She had never been there before then but she had heard that it was a very quiet street. She was glad the school bus driver had not noticed for once that she was missing. She didn’t want to think of how her dad would react when the school bus stops at her house and no Juana alights.
She walked for ten minutes before she saw the ‘WELCOME TO NEW MEADOW STREET’ sign. The signboard was high and new.
“New Meadow? Is there an Old Meadow?” She asked herself. That girl had just said ‘Meadow’ she sighed. She wasn’t sure which of the two Ella lived in. Her instincts told her to turn back and go home when she saw that the gate was locked with two giant locks but she wasn’t one to give up so easily on something so adventurous. Nobody was nearby. Not a soul. Except few stray dogs so frail-looking that Juana thought they couldn’t bark. The street was in an enclosed area far away from the main road.
“Hey who’s here?!” She yelled and her voice echoed in the silence. No reply. She stopped and waited. At least someone lived here, she thought. She waited fifteen minutes for anyone to pass by, but when no vehicle or human was forthcoming, she began to kick violently at the gate. She used a huge stone to break the first lock and while she did this, the dogs began to come closer and began to bark. Juana was stupefied. These dogs could bark after all. She continued to kick the gate and knock the second padlock with a sharp stone and a sharp object she found on the ground. She had to enter before the dogs got to her but the lock was new and stubborn, unlike the first. It wouldn’t budge. The barking got louder. She could see the dogs coming and it was then she saw why the barking got louder. Four tough-looking giant dogs had joined the three frail-looking ones and for once, Juana thought they might be lions. She subconsciously lifted her weight off the ground and jumped over the gate. She landed safely on the other side in time with bruises on both knees. She was beside herself with pride and amazement at how she was able to jump over the gate. The street was awfully quiet. She hadn’t walked far when she realized she had dropped her bag. It worried her that the dogs had had her bag which contained her phone, few books, stationeries and lunchpack. She met few people on the street but they were all men. It was weird. What was even weirder was none of them said a thing. It was as if talking was against their rule. They looked almost robotic.
‘How could anyone think of living here?’ She wondered
She began to feel hungry and tired and therefore stopped at the twenty sixth house. Besides she couldn’t see any more houses from that angle. There was a man at the yard. He was fixing a truck and whistling to himself. She walked up to him.
“You should have boarded a taxi from the main road. No one uses his vehicle for commercial purposes here” he said. He had a very calm voice that quietened her fears.
“Does anyone in House 44 know you’re visiting? Did you say House 44?” He faced her now, wearing a grin
“Yes sir”
“Okay. The road that leads there is eroded.”
“Oh” Juana sighed
“You look unfamiliar” he said dropping a tool on the bench outside his yard.
“I don’t live on this street but thanks for the information, I’ll go back and get a taxi” she said and began to walk away.
“Wait. Do you need water? You look tired… Maybe some food too?” He was grinning. By now, he was starting to sound so caring that it made her uncomfortable.
“No I’m fine thanks” she said walking faster. She was going to turn back and go straight home since there were no vehicles to take her to her destination.
“Hey doll! I can help you!” Doll? No she didn’t like the sound of that.
“You can’t walk that far without passing out, I tell you” he said “besides there’s likely to be a rainstorm soon. Look!” Juana looked at the sky. It was starting to darken. “I can give you a ride with my truck. It’s just twenty minutes away” So she turned back towards him.
“Good decision, my child” he said “Wait few minutes, I’m almost done with fixing this truck” he said grinning from ear to ear. Juana wondered why he was so happy to give her a ride.
“Thank you” she muttered sitting on the seat he offered.
“Anything for a pretty doll” he said laughing.
“I’m Juana”
“Sorry.”
It was getting dark when he started the truck and Juana was hungrier and thirstier than ever. She refused the bread and Cola drink the man offered her. It began to rainstorm as they journeyed on the quiet road.
“Can you move faster please?”
“I’m sorry I can’t, I told you the road is eroded” he said driving as slowly as ever “Besides looking at the weather, it’s dangerous”
Thirty minutes later, they were still on the road. She almost began to cry.
“Be patient doll, we are almost there” She was feeling sleepy but dared not sleep in a stranger’s vehicle.
She was already dozing when she heard “We are there now” he parked in front of a dimly lit house.
She alighted slowly and he followed her. It was dark and the weather was as unclear as anything so she couldn’t see the house. She knocked but no one answered.
“It looks uninhabited” she said
“Let’s check the back door” he said and they went to try the door. After knocking twice, they opened it and it opened wide with a creak.
“Do you keep a flashlight in your truck?” Juana asked
“Yes. Let me go get it” he said and stormed out in the rain. He returned with a flashlight and a raincoat.
“Put this on” Juana took the raincoat because she was shivering with cold and when she switched on the torch, she was shocked to find the house empty.
“It seems I’m in the wrong house. No one lives here or are they sleeping?”
“If they were, they wouldn’t leave their back door open” he said and opened a door. It led to a large but stuffy living room.
“How come you know your way around here?” She was both surprised and afraid. He didn’t say a word. He sat on one of the rotting chairs and sighed. Juana just stood by the door.
“I can’t even see the number on the door. Aren’t I supposed to be in House 44?” She asked him again. Then he began to laugh this throaty and evil laugh that shook her to the roots.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s no House 44 on this street”.
” What?”
“I just wanted you in my house. That’s why I tricked you into coming. Aren’t I just smart?” He said laughing evilly
“No you’re just a foolish old traitor!” She shouted. He laughed more. Then It dawned on her that she was in trouble. Great trouble. Who will bail her out of this den? This man could kill her easily and no one would know. She didn’t even have her phone with her.
‘How can I be so foolish?’ She thought. She should have avoided him when he called her a doll because it had a sinister tone to it. The man went away, leaving her in the living room. Juana squatted in a corner shivering with cold and terror. She didn’t remember how long she was in that position until she fell asleep.
She was awoken by a bright light blinding her face. She shielded her face from the light with her palm and yawned. The atmosphere was calmer but it was even darker. She stood up stretching her limbs and massaging her ankles. Every room had their lights on now. Her head was throbbing but she was more aware of her environment now. It was 7. 15pm.
“Come in here and have supper with me, sassy doll” She heard him say.
“You have to eat you know, to be strong” he said coming out of the room towards her with a plate of fat chicken in his hands and a glass of milk. The chicken had a putrid smell and Juana was sure the milk was stale too. He squatted before her, dropping the meal and she realized that he had been drinking. He had a bottle of half-empty alcohol in his back pocket
“Eat” he commanded
“I want to go home” she mumbled tearily
“This is home, baby. All you ever need is here”
“What do you want from me?”
She asked with a straight face. She didn’t want to let him see her fear.
“I just need you to warm my bed on nights like this. That’s not too much to ask for, is it?”
She pulled the drink carelessly from his pocket and splashed it on his face.
He stood up, wiped his face and went back to the room he had emerged from.
“I’m giving you just ten minutes to eat that chicken” he roared. He was angry. Juana thought of how to escape. The door was firmly locked and the windows were too small to escape through. The larger ones had burglary frames. If only she had her phone with her. She hoped someone will find out in time that she had gone to see Ella in Meadow. She thought of her. What emergency got her running home in the middle of classes? Did she even live on this street? Laura had talked of her grandmother. So if Ella had a grandmother, could the emergency be related to her? Maybe her health was failing and she needed to move her to the hospital urgently. Or perhaps Ella was a ghost herself and a meeting of ghosts was to hold somewhere and that that was the emergency? If she wasn’t a ghost, why didn’t she want anyone know her residence? Juana was not only curious about this, she also needed to ask her some critical questions. The two of them were similar in some ways; they both could see things, they both had no friends and they both had their mothers involved in the plane crash/disappearance. Juana was very terrified; the hebephile was too strong to be subdued by her. If he were smaller, she could have hit him with her fists or something stronger, whatever was found in the almost bare house. She knew she had to do something quick or he was going to rape her. Or even kill her.
“You have six minutes more to get ready” he roared from inside. Yes, he roared whether he was angry or not now. That was something that shocked her. His voice had been calm when he first spoke to her. That was when he was fixing his truck and he sounded really friendly
She was too scared to think of praying or think of a way of escape; she was shivering all over even in the raincoat. She angrily kicked the rotting chicken into the trash can and stood up. Her eyes darted around the bare living room for a weapon. She needed a weapon, urgently. But there was nothing except a few rotting furniture, broken plastics and an old small wall clock. The clock had no sharp edges and it looked to her the only new thing in the house. It didn’t look like something that could work as a weapon. The room was so dusty and dirty and that began to give her allergies. Her chest was tight and she struggled to breathe. ‘Death please wait’ she said in her mind. She fell to the floor, totally weak.
“Three minutes more!” He roared again. She held her chest and prayed in her mind “Oh Lord save me”. She began to breathe through her mouth slowly. But she saw death coming, she literally felt life leaving her body. It was difficult to talk. One thing was she didn’t want the hebephile to see her that way. He’d think she was pretending and because of that, get more violent with her. He didn’t look like he had a heart. On the other hand, if he managed to believe she was indeed having an asthmatic attack, he wouldn’t be able to help. Where in that Godforsaken street would he find inhalers? It didn’t appear as if there were any hospitals there even. Even if there were, this man was not one to expose his crime by taking her to the hospital because he knew he was a criminal. ‘I’m dying Lord’ she said in her head.
She was almost passing out when she felt it. The weapon. No it wasn’t a gun or a dagger or a piece of wood. It was a little handy bottle, and not just any bottle, it contained an average amount of pepper spray! How on earth did she forget she had a bottle of pepper spray in her pockets? It was there all the time! And a spare inhaler? She grabbed it quickly. Then she remembered how constantly her dad instructs her to keep an inhaler in her pocket, another in her school bag, another in her school drawer, and another in the chest drawer in her room. As if he had known this day would come! ‘That way when you misplace one, you can always find another to save the situation’ he had said
‘What if I misplace everyone of them?’ She had playfully asked
‘That rarely happens, and God forbid. But if it does, the hospital is there for you’ he had replied.
She began to feel life returning to her body gradually.
‘Come on doll, it’s time to warm my bed’ He was coming towards her now with full force. Juana studied his features carefully: bloodshot eyes, huge biceps, protruding stomach like a woman three months gone, dirty beards and tiny moustache, hard, rough looking hands and a hairy bare chest. He was such a dangerous sight and didn’t look anything like the friendly good looking calm-voiced man fixing his truck at Number 26. He couldn’t be anything less than forty two years old. He rubbed his palm on her hair.
‘Oh my! You’ve got such long beautiful hair’ he said smiling
‘Don’t you dare touch me’ She muttered.
“There’s no free thing here, baby. You eat my food you pay with your body” he said scaring her
“I didn’t eat your food” Juana muttered. She knew that wouldn’t change anything but she said it anyway. He got angry
“What do you mean you didn’t eat my food?”
“It’s in the trash can” she replied weakly. He looked very angry.
“How dare you waste my food! You nuthead!!”
“Well, my dogfood is better-looking than that shit you served me” she replied fearlessly. Her hands were in her pockets cupping the small bottle.
“You waste my food, you get hit and still pay with your body” he yelled. Then he began to unbuckle his belt.
She hurriedly grabbed one of the pillows on the chair. It was large enough to shield her from the lashes of the belt. Only few hit her skin.
When he was satisfied and his anger died down, he lifted her into his room. He was too strong and Juana soon found herself on his giant stinky bed. He began to tear her clothes and trousers apart with glee, but she already had the bottle in her palm.
‘I have to target his eyes’ she thought, but he was tearing her trousers and wasn’t directly facing her.
‘How can I distract his gaze?’
She thought of lifting his chin but that’d be foolish. So she quietly asked “Do you love me?” He stopped and looked at her
“Yes doll, why?”
“Kiss me now” she said. “Slowly not roughly” she said. As soon as his mouth was near her cheek, she immediately sprayed the pepper in his eyes. His grip on her shoulders loosened and he began to rub his eyes, screaming. Juana craftily fetched the keys from his pockets and ran out into the cold