School session was over and some students were heading home. Stella and her clique of friends were also heading home on their own.
     Mr Robinson was in his car, looking all round to see if he'd spot out Stella. He eventually saw her when she got to the parking lot with her friends. "There she is", he quickly took off the seat belt and came out of the car.
     He interrupted their conversation. "Hey! Are you Stella?", he asked her.
     "Uhh...yeah!", she answered, "But I don't know who you are", she felt uncomfortable.
     "I don't neither...I was sent by your Mum to pick you up today and drop you at home", he smiled at her.
     "That's a lie", she became angry, "I always go home on my own on Thursdays. It's been conventional", she bluntly didn't believe him.
     "Wait a minute", he gestured for her to stay calm. He brought out his cell phone and logged into WhatsApp. He then played a voice note to everyone's hearing. Stella recognized the voice to be her Mum's.
     "Play this voice note when she's with you. I know she won't believe so.. this will be the evidence", the voice note played. "Stella! I sent this man to drive you home. Plans changed and I'm sorry for that. It won't happen again...I promise", it said further, referring directly to Stella this time.
     "Are you convinced now?", Mr Robinson asked reverentially. Stella sadly bid her friends a goodbye.
     "My mum has instructed I followed him so...I have to go mates. See you tomorrow", she said. Her friends bid her goodbye too.
     "Where's your car?", she asked him.
     He pointed at the car;"Over there!"
     "Okay then", she shrugged off her shoulders and walked towards it. Mr Robinson followed her behind.
     *                       *                       *
     Mr Robinson turned right to another road that made Stella complain. "This is not the road to my house. It continues that way", she pointed to the previous road they were. She was sitting by Mr Robinson, on the passenger's seat.
     "Oh! It's that way? I don't know the way to your home", he replied casually. This shocked Stella as she turned to look at him. "Maybe I'll turn back and you'll direct me to your house then", he joked over it.
     "Didn't my Mum give you the address?", she asked, staring at him. He didn't give her any response, still driving. Stella clearly now knowing he was actually an imposter all along ordered him to stop the car at once.
     Mr Robinson continued driving without saying anything. Stella became violent. "Didn't you hear me?", she grabbed him at the collar and shook him angrily.
     "Woah! Woah! Woah!", he immediately pulled over. He removed her hands off him. "Good thing this is a minor road...I hope no one saw what you were doing to me", he said to her.
     "Then why were you trying to kidnap me?", she yelled at him.
     "I'm an imposter...fine! But I only wanted to talk to you about David", he yelled back. Stella became calm immediately while he felt he shouldn't have yelled at her.
     "I'm sorry for yelling at you", he apologized calmly.
     "What's wrong with him? He hasn't been in school for days", she asked quickly, so eager to hear about his condition.
     "He got beaten up so badly, had wounds all over his body. But he's getting better now, he's recouping very quickly, thanks to me", he said to her, bragging a little bit. Stella got scared as soon as she heard David was beaten up.
     "Who beat him up? I wish I could visit him but I don't even know where he stays", she laid her head on the seat.
     "Why don't you call him then to find out how he's been doing?", Mr Robinson suggested.
     "I can't call him", she replied, shaking her head.
     Mr Robinson looked at her. He saw she was really sad. "I know what's going on. You care for David a lot...you love him but seems you actually love pride more", he said.
     "It's not what you think. He caused all this. There was something he was doing I really hated. I warned him first time but he did it again. I then had to break up with him", Stella justified herself.
     "What he did was to run away every single freaking time Death showed up, leaving you alone because he was scared right?"
     "You mates have surely talked about this before."
     "Yeah! But now...let's play a game. I'll simply interrogate you and you'll reply to each question honestly", he sat up straight and faced Stella.
     "What kind of questions?", she asked. He then kept quiet, only signifying for her to give her approval for the game to get started. "Okay then...ask your questions", she approved.
     "First question...The first time David left you, did you really feel it was because he was scared?", he asked, carrying up his hand counting one.
     Stella had a thought for a while. "To be honest...I didn't feel so because I really believed his love for me was true. Though he said it was because he got scared, I didn't believe him easily."
     "That's an honest reply", he acknowledged, "Second question...Tell me what you realised when he did it the second time", he counted two with his fingers.
     "I realized he was actually telling the truth...that he got scared. He only cared about his safety", she replied.
     "I don't think this is an honest reply...think about it better", said Mr Robinson.
     "That was my honest reply. He was way too frightened and ran away before he remembered I existed", she placed her palm on her chest, emphasizing on it.
     I got to go. You could send my regards to him when you go see him but me talking to him again? That won't happen again", she took off her seat belt.
     "Should I tell her the truth?", kept on going through Mr Robinson's mind. He called on Stella when she began opening the door, begging her to stay a little. Because he begged, Stella decided to hang on few more minutes and listen to what he probably had to say.
     "I'm gonna tell you the whole truth this time, David's hands been tied. He wasn't meant to tell you the truth because it was a rule not to. If he'd told you the truth, he'd have been rid off of his powers."
     "Huh? What powers? I didn't get any information from what you said", she squeezed her face, looking at him.
     Mr Robinson sighed and thought about the consequences of telling her the truth, he was hesitating to say anything further. Stella was groaning under the weight of boredom, waiting impatiently.
     "David's Ratboy", he reluctantly disclosed the secret. She looked at him in disbelief. "I'm not lying. This is my badge", he brought it out from his breast pocket, "I'm a member of the SHC." "Yes...I'm the creator of Ratboy", he added, seeing Stella placing her hands on her head, already regretting her actions.
     "I should have realized it. Whenever he went missing, Ratboy always showed up shortly after", she raised her voice.
     "That dude has gone through a lot. The last time Death showed up, it beat him up to the awful condition he's recuperating from now."
     "Wait? Who's Death...The monster in town?", she asked.
     "Yeah! The last time it showed up I never knew about it. I couldn't talk to him over the phone so I visited him, only to find him in that state. Twas the parents that made me know Death was what beat him up."
     "I've been a bad person to him", tears slowly rolled down Stella's cheek, "Please drive me now to where he stays. I need to apologize and be by him", she pleaded.
     "The Dad's home and in his condition, they strictly warned me not to bring any of his friends over until he recovers", Mr Robinson replied to her, having pity on her for her current state.
     "Please help me. I won't feel relieved until I see him", she pleaded again, shaking him vigorously.
     "Calm down", he made her stop shaking him and sighed. He thought on what to do for a while. "Let's get going then", he said. Stella put on her seatbelt and he drove off straight ahead.
They never knew they won't get to David's house...
You wanna know what happened next? Check out the next chapter then
Hope you're enjoying the story?