CHAPTER TWO: THE THINGS WE LEFT BEHIND

The Unknown Upstairs

The door creaked open.

Jace tightened his grip on his knife as he and Kunle stepped inside. The air was thick with dust, the room cluttered with old furniture and forgotten belongings. A broken chair lay in the corner, its wooden legs snapped. Crumpled blankets on the floor suggested someone had slept there.

Kunle knelt beside a shelf, flipping through a half-burned journal. "Someone was here. Not long ago."

Jace barely heard him. His eyes were locked on a drawing pinned to the wall.

A child's drawing.

The crayon lines were an uneven, shaky-a family of three standing under a bright sun. A father, a mother, and a small boy.

His breath caught in his throat.

His fingers brushed the paper as if touching it would pull him back in time.

And for a moment it did.

A Promis Never Kept

There was color again.

The golden hue of airport lights, the hum of conversations, the smell of fresh coffee in the air.

Jace stood in the middle of the crowd, watching Mosun and Ayanfe disappear toward the airplane.

Mosun turned back, smiling. "We'll call you when we land."

Jace smirked. "You'd better."

She rolled her eyes, stepping closer. "Be safe, okay?"

"I should be saying that to you."

Her hand squeezed his. Just for a second. Just long enough for Jace to feel the warmth of it before Ayanfe's excited voice interrupted them.

"Bye, Daddy!"

Ayanfe waved wildly, his little fingers clutching his SpiderMan comic book. His smile was toothless and full of life.

Jace chuckled, ruffling the boy's hair. "Be good for your mom, kiddo."

"I always am!"

Ayanfe says replying to his dad.

Mosun laughed as she pulled their son toward the gate. "Love you."

Jace watched them go.

That was the last time he ever saw them.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. A message from Mosun.

"Made it safe! Love you."

The world ended three days later.

The Survivor's Journal

Jace snapped back to reality.

The world was gray again. Cold. Silent.

He clenched his jaw and turned away from the drawing, shoving the past back into the part of his mind he refused to touch.

Kunle was still flipping through the journal, muttering under his breath. "Looks like they were keeping notes. Writing down safe spots. Marking places to avoid."

Jace frowned. "Anything useful?"

Kunle's eyes scanned the pages before stopping on a single sentence, written in frantic, shaky handwriting.

"If you find this, don't go south, don't go anywhere around Lagos. The roads are death."

Jace's heart stopped.

Lagos.

That's where Mosun's parents lived. That's where she was headed.

His hands tightened into fists.

"I have to go," he muttered.

Kunle glanced up. "Go where?"

Jace hesitated, then took a deep breath.

"Mosun and AYanfe ... They were supposed to visit her parents before everything went to hell. That's a different state from here. I have to find them."

Kunle scoffed. "You serious? That's hundreds of miles away."

Jace met his gaze. "I know."

Kunle leaned back, running a hand through his hair. "Damn, man. That's suicide."

Jace exhaled slowly. "Maybe. But if there's even a chance they're alive, I have to take it."

Kunle sighed, shaking his head. "So what's the plan? Are you just gonna walk across the country?

"I'll figure it out," Jace said. "But I'm going."

The scene then goes dark.

TO BE CONTINUED...