CHAPTER ONE

DRAVEN'S POV

Step aside, do not cross this border! The incessant murmur from the detectives and policemen as they ward off people from the crime scene.

I rush to his apartment to find it restricted from friends and onlookers, as they go about collecting the tiniest of evidence. Being an officer, I'm allowed through the entrance. I cross the boundary set up with the tapes, only to find Neth, my younger brother on the floor in the pool of his own blood.

The perpetrator had stabbed him multiple times in different angles and the trail of his blood from the extreme, it's evident that he struggled for help before he passed on.

"Neth!" I push past the officers to get to him, only to be pulled back by a much stronger hand.

"No, no! Neth!"

Jolting, I wake up from another episode of a horrific nightmare, soaked in sweat, and my heartbeat is laboured as though I participated in a marathon. It's been like this since he departed a few weeks ago and transferring to Port Harcourt only worsened it.

Switching on the bedside lamp, I get off the bed, reeking of sweat.

Haphazardly, I throw my baggy t-shirt on, clad my slender thighs in my joggers, lace my shoes, and jog out of my tiny space and into the open.

It's barely 6:00 am in the morning, the street is quiet like an iced ocean, save the noise of creeping insects. The only light that saved it from going completely dark are the street lights.

I double my pace, my knees wobbling and my feet hurting. I'm panting from exhaustion but keep going regardless.

Neth!

The voice is screeching in my head and I fuel my speed in an attempt to ward off the voice.

No! Neth!

I clap my ears with my hands, slowing down my intensity, beads of sweat out of every pore.

"Neth!" I scream, tumbling down from exhaustion.

***

Morning arrived faster than envisaged, feasting on my antidepressant pills and gulping the entire content of my water bottle, I strip and get into the shower, allowing its icy water to drench my filth and drown my terror.

In here, my frights are flushed down the drain, providing me with the slightest of sanity. Its walls are my temporal shield. So I remain, the heavy downpour kisses away the tears flooding my cheeks.