Finding 'x'

•My pledge to Tiny•

Ideraoluwa Gabriella Adeoti actually asked if I —the scum, family disgrace and overall bastard— was okay.

And it didn't end there, she put a foot in front of the other continuously and made a way to where I was standing and asked the question again.

I must've woken up in an opposite universe after hitting my head that hard the day before, for she —not minding my shabby appearance— touched me, she brought my hands under her eyes and scrutinized it in wonder. My dumbstruck brain found it hard to process any thought at that moment.

The pretty face, like mother's, bore a look of worry and slight fear when her gaze fell back to my face. I was awed.

"Ella, don't tell me ...don't tell me you now do ...drugs," she whispered, her voice a semblance to the voice of a lazy, evening breeze. It took a few seconds for assimilation to take place.

I snatched back my hand when what she was trying to insinuate dawned on me.

It was on the tip of my tongue to deny her claims but then at the very last second, I thought better of it.

So I replied accordingly, "why do you care?" Maybe it was due to the aftereffect of crying hard, but my voice sounded like sandpaper scraping the back of a metal pot, and for some reason which I cloud not comprehend, it made my twin recoil.

"I never thought it would come to this Ella. I'm sorry." Her soft voice was solemn and trembling when she talked this time, with an added water-work effect. She whirled around and dashed out of the room without remembering to tend to her expensive shoulder bag that was probably made out of original crocodile leather.

I rolled my eyes in wonder as to why she was majoring in science, she keeps getting better by the day with her classic theatrics. For a while there, she almost had me fooled.

I rushed towards the door to lock it once more, making sure to secure the inner latch before returning to my offensive smelling locker.

I understood why Dera had the impression that I might be into heroine; there were fresh injection marks at the back of my palm, I looked like a nut job with the scanty, dirty clothing I had on and my corner reeked of a mixture of strong alcohol and a kind of chemical I didn't understand. But she was just being too dramatic about it, it wasn't as if she cared or anything.

I quickly shoved thoughts of her to the back of my mind and reopened the locker once again, with more carefulness this time than before. I reached into the space and gently pulled out what felt like a silky bag, because the locker was like a typical highschool locker, deeply installed into the wall and coupled with the poor lightning in my corner, I wasn't able to see the contents in the transparent zip-lock bag until it was pulled out completely.

I actually thought of it as a possibility, probably envisioned it. I still wasn't prepared in the least for what I was holding on to with trembling hands.

'I have a gift for you. A special gift'. The words rushed back to me in a flash.

The air tight bag in my grasp contained thick layers of skin, immersed in a colourless liquid that was dripping drop by drop from a leak.

It was skin from the body. Skin of a human being.

I almost fainted from shock.

I didn't fail to notice tiny white cardboard was stapled to the edge of the bag, a flowery font scrawled upon it;

Tick says the clock,
Tick tick,
What you have to do,
Do quick.

♣