Dreams of our life

Benson High School was burning down in September 2019, and it was from the kitchen where the fire started due to the poor wiring that was running along the walls and ceiling of the room.

The fire on the grounds was growing slowly but surely, but it took some time for other students who were studying farther away from the kitchen to recognize this.

The fact that there were fire extinguishers in every classroom was a stroke of luck and saved lives.

When the fire broke out in the kitchen, the boys in the nearby classrooms acted quickly to grab extinguisher cans and rush there to put it out.

Other boys assisted by removing school supplies, and others escorted the girls away from the dangerous situation.

Since this was a Day high school, all classes were abruptly suspended, and every student was asked to return home.

Teachers were panicking and calling for ambulance and fire services to get better control of the situation.

Aarush and Liz would typically return home together on foot everyday so Liz waited for him at the gate as she had seen him rush towards the kitchen to give a helping hand in extinguishing the fire.

Given that both of their homes were in the same area, watching out for one another made natural sense.

After the fire was put out, Aarush pulled up his phone from his pocket to discover several missed calls from Liz's number.

He bit his tongue and wondered if she was fine. He called the first time and the number didn't go through, he tried the number again, and when it was answered, his heart was at ease.

When Liz received the call, she frantically answered it and informed Aarush that she was waiting for him at the gate. He hurried there and when he saw her, he rushed and gave her a bear hug out of concern.

"Am glad you are fine." He told her and he immediately wanted to order an Uber, but Liz refused, so they left the school and started walking home.

"Let's just walk back. it's better." she sighed and held his hand.

Aarush concurred, and the two of them strolled back to their homes while encouraging one another, telling jokes, and even posting a selfie of themselves on Facebook and Instagram.

When they both arrived at Liz's house, Aarush gave Liz a cheek kiss before deciding to head over to his house, which was just a few meters away. They both smelled so bad, and Aarush had a football game to catch up on.

Liz walked into her house from the front and went straight to the refrigerator to fetch some water to drink. However, before she could drink, she overheard a male and female voice laughing from her grandmother's chamber, which was upstairs.

"Now what is this?" Liz asked herself whilst looking sharply at the stairs leading to the upper part of her home.

"People are weird nowadays." She murmured thinking who else would be in the house on such a day.

There were only two rooms up there, and one of them was empty. It was for Liz's mother, who was away in the city working.

Liz set the glass down on the sink and then held her breath, wondering aloud who had the gall to be in her grandmother's holy bedroom.

According to cultural standards, no other guy was permitted to enter that chamber even under the circumstances of divorce.

"If this is someone else, they will immediately leave." Liz swore as she remarked and pulled the kitchen curtain down fearing to be seen by the neighbours.

The laughter got more irritating and Liz was certain that the source of the ongoing laughter was Douglas, the delivery man who had been surprising the family with specialty pizzas and other surprises for almost two years.

Since he was a very jolly person and too talkative, this man found his way to every heart except for Liz who saw through his predatory schemes as she assumed.

"What on earth could he be doing up there?" Liz paused, then moved slowly in the direction of the upper room to find out what was happening,

As she drew closer to the room, she could hear the voices of Douglas and Angie, her grandma, and it was obvious that they were having a lot of fun.

When she got near to the door, she stood there for a while hearing Angie and Douglas having a flirtatious talk, which made Liz feel so disgusted.

"She is this stupid ! at her age?" Liz jeered and turned around breathing hard, with her hands on her waist.

"My God what is this?"

Liz, filled with anger pulled the door open and stormed inside, where she found Angie lounging on the side couch and Douglas sitting on the floor next to her.

Even though the bed appeared to be undisturbed, both were wearing private clothing and didn't appear bothered at all by what they were doing.

"What has brought you here?" Angie asked Liz, looking at the girl with a demeaning look displayed all over her face.

Douglas quickly got to his feet and reached into the wardrobe for a robe that belonged to Angie's husband Max, who was away on business in another country.

Liz was shocked by Douglas and Angie's daring in exposing themselves to her in the space, and she observed everything there as if it were a movie.

After a few seconds, Angie rose up with a gloomy face, put a towel around her body, and moved closer to Liz.

Angie had a really harsh look that frightened Liz when she looked at her in the eye but Liz stayed composed.

"Mom, this guy....."

"Get out."

Angie yelled at Liz to leave the room while Douglas went back to sit on the couch comfortably.

"He is lying to you.."

Liz shouted at Angie telling her how Douglas was only after the money but Angie would not listen to anything more.

"Stupid, get out now."

"Mom he is a hooker...."

Angie slapped Liz hard before she could finish her sentence, and at that point Douglas intervened to settle Angie down because she was getting more furious and threatening to throw Liz out of the house.

"Please leave." Douglas informed Liz as he held Angie back to his arms.

Liz was left with nothing to do in the room and walked out feeling very uncomfortable and ashamed.

Liz started crying as she ran downstairs towards her room and when she had got in, she locked herself inside and only cried louder but the pain only grew.

They had been living three of three of them in the house as the rest of the members were away in school or work.

The rumors from the community members were right all along but Liz always doubted, thinking Angie was a saint.

She reached for her phone and tried to call Max, her grandfather, on WhatsApp as she didn't have an international calling bundle but he didn't answer.

Liz then sent him several messages pleading with him to give her a call, but despite the messages being marked with a blue check, no response was received.

Liz put her head on her pillow while feeling hopelessly depressed and hoping that Max would reply in time.

After a while, she received a notification on her phone and when she checked to see if max had replied,

It was Aarush asking if she was okay or if he could covertly deliver a burger for her to her house.

"Am good, a little busy right now." Liz told him in a WhatsApp message.

Aarush then responded to Liz with a heart emoji and a suggestion to meet early the following morning.