CHAPTER 33

Little Mix: No more sad songs

~Lowkey is the lone key to success ~

~Mina

SERAPHINA'S POV

I ran the tap, grimacing at my reflection in the mirror. Thanks to this damned Cetaphil face wash, my skin was now the spitting image of blended cherries. The brand was my all-time usual face-care kit, and I have never experienced any allergies with it. So I couldn't wrap my head around how it suddenly turned my skin itchy and red.

"Babe, you t...Woah, what happened to your face?!" Enrique exclaimed, entering the bathroom. I shrugged and pointed to the now binned product. Enrique took it out of the trash and opened the lid, bringing it closer to his nose. He sniffed and cringed, instinctively throwing the bottle back inside the bin.

"What?" I asked. He shook his head, coughing uncontrollably.

"Babe." I gently rubbed his back as he hurled in the sink. Not the best morning sight but, okay. He splashed water on his face and hovered over the sink.

"Are you going to stand there and stare at me all day? or you're gonna tell me what the fuck that was" My patience was running low.

"That shit stenched of rotten egg." He cringed and turned to hurl in the sink again but I grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him back. Not today Puto.

"Not in my sink."

He pouted, but I wasn't going to fall for it.

"Are you sure that's your face wash because the pungent smell said otherwise?" Enrique raised a scrutinising brow.

I removed the bottle with a tissue and poured a reasonable amount of the contents into an empty tin. Unlike the normal milky-white colour, the liquid had turned Reddish-brown, and true to Enrique's words, the smell was acrid. I closed the lid and tossed the bottle back into the trash before washing my hands. Enrique held my face in his hand and angled it to the side, inspecting the blemishes.

"There's got to be some remedy."

"I hope so." I winced as the itchiness intensified.

"Stop with the itching! You're making it worse." He yanked down my furiously working hands and held them in his.

"It's itching." I whimpered.

"I know, but you're not helping anything. Get dressed and come out for breakfast. I'll make a call to my doctor back home. I'm sure he'll come up with something." He affirmed and left.

I groaned at the state of my face and stomped my foot.

This is what you get when you aren't content with your looks. I glared at my subconscious and felt like giving her a sense-inducing punch in the face.

After endless whining and failed attempts at covering up the blemishes with a foundation, I gave up and headed out. We were going boat riding today, hence I decided to go for a white, strapless cropped top, and a matching, flowy maxi skirt with slits on either side.

"Oh my, your face girl." Malu gasped on my entrance into the living room.

"Where's breakfast?" I ignored Malu's question. She wanted to add up to my already ruined mood.

"Why does your face resemble a blown dick?"

"Miskha!" Severina exclaimed, slapping her arm.

"What happened to you, Latina?" Ace taunted.

I groaned and flopped on the seat next to Maya, riled at everyone.

"Your food is inside." I thanked Maya and headed to the kitchen. I was starving, and the stress from my skin didn't help the situation either.

"Uncle Seedou is here." Aisha's voice came from the living room, just when I took my first bite of the mouth-watering chocolate pancakes. Holy garlic. The taste exploded in my mouth and I wanted nothing more than to savour every bite of the goodness, except time wasn't on my side. I quickly devoured the food and gulped down a glass of orange juice before joining my friends on the bus.

I heard snickering from beside me and turned to find Zara stealing glances at me and silently laughing. Tyler was failing miserably in his attempts to keep a straight face as well. They were the masterminds behind my morning fiasco. There's no incertitude.

"C'mon, why are you eyeing them like that?" Maya nudged my arm.

"They are responsible for this." I sneered, pointing to my face.

"Are you sure?"

"Like Zara isn't capable of a stunt." I snorted.

"But you've got no evidence, whatsoever."

"Do me a favour please." Maya was upsetting me.

"Wh...

"Shut up." I snapped, effectively muting her.

"Where are we going to anyway?"

I don't if it's me or the ride seemed rather boring today."

"This place called Lamin lodge," Maya responded while manipulating her phone.

UNKNOWN POV

"You couldn't have devised a better plan than that?" Like he was any smarter. Ungrateful fuck.

"What can you do better than complaining and giving God-awful excuses." I snapped in a low tone. How dare he underrate a mission which nearly cost me my life. If only he knew how hard I struggled with that Hydrogen Sulphide, but you couldn't possibly associate consideration with a mentally unbalanced, conceited psycho.

"Don't give me sass, I'm still your boss." He hissed.

"Do we really have to this now, in the middle of nowhere, when someone could possibly sneak up on me?"

"I don't give a fuck. Now you listen to me, I wo..." I tuned Q out after hearing approaching footsteps.

"Oh shit, sorry, I gotta go." I hung up and smashed the phone, disposing of its debris. Done and untraceable.  I took steady steps to the source of the noise and reached for the pistol tucked in my pants. I lunged forward and heaved a sigh of relief upon spotting a cat holding onto a fishbone for dear life.

Mental illness didn't infiltrate the human department alone.

That was close though.

SERAPHINA'S POV

"All you have to do is walk this barely twenty-five-centimetre plank Seraphina. Stop being a chicken." Severina laughed. I shook my head and covered my eyes, not ready to face the beasts idling in the water.

"They don't even have your time girl, walk or move over. I don't have all day." Miskha grumbled from her position behind me.

"Give me your hands babe." Enrique leaned over the dock but I again shook my head.

"Seraphina, if I count to three and find you in the same place, I'm feeding you to these hippos," Miskha warned.

"Don't forget to sacrifice yourself along." Asher and Maya retaliated in unison and I almost cooed at the gesture. They stared at each other and Maya blushed, looking away. Cuteness overload.

"Stop gawking at none of your business and jump over girl." Kabia exasperated.

"I don't have time for this." Tyler strode forward and hoisted me on his shoulders, ignoring my protests and wails."

"Thank heaven." Miskha breathed. I glared at Tyler and shrugged his hands off me.

"Yo Ty, you going hard on my girl bro." Enrique mused, pulling me closer to him. The boat took off sooner than expected and I couldn't help but divert my gaze to the water.

"Look at me instead." Enrique gently moved my chin so I was facing him.

"Aisha are there Whales in there?" Tyler asked. How airheaded could one get?

"Why of course. Sharks, crayfish and octopuses as well." The sarcasm in Miskha's voice was lucid. Tyler's expression hardened and he clenched his jaw. Served him right. How can salt-water animals survive in freshwater? A tributary to be exact.

"No, Ty. There aren't any." Aisha smiled, lightening the tension.

"Phina, the camera." I gave Miskha the device and laid my head on Enrique's shoulder.

"Woah, this view is menacing. " Leila fascinated. Let's pretend we all heard wrong.

"Do you mean mesmerising?" No one but Miskha, had the nerves to point out Leila's grammatical catastrophe.

"It's a famous cruising site in the country." Aisha explicated, as the boat rowed in between the narrow estuary, bordered by mangroves.

"Those are oysters." She pointed to shells attached to the mangrove stems. Miskha moved closer to the edge with the camera in one hand, occasionally angling the device to get a better view.

"What kinds of animals dwell in this water?" Sophia asked. I almost forgot her presence. She was unusually quiet since we landed, and on close observation, you could spot dark circles under her eyes. That hinted at one thing, lack of sleep. I wonder if she's okay and hopes she gets over whatever's haunting her. Despite what she did, I couldn't hate Sophia, I just can't bring myself to. Apart of me still believed what happened the other night wasn't her conscience.

"Hippos for the most part. Then you have Crocodiles, tilapia and pythons." Aisha replied.

"So, you brought us cruising in a water inhabited by wild animals? girl did you sacrificing us or something." Miskha reprimanded.

"Laugh my ass out." Zara taunted.

"Which ass exactly?" Miskha returned, raising a mocking brow.

"She wasn't talking to you." Tyler barked.

"And I want to believe she has a mouth, even if it's jammed with fillers." Miskha's rudeness is beyond comparison.

"Miskha." I communicated to her with my eyes and having caught on, she went back to filming, but not before giving Zara a warning look.

"Warrior." Kabia laughed.

A huge hippo suddenly emerged out of the water and opened its mouth. I gasped and moved to where Miskha stood filming. The mouth could fit two baby Crocodiles without the slightest of efforts. The teeth weren't numerous, but they were long and sharp enough to penetrate a bone to the other side.

"Oh shoot, the battery's running down." Miskha cursed, repeatedly tapping the camera. I frantically searched my bag, hoping to find my power bank but then remembered that I left it at the hotel. Great.

"Miskha hurry! This is a rare opportunity. " Ace bellowed.

"Chill man! the battery's down." She snapped.

"Here, you can use mine." Sophia offered. Silence engulfed the air as shock settled in. Miskha looked from Sophia to the power bank in bewilderment.

"Take it already. It's only a matter of time before it delves back underwater." Aisha's voice broke Miskha out of her trance, and she took the power bank without a second thought. No sooner had Miskha finished filming, than the hippo disappeared underwater.

"Have you gotten it?" Sophia asked. Miskha slowly nodded in response, still staring at her. Although with pure skepticism.

"Here, thank you."

"You're welcome." Sophia smiled. Miskha cleared her throat and looked away. Well, that was awkward.

"Yess! I can't believe we got it. It's almost impossible to find hippos this way." Aisha cheered. She was oblivious to the aura of awkwardness in the boat.

I turned to go back to my seat only to feel a sharp pain under my soles.

"Fuck!" I cursed.

"What happened?" Enrique's voice boomed but I was in too much pain to open my eyes, much less even form a coherent sentence. The more I breathed, the faster I feel the object penetrating my flesh. I whimpered and rushed to remove my shoe, but tripped on the straps.

It all happened in slow motion. My friends' screams and the flying of my body off the edge as air filled my lungs. The force with which my body made contact with the water was so strong that it pushed me to the deepest end, causing liquid to uncontrollably fill my insides.

I flailed my arms around and tried to swim to the surface but it was rather unfortunate, as I gradually drowned. Water bubbles obscured my vision, rendering me numb. From my peripheral vision, something was advancing towards me but I couldn't make out its form. After multiple futile escape attempts, I helplessly settled on the river bed. Entirely knocked out.