She paid little to no attention to what she had seen as she was already getting late for and didn't want to waste any more time. So she walked past the stains and took a bus to work.
At arrival, she stumbled on a male client who had tried to get her attention for the longest of time and she had also tried to avoid while he was around.
"Good morning Nichole." he said smiling from ear to ear
"Good morning Mr Steve." she replied less interested. "Thought you had left the country" she smirked. "Heard tho" she rolled her eyes looking away.
"No Nicky." He chuckled. "How can I when you still work here?" He continued laughing harder now.
She smiled, tho disappointed. " Ohhh okay." She said walking away. Signalling him that she no longer wanted the conversation
"Hope to see you often." He shouted. Waving her as she walked away.
"I wish I never get to see you again." she murmured to herself.
Amongst all the people she disliked, she hated him the most. He was a pest that never went away. Always in her space whenever he was around which made her uncomfortable. He wasn't in her age grade, a bit older which made her even more disgusted. He was a bald, short man with a stomach that deplicted his age. He loved younger ladies and she had been his prey for as long as she could remember.
She walked into the office taking a deep breath as she prowled to her desk, trying to avoid any further conversation. It was a new week and the office was noisy, a bit more noisy than usual. Staffs were scattered across seats, engrossed in their various discussion.
"It was probably a wild cat." one said to another. "or even something wilder." Another added, gazing at the both ladies intensely.
She wondered what rumour had spread across qher work place this time. Ignoring the noise, she sat on her desk pulling her system closer as she got busy with her work for the day. She worked at the public relations department of one of the reknown cloth company at marrowind city. Although she didn't relate so well with people, she tried harder when it came to dealing with clients, avoiding showing her lack of interest to them whenever she communicated with them on issues they faced regarding the companies services.
While she was seated on her desk working, Bella slided her chair from where she was seated towards hers, pulling the meal she had ealier bought from her bag.
"Here's yours Nick" she said gaving her the pack of fries with the coffee she had craved for for a while now.
Nichole stared at her excitedly like a child her was given chocolate. "Dew coffee." she pouted pushing out her lower lip and lifting her brows a little higher. "Thank you so much Bella, you are just the best."
"Its all good." Bella said smiling as she left for her seat. She rolled her chair to Nochole's again more faster this time as if something had pushed her. "Heard about the rumours?" She asked impatiently, fully aware that Nichole paid no attention to rumours until they were verified.
"What rumours?" Nichole replied paying more attention to the game she played on her system.
"A wild animal was let lose last night" her eyes widen and brows raised "this is not just a rumour." She continue, leaning towards Nichole's desk "Lawrence said he spotted a dead chicken which seemed to have been eaten by something wild on his way to work." she said only audible to Nichole this time.
The news of the chicken drew Nichole's mind back to the blood stains she had noticed at the alleyway while coming to work too. She was immediately reminded that she didn't notice Stella at her small wooden cage and the blood stains were also near the cat's cage.
"Stella!!" she let out a concerned look to Bella. "I noticed blood stains at the alleyway while coming to work this morning, but I was in a rush to check it out." Pressing her lips together tightly, she ran her hands through her hair. She instantly regretted leaving the alleyway without checking on the cat like she always did and also ignoring the blood stains that she noticed.
"I knew something was off." She said placing her forehead on her desk.
"I'm sure she's fine." Bella replied tapping Nichole on her shoulder. "We would check on her when coming back from work." She said
"Good morning everyone!!" Mrs Logan, their boss, walked into the office dismissing the various discussion that kept the office busy.
"Good morning Mrs. Logan" They all chorused "I really don't understand why this office should be this noisy by this time of the day. You all should be working and not having senseless discussions." She sneered, frowning as she strolled to her office.
The office was quiet as expected after the scolding released by Mrs. Logan. Few staffs stood printing workpapers while others bounced on their keyboards with their fingers. The office remained quiet the rest of the day due to the unpleasant presence of Mrs. Logan who only came by the office in the morning and most times stayed at the headquarters of the company during the day, but for some reasons tallied at the office. Her presence at the office was a nightmare to most of the staffs but most especially to Nichole. She had her eyes on Nichole for the weirdest reasons. Claiming that Nichole acted the way she did for attention and didn't work as much as she should.
Mrs. Logan left the office by 7pm and no one was expected to leave the office before she did.
"Have a nice day." she said to the staffs as she walked towards the office door. "Same to you Mrs. Logan." some Staffs replied while others ignoring.
Picking her bag from her desk,"I'll catch you at home Bella." Nichole said to Bella as she hurriedly hanged her bag like a school kid and took off.
She left soon after Mrs. Logan leaving Bella behind with the intention of searching for Stella while coming back from work. Bella had offered to join the search team but she declined insisting that she could handle it in her own. She took a taxi to the alleyway, impatient to wait for the bus at the bus station, as it was already getting dark, which would make it harder for her to find Stella.
"Stella! Stella!" She began calling as though the cat could reply if she heard the call. She turned over the cage she had made for the cat two years ago on she the cat sleeping helplessly on the stairs close to the alleyway.
" Stella! Stella!" She continued tracing the blood stains which led to the woods beside the alleyway. She walked slowly towards the woods, carefully observing the stains with her flash light as she walked. When she reached the entrance of the woods, her flash light flicked, blinked again, and went off as if giving her a sign. She tapped the touch twice and it flashed on. By the time she pointed the flashlight back on the ground, the blood stains were no more. A bit confused, she walked into the woods ignoring all the signs that came.
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