It's the thought that counts... Chapter three

Mayowa laid at the roadside with Junior right on top of her, the blaring of the horn from the vehicle still roaring in her ear drums, for the moment obstructing her hearing. Junior had been yelling words at her but she couldn't make them out, neither could she read his lips.

"Are you insane? Why did you just stand there like a lunatic?" Junior asked.

"What!?" she yelled.

Bola and Chioma ran towards them crossing the road, "Mayo!", Bola called out.

"Is she okay?" Chioma asked.

"Almost got killed, I barely made it but thank God" Junior answered letting go of Mayowa as they stood up from their previous positions. Mayowa stared at them in silence, she still couldn't hear a word they spoke.

"Mayo! Is something wrong?" Bola noticed the way she looked at them.

She pointed at her ear and yelled, "I can't hear you!".

They turned to each other looking confused at what they had heard.

"What did she say?" Chioma asked staring at Bola, who shoke his head indicating that he too did not understand.

"She spoke in the same way earlier too" Junior said as they all turned and stared at her.

"Why can't you understand me?" she said, her eyes began filling with fluids.

"Why would they?" a male voice said.

"Who said that?" Mayowa asked startled, for she heard this voice in her head, she looked around but all she could find were the confused faces of her friends.

"I'm right here dearest Mayowa" he said appearing right behind her friends. He was well dressed in a tuxedo, skin white as snow and also well decorated with black scales but not completely. On his head were two horns not too long and a blue colored lens in his eyes, he was both perfect and scary at the same time.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" she asked pointing at him, their attention drew away from her and then into the direction she had pointed.

"What is she pointing at?" Junior asked even more confused.

"You shouldn't do that, they can't actually see or hear me" he said winking at them, he froze them in place.

"What did you do to them?".

"I just stopped them for a while" he answered staring at the watch on his wrist.

"Who are you? Answer me damn it!" she yelled.

He grinned widely and said "I am greed, I am hunger and I am hate, but you may call me Luci".

"Luci? As in Lucifer the Devil?" she asked.

"Many call me that too, but I'm often misunderstood" He said.

"Okay, what do you want from me?".

"You are no fun, why so straight to the point, I like to play with my food first before eating it" he said whisking a knife and fork from mid air, "But since you are so curious I'll tell you, I want to taste you, I want your very essence, I want that which makes you human, I want to consume you whole".

"Why? What have I done to you?" she asked.

"Nothing, you only met my requirements" he answered.

"Requirements?".

"Love, Hate, Lust, Desire and the will to acquire them all" he said giving off a dark aura that covered her friends and things surrounding her, it slowly crept up to her.

"What are you doing?" she asked trying to move but the aura had already begun sipping into her skin, turning her black as a shadow.

"Don't you worry all will be well, just give in" he said, the aura almost fully consuming her, just inches away from her head.

"God please help me!" she screamed with all her might, jerking up from bed. She carefully examined her body, turned to her cabinet and saw her favourite teddy sitting right there on it. "Thank God it was only a dream", she said heaving a sigh of relief.

Mayowa crept out of bed, slipped into her fluffy slippers and  walked towards her door. The ground began to get cold as the window blew open letting in a cold breeze and a crude voice, "You have met my requirements", startling Mayowa as she stood still as a dead body, with her hand on the door knob, she could feel a presence behind her. Gathering enough courage, she slowly turned around to see who it was but no one stood there, only the curtains being blown by the wind. Mayowa sank to the ground wetting herself.