Anaya: A Dark Voyage [#1 LightBlood Series]

Chapter 12 - Where's The Body?

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"Where did you say this happened? Can you take me there?" Kukua asked, a little less petrified than what a friend who had heard his/her friend had committed murder would be. Her voice remained as calm as a slumbering babe. Was Kukua being her usual self or there was something else that Nia Afriyie should know?

"You don't mean we should go back there, do you?" Kukua said nothing but just nodded.

"What if-"

"We have to. Trust me. Just put your cool-girl act on and let's go back in there before..." Kukua stopped halfway as if she had suddenly been reminded of something she shouldn't say. "You know what? Follow me."

Nia Afriyie, although now a complete box of different emotions - sad, scared, suspicious, confusion and whatnot, followed her friend back into the club through the sea of the still clueless crowd into the bathroom area but...

Nia Afriyie stopped suddenly in her tracks, Kukua almost bumping into her. She said nothing after stopping but just looked at the floor. Her eyes and mouth were wide open, frozen in an expression of horrified surprise. Her mind was sent swivelling, unable to comprehend or process whatever it was that she was seeing.

"Where's...where..." she pointed at the place the body was lying a few minutes ago but now empty with no sign of the dead University boy. Not even a single strand of hair. Nothing. The body had disappeared like it was never there in the first place. It was as if the whole thing had been a visual joke...like she imagined everything. Or was she losing her mind?

"He was just right here...he-" Nia stammered seeing the unusual occurrences.

Kukua, after watching her friend for some seconds, finally caught onto what she meant.

"You mean, this is where it happened?" Nia shook her head in affirmation, her eyes still fixed on the floor. Suddenly, some sort of realization dawned on Kukua. Her expression changed. Something was wrong.

"No, this can't be. How did you say you killed him exactly?"

"I don't know...it all happened so fast. There...there...there was this light from my hand, he got burnt, then...then...the strong push...nothing makes sense...I..." She got breathless by the utterance of each word.

"Hey, Nia. Look at me." Kukua held her in her arms so tightly and oddly comforting that they sent vibrations of calm through her. "There are certain things you don't know yet. I promise I will explain everything to you but for now, I would need you to put yourself together. Let's get out of here. It is not safe. They know about you."

"They? Who are they?" Nia Afriyie queried. Clearly, that wasn't the only thing begging for answers but giving the circumstances, that was the only question she could come up with.

"I will tell you everything. I promise. Now hold my hand." Nia Afriyie did as directed without questions.

Kukua held her hand tightly and walked to one of the bathroom doors. They stood and faced the door. Kukua placed Nia Afriyie's hand on the doorknob and added hers a second after.

"Close your eyes, Nia. Keep your eyes shut very tightly." She instructed. Nia Afriyie's expression changed to a what-the-heck-is-going-on sort of face as she watched her friend.

"Trust me. Just close your eyes." Kukua assured.

Nia Afriyie closed her eyes hoping her friend wouldn't hit her head with something while she was at it. After all, she was the one claiming to have killed a boy whose body had disappeared. Then she heard Kukua whispering words she couldn't quite make sense of.

The whispering of these strange words went on for a few seconds and then everything went silent. Kukua held Nia Afriyie's hand as they walked through the door.

***

The room looked as if it was on fire. It wasn't. It was just the blazing flames of the candles sitting unperturbed in their holders. There were many of them that one could lose count trying to tally them. The candlelights were an arc of radiant yellow in the blackness. They were the only source of light in the room, yet, the room was luminous enough to see everything and everyone in there. The air was still and the flame barely flickered.

On a wooden table under a faction of these candlelights, a body lay. It was utterly still and slightly frozen. A young boy could be seen. He had been dead for some time by the looks of how ashen his body was.

Dembe kneeled at his side, touching his hand to his chest listening to his heartbeat then to his hand, feeling for a pulse in vain before dropping the hand recklessly on the table.

"The victim is a young male of, twenty-four years of age." He pointed to the body on the table, scanned the room as if to allow time for the information to sink in the minds of his audience. He had a white bandage on his right arm and wore a black Dashiki - an oversized, loose-fitting garment, with a V-shaped collar, paired with a black trouser and a pair of black leather sandals.

He continued when he was satisfied everyone had gotten the first set of information, "He was found at 8:55 PM lying in front of the ladies' bathroom in the Wild Street Ale House with a burnt scar in the shape of a human hand, as you can clearly see, on his arm. Does this look familiar?" Again, he turned to the set of curious eyes that followed his every movement.

"Now, with all these, it is obvious there is a possibility we have a LightBlood walking among the humans. And you know what that means, right? We are closer...closer than we've ever gotten. We can't have another LightBlood put everything to shits. Like before. We need to find this girl, whoever she is, and take care of her before -"

"Girl?" A female voice from the gathered asked.

"Isn't the evidence clear enough? The victim was found in the ladies bathroom and I felt the energy when I was there." Dembe explained.

"We have made this mistake before and burned an entire township to ashes and still found no LighBlood. We can't afford such mistakes again. How sure are you this wasn't just a burn the victim got from doing whatever? We haven't had a LightBlood in years. Do they still even exist?" Another voice, this time belonging to a male - a much older male, asked from the gathered.

"I am sure. Very sure. I am aware we can not repeat the mistakes our previous generations made because, clearly, we know better. And to answer your question..." Dembe paused and began unrolling the bandage from his arm, revealing the blister on his tattoo, "I saw the sign. I felt it. Just as we were told. Here...you can see it." He went around and showed it to the gathered who after glimpsing, decided Dembe was right.

Their world was threatened by yet another LightBlood and they couldn't afford to sit and do nothing. Whoever this girl was, must be found and taken care of.

***
Chapter proofread and edited by RubaiaMQ

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And hey, this is where we reach our 20K ONC milestone!

Word count: 20,146K!

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