The Second Path

Chapter 40

NOTE: The town name has been changed from 'Barnawa' to Mansur.

Song: Unstoppable by Sia

Chapter 40

"Please don't go anywhere," I said to Kaka while adjusting her blanket to cover her neck, "If you need anything, just send me a message and I will come straight home."

Kaka fell sick again. The anti-malaria drugs cured her for a short while and she suddenly became sick again, this time worse. I didn't know if it was malaria, fever or typhoid this time. But she was very very sick and couldn't move.

She didn't respond as she turned her head to the other direction of her bed and shut her eyes.

"If you're hungry, there's bread and butter down here." I added, pointing at the tray with agege bread and Blue Band butter on the floor.

She nodded with her eyes still closed. She was too weak to write on her notepad. But I knew if she could, she would tell me to leave her alone.

I really hope she gets better soon.

If not for the first C.A tests we had today, I would have stayed at home to look after her.

I bent down to adjust the tray closer to her bed. As I was doing so, something caught my attention from halfway under the bed. Kaka's slippers.

They were two completely different leg of slippers. And one of them was the green and yellow strapped slippers. The exact slippers the serial killer left in the market square.

I gave it a long hard stare, trying not to have any suspicious thought of Kaka. But what if...

"No." I shook my head off the thought.

What was I thinking? That was impossible.

There were millions of people that had this same slippers, so why would it be Kaka, of all people?

But then, hers were two different pairs. And the killer had forgotten one pair at the protest place.

I opened my mouth to ask Kaka about it but I just kept it shut. It was not Kaka. I was sure of it. I trust her.

****

I took the usual shortcut to school. I have been taking this route ever since I brought Hamid the other day.

I stopped halfway and glanced around the side we stopped that day. I gave it a small smile, realising how much I have grown out of the pain I used to feel whenever I used to pass here. Thanks to Hamid.

I took out the picture of little Mama and I that Davina gave me as a Christmas present. I always carried it in my bag ever since Davina gave me, but I never really got the chance to look at it because I was always scared of crying. I stared at it this time, feeling a bit stronger now as I gaze upon my little sister's face.

"Wish me luck, my Hakuna Mama." I whispered with a chuckle, knowing that the first thing she would have done in this situation was to sing Hakuna Matata for me.

I placed the picture on my chest for a few seconds, feeling my heart beat uneasily because of the anxiety of today's test. I glanced at it one last time before putting it back in my bag and continued trekking to school.