Ebony

No Sleep

Achebe held onto Ivory's hand as she wheeled her out of the hospital. After very strict orders from the doctor, both of the exhausted couples left the hospital. Tafari was right behind the girls with Safari, who never took his eyes off of Ivory. He vowed to never make that mistake again.

They loaded into the truck and went back to the hotel to gather the rest of their belongings. Once they got there, Ivory felt that they should all sleep before leaving, which was smart being that none of them had any energy left. Achebe went to Tafari's room while Safari went with Ivory.

"This is crazy", Ivory said as she laid back on the large bed.

Safari cautiously sat next to her

"I know"

She looked over at him and sat up with her hand in her stomach.

"This stress isn't good for the baby", he added with a sigh

"Babies", Ivory thought

"I promise as soon as we get home, you'll be so pampered and happy, you'll forget all of this", he said, giving her a small kiss on the cheek.

She gave him a small smile before standing up.

"I'm gonna go take a bath"

Safari smiled

"Without me? ", he asked innocently

Ivory laughed

" Yes without you. Did you forget you have broken ribs? Go to sleep weirdo"

"Yeah yeah, I am"

Ivory gave him a half smile before walking to the bathroom and closing the door. Letting out a deep sigh, she rinsed out the tub before filling it up with water. She sat on the edge of the tub, watching it fill up as her life flashed before her eyes. She hadn't imagined any of this for herself.

She remembered the main reason why she came to such a remote college...no drama. Instead, her life turned into a telenovela. The things she was going through seemed so unreal that she could hardly believe it herself. First she met Safari, an erotic man who surely suffered from something mental. Then, she became pregnant with his child after he assaulted her. Months later, she was kidnapped by a terrorist and that was just part of what she endured. She didn't know what would come next, but she knew she couldn't keep living like this.

Ivory snapped back into reality and turned off the water before dropping her clothes. She took her time sliding in since her body had been through enough. Once she was in the water, Ivory grabbed the soap and a wash rag, running it along her once chapped skin. After a few minutes, exhaustion took over her body as she fell asleep.

Achebe snuggled into the thick comforter on top of her. It seemed like the temperature had dropped dramatically and she was unusually cold. She reached out for the warm body that accompanied her bed, but was met by a cold pillow. Her eyes popped open as they scrambled to adjust to the darkness. Tafari was no longer next to her, so she clicked on the lamp, swinging her legs over the bed.

She automatically went to the bathroom, which was the only place he really could've been. She pushed the cracked door open and nearly fainted at the sight in front of her. Tafari was laying in a pool of his own blood with one bullet in his head and another in his heart. Her knees buckled as she plopped into the pool of blood, sobbing profusely. She felt a hand in her shoulder, causing her to whip around. She was met with a silencer.

"Your turn", the voice said in a chilling voice before firing the gun.

Achebe jerked up out of the bed, sweating like she had ran a marathon. Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest as tears poured from her eyes. She quickly looked over to see Tafari laying soundly asleep next to her. She left out a sigh of relief before rolling out of the bed and on to the floor. She got on her knees and did something she hadn't done in a long time.

She put her palms together and began to pray.