Late morning
Vic and Vivian had gotten lost after walking for so long. The road after the school gate had given way to a huge village with multiple unpaved roads leading to different corners of the village but the whole area looked like another state to them.
After all, the university was in the suburbs of Port-town itself. But unlike the university that morning, the air of the village wasn't filled with humid dread.
In fact, one might argue it being noon rather than morning.
Vivian was completely absent, Vic on the other hand knew the area but didn't know the place they were going to, it was a huge loss for the two.
The local noise and the rowdy population brought about too much stimuli for any of them to think straight.
"Let's just go back yeah?" Vic suggested.
"Cool, lead the way then." Vivian replied without looking up.
"You know we're lost, let's ask someone if they can help."
"Cool, lead the way on that one too."
"YOU'RE NOT HELPING!"
"Heehee, okay. Why don't we sit down first and-"
WHACK
He slaps himself across the face,
Something too surprising to see coming,
"What am I doing? This is just a bumpy road; I DESTROY BUMPY ROADS WITH HOPE!!"
"Huh?" she didn't understand his line of thinking.
Without warning, he jumped into the main road and everywhere and began meeting everyone who got in his way by mistake.
"You there, point in the direction of Dotu's house." he yelled at a small boy, who pulled a toy car behind him with a long string.
"Who is Dotu?"Was all he boy could manage.
"ONWARD!" He tossed the boy aside and went on.
"Uh…"
"YOU, who is Dotu and where does he live?" He asks a man who looked like his age mate, but more sane.
"No idea man."
"AH!" he exclaimed, moving on to he next victim.
Vivian got ticked off by the situation, but Vic started the whole thing from his position by her side a minute ago, so she moved over to a bench, to avoid people from thinking she was together with him.
She sat down, folded her fingers, waiting for it to blow over.
Vic is now wandering the road, harassing the drivers like a maniac.
"Hey you, you've got to know Dotu right?"
"You dey mad? Comot for road!"
"Whoops, too far-" he said, trying to withdraw from the road.
The truck, with the same thing in mind, drives away quickly but hits a small bump on the road, too small for it to slow down with any significant.
"GRAAAAGH!!!"
Vic hissed in pain, as he collapsed on the road while holding his foot with both hands.
"OW, OW, OW!!"
His foot, lucky for him, still had a 3-dimensional shape.
"TRUCK DRIVER!!!"
The truck stops with the driver peeking through the window.
"What!?" the driver asked
"You just DROVE ON MY FOOT!!" you could feel the pain in his voice, but the truck driver couldn't care less.
"So!??"
"OWW!!?"
"Ha-haa!" was all the driver could manage, before withdrawing his head and driving away quicker than when he drove in.
"Hehe-hee," despite being on the road with a smashed foot, he still smiled, "This is nothing, I'm still optimistic…" he staggered, tumbled, before getting to stand on one foot.
It looked painful to watch.
While leaping, Vic continued to ask the pedestrians how he can find Dotu's domain but with less enthusiasm than before.
He fell on the ground a few times too.
But at least he seemed normal then - to an extent.
Vivian, who had been watching from a distance, shook her head in disappointment.
"'Men die first' they say," she took a gulp of the soft drink in her hand. "No wonder."
A man had gotten her the drink earlier, so she could call herself privileged. They had been watching Vic go about since the beginning, wondering if he was losing his sanity before their eyes.
She was just frustrated about having to take him to the hospital afterwards.
Some time later, he got lucky enough to meet a nurse passing by, who healed his disoriented leg.
With a bandage here and a splash of spirit there, he was able to use both legs again.
Not without limping though.
"Your friend is mad." The man told Vivian.
"Oh please, I don't know him." she said, almost laughing, then forced down the rest of the drink, "Aaah!"
"Okay."
"…B-but, sorry sir, but, do you happen to… do you know how one can get to Dotu's place? I mean do you know Dotu? His Domain is…" her words died like a candle in the wind.
The wind being her empty self-confidence.
"Hmm, follow me." The man sounded serious.
It surprised her how easy it was.
"Sorry, I'm coming."
She dropped the glass bottle with the merchant she got it from, then headed to where Vic was at the middle of the road, while trying to cover her face with a hand.
"Vic, we are leaving!"
"I'm still checking Jor!"
"You are behaving like a drunkard! Let's go before you get arrested or something."
"I can't help it, the moment, I'm high on the moment."
He, without a doubt, looked high on something alright.
"Guy!" she held his arm with both of his, "Let's go!"
"Not when you don't know what you're doing, once I get an answer from one of these losers, then we can move."
"You are not HELPING, OKAY?!!"
"I am! I'm asking questions."
"You are tormenting people, this wasn't what we agre-"
"Wait first," he turned around, his hand still in Vivian's, "I haven't asked Mama Fufuor credit woman," Then he grinned, it made her cringe at what that meant. "They seem to know everything around here, yeah."
But the credit woman, under her umbrella, saw him coming from the stares he was giving her alone, "Stay away from me Vic!!"
"Gosh! How did I get to be around someone so… so STUPID!?"
He looked back at her.
"Well, stupidity is relative, maybe I'm not stupid – maybe you just see me your stupid in me."
"That reasoning is the pinnacle of stupidity!"
"You're the pinnacle of stupidity."
He had lost his mind,
"You're insane!"
And somehow, it was contagious.
"Correction, my insanity is from your POV, so-"
"Ughhh!!!" She cut him short, quite unlike her.
She found herself loosing herself to a guy, in the middle of a main road.
'Calm down, just calm down. He's insane, I don't have to join him'
She inhaled,
Then exhaled,
"Look, I... I..."
In the middle of a main road, she was loosing herself.
In the middle of... a crowd.
Vivian's senses tingled as she felt the weight of countless gazes burning into her and the guy she held hands with. The atmosphere was thick with tension, and her heart pounded within the cage in her chest. She could sense the judgment and curiosity radiating from the pedestrians and villagers who had glued their eyes to the two of them. The intensity of their scrutiny made Vivian's stomach churn, and a wave of nausea washed over her.
Her breathing quickened, and she found herself hyperventilating on the spot. Her face flushed with heat, and sweat trickled down her temples. The lilac sweater she wore clung to her skin, adding to her discomfort. She felt trapped and exposed, as if she were on display for the entire world to see.
In that moment, Vivian's mind raced with thoughts of escape. She longed for the ground to open up beneath her feet and whisk her away to a place where she could be free from the judgmental stares and whispers - forever!
Anywhere seemed better than where she was at that moment. She felt a profound sense of helplessness, as if she were caught in a nightmare from which she could not wake up.
Vic on the other hand, gave a sick grin she didn't have to see to feel. He could see what she was passing through, he could feel it, but helping her, drawing her out of the pain wasn't the first thing on his mind. Instead, for some unknown reason, he saw it as an opportunity to rub salt on her wound.
"Uh… just come… just listen to me." she sounded like she was going to melt at any moment.
"… Heh, sure! As soon as you wipe off that confused look on your face – admit it, you don't know what you're doing, yeah?"
He was crazy with a touch of evil.
Why?
'He's right! I don't know what I'm doing out here, no! He's drawing me out, making me look stupid out here… Why is he doing this? Why is he like this? I thought... I thought...'
"Hey! Are you done?" he said in a mocking tone.
"S-stop…"
"Girl, look up will ya?"
"Stop...it..."
Her voice shook along with her, she could be crying for all he could know.
He looked at her, then, as if realizing something, his eyebrows raised and he gasped.
"Throwing it out the window doesn't help, huh?" he said to himself.
He put his hand on her shoulder, he could feel her trembling under it. He couldn't see her face this time, being downcast and all.
Then he faced the crowd around,
"OKAY, EVERYONE SCRAM! MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! WHAT'S WRONG YOU PEOPLE?" he yelled, as he moved towards the crowd, still limping, waving his arms "MOVE YOUR BUTTS! DON'T YOU PEOPLE HAVE JOBS? FAMILIES? LIVES!?"
He was crazy, but with a touch of compassion.
Soon and rather quickly, the crowd dispersed and the street became almost empty except for some daring children and women who snickered by the street. Vic then stopped and walked over to Vivian from behind who sounded like she was having a silent heated argument with herself.
"Alright Vivid, what do you want?"
With her head still low, she looked at him in a way that he could only see her teary eyes, "Never do that again."
She was, as usual, almost inaudible.
"Sorry about that, yeah?" he said, but his tone was anything but apologetic.
It may even come across as mocking.
But she knew, in the short time she knew him, he didn't throw apologies around.
At that, she just sighed, sniffed a little, then used her sweater to clean her tears.
'That was all you could say? You should make him know you're serious!'
"Come on, we don't have all day." said Vic.
"I mean it! Do not–"
"Hey, who's that guy?" he cut her short, pointing at the man that had been staring at them since the beginning.
Vivian rests her face in her palm,
'How annoying.'
"Uh- that's who'll be helping us." she told him.
Vic looked a disappointed, "So why would I, a whole me, follow someone I don't know."
"Ironic, since you like strangers. If anything happens, I can take care of him." she said the last bit in a whisper.
"What if he has a gun?" He whispered back
"Well, I hope you can outrun bullets."
"What if his friends have a gun?"
"I'll keep my distance from you, if anything happens, don't fret, I'll help you out, deal."
"How does that help? They'd still have multiple guns."
"Uh… yeah."
She was still startled by what had happened on the road. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake off the dreary sensation, but from her actions, one could say that she was good at hiding it.
So they walked towards the other side of the road.
"You know, you don't have to cower around people like that. You've got to stand up for yourself."
She wanted to tell him something, but closed her mouth.
Shutting her eyes and shaking her head lightly.
'He wouldn't get it.'
"Though," he put his hands behind his head, "I think I went too far myself, hehehe."
When they met up with the man, they followed him along a narrow road, bushes by the left, white walls by the side.
They didn't say much to the man, and the man not to them.
A white mini-van trailed them, its driver hiding behind the tinted glasses.
Later,
Dotu's domain, being just behind the previous area, wasn't too hard to get to.
In a formal description, you could say it was located opposite the campus.
The man stopped some ways before the main gate. "This is it."
"Thank you sir." she said as she bowed her head low.
"Yeah! You did well man! To think you were a kidnapper or something." He just went ahead and said what was on his mind.
The man flinched a bit, but told them to hold on, while he goes over to talk to the guards about them.
It was fenced all around, a bit bigger than the ones average buildings had in that area and from what they could see, it had 7 guards, all armed and serious looking, guarding the gate alone. They were in black uniforms and with how they stood with the aura they radiated, it was as if they were ready to take care of anything or anyone questionable. The huge black gate didn't help the mood at all and the four-story, luxurious duplex behind it was intimidating.
The person escorting them went up to a guard by the gate, to ask for permission while Vic and Vivian waited. Before the man could say much,
BANG!!
The guard, as quick as lightning, set his gun in his arm and shot a hole in the man's foot causing the man to fall down and scream in pain
"What in the…?" Said Vic with a gasp.
Vivian's eyes opened wide.
The man who was watching from inside the van, drove to park it at the front of the gate, then jumped out with his arms outstretched and started shouting in agony.
One of the guards walked up to the tall guard, who still had the gun pointed at the man on the ground. "Hey, what did you do that for?"
"I'm not allowed to allow anyone to talk to me." he said back.
Another guard came there," Then who'd you shoot the man? What did he do to you?"
"He...he... I-"
An older guard came from inside the building with a flood of others, "What's the problem here?" he roared.
"Wisdom don go do am again."
"Wisdom you dey mad abi? This is the second time this week!"
"MY LEG OO, Great, please do something"
Great was the man that was in the van...
"Calm down Lanre. I'll call the hospital"
"Who is this one? Do you know him?"
"He's my friend, he pointed at Lanre, who was rolling on the ground, "We were going to kidnap the children that came here-"
"Ah, so you are a kidnapper?"
"No-oh," he shook his head and raised his hands, "Please I haven't kidnapped yet... but you this man," he pointed at the Wisdom, who was still pointing the gun at Lanre, "Why did you kill my friend?"
"SOMEBODY HELP ME-"
The man's cry for help is interrupted by the guards and Great as they start arguing about why Wisdom shot a man for nothing and other guards come over too, as everyone had heard the gunshot and everyone who came, cooks, drivers, cleaners, they all wondered if Wisdom had something wrong with him.
Somehow, Great wanted to fight Wisdom, as a way to enact justice.
Though, the crowd suggested he called the police, to which he declined.
"I MUST LEAVE MY MARK ON YOU TODAY!"
The front of the house turned into a commotion ground.
And it wasn't dying anytime soon.
At that, Vic got an idea.
"Distraction!" he ran into through the gate.
Vivian followed after him without much of a thought.
As soon as she got in, Vic close the gate behind her, locking it with the padlock there.
"That would buy us some time, let's go!" he runs into the building.
Vivian, fighting back the unnerving feeling, followed Vic into the building.