SHADOWS OF KAYLA

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Festus.

“Ah-choo!” I sneezed as soon as I wheeled my suitcase into the dusty and stale-smelling living room. It was a very small bungalow that looked like it had accommodated only insects, furniture and dust for that past three sixty-five days. I stood by the door, repulsively scanning the space occupied with furniture covered in white-turned-brown linens.

“The kitchen is really nice,” Josh announced rather inaptly as he passed by my side from outside, to stand in the middle of the room.

“Really, bro?” I rolled my eyes tiredly. I wasn't having it.

He chuckled and went arms akimbo, staring awkwardly up at the cobweb-bedecked ceiling and corners.

“You know how to use a broom, right?”

I let go of the handle of my suitcase and took off my cap, running my fingers quickly through my damp hair.

“No, I don't,” I responded in a sigh. It wasn't like I didn't know how to use a broom, I just didn't want to use one, nor did I want to do any cleaning.

Josh scoffed and pushed the knob of another door to peek inside the room it guarded, he then opened the door wider and walked inside.

“It's better in here,” his voice echoed and I pulled my bag behind me, hoping I wouldn't get more irritated than I already was.

The room was very tiny and stuffy, but indeed a better place to put my things before figuring out exactly where to start with the cleaning. I walked over to the window and pulled the dirty blinds to one side. All I could smell was dust, old furniture and more dust. I brushed my nose with the back of my left hand and turned to Josh who was already making the bed.

“Where did you get those from? Here?” I queried exasperatedly, wondering where in the forsaken house he found bed sheets. Josh pointed his thumb to the small closet with its doors ajar hanging up the wall behind him.

I shrugged and walked out of the room casually to explore the rest of the house. Although, I couldn't pretend like I wasn't uncomfortable with the state of the house, I reminded myself that I needed to brace myself for surviving outside the reigns of my father and family.

“You can do this, Festus,” I incited myself with dramatically clenched fists, pushing the kitchen door open. It was bigger than I expected for such a small house, but it smelled uninvitingly damp and humid. My nose scrunched in reaction to the smell and my footsteps echoed with every contact my sneakers made with the old marble floor.

Making sure not to touch anything yet, I glanced at the sink area, imagining how everything would look with a makeover—I wasn't sure the money I had left would be able to fund my feeding for two months, let alone the grand transformation video that was playing without permission in my head at the time.

Another stodgy exhalation was let loose from my lungs as my eyes caught the cleaning tools lying in a corner of the kitchen. My feet guided me and I heeded, stooping to pick the needed things.

“Do you think this vacuum cleaner works?" I asked Josh in a yell, pulling the machine from the stack of mop-sticks and brooms, twisting it around like one would do a hung dress in a boutique.

“What?” Josh called back from the other room.

“The vacuum cleaner…does it work?”

“How would I know? Check it yourself!” He bayed again.

“Well, I need some help over here!”

I heard him sigh before saying, “Coming!”

Josh's sloppy footsteps echoed across the house before he got to where I was. I frowned at the dragging noise his feet were making with the floor, but I did not say a word. He stood by the threshold of the door with his two hands to the sides of the jamb.

“Need some motivation? Should I play you a housekeeping playlist or som'?" He joked, and I was near a chuckle for a second, but my mood wouldn't let me.

“You're so good with wrong timing,” I noted, picking up a broom stick and throwing it to him. He couldn't catch it in time, the stick broke in two unequal halves as it dropped to the floor.

“Seriously?” Josh scowled at the broken sticks as he returned his hands to the door jamb. I chuckled this time, as I put on the gloves I had found.

“You should probably come get it yourself, there's an extra one here.”

I turned on the sink tap, and it made some howling noise before water poured unsteadily out.

“Mmm..fair enough," I hummed and turned the tap back off, heading for the door.

Hearing my phone ring made me halt in my steps. I hardly got any calls from anyone except Josh or some of my friends from highschool who only called once in a blue moon. The both of us exchanged some questioning glances before he paved way from the door for me to go answer the call.

The room was a little different from when I had left it a few minutes ago. There were new blinds and the bed was looking good. My suitcases had been put neatly to the side and it smelled fresh with air-spray. I felt a little relieved as I headed for my backpack. The ringing had stopped before I got to pick out my phone, but just as I unzipped the bag, it rang and vibrated again.

The ID on the screen read “James” and I let out a slight groan. I couldn't remember exactly how I had gotten the time to have or save his number to my phone. I watched it ring for a few seconds before finally putting the phone to my ear.

“Hi!” James' voice sounded too excited for my liking and it made me want to throw up.

“What?” I retorted blankly, turning to the door as I heard Josh walk in with raised brows, as if to ask “Who is that?”. I waved at him to note that the caller was unimportant.

“You have to come home right now,” James told me and I could sense the urgency and seriousness in his voice.