." Israel sounded very serious.
Oh my goodness; what did we get ourselves into?
"It's on speaker", I screamed as the tears rolled down my cheeks.
"Listen, dude!", my brother started to talk. "You have to do anything and everything to escape from whoever is following you. Where are you now? What's the car type and registration number, the one following you?"
"We're along the road that connects with the freeway to the boarder. It ...it looks like a Toyota…..or maybe a Nissan? I don't know! It has no registration number!!" Dan was shivering while he spoke.
Israel sighed then, "dude, you need to get off that road. Take a U turn just after the citrus farm…."
"We have already passed the citrus farm!" Dan screamed out.
"Oh damn! Eva! That car should have been dumped ages ago!! Ok, focus! Keep going! Drive as fast as you can. That road is too quiet. You need to get into a busy road. Can you connect the roads and get into Silica Road?"
"Silica, Silica…I am not sure now. I can do Airport Road" Dan said as sweat was forming on his forehead. He continued to increase the speed of the car, but the white car behind us also increased its speed, proving to us beyond any doubt that indeed someone was trailing us.
"Get into Airport Road then! Whoever is following you must be very professional and you are in that damn deserted road, they will soon catch up with you!!"
"I…I think I can go to Airport Road!", Dan said in a very frightened and unsure voice.