Wild West of the Heart

"Some of the victims have this one name in common" He ravaged through the papers across the table, with several of his partners he had brought in. Mira had her arms wedged against the table, looking at him. "We might not have the leader but we do have someone who's been in contact"

"His name is Vlad" Dare tossed a photo of a russian man to Mira and she stretched upwards. "You were right about the app through which Vlad targets his preys and engages in conversations that revolve around vulnerabilities. And who they really are. He sort of creates an environment where they feel safe enough to share, all while he weaponizes it against them. He lures them like the psychopath that he is. They feel loved-" Dare whispered.

"They feel seen for the first time in their lives, and trust. They trust the wrong person" A tear slipped down Mira's cheeks. "And eventually he kills them, stabs them while they struggle" She cleared her throat.

"But is he the one that Jazz" She could barely form a sentence as Dare stood upright. "I don't know. Now, there are many Vlads, scattered across the country. And they make up Aces, an occultist hate group whose primary targets are" He couldn't complete it without his heart sinking. He remembered the first time Mira had seen him.

And how badly he had handled it, this was alot to handle and through his naive eyes, he could never have seen this, never have seen how much danger someone like Mira was in, just because of who she was. "A thousand Vlads" She whispered. "My people are dying at the hands of AIDS and a thousand Vlads. We can't catch a break huh?" She scoffed, looking to the police that stood around. She tried her best to not get ptsd from their camouflaged uniforms. The truth was, they weren't safe anywhere, and even here, she was here because it was just less dangerous. Because of Dare-who belonged to the same people that hurt Silva.

They weren't safe anywhere.

Dare had watched her eyes zone out on him, that he needed to reach for her hands. "We're going to fix this" He promised. "We don't have to catch a thousand Vlads, we just need one stupid one that would out the rest" He said. "How are we going to do that?" She looked over her shoulders at him. "There's only one way to" They all turned to face her and she looked around the room. Dare pulled out a phone from his pockets. "We have a suspect, we have our intent, and a motive. We have a plan-"

"You need a victim" Mira added, her voice lowering in a whisper. "We would have the entire grounds covered with military and armed forces. Nothing bad is going to happen to you" She pulled her hands away from him. "You mean the same armed forces that almost killed my friend?" Her voice cracked as they were forced to listen to her.

"You mean the same armed forces that goes around profiling the wrong people and killing them unjustly? The ones that are meant to protect us but fails us constantly. You mean the armed forces that couldn't let a peaceful protest hold because of " "Because it wasn't safe anymore" Dare interrupted and she turned to him.

"You saw the thugs, and the hoodlums. Most of which might have been sent from Aces. We needed to do something or else it would have been more damage. Now, i'm not trying to justify shooting your friend, i'm just saying we chose less damage over worse and you know that. You know that we're not bad people, i'm not a bad person and Femi here isn't, Dayo isn't" He pointed across the room.

"Tosin, David and Jackson isn't. They all have names, and they have families and these people took a constitutional oath to protect the people and i can tell you that none of the people in this very room has broken that oath. We aren't the ones that opened fire on a peaceful protest, we aren't the ones that shot in the air. Those were the military. We are "

"Not any different" She interrupted him, and Dare folded his lip as he reached out to her. "Let us make things right, Mira" He always called her name so softly. "How can i trust you?" She turned to him. "You can. You can trust me, Mira" He whispered as their fingers brushed together.

"I would never let anything happen to you. Never"

She pushed a lump down her throat, filling her lungs with air and she turned to face the other people in the room, and then back at Dare-he didn't care, not for one second.

"What do you want me to do?" She finally agreed and Dare handed the phone over to her: "A profile has been set up and we've already been in contact with Vlad. He hopes to meet the young woman behind the screen tonight. Now, that young woman needs a face" She looked into the camera on the phone and then back at Dare. "Actually, if you don't want to do this, you don't have to. We haven't said anything that's too intrusive like your identity"

"But it makes it more believable?" Mira asked and Dare looked around the room. "Tell him i'm trans. And i have AIDS, anything that would make him come for him with all that he has" She gritted her teeth. "Are you aware of the risks, Mira?" Dare was gentle with her. "Hell yeah i am-"

"If we're going to catch this man, we're going to give everything that we have. We take all our weapons to war, and allow him bring his" She matched his eyes. "War?"

"This became a war the moment was killed on that pavement. And every other person that has died by the hands of a Vlad. Tonight it ends" Mira pulled away from Dare, taking her picture with the phone. She handed it back to him and nodded. "Tonight, everything ends-"

-

Obi heard the shrills screams that came from the house before him. It was his house. They weren't of danger, but from the kids that ran across the front lawn. Of his house.

Obi halted, and his mother looked to him. "Come on" She whispered and he shook his head. "Uhm, you haven't said a word. Who are those in dad's house?" He hadn't been at this part of town for as long as he could remember. She stuttered, pointing towards them. "Obi-" She called for the nth time. "I want you to meet your step siblings"

His brows arched as a scoff escaped his lips. "What?"

"You-you got remarried? And now, you want me to meet my step siblings" A chuckle masked the pain he felt at the back of his throat. "Are you for real?"

"You disappeared for more than a decade and then you show up like magically expecting us to be one big happy family?" His voice cracked. "Tell me you're joking mum. Tell me that wasn't your thought process"

"Obi i had no choice" She replied, holding unto her bags. "That's a very big far lie because you had a choice, every human has a choice and you chose to leave me behind. You chose to never come back for me and i had to do this all by myself, i had to raise myself and go through puberty and all sorts of everything by myself and without you"

"I came looking for you Obi" Her voice broke, but his heart shattered. "When it was convenient for you, right?" He asked and she inched closer. "I tried but you had this other man with you and-and i was scared. I've lived my whole life regretting leaving you behind but you have to know that i didn't know what to do. I had just lost the love of my life and everything was unclear and vague and painful and grieving. I was alone, and that's no such way to raise a child, Obi. I needed to be better to give you better"

"That was what you deserved, Obi" She said and he shook his head. "No i deserved my mother, by my side as we went through the exact same thing. I lost dad too that day" Tears fell from his eyes as he looked away. "How long have you been back? To have this house back and kids. Fluffy haired happy kids and all this life?" He wiped his eyes.

"You have the perfect family now and i only just realized because i blamed myself that maybe you just didn't want to be a mother when in reality, you just didn't want to be mine" He backed away. "What do you really want, after so much time?" He asked and tears welled in her eyes.

"I" She stuttered. "I'm sorry" She whispered and Obi scoffed. "Well, i'm sorry too. But hey, that can only do so much, right?" He scoffed, hands in the air. "I want you back Obi, and i can give you everything that i couldn't those years including a brother and a two little angels. Sparkle and Grace, you could be the perfect elder brother because you were my perfect child" He looked to them, shaking his head. "No mum" He inched backwards from her.

"I have a family now, i have a mother who i love with the entirety of my very self. And a best friend and one true love whose name is Abdul. I have a family who i would die for and who i would do anything for and you're not that family because it's been so long mum. I spent so long waiting for you and crying and praying. And you don't just get to come back the very moment that i move on telling me that you're sorry. Hell, i'm sorry" He chuckled.

"Because there's no way i'm going to give you that satisfaction of a happy family when in reality it's not. It's not just possible" He stamped his feet. "Let broken pieces be broken pieces" He sniffled. "And you have this, be content with these because i have my own people too" He added.

"But i'm your mother" She whispered.

And Obi locked eyes with her. "You're the one that gave birth to me, and a mother is so much more than that. She's someone that stays, someone that loves unconditionally. She's someone that would give the entire world and wouldn't run❞ He replied. "That's a very unfair to say, Obi"

"And abandoning me was a very unfair thing to do mum"

"It's too late now, go into your fancy house with your fancy dinnerset and your happy family-" "No" She reached out to him but Obi pushed her away.

"I forgive you, the truth is i have a very long time ago. But i'm just forgiving myself. For all the hatred and the self blame and for always thinking i was at fault for every bad thing that happened to me" He looked away from her eyes.

"I'm grateful that i found someone, and you did too. Let's just leave things that way. Okay?" She wiped her teary cheeks. "Will you?" He finally let her hold his hands and there was that chill going up his spine again. He turned to look away, realizing there was only one place he wanted to be, and that was with Mira even if she'd told him to leave.

The truth was, he was aware of how much she was going through and she had tried to hide it. She always said Obi and Silva were the closest people that she had, and now one of those people was fighting for his life. He wanted to be there for her, like she had been for him.

And he didn't care about biology, because he swore that that would be the last chill he would feel from his mother, it took him this long to realize that Mira was his mother.

She was his home.

"Thank you" Obi whispered, pulling away from Chioma and she heaved a deep breath, seeing how much he had changed and how much she had fucked up. "Thank you for this closure, mum. My regards-" He raised his fingers. "To Sparkle and Grace" Which were much nicer names. He pushed a lump down his throat as he paced down the side of the roads, making his way to his home.

-

Ola was careful with the door, closing it behind him.

He had his biology textbook in his hands, and his jotter in the other. His mother was standing a distance from him, with a pencil case in her hands. He pulled off his shoes, making his way to give her kiss on her cheeks.

"Are you ready for tomorrow now?" She whispered, looking at the clock above him. It was six, in the evening, which would mean Mira was also getting ready for Vlad.

But right now, Ola's eyes went to the green Ben-10 case in his mother's hands and he collected it. "I got this for you, with all your writing materials for tomorrow" She said.

And a smile crept to the corner of his lips. "What?" She whispered. "You just never do this" He said, noticing his laptop open on the kitchen counter. He walked all the way to the side, looking at the monitor.

His mother trailed behind him before he sat into the chair. "Ola, you got an email" She said. "From Johnsons" He added, dropping the case to the space beside him. He clicked the email, seeing the very first words- I'm sorry.

He was sure his heart skipped a beat because Mary had to hold unto him. He couldn't bear to finish it but he was sure he didn't get the scholarship. Bade did, after she was much more invested in extra-curricular activities like planning the school plays, and winning the tennis matches.

It didn't he cried, because he didn't.

He just rested into his mother's arms whose intuition was never wrong and she was always there now, to comfort him. "It's going to be okay, Ola. Everything is going to be" She whispered, slowly patting his head. "Just focus on what is, which is your finals tomorrow" She added.

"We can focus on what will be after" She continued as his eyes zoned into space. Just like Tobi's own did.

Fiyin sliced the apple into two, scraping the sides of her fingers in the process. She exclaimed, sucking unto them as she tossed the knife into the sink.

She carried a glass of water instead as she walked out into the parlor. Tobi looked to her as she dropped it next to him. Abandoning the apple, she took a seat. "Let me see"

He reached for her pale hands, closely examining the little cut. There wasn't any blood yet, it was just whitish, yet the way he held unto it was like it was serious.

Fiyin never cared that much for her body, she'd never look at herself that much. "It's okay dad" She nodded, pulling away from him. "It's just a cut"

"No, it isn't" He replied, staggering towards his cupboard where he had a decade old bandaid, but still the act was quite hilarious to Fiyin as she had a smile across her face.

He sat down, hefting it to her and then suddenly, there was tears in her eyes. Fiyin looked away, cupping her chin. "I thought you said it was just a cut" Tobi inched closer and she scoffed. "It's not the cut" She was between crying and laughing and she turned back to look at him.

"How did we get here?" She whispered.

He rested back with the bandaid in his hands. "How did we get here, dad?" She sniffed and he rubbed under her eyes. "Does it really matter?" He replied. "I realized i was being stupid, wasting away. I realized you needed better" He said. "That you deserved better"

"My love wasn't enough for Ophelia, but i hope it's enough for you" She moved into him, letting him wrap his arms around her. "It is" She replied, for the first time, feeling safe.

"It is, dad"

"I love you so much" That was the first time she ever said that. He rubbed his rough chin against her chin, holding her firmly. "I loved you too, Fi Fi" He whispered. And as she nursed her cut, there was the apple, rotting away on the table behind them. She didn't care

She walked into the four cornered room, taking a seat on the opposite end of the table. She looked into the camera before her- "I'm here to report a rape. Collins Mcphersons."

And Fiyin didn't have to tell Tobi about Collins, because she was okay, actually. Holding her that way, was enough comfort even for the words she hadn't said. So much that she just knew that everything would be okay, soon. "What's your name, ma'am?" She looked up at them from the camera. "Janet" Came an intercepting pause.

"Janet Mcphersons."

To be continued...