TENIOLA - EPISODE 2
(Written by Obisesan Abolade)

She ran till she was cold and tired. Her energy drained as the tears flowed. What she needed now was a place to lay her head and sleep, but where? She had just lost the whole of her family mysteriously. Had she known, she would not have told her parents to stop over to get something to eat. Perphaps, the black SUV Jeep would not have collided with them so hard that her parents died on the spot. She held her head in her hands like it was about to explode as she began to playback the events of the day.

It all happened on a  bright and sunny afternoon when the Browns set out for the day's journey. They had a flight to catch by 3pm. It would take about 45 minutes to reach the airport and so they set out by 1:30pm to avoid unnecessary rush. They had their little twins chatting excitedly at the back seat as the car zoomed off.  At about 25 minutes into the journey, Tenny told her parents to stop over to get herself and twin brother vanilla flavoured ice creams at the ice cream van parked just beside the road. As her parents obeyed and Tenny made her way out of the car to make her orders, a black SUV Jeep came from nowhere and hit their car hard. In response, their car collided with a huge truck loaded with bags of cement, squeezing them really hard in the middle of the two vehicles. Passers by screamed and wailed in pain and pity, particularly for the young girl holding two cones of ice cream with tears gushing out of her eyes aggressively. As the black SUV without number plates raced away from the scene, the whole incident began to look more like a clean job than an accident.

Tenny watched her whole family ruin in split seconds before her eyes. Her whole world was ended! She was just 5, the scenery was too hard to bear. Her eyes could carry no longer. It was too late to call on Jesus. She did what she had to do, she began to run. 

She kept running till her legs could carry her no longer. She found a kiosk undergoing renovation, dirty but empty. She went in and sat in corner, resting her head on her raised knees with her two hands as support. She cried till sleep crept and stole her away.

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Chief Kalejaiye hopped into his car and set out to the police station to make a statement about his mother's mysterious death. His mother was a woman in her late fifties and was very strong and agile. She was the only parent he had left and so her death struck him really hard. She was found lying helplessly in her apartment where she lived alone, soaked in her own blood. It was obviously a murder. Who could have killed her?

He snapped from his thoughts when a little girl ran across the road carelessly. He smashed his brakes really hard and missed her with only a bit. He got out his car fuming with anger. His rage easened out when he caught the pleading and innocent eyes of the little girl holding a plate of food. An angry mob charged towards the little girl who was starting to look pale with fright. He was respected immediately by the angry mob due to his affluence, making them to retreat from beating up the little girl.  He was told the girl had stolen the food from the opposite canteen and imediately, he understood why she ran across the road, throwing caution to the wind.

He paid for the food, dismissed the crowd and faced the little girl. She looked wild and unkempt. He asked her where she lived and with tears in her eyes, she pointed to the kiosk undergoing renovation. He had asked for her parents when she lost guard and let the tears flow freely. Chief Kalejaiye was faced with another puzzle even when he had not finished one.

Who is this little girl? Who and where are her parents? Lest he forgets, who killed his mother? 

Puzzled and confused, he gave a sum of amount to the little girl and drove off to the station. For a reason, the image of the frightened little face never left his mind. He longed to get home, rest and forget all of the day's encounters..