The phone was still on speaker.
Silence fell inside the car.
Lucas turned sharply. "Who was that?"
Azan's expression tightened. "Yes... who was that?"
Yvette shook her head slowly. "I don't know."
Irin's eyes narrowed. "He said female friends..."
Nicole hesitated. "Do you think we should go?"
Lucas immediately protested. "You are not going anywhere. Do you know the journey ahead? We are supposed to be leaving for Lagos!"
Azan raised a hand. "Calm down, Lucas."
But Yvette was already staring at the building in front of them.
Quietly, she spoke.
"We should go," she said. "Just the girls. We will be back in two minutes."
Nicole blinked. "Two minutes?"
Yvette nodded firmly. "Yes. Two minutes."
Azan frowned. "That is too risky."
Yvette didn't look away from the building. "It won't take long."
A heavy silence followed.
Finally, she stepped out.
Nicole and Irin followed.
Reluctantly.
Like their feet didn't fully agree with their decision.
The moment the three girls stepped into the uncompleted building, the air inside felt instantly wrong.
It was colder than outside, heavier too, like the walls were holding their breath. Dust floated through the broken space, and every step echoed too loudly, as if the building was listening.
Yvette stopped first.
Nicole looked around uneasily. "Hello? We're here."
Irin's voice dropped. "This place... doesn't feel
safe."
Then—
A slow clap echoed from deeper inside.
Once.
Twice.
Silence.
Quin stepped out from the shadows.
Calm. Controlled.
Her smile was faint, but her eyes carried something sharp underneath.
"Yes," she said quietly. "You came."
Yvette's gaze hardened. "We gave you two minutes. Speak."
Quin tilted her head slightly. "Time... is always interesting when people think they control it."
Nicole frowned. "What do you even want from us?"
Quin didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she lifted something in her hand—a lighter.
The mood shifted instantly.
Irin stepped back. "Why do you have that?"
Quin glanced at her briefly. "Relax."
She flicked it open.
A small flame appeared.
"Quin, stop this," Nicole said quickly. "This is not funny."
But Quin didn't seem to hear her properly.
She moved slightly, still talking, still focused on them—when the lighter slipped in her grip.
It dropped.
Straight onto a dry pile of old, flammable material scattered across the unfinished floor.
There was a beat of silence.
One second.
Then—
WHOOM.
A sudden burst of fire erupted.
Not planned.
Not controlled.
Just instant.
The flames raced across the dry structure far Just instant.
The flames raced across the dry structure far faster than anyone could react. The unfinished building, full of exposed wood and dust, caught like it had been waiting for a spark all along.
"Move!" Yvette shouted.
Panic broke instantly.
Smoke filled the space within seconds, thick and choking.
Nicole coughed sharply. "I can't see!"
Irin grabbed her arm. "This way!"
Quin froze for a moment, staring at the fire with shock flashing across her face—like she hadn't expected it to spread so fast.
Then she stepped back quickly into the smoke, disappearing from sight as chaos swallowed everything.
Outside—
Azan suddenly stopped walking. His body stiffened. "Something is wrong," he said sharply.
Lucas frowned. "What are you talking about?"
Then—
A faint pop.
A distant crack.
Smoke rising into the sky.
Azan's expression changed instantly.
"Yvette!"
He ran.
Lucas followed immediately. "Azan, wait!"
Inside, the building was already collapsing into panic.
Heat pushed against them like a living force.
The fire spread unpredictably, snapping wood, swallowing pathways, turning the structure into a maze of smoke and flame.
"Yvette!" Azan's voice cut through the chaos.
"Here!" Lucas coughed, shielding his face.
Through the smoke, Azan finally saw her.
Yvette.
He rushed forward without thinking, pulling her just as part of the ceiling cracked loudly above them.
"Go!" Lucas shouted.
They ran.
Behind them, Quin was nowhere in sight.
Not because she escaped deliberately—
but because the fire had grown too fast, too chaotic, too uncontrollable for anyone to fully understand what was happening in those first seconds.
Outside, sirens began to wail.
Firefighters rushed in.
Police followed.
And as the smoke swallowed the sky—
one truth settled heavily over everything:
It hadn't been planned.
But it had changed everything. The sirens did not stop for a long time.
Police officers rushed in while firefighters took control of the burning structure, shouting orders over one another as smoke filled the air.
One by one, everyone was carried out—some coughing, some barely conscious, some trembling in shock. The fire crackled behind them, refusing to die quietly.
The girls were gathered together and taken to the police station.
No one spoke.
Not because they did not want to—
But because everything had happened too quickly for their minds to process.
At the station, the tension only grew heavier.
Shortly after, their mothers began to arrive.
Nicole's mother.
Irin's mother.
Quin's mother.
Voices filled the space. Papers were signed.
One by one, the girls were bailed and taken away.
Except Yvette.
She remained seated.
Alone.
Her eyes stayed fixed on the entrance, hoping
—just once—that someone would walk in and call her name.
But no one came.
No one asked for her.
No one stayed behind.
And slowly, painfully, she realised—
She had been left there.