The shuttle in which Simi sat made grinding noise on the way, its exhaust pipe pumping more fumes than necessary and finally broke down on the way.
As the passengers got down, there were mumblings all around them. A shuttle breaking down in the middle of its journey was stressful, not to the driver and conductor, but mostly to its passengers.
Simi kept a straight face and got down too, she didn't have time for mumbling and complaining, she had to get Julia Benson as fast as she could and keep her company.
She stood on the pavement of the highway with the other passengers, waiting for another shuttle that wasn't full to pass by and pick them up. A few passed by and they were all full until as if it were a miracle, an empty shuttle with just one passenger approached them.
When it got to where they stood, all the jilted passengers on the pavement clamored to get into the shuttle including Simi. Unluckily for her, the shuttle got full just as it was left with only her.
She harrumphed and watched the conductor give her an apologetic smile and hit the side of the shuttle to tell the driver that he could move.
Simi stood there for almost 20 minutes waiting for a shuttle that wasn't empty. It was as if some force of nature didn't want her to go to Julia. She'd almost given up when a shuttle that was almost full honked at her.
Simi quickly raised her right hand to indicate that she was waiting for a car. When the shuttle stopped a few meters away from her, she rushed and climbed in.
Half an hour later, she got down at the bus stop nearest to the neighborhood she shared with the Bensons. As she walked to the Julia's house, Simi contemplated going to her own house to say hello to her parents. She hadn't seen them in a long time and had missed her dad's huge embrace.
She remembered back when she thought Elder had gotten killed because he wanted money for her. With the facts they had now, including that Bahija was also a victim, she wondered if it was really true. Whether El had really died because of her.
Stop thinking of yourself, a voice in her head chastised her.
Simi got to the Benson house and without stopping to check her surroundings or the house, she rushed up the stairs to the corridor and knocked on the front door.
Almost immediately, Julia opened and embraced her in a hug. Her eyes were puffy and red, indicating that she had been crying.
She held on tighter to Simi and said, "Thank you for coming Si, thank you."
Simi brushed her hair with one hand and whispered, "Always Jules. Let's get you inside."
Simi was about to enter the house after Julia when a certain chill gripped her and she turned to check out if anyone was watching her.
In that moment, Simi could have sworn she saw Elder standing on the road shaking his head. She blinked and he was gone.
She followed Julia into house and shrugged what she'd seen off to stress. Julia was now sprawled on one of the couch in the living room.
"What happened, Si?" she looked at Simi.
Simi sat beside her on the couch and raised Julia's head and put it on her lap. Somehow that felt comforting to her; by consoling Julia she felt herself being consoled too.
"It's a long story Jules, when you're feeling much better I will tell you everything," she replied Julia and began stroking her hair.
"When are your parents coming back?"
"Next week I think, I'm not sure. It's about that photobook isn't it?"
"What do you mean?" Simi asked her, a mini alarm going off in her head.
"El and all this drug conspiracy thing. It's because of that photobook isn't it. That's why all this happened."
"Yeah," Simi slowly drawled out.
Something didn't add up. Her memory wasn't very good but she was very sure that Julia wasn't supposed to know about the photobook. When Malachi found it, they didn't tell anyone. Only Jamal.
How did Julia about the album then?
"It's okay Jules. I'm here now," Simi reassured her, thinking probably the media let it out that El had a photobook.
Julia nodded and after a while, her breathing became even. She was drifting off to sleep. Simi looked around the living room taking everything in again.
The last time she'd come here was after El's memorial service. She and Malachi had stood there watching everyone until Julia joined them, throwing a marshmallow into her mouth. It was weird to her that she now remembered Julia eating the marshmallow. Back then, it had been inconsequential.
Marshmallow. Kamara said marshmallow! a voice screamed in her head.
How had she forgotten that Julia loved eating marshmallows?
Her heartbeat slowly increased and she cast her eyes on the large TV facing them and the framed photos hanging around it. She scanned through them until her eyes fell on one particular one.
It was a large size family portrait of the one that Julia had on her dressing room. The one Ezekiel, the youngest Benson had pointed to and said "she's scary."
Julia shifted on Simi's lap and a tattoo on her shoulder she hadn't seen earlier became visible to her. All the pieces added up to Simi right there.
The nonchalance of Julia during El's memorial service, how she knew about the photobook and finally the tattoo on her shoulder. It was the same tattoo on the girl in El's photos. The girl handing the drugs to the students.
Oh my God it's Julia! Simi screamed in her head.
Her entire body began trembling and she mentally willed herself to calm down. Simi slowly pushed Julia's head aside and stood up.
She was about to break into a run when Julia mumbled, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to the washroom; I'll be back soon."
Simi answered and climbed the stairs in the house to the washroom upstairs to make her story more believable. She washed her face and hit her face a few times and mumbled, "calm down"
Julia killed her own brother. She wanted to break into tears right then but calmed herself down. She had to get out of the house as soon as possible. She was in danger.
Simi took deep breaths and ran out of the washroom and down the stairs. That was the first mistake she made.
The second one was she was going too fast down the stairs and didn't have any time to stop when she saw Julia.
She was standing at the bottom smiling broadly at her.
When Simi came to a halt, she'd already reached Julia.
"Going somewhere?" Julia ginned and punched her, knocking Simi out cold.
When Simi regained consciousness, her whole body felt limp and weak. Her name mind was active but her body was failing. She tried to scream but the words couldn't come out.
She realized she was lying on the same couch Julia had been lying on earlier. This time Julia was sitting beside her, brandishing a thin long knife in one hand.
The fear that filled Simi was so much that tears rolled down her face.
"What did you do to me?" she managed to say, her voice uneven.
"Something to make you relax."
"You d-drugged m-me?" Simi's voice stuttered.
Julia rolled her eyes at her. "It's called Chill and that's what it's supposed to make you do. Chill until Malachi comes." She shifted closer to Simi and brushed her hair.
"W-Wha d-d-d-," Simi's tried but her words became incoherent.
Julia passed a finger on the steel blade on the knife and smiled, "Chill Si, our trio isn't complete until Malachi arrives."
Discussion Area
Anyone knows what might happen next? I'm scared for Simi, honestly.
Fingers crossed guys!
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