SEVENTY SIX-- DOOM

That night, mom returned home at half past 8pm in her car, with my sisters and a truckload of household essentials. She finished work at 6pm everyday and her workplace was only thirty five minutes away, so she was definitely late. "Sorry, darling. I couldn't reach you. We went shopping, okay?" She said to me, and I nodded, helping her with the bags. My sister's came to hug me too. We were so close now. "Here", she said, handing me a small blue bag which contained a brand new pair of sportwears. "I see you like basketball so much even though you don't play. I hope this will encourage you to give it a try. I think you're tall enough, Ariana" she smiled. She looked happy, and my worries of the whole day vanished upon noticing her nice mood. I thought she probably ran into Jack in town or something. But would she be this happy seeing Jack after a long time, especially after their break-up? "Thank you for the gift" I said. All went okay and fine throughout that day, until the next day. She was already awake, getting ready for work when she called us girls, "I don't want you to open the door to anybody. I don't want you outside after 7pm. I want you girls tucked in bed latest 9pm. Don't take any lifts from anyone you do not know, except it's Mrs Brooks, our neighbor" She gave us so many instructions. I don't know what she saw, or heard but the instructions intensified day by day. Most times she sounded apprehensive and uncertain. "Mommy, can I still take something from the Brooks' refrigerator?" Jamie asked innocently. "I don't know what it is you need, but I'll start to stock our refrigerator from now, so you won't have to use theirs, okay?" Mom said sincerely and sure enough, the refrigerator was filled up with soft drinks, milk, fruit juice soup and chilled water the very next morning. "Barnabas and Tessy give me candy sometimes too, mommy" Jamie insisted "You can take things from Barnabas and Tessy's family, okay? Just not anybody else, got it?" Mom explained. "You too, Ariana. I'm not saying you should not make friends, but don't relate with strangers. Don't follow anyone anywhere. Call me if you need anything. Got it?" "My phone is bad, mom" I responded. "Use the phone in the house for now. I'll buy you a phone when I get my pay at work, I promise" I know what I'm saying when I say, I love my mom. She's a very rare jewel I wouldn't trade for anything. That is why, whether it costs me my money, my life or whatever, I'll get her out of the asylum she's trapped in. I will not even ask anyone to help me. I'll do my best first. If I need help, I can ask later. Sorry, I'm digressing again. Let's reminisce back to the old times. The turbulent days. It went on and on like this for three more months. Me going out with Barnabas to play basketball or catch the bus to school. It was a regular school and one of the places I loved to be in, unlike Enchanting Promises High School that scared the shit out of me. Mom going to work at 7am every morning with my sisters(they attended a different school, I was in my third year in high school), and returning at 6:35 every evening. During these times, I would sneak up to the mailbox to check what we had, usually before mom did. The fine enveloped message still came, and the threats increased. One morning came, at around 4am, I heard mom yelling at someone on phone in the yard. I was up as usual, but pretending to be asleep. She told whoever it was which I assumed is the threat letter-writer to stop playing with her because she'd report him to the police. I don't know whether she did, but I didn't see any follow-up after that. We later stopped getting mails, instead, mom got texts on her phone from this same stranger. One day, I found out who it was. As usual, mom was talking to Nora on phone. I think she felt it was high time she sought some help. "Cameron is after me again. Help me" she told Nora. I was relieved because I thought that since someone, particularly an adult knew about it, something would be done quick, but Nora couldn't help much, especially as she was back in Scotland and not in Germany. She asked mom to report to the police so that security would be tighter in our place. She also gave her some tips for safety. She also said she shouldn't conclude that it was him. Or that he was near. He could be just playing tricks, merely trying to frighten her. "Be extra careful, but you don't have to live in fear. Make sure to report this, and do that as early as possible". I think mom refused to report because a text was waiting for her in her phone about two weeks after her call with Nora. I read it first because she was in the bathroom, so I know. "DON'T TRY PLAYING SMART. I AM RIGHT BEHIND YOU. IT'S PRETTY EASY FOR ME TO CATCH YOU BEFORE I GET CAUGHT" Mom almost caught me scrolling her phone when she came out of the bath, but I ducked away in time, almost dropping the phone. I watched her read the message after drying her hair, and immediately, she went to shut the front door and then went to the telephone, where she called Nora again. I saw the helplessness in her movements and expression. You know, it would have been pretty easy for us to scale through just by following mom's instructions but this devil of a man- Cameron was indeed out to get us. It happened that our next-door neighbor, the Brooks got a change of homehelp and family driver. We saw them when they came. In fact, Mrs Brooks herself introduced them to us, so that we'd not find them strange when we saw them entering the house and going out as they so wished. Mom particularly took an interest in Agnes, their new help because according to her, she was good-mannered, humble and homely, the way she was in her spinster days. Mom also was excited for the fact that they hailed from the same hometown. Their homehelp was a young twenty two year old lass, and their driver, the one who drove Barn and Tessy to school was a middle-aged saucy man. They called him Pan. He was sugar-mouthed and nice. We warmed up to the new addition to the family like a normal thing but it was soon going to be our doom. It happened too fast. It all happened way too fast, and we weren't carried along at all. Maybe we became too carefree or maybe we were tricked. I don't know but today, we are broken because Jamie left us. And it wouldn't hurt so much if we weren't the cause of her untimely death. You wonder how it happened?