STIGMA

CHAPTER 37

Salamat was worried.

She couldn't hide it.

Saleem wasn't picking her calls and her fears were increasing every minute.

She had been calling him since she left her mother's room and this was past 8 pm already.

Was he still mad at her? She couldn't say.

Or did something bad happened to him? She kept wondering.

After taking dinner, she was feeling sleepy, even though dinner was unusually quiet. She had gone to her room shortly after, to sleep.

After a second thought, she decided to give Saleem a call before sleeping to see if he would pick but his refusal to pick had made the sleep vanished. She was wide awake now and alert.

And she felt uneasy for no reason.

She called him one more time before dropping the phone to go out of the room. Then her phone beeped and she rushed back to her bed in excitement. She was sure the message was from him.

She opened the inbox with her heart leaping wildly.

It reads, "I'm outside. Can you come out for a second?"

It was from a strange number. She guessed it was Saleem. But what was he doing here at this time of the day? Did he decide to spend the whole day with Bimpe and come over to me this night? Saleem must be silly.

She fumed within her ignoring the fact that she had been craving to hear his voice.

Thus, she cautioned herself and calmed down. At first, she wanted to ignore the message just so he would know she was mad at him. But she knew that wouldn't solve the problem.

She still wondered his reasons for coming over by this time and for what reason. To explain himself? Why can't he come in then?

The questions she was throwing at herself were becoming too much for her little brain. She was beginning to feel a slight headache.

She stood up from the bed, without her phone, and walked out of the room.

She quietly opened the front door and went out. The whole place was calm and peaceful.

She looked all around from the railing but no one was in sight. The whole street was in pitch darkness, except for the light from the solar in their flat and that of Oga Buks.

A cold sensation washed through her and she felt goosebumps all over. She felt scared all of a sudden and felt the urge to run back inside.

"Saleem can't be playing this kind of hide and seek by this time of the day", she soliloquized.

She opened the gate and looked down the street one more time before turning to go. Then she heard a voice.

She jumped up in fright

It was Oga Buks's voice. The proprietor of BUKS International school. His flat was next to theirs and he was walking towards his house.

"Wumi, where are you coming from?", he questioned, looking at her with surprise.

"Nowhere sir, I just came to get fresh air."

He looked at her suspiciously and nodded. "Good night."

"Good night sir", she closed the gate and quickly rushed in.

She hadn't recovered from the fear when she noticed a presence in the sitting room. She almost jumped up again, in fright before she noticed it was her dad. He was watching the NTAnews@9.