Blood Moon | ✔

Chapter 4

"Hey, it's the new girl." A new voice exclaimed, so sudden that Lekan startled and stubbed her foot against a headstone, she swore loudly, eyes darting around in the dark searching for an enemy unseen.

She could have sworn with her whole life that she had heard a voice speak before this one.

The dim glare of a torchlight flickered at her eyes and she could make out three boys standing in front of her. Lekan straightened, forcing herself to wear a blank look as she looked at them, certain that she had seen the shortest boy among them around in the few days she had been here, he might have been one of those boys who hooted when any girl passed or one of the noisiest ones who bothered the authorities.

"Could you stop pointing that thing at me?" Lekan broke the silence when they continued to stare at her. The torchlight wavered then was pointed downwards at the ground where Lekan caught a rat scurry past and she shifted slightly.

"So you're her." The shortest one said, blinking at her, he nudged at his friends with both elbows as if communicating a secret message to them, the way they all turned to stare at her made her feel like there was something she was supposed to know, the way the short one spoke told her he had definitely heard something about her. She wasn't even sure what to worry about, the fact that rumours were already spreading around the compound without her knowing or the fact that she had been certain that she had heard someone speak before these boys had arrived

"I'm her," Lekan affirmed, although she was not sure exactly what she was confirming. "Seems like I've got a reputation around here."

"Oh you do," the boy on the right said, bobbing his head, he wore a pink bandana around his head — Lekan was sure that caps and bandanas were contraband wares here — and was the tallest of the three.

"So is it true?" The shortest spoke again, he raised the torchlight in his hands a little higher so Lekan noticed the red scar on his left ear, he sounded eager, as if they weren't four teenagers sneaking away and now standing on a ground that had clearly been a cemetery.

"What is true?" Lekan asked, her brows furrowed in confusion, she smoothened them with a conscious finger when she noticed that the three of them were watching her every expression closely, she had learnt the hard way to be wary of giving away too much. She startled when the short boy took a small step closer.

Realization dawned on her with a chill that had nothing to do with the cold breeze outside, here she was, standing amidst three boys, one of them alone could overpower her and all three could hurt her and she'd never be a lift a finger in defence. She took several steps back, her breath coming in quick pants that made her chest hurt. She planted her feet and stiffened, ready to run if it came to it. Lekan bit her lip when she realized she had left the knife she had snuck in back her in backpack in her room.

When you walked with criminals then you learnt to think like one, learnt to anticipate a stab in the back and get your own knife ready. For now she'd let them talk, then she'd slip away as quick as she could.

"I don't know what you've heard." She cajoled, forcing back a sigh when shortie took an absent step back.

"That you murdered your father so you could run away with your lesbian stepmother." The one on the left piped, he sounded almost impressed, his words hurried and slurred.

It took a moment for the words to register and when they did, Lekan wasn't sure whether to be furious and amused, it was clear that the rumours were the work of her angry roommates, but even them could have come up with something more original than a homicidal love story. She spluttered a cough before she could stop it, then shaking her head.