NINE

I once again looked at Ahmit. He was so handsome; black hair, pretty green eyes and he was one of Lailah's oldest friends. How could I compete with that? What's worse, Lailah didn't even seem to remember our night together. It was like she had lost her memory of that night.

Lailah was awake now and she was looking at her tablet. Ahmit got up and took a bag out of the upper compartments. Not his, Lailah's. He slipped a picture into the backpack and zipped it close. He put it back and sat down in his seat.

'Ladies and Gentlemen, we have arrived in O.R. Tambo International Airport. We will be disembarking in a few minutes,' the pilot's voice said.

I got up and took my backpack from the upper-compartments and laid it on my lap.

John opened his eyes and said, 'Are we about to land?'

I nodded as he took his bag out.

The plane came to a stop. All the passengers got up and started gathering their things. Lailah and Ahmit got up and Lailah said goodbye to him. He nodded and walked outside, getting lost in the crowd.

I walked out with John by my side. I found myself in the airport with everyone in a small circle.

'So, where do we go?' John asked.

'Houghton, my place,' Lailah turned and started walking down some stairs.

We all followed her down the stairs and into a huge room. The room was more of a shopping centre with terminals. The place had stores everywhere, each one packed with people. Lailah turned and headed for double doors on the left. The doors opened as we neared. I saw Marina pick Ella- who reverted to a younger age- up when she Yeahwned and rubbed her eyes. I saw John put his arm around Sarah and I saw Lailah fingering a silver chain around her neck.

Lailah walked out into the parking lot and strode toward the guard. She slipped him an orange note with a picture of an old man on it. He nodded and let us pass. We walked outside to see a bright sun, people walking everywhere and cars hooting at each other.

'We're going to have to walk,' Lailah looked at us.

'Why can't we just take a taxi?' Sarah asked.

'If you want to get killed then take a taxi.'

After about half an hour of walking Lailah finally stopped in front of a huge black gate. She walked to a little box on the wall.

She pressed a red button and a voice spoke, 'Hello?'

'Hi, Lerato. It's me, Lailah.'

'Oh, Ms Lailah! I'll open for you right away!'

Lailah let go of the button and turned to us.

I looked at the huge mansion and said, 'You live here?'

'Not exactly. It's more like a holiday house; my mom came here to work with other scientists.'

The gate opened and we all walked in. We were greeted by two dark-skinned people, a woman and a man.

'Ms Lailah, who are your weary friends?' The man had a thick British accent.

'Friends, Lerato. Friends.'

Lerato shrugged and led us inside. I gawped at the place. It had a high ceiling, a crystal chandelier and servants scurrying around everywhere. All the servants stopped and looked at Lailah. After about a minute of staring; all the butlers and maids came running toward Lailah, hugging and smiling at her.

Suddenly, all the servants made an aisle. From a door along the hallway came a little girl with fair skin, holding a maid's hand. She was about four years old with pretty blonde hair and cute brown eyes. She let go of the maid's hand and came running toward Lailah. Lailah swept her up into her arms.

'Lailah, you came back!' The little girl squealed.

'See, I told you, Katie! I told you I would come back!' I could see in her eyes that she didn't intend to come back.

'Your hair's longer. What did you do?' She asked solemnly as she started to undo the plait in Lailah's hair.

Suddenly, Katie let go of the plait. Her eyes started rolling into her forehead and she started frothing at the mouth. Lailah frantically pushed her to the floor and one of the maids gently pushed a ruler into Katie's mouth. A few minutes later she stopped frothing and her eyes rolled forward. She started coughing but everyone seemed relieved.

'Hey, Katie. Are you okay?' Lailah asked, Katie on her lap.

Katie nodded and leaned on Lailah's chest. I don't know if my eyes were deceiving me but I'm pretty sure I saw tears in Lailah's eyes. She got up, cradling the sleeping child in her arms, and walked to a nearby door.

We all waited for a few minutes until Lailah came out.

She looked at us and said, 'You must be hungry!'

We followed her into a huge dining room with another chandelier. They all sat down, no-one at the head. There were pieces of paper and pens in front of them.

'Just write down what you want and give it to Jesse,' Lailah said, nodded to a pretty young woman.

'Anything at all?' Sarah asked, amazed.

Lailah nodded and began writing. We all started writing; I wrote that I wanted a cheeseburger and fries. We all gave our papers in to Jesse and waited.

'Lailah, what happened to the little girl in the dining room?' Marina asked.

Lailah's expression darkened. 'Epilepsy. Had it since she was a month old.'

'How did she end up here?'

'Her mother was one of the maids. After Katie was born she disappeared. Left here with us.'

Our food appeared; almost everyone ordered the same thing. We began eating when Lerato appeared. He whispered something in Lailah's ear and she got up. She walked out the door and a man was standing there. I couldn't make out the face but he dragged Lailah outside and closed the door.

After about five minutes Lailah came out red-faced with anger. She had a bruise across her face.

'What happened?' Eight asked.

'Just one of my... Eh old friends.'

After dinner Lailah told us that the servants would show us our rooms. I opened one of the doors and looked inside. There was old furniture and a queen sized bed. A large photo hung over the bed; a picture of a tall man with black hair and blue eyes and a beautiful woman with blonde hair and soft green eyes. The woman was hugging the man and he was smiling widely. There was a small figure at the bottom of the photo. It was a little girl of about seven years old with pretty features, black hair and grey eyes. Lailah.

Right on cue, Lailah stepped in and closed the door quickly.

'Don't go in there' was all she said and she walked away. The servants led me to a big room with a single bed and a bathroom. I put my backpack down and walked out. Lailah was walking toward her room. Out of curiosity, I followed her. She left her door half open. I peered inside and looked around. She was sitting on her bed and looking at something in her hand. On her walls were pictures and bits of clothing and posters.

Lailah got up and I jumped back. I walked to my room and had a quick shower. I slumped into my bed and drifted into sleep.