3.1 | Undead

15

February 24, 2021.
Victoria island, Lagos, Nigeria.

Lara had her back turned to the door as she may on the bed while I peeked in from a crack in the door. After going over the same pep talk and hype that I'd been rehearsing for the past five minutes in my head, I finally developed courage and twisted the door knob.

The door opened with a creak that foiled all my plans to be as quiet as possible, resulting in me wincing and Lara turning sharply to the door. Her expression visibly relaxed on seeing me.

"Oh," she said, running her gaze over my standing form. "It's you."

I chuckled under my breath, keeping my voice low when I said, "we're you expecting someone else?"

Lara offered a twitchy smile. "Well, you never know. Ever since approximately two weeks ago, we've been running from the ghost of your ex who you apparently still have feelings for."

Yeah, this was going to be harder than I thought.

She gave me a look, arching a brow before turning her back to me and adjusting her position on the bed.

Just as my lips parted and I was about to start pouring out the contents of my heart to her, she sat up and faced me squarely on the bed.

"You know," she began, furrowing her brows. "In all my years of living, before this one. If anyone had told me I'd be trying to escape getting killed by my fiance's exgirlfriend's ghost, I'd probably had laughed in that person's face and publicly shamed them."

I hadn't noticed how much I'd been leaning into the doorknob until it started digging into my side, sending a pain round my waist and up. I leaned away and shut the door, going to stand next to the drawer instead.

Lara licked her lips and rubbed her hands, staring away from me for a moment before returning her gaze, hotter than before. She was glaring now, but there was a moisture forming in her eyes. All I wanted to do was reach out and hold her, and promise to never stop loving her or let any harm come to her. But I knew she needed this, she needed to pour her heart out. So I let her.

"Other women would have certainly run away, the second you mentioned a ghost was haunting you. They would have gone to the police, or mental hospital to report insanity. They would have broken their bind with you." She pointed her index finger at me as her voice broke. A stray tear escaped its restraint in her eyes and rolled down her cheek. She curled her finger back into her fist and bit her lip. I felt my heart break, and my own tear drop.

"I've given up a lot to be with you Jacob." She sighed heavily, getting up, her hands swinging as she did. She ticked them away in her pockets. "I've given up a whole darn lot just so I could share what I had left with you. And now. . ." Inhaling sharply, she took a step towards me.

The thing was, I knew everything. I knew what she'd lost because of this, because of me.

Just before I'd proposed to her, her father wanted to give her half the property he owned. At that time, it didn't feel like she was going to get married anytime soon. And her parents didn't want her to not have anything, so they signed half of their property to her. It was a good deed in their eyes, but in the eyes of her brothers, it wasn't.

So after the proposal, they had come to her and told her to pick one. Them or the property.

According to them, I was successful enough to be able to take care of her, whereas they had families to tend to. Being the person Lara was, and wanting peace, of course she gave it to them. All the landed properties, vehicles and the private jet her dad gave her as a gift.

Both her parents died, months before the proposal, so her brothers felt the time was right to reap what their father had left behind.

Lara sniffled before me. "Now, you're making me feel like it wasn't worth it."

I surged forward with an aching heart and placed my hands on either side of her tearstained face. Planting a firm kiss on her forehead, unable to clam my beating heart, I whispered, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for making you feel that way."

Lara stared me in the eye, seeming on the verge of loosing her hold on her tears. "Do you still love her?"

I shook my head and brought my forehead to hers. "I don't. I love you."

The sobs came almost immediately and I went to put my arms around her in an embrace while she cried into my shirt. "I'm scared," she said. "I don't want to loose you in the midst of this. God, why can't we just go back to normal."

"We will. I promise we will. Right after I figure this out." It was way for me to say that. With everything against me, it felt like it was impossible to achieve. Like I was grasping at straws. Making promises I couldn't keep.

"But Stephan—"

I too knew this was going to be almost impossible without him and Dami, but I didn't want to base on that. Everything was going to fall into place eventually, I had to keep telling myself that.

"We'll figure everything out. It'll be fine. I promise."

Even as Lara held on to me like she was scared I'd disappear once she let go, I couldn't help the uneasy feeling that bubbled in my veins. Like there was something dangerous lurking around. Pike something bad was about to happen.

Cue the eerie music and this would have been a good scene for a horror movie. Only, it was realer than I wanted it to be.

"I'm scared," Lara confessed again.

I kissed the top of her head and held her tighter, the both of us rocking from side to side. "You don't have to be."

Ah, but how wrong I'd been to say that, because I didn't have the power to promise anything. Just as Bukola had said, I was immortal, almost helpless.

Which was why, two nights later, when Lara jolted awake beside me with a bloodcurdling scream that seemed to shake the walls, I couldn't do anything but stare. For the one I loved sat beside me, scared almost to death, doused head to toe in blood.

I held back a scream myself.