Chapter 11

She was awoken by a bright light blinding her face. She shielded her face from the light with her palm and yawned. The atmosphere was calmer but it was even darker. She stood up stretching her limbs and massaging her ankles. Every room had their lights on now. Her head was throbbing but she was more aware of her environment now. It was 7.15pm.

"Come in here and have supper with me, sassy doll" She heard him say.

"You have to eat you know, to be strong" he said coming out of the room towards her with a plate of fat chicken in his hands and a glass of milk. The chicken had a putrid smell and Juana was sure the milk was stale too. He squatted before her, dropping the meal and she realized that he had been drinking. He had a bottle of half-empty alcohol in his back pocket

"Eat" he commanded

"I want to go home" she mumbled tearily

"This is home, baby. All you ever need is here"

"What do you want from me?"

She asked with a straight face. She didn't want to let him see her fear.

"I just need you to warm my bed on nights like this. That's not too much to ask for, is it?"

She pulled the drink carelessly from his pocket and splashed it on his face.

He stood up, wiped his face and went back to the room he had emerged from.

"I'm giving you just ten minutes to eat that chicken" he roared. He was angry. Juana thought of how to escape. The door was firmly locked and the windows were too small to escape through. The larger ones had burglary frames. If only she had her phone with her. She hoped someone will find out in time that she had gone to see Ella in Meadow. She thought of her. What emergency got her running home in the middle of classes? Did she even live on this street? Laura had talked of her grandmother. So if Ella had a grandmother,could the emergency be related to her? Maybe her health was failing and she needed to move her to the hospital urgently. Or perhaps Ella was a ghost herself and a meeting of ghosts was to hold somewhere and that that was the emergency? If she wasn't a ghost, why didn't she want anyone know her residence? Juana was not only curious about this, she also needed to ask her some critical questions. The two of them were similar in some ways; they both could see things, they both had no friends and they both had their mothers involved in the plane crash/disappearance. Juana was very terrified; the hebephile was too strong to be subdued by her. If he were smaller, she could have hit him with her fists or something stronger, whatever was found in the almost bare house. She knew she had to do something quick or he was going to rape her. Or even kill her.

"You have six minutes more to get ready" he roared from inside. Yes, he roared whether he was angry or not now. That was something that shocked her. His voice had been calm when he first spoke to her. That was when he was fixing his truck and he sounded really friendly

She was too scared to think of praying or think of a way of escape; she was shivering all over even in the raincoat. She angrily kicked the rotting chicken into the trash can and stood up. Her eyes darted around the bare living room for a weapon. She needed a weapon, urgently. But there was nothing except a few rotting furniture, broken plastics and an old small wall clock. The clock had no sharp edges and it looked to her the only new thing in the house. It didn't look like something that could work as a weapon. The room was so dusty and dirty and that began to give her allergies. Her chest was tight and she struggled to breathe. 'Death please wait' she said in her mind. She fell to the floor, totally weak.

"Three minutes more!" He roared again. She held her chest and prayed in her mind "Oh Lord save me". She began to breathe through her mouth slowly. But she saw death coming, she literally felt life leaving her body. It was difficult to talk. One thing was she didn't want the hebephile to see her that way.He'd think she was pretending and because of that, get more violent with her. He didn't look like he had a heart. On the other hand, if he managed to believe she was indeed having an asthmatic attack, he wouldn't be able to help. Where in that Godforsaken street would he find inhalers? It didn't appear as if there were any hospitals there even. Even if there were, this man was not one to expose his crime by taking her to the hospital because he knew he was a criminal. 'I'm dying Lord' she said in her head.

She was almost passing out when she felt it. The weapon. No it wasn't a gun or a dagger or a piece of wood. It was a little handy bottle, and not just any bottle, it contained an average amount of pepper spray! How on earth did she forget she had a bottle of pepper spray in her pockets? It was there all the time! And a spare inhaler? She grabbed it quickly. Then she remembered how constantly her dad instructs her to keep an inhaler in her pocket, another in her school bag, another in her school drawer, and another in the chest drawer in her room. As if he had known this day would come! 'That way when you misplace one, you can always find another to save the situation' he had said

'What if I misplace everyone of them?' She had playfully asked

'That rarely happens, and God forbid. But if it does, the hospital is there for you' he had replied.

She began to feel life returning to her body gradually.

'Come on doll, it's time to warm my bed' He was coming towards her now with full force. Juana studied his features carefully: bloodshot eyes, huge biceps, protruding stomach like a woman three months gone, dirty beards and tiny moustache, hard, rough looking hands and a hairy bare chest. He was such a dangerous sight and didn't look anything like the friendly good looking calm-voiced man fixing his truck at Number 26. He couldn't be anything less than forty two years old. He rubbed his palm on her hair.

'Oh my! You've got such long beautiful hair' he said smiling

'Don't you dare touch me' She muttered.

"There's no free thing here, baby. You eat my food you pay with your body" he said scaring her

"I didn't eat your food" Juana muttered. She knew that wouldn't change anything but she said it anyway. He got angry

"What do you mean you didn't eat my food?"

"It's in the trash can" she replied weakly. He looked very angry.

"How dare you waste my food! You nuthead!!"

"Well, my dogfood is better-looking than that shit you served me" she replied fearlessly. Her hands were in her pockets cupping the small bottle.

"You waste my food, you get hit and still pay with your body" he yelled. Then he began to unbuckle his belt.

She hurriedly grabbed one of the pillows on the chair. It was large enough to shield her from the lashes of the belt. Only few hit her skin.

When he was satisfied and his anger died down, he lifted her into his room. He was too strong and Juana soon found herself on his giant stinky bed. He began to tear her clothes and trousers apart with glee, but she already had the bottle in her palm.

'I have to target his eyes' she thought, but he was tearing her trousers and wasn't directly facing her.

'How can I distract his gaze?'

She thought of lifting his chin but that'd be foolish. So she quietly asked "Do you love me?" He stopped and looked at her

"Yes doll, why?"

"Kiss me now" she said. "Slowly not roughly" she said. As soon as his mouth was near her cheek, she immediately sprayed the pepper in his eyes. His grip on her shoulders loosened and he began to rub his eyes, screaming. Juana craftily fetched the keys from his pockets and ran out into the cold