The Silence Within

Chapter 44

I apologise for the late update. I have been ill and had so many things to do. Please do not forget to vote, comment, share and follow. They mean a lot.

"Sarah loves to dance. It's something she does with passion" Lola explained. "It is her dream to become a famous dancer. A good thing about my mother is she supports our dream as long as it is not illegal. At the moment, Sarah's taking a part time dance class and owns a channel on YouTube for anything that has to do with dance. Any kind of dance" She looked at Joshua who walked by her side. She has removed her heels and held them in her hand. She loved the feel of the grains of soft sand against her feet. "Dance is Sarah's gift. It's like she's born to dance"

"You have nine siblings" Joshua began to speak. "How do you cope with them all? I have two and they can be so frustrating"

"Siblings are always frustrating but they are still the best because they are family. What will life be without them?" she slithered her hand over his upper arm. "Sister Shola wanted to read journalism"

The chaotic lace of water bowled unto the shore. Along with it came a chilling wind. Lola shivered in her rompers. The beach was still bubbling. It seemed like there was some late night party going on and there was light that enabled them to see.

"Why is she a lawyer?"

"Daddy forced her. Sister Shola is still the coolest of us all. She is the nicest, a second mother to us. Daddy wanted her to study law in Harvard. He deceived everyone in other to take her out of the country, made her write the exam and came back to Nigeria without her. Mummy was mad" she stopped. Joshua looked at her, his hands in his pocket. "Brother Makinde is a self-made millionaire. The money he used to begin his business was lent from daddy. He has returned it after he made it. Brother Makinde was not the man you see today. He used to be a drug addict" Joshua lifted his eyebrow. Lola moved and they continued their walk.

"He seem too clean to have been one"

"That's why when you said you were a heavy drinker and smoker at the age of fourteen. I understood. He did not begin very early like you but he was a drug addict"

They were at the beach. Lola had told Joshua to drive there. The beach was her favourite spot for relaxation. She enjoyed watching the waves. When they had parked at the beach, she told him to take pictures of her with her phone. A message came in from Sarah on WhatsApp that she should watch her latest dance video. That brought up the conversation about her siblings.

"Brother Makinde had to be taken to rehab"

"I did not go to a rehab" Joshua spoke. "I stopped willingly" he sighed.

A situation that occurred willed him to stop and give up his life as a cultist. That year had been terrible. Some incidents made him who he was today.

"It took him a year and more before he got well. When he came back, he lent money from daddy. Daddy did not trust him anymore. He had lost his trust for Brother Makinde" That was another problem in her parents' marriage. Because of her father's refusal to lend Makinde money, her mother was not pleased and took it out on her father. "Brother Makinde had to prove to daddy that he had changed before daddy lent him the money. He is twenty eight years old. How old are you?"

"Thirty" Joshua replied. Lola eyes grew huge. He grinned at the reaction.

"What?" She screeched, her hand falling from Joshua's arm. "What? What? What? Oh my" The look of bewilderment was something that made him nearly laugh. "You....you" She pointed a shaking finger at him. "Are six years older than me?"

Joshua chuckled. "You don't know my age?" he leaned in to say on her face.

"I never cared to ask" Lola felt heat creep up her cheeks. "Oh God! Thirty!"