BEHIND THE WALLS

Episode3

Carlos sat outside for a while before Annaya came out.

She was accompanied by the same man that had hugged her the previous day.

"Carlos, what are you doing at my door?" She asked in surprise

"I... I was waiting for you" Carlos replied but his focus was on the guy with Annaya.

"Who is he Annaya?" The man asked

"He is... Carlos" Annaya who was out of words replied.

"Yes Carlos but who is he? What does he mean by waiting for you?" The man asked

"Instead of asking me, you should ask him" Annaya replied

"I wanted to visit my sister Maya but I don't know the location of her school. I thought we could go together, but since you have company, i'll be grateful if you could send me the location" Carlos who was a straight forwad guy chipped in and said it.

"You could've said that earlier bro. Ann send her the location and then we can leave" said the man and Carlos just smiled satisfactorily as Annaya sent him the location.

He then secretly winked at her as he left the premises.

He went back home, secretly picked the car keys and walked out to start the car, just to find his mom waiting there.

"Mom, you scared me" he said

"You've been escaping me. Because of Annaya?" Asked his mom

"Mom, i'm just not ready to talk about it. But yeah, she's the girl I love and i've known her for years now. Can I go now?" Asked Carlos

"You can. Say hi to my girl for me. Call me when you see her, i'd like to talk to her" said Mrs David and hugged him before he left.

He was full of smiles as he drove on the way.

He took out his phone and looked at the chat where Annaya had sent him the location and smiled again.

"She still has my number. She never deleted it. She didn't even ask for it when sending the location. Does it mean that she still has feelings for me? I think so" Carlos thought.

"You still have my number" he texted

Annaya saw the text and looked around to make sure the guy driving her doesn't see her reaction.

She wished that she was alone for that moment but still replied, " I can as well block you"

"She is still playing hard to get" Carlos said in a smile.

"Annaya" he texted

"What?" She replied

"You didn't block me. You could've blocked me by now if you really wanted to" he texted again

Annaya couldn't avoid the smile on her face when she saw the text and the guy beside her saw it.

"Who are you texting that's making you smile like that" the guy asked

"Just drive Jonathan. I was just checking a meme and it was funny. The school has been sending messages too. I guess it's because I didn't call in yesterday. Hurry home so I can get to school later" Annaya said and placed the phone away.

"You ain't replying. Did you really block me?" Carlos texted after a while of silence.

"It went through! I'm not blocked! Thank God! I'll text you later in the evening" he texted again smiling like a fool and then concentrated on driving.

Annaya was heading to meet her parents first before going to school so Carlos didn't see her car on the way.

The journey was all smooth up until he almost arrived at his destination.

The place was smoky and very crowded.

Carlos's car couldn't go further so he had to check out for a good place to park.

He then pushed his way into the crowd just to find about four to five ambulances receiving very critical people that had been burnt beyond recognition.

Men and women were moving about in tears and with such a sight, Carlos's body froze for a moment.

"Excuse me, what's going on here " he had to ask one passer by.

"You don't know? Gateway girls highschool has been on fire since last night and many students have lost their lives. The fire has just been put out but they are still trying to save the students who were trapped inside. Do you..." the passer by wanted to say more but Carlos felt shock all over his body and just found himself pushing his way to the front.

"Maya!" He kept murmuring as he moved forward to the front of the school and found it even more crowded and the police were trying to keep people off the gate.

More students were being brought out by the life savers and the fire brigade team.

Some had minor injuries, some had severe burnt injuries and some were dead.

Carlos had never seen such a scene in his life and it shook him.

He went looking for Maliya all round the places, in the ambulances and at the survivors meeting point but couldn't find her.

The only place he didn't check was at the dead students poll.

He believed that Maliya wasn't dead.

"My heart tells me you are okay Maya. Please show yourself to me" Carlos prayed after a long search which wasn't fruitful.

Just before he went on with the search, he got a call from his mom.

He moved a little away from the crowd and thought for a while before receiving the call.

"Carl, are you at the school? What is all this I'm seeing on tv? Wha... what is happening over there? Where is Liya? Have you found her? Is she with you? Can I talk to her? Is she okay? She is with you right?" Mrs David, in tears, talked without giving Carlos a chance to say anything.

"Mom I..." Carlos wanted to say that he was still looking when suddenly a hand brushed against his and two bracelets fell down next to him.

A girl that had half of her face burnt was being rushed to the ambulance her hand brushed against Carlos.

The bracelets fell from her hand.

Her blood had smeared on Carlos's hand.

Carlos wanted to move further away from the scene but the bracelets caught his attention and he picked them up.

"Maya!" He said immediately he had a proper look at the bracelets.