EIGHT
I looked around at my room. It was nice and fancy. I sat down on the bed just as someone knocked on my door. I got up and opened the white door. Marina stood there, rubbing her arms in a white gown.
'Hey,' I said and brought her inside.
Marina rested her head on my chest and I wrapped my arms around her.
'I couldn't sleep. New place, I guess,' she said.
I sat down on the bed and Marina sat on my lap. I cradled her for a few minutes until I felt hot tears stain my white shirt. I looked down to see Marina crying.
I didn't say anything; just waited until she stopped. I kissed the top of her head when I heard feet moving from outside. I got up, Marina trailing behind me, and walked to the door. I peeked outside to see Sarah and John walking outside.
I walked outside with Marina and met up with John and Sarah.
'Hey,' they said.
'Hey,' I replied, Marina intertwining her fingers with mine.
Right on cue, Sam and Six walk out of their rooms.
'I didn't know Lailah was this rich. I mean look at this place,' Sam said enviously.
'All of us have travelled the world, but she's just stayed with one rich couple,' Six said.
We all walked around the huge mansion. We looked at the well-crafted chairs to the beautiful chandelier atop our heads. We walked until we finally came to Lailah's room. The door was slightly open so we were all able to peek inside. There was a slight banging noise coming from inside.
We all looked inside to see Lailah, in a grey top and gym shorts, hitting and kicking a punching bag. She wasn't even wearing punching gloves. It could've just been sweat, but I'm pretty sure Lailah was crying.
'Bloody idiots! Stupid Mogs! Won't just leave us alone, will they? No. They had to come and destroy it all!' Lailah muttered under her breath. On the last word she hit the bag as hard as she could.
The bag broke from its rope and fell to the floor. Lailah's knuckles were bleeding and hot blood dripped to the floor. I looked around the room; there was blood everywhere. Lailah's face was red with anger. She grabbed a red ball and threw it through the window.
After calming down a bit she went to her bedside table and picked up a phone. She dialled a number. After a few minutes, she put the phone down. She climbed out the broken window and ascended up. How? I didn't know.
'Once we think we know her, we find out something more about her,' Six put all our thoughts into one sentence.
We all nodded. We carried on walking until we came to a marble staircase. John started up the steps and we all followed. We soon came to an unlocked wooden door. John opened the door.
I gasped. Outside was a rooftop. It showed the whole of Johannesburg. Driven into the cement was a long wooden plank, carefully sanded and a wonderful brown. On it was photos; all of them with three people- a woman, man and child- and all of the people were smiling. And there, sitting to face the city was Lailah. Still in her grey top and shorts. She turned to face our astonished faces. She patted the ground next to her, gesturing for us to sit. We all nervously sat next to her, all in our pairs.
'That is the Telkom Tower,' Lailah pointed to a large tower with a soccer ball on it.
Sarah-who was closest to her- gently, tapped her on her arm. Lailah turned her grey eyes on the blonde-haired girl. 'What's wrong?'
'Nothing,' Lailah replied quickly.
With that, they grey-eyed girl got up and walked to the edge of the roof. For a minute, I thought she was going to commit suicide but then she laughed bitterly and walked past us to the door. I saw Marina breathe a sigh of relief.
'She's a seriously complicated character,' I said.
Everyone agreed. After about five minutes atop the rooftop we all went down and went to bed.