Hokum

A story about a young man's struggle, love, betrayal and revenge

Chapter One

 

I got down from the cab and paid the cab driver, I waited for some seconds for him to drive away and be completely out of sight.

I adjusted my face cap, I also wore a dark shade not really because I didn't want to be recognized but I just wanted to be that way.

I looked at my wristwatch, it was a few minutes past 11pm, It was December 20th, yes, my 30th birthday as well as exactly one year after the unforgettable incident that changed the course of my destiny.

I moved slowly towards the house, I had meditated on what I was about to do for the past one year, I had rehearsed it over and over again and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I had being a friend of the family for this one year but it was all a part of the grand plan to take my pound of flesh.

As I opened the door with my own copy of the key and stepped into the sitting room, I knew there was no going back, I could very well anticipate the headline that would rock the papers the next morning.

'Twin Murders at midnight'

No, I trusted the Nigeria papers, they would sure have a catchy way to express the murders.

As I moved slowly towards the master bedroom, I checked again to make sure I could feel the butt of the pistol as it pressed tightly to my waist, safely secured in position by my belt. My heart beat raced fast, but my mind was made up, there was no going back now, this was my revenge and I had to take it.

I stopped at the door of the master bedroom and contemplated for the umpteenth time what I had planned to do, something kept holding me back but it sure wasn't fear, I didn't know what it was but at this point I really didn't care, I paused for some seconds, I knew that once I opened that door, there was no going back, I took a deep breath and muttered to myself, 'it's now or never'.

I knew the door wouldn't be locked, I was that familiar with the house, as my left hand turned the door knob, my right hand went for the pistol.

I entered into the room, with my right hand pointing the pistol into the room and my fore finger on the trigger, the goal was straightforward shoot them both, and leave.

A few days ago, the plan in my head had being different, I was considering shooting them both then shooting myself afterwards, but early that morning, I just discovered I wasn't really ready to die, I was ready to take my pound of flesh and live with the guilt for the rest of my life.

I closed the door softly behind me without even the slightest noise, I had really practiced this, all the times I had been sneaking into their room in the name of pranking them was actually in preparation for this great day, I was going to shoot them in their sleep, at least I wouldn't have to face the guilt of having their surprised stares in my head for the rest of my life.

The room was poorly lit by two blue colored bulbs situated at opposite walls of the room, I went closer to them, she was a real deep sleeper and so was he, I knew that, way back while we still had things going smoothly for us. I didn't have a silencer on my pistol, I didn't even know where to get one but my plan was simple, I would shoot him first then most probably the noise would wake her up but before she would even understand what was happening, the bullet would find her head too.

 

I was running madly ten minutes later out of the compound and into the street, I couldn't stop or even turn back, it was until I got to an almost empty bus stop that I paused to stop and rest a little. I couldn't even understand what had happened in the last ten minutes, I knew I had prepared for this, I knew this was all I had dreamed of in the past one year but suddenly I didn't even know how I felt anymore.

My heart continued to thump very fast. I sat on a wooden bench that happened to be at the bus stop, there was an old woman sitting at the other end, she really didn't care to even look up at who was sharing the bench with her, As I sat there, for the first time I really began to feel very bad, my anger suddenly began to vanish and a new wave of emotion blew over me, I felt the tears welling in my eyes as the old memories began to pour in and my mind slowly drifted to my whole life as it had been before I ever encountered the sad events that had given me this grave purpose in the first place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two

 

My name is Jackson Peter, the name sure sounds foreign I guess but that was the name I was given by the catholic Sister that was in charge of Olisa orphanage home when I was taken there on the day my infant body entered the world. I was told that I had being abandoned in a bush wrapped in palm fronds and my infant body still covered in blood by a Mother who probably saw me as unwanted and didn't have any use for me at the time.

No one knew my Mother, if no one knew my mother, then the chances of anyone knowing my Father was like finding a needle in a haystack.

 

The only parent I grew up to know as a kid was Sister Agnes, as we popularly called her in the orphanage. She became my Mum and My Dad, we should have had about thirty children in the orphanage, but Sister Agnes treated us all like we were her own children. We had children of varying ages at Olisa Orphanage home, some were quite older than I was and a lot others were younger than I was.

There were other women that tended to us at the orphanage but sister Agnes was the only one that mattered to me, she practically loved me more than the other kids, even as a kid I could observe it, most times after we have all had our own share of meals, she would call me into her room and allow me have some extra food.

I wouldn't really remember much of my early childhood but I do know that most of the childhood history I can remember still has Sister Agnes securely pinned to those memories.

The orphanage took care of our basic needs, food, shelter, clothing and education, everything went on nicely until when I was in primary four, I was approximately nine years at the time, I could very well remember everything as it had happened on that day.

We returned from school that day and there were unfamiliar cars parked in the compound, as I got down from the bus that brought us into the compound my little mind kept trying to understand what was going on.

Madam Joy as we popularly called one of our guardians at the Orphanage met us by the door and led us into the general dining room where we usually had our meals, all these appeared strange to me, normally we should have had our baths and a few minutes rest before we had our lunch but lunch was already prepared and we were made to have lunch in our school uniforms. My eyes darted to and fro but I couldn't see Sister Agnes anywhere, She was the only one I was sure could explain to my little mind the events that were slowly unfolding before my eyes.

As we were trying to finish up our meals, I saw Chief Olisa enter the dining room, this was indeed very strange, Chief Olisa only visited the orphanage once in a year and it was only during the annual end of year party usually organized to make us happy.

As if that wasn't surprising enough, some of our tenders entered the dining room carrying our traveling bags and the little properties we had.

They began to drop everyone's bag beside them and when they dropped mine beside me, I quickly opened it only to find out that all my clothes had been neatly folded inside the bag and my two pairs of shoes were also inside the bag. I still couldn't understand what was happening, I looked up at the other children and it was obvious they were sharing my experience too as everyone had surprise written on their faces, Our thoughts were quickly interrupted as Chief Olisa cleared his throat as a sign for everyone to pay attention.

I remember he spoke at length that afternoon, but the only thing I could understand from his long, boring and unending speech was that we were leaving the orphanage home.

'Leaving the orphanage home?' but to where? The questions in my heart found immediate answers as some people who I believed owned the cars we had earlier seen, came into the dining room. Chief Olisa explained to us that the orphanage home was shutting down due to some very intricate matters that we wouldn't be able to understand and as it were, after they had performed all the legal responsibilities that were required, these people we now saw were going to be our new foster parents, he told us that some were still on their way, meanwhile those that were around now would pick their new wards and leave with them.

I watched as names were called and the bearers handed over to foster parents, I really wanted to see Sister Agnes, I couldn't believe my eyes, if this happened, it could mean I would never set my eyes on her again, as Chief Olisa made us understand that some of these people came from different states.

 

'Jackson Peter!!!' I looked up as I heard my name, A bald looking man stepped forward, probably in his late fifties, he came towards me and shook my little hands, then he squatted in front of me and said 'You can call me Uncle Ndubuisi, I am going to be your new Father'

I didn't know why but suddenly tears began to drop from my eyes, he wiped my eyes with his handkerchief and assured me that I would be fine, he picked up my bag with his right hand and held my wrist with his left as he led me outside, away from the only place I had known as Home and away from the only woman I had ever called Mother.

His car was a red colored high lander jeep and as he made to reverse out of the compound, I saw Sister Agnes standing at the front door, looking at me, I had never seen her look so sad, I could tell she had been crying too, she waved at me as I waved back at her, tears began to drop from her eyes as the tears ran down my cheek too, I didn't know why but something told me at that instant that my life was about to change but what I couldn't tell was if it was going to be a positive change or a negative one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Three

 

Obiaruku!!!

That was where Uncle Ndubuisi lived, he had a small family, made up of a wife and three children, and they were all girls.

Obiaruku was in Delta state, obviously I was one of the few in the orphanage that got relocated from Benin to a different state.

Uncle Ndubuisi was a wealthy man, he was a big time trader, and he had three huge electronic stores at Asaba and traveled there occasionally to oversee his business affairs. He also had houses in Asaba but he had decided to settle at Obiaruku, his mother's village. He and his family lived in a big duplex, one of the finest houses in the town, he had three expensive cars too and he was a Catholic by religion.

He had a very lovely family, his wife and three daughters were nice to a fault, the three daughters were older than I was, the least of them was about twelve years old and since she was the closest to my age, she was more of a friend to me than the others, Her name was Amaka, Chinyere was the eldest, she was in the university, while Ngozi the second daughter was in senior secondary school.

They all warmly accepted me into the home, I actually began to wonder why He needed to adopt a child since He already had three children but again I assumed it was probably because he couldn't have a male child and so he decided to adopt one.

Uncle Ndubuisi and his family showered me with so much love and attention, I got enrolled into one of the best private schools in Obiaruku, the same school that Amaka and Ngozi attended. The Ndubuisi's denied me nothing, and in a matter of days I forgot about Sister Agnes, the love they showed to me made me forget easily.

Uncle Ndubuisi had a lot of wealthy friends and they visited the house often, even his friends seemed to show me excess love, this part was actually strange to me.

Anytime they came around, they would send for me, when I came before them, they would complement me, crack funny jokes with me and also give me gifts in cash, when it happened the first time I saw it as natural but when it began to happen very regularly, I somehow became uncomfortable with the excessive show of love.

After I had spent three months in the house, there was a meeting of all his friends in the house, that day we had strict orders to remain inside our rooms as he didn't want anyone to disturb his guests. This was indeed a very big meeting quite different from when his friends usually came around, because this time it was quite a very large crowd and the number and quality of cars that were parked in the compound indicated that this indeed was a very special meeting.

I was still locked inside my room when one of the maids came to knock on my door and told me my presence was requested. I walked downstairs to the very big sitting room and was almost intimidated by the caliber of Men that were seated there. One of them, very fair in complexion, short and very fat asked me to come towards him, I went towards him and I could observe he was sizing me as he looked at me from head to toe, he nodded and smiled to Uncle Ndubuisi, then he made a sign that meant I could go.

As I climbed the stairs back to my room, my little mind kept asking questions, 'what exactly was happening? What was so special about me that everyone wanted to have a look at me?

In a few days I dismissed the strange event from my head but after then very strange things began to happen.

I discovered that Uncle Ndubuisi began to show me so much care even at the expense of how he cared about his own kids, they could ask him for a favor he would bluntly refuse them but if I asked for the same favor he would gladly grant it. Amaka and Ngozi were the worst hit as Chinyere was rarely in the house, it even got to a point where sometimes Amaka had to use me to get her Father to do things for her, she would ask me sometimes to help her ask her own Dad for something and as strange as it appeared her Dad would simply grant it because I asked.

This continued for another one month or so and I must confess, I was really beginning to feel uneasy even as a child, but there was more to come, the worst case happened one evening when I and Amaka were watching a programme on television, I wanted a particular programme on DSTV but Amaka wanted another one and there was a little argument, and it seemed her Dad heard our voices from inside his room and he came downstairs and asked for the remote control from Amaka, she handed it over to him, he asked me what I wanted and switched the channel in my favor, Amaka opened her mouth to voice her opinion and I couldn't believe it, Uncle Ndubuisi slapped his own daughter and asked her to shut up all because of me.

I could see the hurt in Amaka's eyes, she looked up at him, her eyes welling with tears and stomped the stairs up to her room in obvious anger and hurt, Uncle Ndubuisi didn't even seem to care, he smiled at me again as he opened the door and went out into the compound.

I felt so much guilt, I never wanted this to happen, I had barely spent six months in this house and I was already dividing the house, I knew I needed to apologize to Amaka, I stood up quickly and began to go up to her room, I walked on tiptoe so she wouldn't decide to lock the door if she heard my footsteps, as I made to open her door, I heard voices inside, obviously Ngozi was trying to console her, but what I heard next got me rooted to the spot

It was Ngozi's voice she was talking to Amaka,

'Amaka stop doing all this, stop hurting yourself unnecessarily, very soon you won't see him again, remember this is not the first, second or even third time, Daddy treats all of them nicely, then suddenly they just disappear and we never see them again, don't worry, this one will disappear soon and we will have our sweet Daddy back again'

I stood there rooted to the spot, I didn't quite understand what I had just heard but my infant mind knew quite well that there was something really scary about what Ngozi had just told Amaka, I began to tiptoe back to the sitting room, I knew Ngozi wouldn't have wanted me to hear what she had just told Amaka, as I retreated slowly back to the sitting room, I could feel my heart thumping heavily, I could suddenly feel an overwhelming coldness, my legs shook as I walked, I couldn't get Ngozi's words off my head.

Chapter Four

 

'Daddy treats all of them nicely and suddenly they just disappear and we never see them again'

These words kept ringing in my head throughout the week, so many questions plagued my mind, what did she mean by 'They'?

Did she mean there had been many young boys like me and they had all mysteriously disappeared?

I was very young, almost ten years old at the time but I knew something strange had to be happening in that house, the only thing I could do was pray, that was one thing Sister Agnes taught us back at Olisa orphanage home, she taught us to pray whenever we were scared, she taught us that God always listened to and answered the prayers of little children.

So I kept on praying even though it didn't allay my fears.

The excessive show of love and care continued, I and Amaka were friends again, one day when we were alone in the sitting room, I asked her, 'Amaka, am I the first person that has come to live with your family?' She answered me without even looking at me, 'of course not, we have had quite a few number of them just like you, young boys of almost same age as you but no matter how much love we show them, they end up running away and we never see them again' she suddenly stopped talking and I observed she was staring at me, she had seen the expression I wore and was rather concerned 'hmmm Jackson, are you alright?' I nodded twice though my fears had being greatly reduced, 'oh they actually ran away, it wasn't like anything bad had happened to them',

I looked up at Amaka and smiled, she looked at me oddly and replied 'hope you are not planning to run away soon o' I smiled at her again and replied 'no o, this is my home o, I won't run anywhere' she nodded and smiled and continued knitting the piece of cloth she was knitting,

 

For the first time that week I slept peacefully, I had been able to finally convince myself that there was nothing to be scared about, the other kids hadn't actually disappeared like I thought, they had run away on their own accord, now I understood why Uncle Ndubuisi and his family showed me so much love, they didn't want me to run away like the others had done, the only part that still needed explanation was why his friends also showed me love, I again easily concluded that they were familiar with the story of other young boys running away, probably they were all doing their own piece to ensure I was comfortable and avoid a repeat runaway experience, now my little mind could be at rest I had finally solved the mystery, I really began to wonder why anyone would run away from so much love and care, I just knew for myself that I wasn't going to be like the others, I was going to live with this family for as long as God wanted me to.

 

The weeks that followed recorded no major change, Uncle Ndubuisi never stopped showing me love at the expense of the love he showed his children, but somehow I felt I now understood why so it really didn't bother me anymore

The month of December came quickly and we were all bubbling with expectation, there was so much to be happy about, for the first time in my life I had special clothes that had the tag 'Christmas clothes' to it, I had never enjoyed that kind of luxury before.

Uncle Ndubuisi bought me many clothes and shoes all in the name of the coming Christmas and New Year celebrations, he didn't even buy half as much for his own children.

Chinyere was back home now as her school was on holidays for the Christmas and New Year celebrations. My tenth birthday drew near, Sister Agnes had made me understand that I was brought into the Orphanage December 20th and so I had come to know that special day as my birthday anniversary.

When it was two weeks to my birthday, Uncle Ndubuisi announced one morning that his wife and children would be traveling to see her mother in the village for two days and I would have to share the house with him for the two days pending their return.

I wondered why I couldn't go with them but again I simply felt probably they just wanted it to be a family thing.

That morning as they made to leave, I stood at the door with tears in my eyes, I wished I could go with them, uncle Ndubuisi had left home early that morning with the two maids, he had said he had some urgent business to attend to that would require their help. Somehow I observed that Uncle Ndubuisi's wife couldn't look me in the eyes, she was avoiding my gaze and anytime I probably caught her eyes staring at me it had this sad expression, I couldn't believe she was going to miss me that much, it was only two days, I wondered why she was feeling so sad for me. I felt sad too, I could imagine how lonely I would be especially as Amaka was going with them too, when they had finished parking and were about to leave, Amaka ran towards me and hugged me, then she whispered in my ears, 'hope we come back to meet you because the last time we traveled we returned to discover Chibuzor had run away, please don't run away like him', she freed me from the hug, smiled at me and ran to the car to join her Mum, I watched them as the driver reversed the car and they drove away, it struck me as odd, even the gate man wasn't available, he had traveled early that morning to return in the evening, so I was the gate man for that morning, I opened the gate, waved them as they drove out and closed back the gates.

I remembered what Amaka had said, I immediately concluded that Chibuzor was the last young boy that had lived with them, as I climbed the stairs up to my room, I could imagine how Chibuzor would have felt lonely when everyone had left him alone in this big house, indeed it was really lonely, that was enough to make anyone run away, I entered the room, lay on the bed and I guess I might have fallen asleep, because it was the sound of a car horn blasting loudly that woke me up.

I ran downstairs, ran out of the house into the compound and began to open the gate, that was the familiar horn of Uncle Ndubuisi's car, I opened the gate as he drove in, this was like three hours after his wife and children left the house, the maids were not in the car but there were three other men inside the car with him, their faces were strange too, I was sure I hadn't  seen them before, I waited for the car to drive in and I locked the gate.

 

I greeted Uncle Ndubuisi and the three men as they stepped down from the car, as I made to walk back into the house, Uncle Ndubuisi called me, I went towards him, he asked me some general questions like when his wife and children left the house, what I had been doing and some other questions, then he signaled that I could leave, I turned to leave, I had barely counted ten steps when I felt strong arms grab me from behind, before I could even say anything I felt a cloth over my face and in a matter of seconds I was inhaling a substance that seriously interfered with my ability to breath, The next thing I remembered was that I experienced total black out and dropped to the floor, the voices I heard afterwards sounded like it came in the dream, but the last words I could hear before I eventually fell into a deep sleep were

'Get his bags and all his belongings, make it seem like he ran away just like the others'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Five

 

When I tried to open my eyes, I couldn't see anything, I had difficulty opening the eyes, that was when I even realized that I had being blindfolded, I tried to move but movement became a very difficult task for me, it suddenly dawned on me that I was bound hands and feet, my feet were bound together and my two hands were bound together behind me.

I could tell I was lying on a cold floor and I could also tell that I was not alone in the room, I heard the voices of several men as they hummed a rather strange song together, the humming sounded like one of those sounds from popular home video series and I think for the very first time I had a clue, this indeed sounded like a scene from secret cult meetings as was usually depicted in many Igbo movies.

Suddenly the humming stopped and a very thick voice began to recite some incantation, he would recite some incoherent words and the voices I heard would repeat after him, after then he spoke English and said, O great Lizard, accept our sacrifices tonight, and the voices repeated the same words 'O great Lizard, accept our sacrifices tonight'

My heart suddenly began to beat very fast, somehow it became clear to me, this was a ritual ceremony and I was quite sure I was the lamb for the sacrifice. I immediately began to hear some movements beside me like they were trying to grab someone, the next sound I heard was a female voice, she was crying and asking for help, her cries were so loud, it pierced deeply into the silence but no one came to her rescue, I heard her shout very loudly, this time the shout came with a lot of pain and the whole place immediately became silent. The voices in the room chorused an incantation together and stopped suddenly again.

 

I heard another movement beside me again, this time, it was an old woman's voice, she was speaking her language and by the sound of her voice you could tell she was crying, the same thing happened to her she shouted very painfully all of a sudden and the whole place became quiet again, the voices chorused the same incantation again and stopped again as suddenly as they had begun.

This time my heart was almost bursting out of my chest, I didn't need anyone to tell me, this was a ritual exercise and people were being sacrificed, even with my eyes blindfolded, I knew I was in for something really bad, I had watched too much home videos in Uncle Ndubuisi's house to not understand what was going on.

 

Another cry again and the same process repeated itself, it seemed this was a yearly ritual sacrifice and all the members had brought their different sacrifices to give thanksgiving to whatever it was that they served. I was so scared, I knew I was going to die, suddenly I understood why Uncle Ndubuisi had treated me so nicely in the first place, he was merely preparing me for this day, I was like that Christmas Cow that gets fattened only to be slaughtered for the Christmas celebrations, I suddenly began to have an understanding, maybe that was how Uncle Ndubuisi got his wealth in the first place, he probably had to sacrifice young boys to their god and that explained the nice treatment and subsequent disappearance of all the young boys that had lived with their family, that should also explain why his friends treated me nicely, they all knew I was the next Lamb for the sacrifice and so they all did their part to ensure that this lamb was indeed fat enough for the sacrifice.

I suddenly began to cry, I guess my tears infuriated the Leader or whoever it was that orchestrated the ritual process because immediately I started crying, I heard his voice say 'Bring me that crying one'

Immediately, strong hands grabbed my legs and head and I was lifted off the ground, I felt myself being carried and I didn't even know what got into me I began to scream and kick violently, I struggled so hard that I mistakenly kicked one of the people that carried me and he let go of me and I fell onto the hard floor. I was free momentarily but in a matter of seconds I was grabbed again this time much more aggressively and my loud shouts and struggles yielded no results.

I suddenly felt a very cold finger pressed hard on my head and I shouted very loudly in pain, this shout was very similar to the shouts I heard from the others before there was total silence but somehow I shouted and continued shouting.

Sister Agnes had always taught us to mention the name of Jesus whenever we were in danger, I remembered at that point but I really couldn't understand why I couldn't mention the name, I just continued to scream helplessly till I felt a hand over my mouth, covering it shut and in a few seconds, a piece of cloth dropped over my mouth and it was tied over my mouth to muffle my screams, I continued to struggle and shout but this time my shouts were muffled, I barely heard myself, talk more of people that I thought could have probably heard and could come to my aid, the hands that carried me dropped me to the floor without warning, my body hit the hard floor, I felt the pain but I didn't care, the only thing on my mind was escape, as I made to resume my shouting and struggling again I heard a loud angry voice scream 'Quiet!!!'

I didn't know what happened but that voice came with an overpowering force that made me become still immediately, I didn't move again or even try to make a sound, I obeyed the voice as if I was under a spell.

 

There was a chilling silence in the place, somehow I felt something had gone wrong, the silence would have lasted for about two minutes before the voice finally spoke

'The great lizard doesn't accept this sacrifice, this one's spirit is very strong, his mother stands for him, take him away and dispose his body'

I couldn't understand, I didn't even know if the voice was referring to me, it was until I felt the hands pick me up again that I knew I was the one being referred to, somehow I didn't know whether to feel lucky, as I was being carried away, I heard the voice say something about the man who brought me going to get another sacrifice within seven days or he would lose a member of his family, I really didn't care what they said, I could feel myself being taken away from the gathering as their voices began to trail away gradually, I remembered what the voice had said about my mother standing for me, what did he mean by that? I didn't even know my mother and indeed I didn't even care but at that moment, I must confess, I really loved my mother, if I had just being saved for her sake, then I guess I loved her after all.

The people that carried me, kept moving, I heard a gate open and I am sure they stepped out of the gate still carrying me, where were they taking me? They walked some more distances and suddenly I felt my body lift into the air like they threw me and when I landed, my body landed with a big splash, it was then I realized that I had being thrown into water and with the way my body floated, I could tell it was a either a river or a stream, I didn't even know how to swim, even if I did, my hands and feet were tied, I suddenly felt my body sinking into the water as the water rose over my entire body, I knew I was sure going to die, death by drowning, a really watery way to die, I found myself asking the why question, why had they released me from the ritual process only to throw me into the river to drown, then with my dying breath I remembered the last words of the man that would have probably being their Leader 'take him away and dispose his body'

 

That was exactly what they were doing, they were disposing my body, I resigned myself to a watery death as my body sunk deep into the water, indeed I had being sentenced to death by drowning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Six

 

'Jackson!!!'

The sound of my name got me running down to the back of the house, I knew that was where I would find Pa Udoka.

This was the sixth year I was spending with Pa Udoka the fisher man, I had being so engrossed in thoughts that I didn't hear him when he called the first time.

I ran to him and sat beside him as he began to give me advice upon advice on what to do and what not to do when I finally get to the city.

His Nephew, Long Uche as he was popularly called by the villagers had finally been able to convince him that I should go with him to the city. I had been so engrossed with preparations for the big city, it was a dream I had secretly nurtured for the one year Long Uche had spent in the city.

Soon Long Uche met us behind the small house, it was small but it wasn't poor looking though, it was among the few good looking houses in the village, he was ready 2 move, he managed a small spare parts shop at Asaba, and he wanted me to be assisting him at the shop.

As I stared at him, I couldn't help but admire the hard working and industrious young man, I could remember how he had worked very hard with his uncle for the five years we had spent together before he moved to the city, he and his uncle worked extremely hard to make ends meet, they had fast risen to the position of highest fish distributors in the village, there was hardly anyone who didn't know about Pa Udoka and his Nephew Long Uche, if they had being in the city they would have probably hit it very big but the people of Ubu - Uluku were not very wealthy, so the big fisher men usually made large sales but couldn't realize so much money. Pa Udoka and Long Uche had even tried on some occasions to extend their trade to the city but the competition was rather very strong at the city, so they had decided to remain in their niche and make the best out of their rural dominion.

 

I could see it in Pa Udoka's eyes, if he could, he would have prevented me from going, but he and Long Uche had been over that discussion time and time again, he had eventually given in, Long Uche had a point, there was nothing left for young men in the village, even the fish business had dwindled over time, everyone was going to the city, A young boy like me couldn't just be allowed to remain in the village all my life, I had to come with him to the city, to be able to carve a life for myself.

I had already packed all my stuff in my traveling bag, I was really enthusiastic about this relocation, as we made to leave, I knelt down before Pa Udoka, I thanked him once again for saving my life, if it wasn't for him, I would have been dead six years before now, I promised him that I would always remember him and would come visiting as often as I could. He laid his hands on my head and prayed for me, his prayers were indeed very long, but I valued every single word of it, prayers from elders were priceless in my own part of the world.

 

I and Long Uche moved to the park, we got our bus tickets and sat in the bus, in about thirty minutes, the bus was full and the driver put the bus in motion as we made our way out of Ubu-Uluku village heading for the big city, Asaba, the city of my dreams, the city I had heard so much about. As we continued our journey, I looked at Long Uche, he was dozing on his seat, I felt like laughing but I held it, I didn't want him to feel embarrassed, as I stared at him, I saw the black mark on his forehead, the mark from the injury he had sustained for my sake six years ago, I couldn't help but love Long Uche and Pa Udoka, they were the reasons I was still alive, as I stared at his sleeping face, my mind drifted back to six years before when they had saved me from drowning after the sad experience I had with Uncle Ndubuisi and his secret cult.

 

I recalled the story exactly how Pa Udoka had told me, as I recalled the story, I could see his face in my mind's eyes as I laid on the bed that morning, Pa Udoka sitting beside me on the bed holding my hands and Long Uche leaning against the wall, the story came fresh again in my head as I recalled how God had used them to save my life on that fateful night that I was doomed for death by drowning.

 

Pa Udoka and his Nephew Long Uche were out fishing late that fateful night, they had a particular supply of fishes to deliver the next day and they were a little low on the quantity of fishes that were required. They had being throwing their net for most part of the night and still hadn't caught much when Pa Udoka had observed a rather strange movement by the hill above the river side, he had called Long Uche's attention to it, they had observed in silence, it was dark inside the river but there were faint rays of light on the other side so from the darkness they could see what was happening, they observed two men moving stealthily and looking around suspiciously like they were trying to do something bad, he observed they were carrying something that appeared rather heavy too, then suddenly the two men threw what they were carrying into the river and moved away in haste. Long Uche had jumped into the river with haste without even caring to know what it was, although he later told me that he didn't even know what prompted him to dive into the river but he just felt a strong urge to go after what the men threw into the river. Long Uche was a very good swimmer, he had earned the name Long Uche, after he had won the long distance swimming competition that held in the village some years ago.

He had dived into the water and swam quickly to the direction that the men had dropped whatever it was that they had dropped. Meanwhile Pa Udoka paddled the canoe very quickly to the same direction and to cut a long story short they had been able to get me out of the water and into the canoe, but Long Uche had sustained an injury on his forehead when he hit his head against a rather rough edge of the canoe. Luckily for me, I hadn't taken in too much water, they could still save me. Though I remained unconscious for a couple of hours before I eventually opened my eyes.

Long Uche had pushed strongly that we took the matter up and go after the Ndubuisi's, but Pa Udoka prevailed over him, Pa Udoka stressed on the fact that people like them were powerful men and the security forces in the state were corrupt too, he saw the dangers in trying to fight such powerful men, he advised that we should be grateful to God that I was alive and concentrate on making the best of the second chance that God had given me.

 

It was surprising that uncle Ndubuisi and his gang of evil men had taken me all the way from Obiaruku to Ubu-Uluku in the first place to carry out their evil ritual purpose. Wen Long Uche carefully analyzed the situation, we really had no very strong proof to nail them, and much more importantly our combined forces lacked the resources to fight them, so we left everything in the hand of God and hoped that one day God would fight for us.

 

And that was how I began to live with two very wonderful people, Pa Udoka and Long Uche, and I fast acquired the required skills for the fisher man trade and had fast become a proficient fisher man for the five years we had spent together until Long Uche had decided to move to the city a year ago when the fish business was no longer yielding much.

 

'What are you looking at?'

Long Uche's voice brought me out of my reverie, I had been so engrossed in my thoughts about the past, I looked at him and smiled as I replied, 'nothing o, I just wanted to say thank you for saving my life'

He smiled and replied 'don't tell me you are still thinking about all those, let the past remain in the past, we are going to the city now, indeed we are going to have brighter days ahead'

 

Those words were really comforting, but I guess this comfort was meant to be short lived as we were totally unprepared for the dark and uncomfortable fate that befell us only a few minutes after.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Seven

 

The Ubu-Uluku - Asaba express way was undergoing rehabilitation, according to gist I gathered from other passengers, the road had been in deplorable conditions for a very long while before the newly inaugurated State governor decided to fix the road. So at some points, the road was extremely narrow as some portions of the road had being cordoned off, due to the ongoing rehabilitation on the road.

Our bus had just crossed a very narrow section of the road and we were back to the rather wide portion of the road, when we saw an incoming goods truck, I can still remember what was written boldly on the front side of the truck 'Heaven is the Only way' that was what was written on the truck.

The truck was coming from opposite us at a rather very high speed and all of a sudden, it skidded of its own track towards our own track, all hell broke loose, everyone began to shout inside the bus, shouts of 'Jesus', 'Holy ghost', 'Father', filled the air, I just watched on helplessly, I didn't even know what to say, our bus driver tried to dodge the truck but it became even more fatal for us as our bus skidded off the road into the bush, the driver lost control and as the bus hit a rather very stubborn tree stump, it went off the ground, next thing I saw was our bus high up in the air, I didn't remember how the bus landed again, but when I opened my eyes, the sight that greeted it was indeed saddening, many of the passengers were lying helpless on the ground, the bus was badly damaged, lying on its own, some passengers were still inside and I hoped they weren't badly hurt, I was lying on the ground, I guess I might have fallen out of the bus when it overturned, I didn't feel any hurt whatsoever, I guess I didn't suffer any injury, I got up quickly, some of the passengers had sustained minor injuries too, some others couldn't even stand up, they seemed to have been badly hurt. I moved quickly from where I was, I couldn't find Long Uche, the bus was lying on its side, it was almost impossible to get in but by this time some good Samaritans were already running into the bush, obviously passengers in other buses or cars had observed the accident, in a matter of minutes, the bush was crowded with people trying to help, I was made to sit down as the grownups among them tried to gain access into the bus, somehow they were able to get in and began to rescue others out of the bus, they got Long Uche out of the bus, I ran fast towards him despite the warnings of the man beside me who had been advising me to sit down in case I suffered any internal injury, I ran fast towards Long Uche as they dropped his body on the ground, he was badly hurt, there was blood all over his shirt, a big piece of glass pierced the area below his ribs, his shirt was soaked in blood and he was unconscious, I couldn't hold myself, I began to scream in fear, I just couldn't bear to see Long Uche in that condition, Some men had to hold me down, because I had totally lost control, Everyone was busy trying to help in any way they could, the driver and two other passengers were also badly wounded by broken glasses but only Long Uche was unconscious, he had suffered the worst hit. The people that were around began to help the people that were badly hurt back to the road so they could get them to the Hospital, Other passengers were able to walk back by themselves, I grabbed our bags and followed slowly behind them, tears running down my eyes, I was so scared for Long Uche, I couldn't afford to see anything bad happen to him.

When we got back to the road, the goods truck was lying abandoned too inside the bush not far from where we stood, the driver was the only one inside as at the time of the accident, the news was that he had run away immediately he could get out of the truck after it crashed into the bush, I guess he was scared that the mob would attack him, but I cared very little about all those now, what mattered to me was getting a vehicle that would transport I, Long Uche and the two good Samaritan men that were carrying him to the hospital.

A Peugeot 504 pulled over, it was an elderly man probably in his sixties, he accessed the situation and offered to drop us off at the hospital considering the fact that Long Uche's condition appeared more critical than the other injured passengers that stood there seeking for help.

Few minutes later, we were on the way to the hospital, we were almost at Asaba when the accident happened so it didn't take us long to get to a hospital. When we got to the hospital, Long Uche was rushed into the emergency ward, anyone seeing that kind of blood stained clothes would know his condition was very critical.

The good Samaritans and the elderly man that helped us had to go their way, of course they had played their own part, they left me with their best wishes and I expressed my heartfelt gratitude to them as they drove away into the city.

I sat there in the reception hall from afternoon till evening, the reception hall was crowded when we got there but towards evening, the crowd gradually thinned out till it remained only a few of us. It was real tormenting to me, no one could even tell me what was happening with Long Uche, the three times I went to ask the Nurse at the reception about his condition, she would simply answer that he would be fine that they were trying to stabilize his condition.

I must have been dozing off, sitting on the reception chair when one of the nurses tapped me gently and told me that Long Uche was awake now and he wanted to speak to me, I rose quickly and practically ran after her as she led me to his ward

Long Uche was lying on the bed, he was bandaged all over, he was looking like an Egyptian mummy, when he raised his head and saw me, he smiled, I sat beside him and held his hands, He kept smiling even though I could tell that he was in deep pains, he began to tell me everything about his business, where he lived, where the business was located, how to continue the business and some other personal information regarding his financial details, I couldn't understand why he had to be telling me those things, I tried to stop him but he asked me to listen carefully, he made me promise to take care of his business and Pa Udoka, I hesitated, I couldn't understand why he was speaking that way, he begged me to promise him and when I did, he smiled and closed his eyes. I assumed he had fallen asleep, I tapped him twice and didn't get any response, I touched his hands and it was stone cold, I hadn't seen a dead person before but even before the nurse came to confirm it, I knew Long Uche had moved on to the other world. Long Uche died that night, his words to me were the last words he ever spoke.

I couldn't tell why but tears didn't drop from my eyes, maybe I just didn't see any reason to cry anymore, maybe life had finally done the worst thing it could do to me, I was angry at death, I was angry at God, I was angry at everyone and everything. Some questions needed answer, why did it have to be Long Uche that would die out of everyone that had been in the bus? Of all the buses on that route, why did our bus have to suffer the accident?

Obviously, life just wanted to deal me a cruel card and as it was I wasn't going to be weak again, I wouldn't give life the benefit of having me shed tears anymore.

 

Long Uche had some money in his bag, early the next morning I traveled back to Ubu-Uluku, Pa Udoka took the news like a man, I could tell he was deeply hurt but he didn't allow me see it.

Long Uche was transported back to the village and buried that same day, there were no special rites, he was a young man, and he had to be buried immediately.

I suddenly didn't have any reason to be happy or feel expectant about life, I just saw life as wicked and mean, there was really nothing to look forward to about life anymore, the death of Long Uche changed my whole perspective about life, I was only sixteen years but at that age, I already developed a negative perception of life, I already developed a strong resolve to be mean and wicked, if life had treated me so unfairly, I was going to make everyone around me have a taste of that life that was mean and wicked too, to me life was Hokum, a really rude joke, Life was totally unfair and unreal, Life was rubbish, Life cheated me out of the love of my parents, attempted to have my life twice and now took away Long Uche, that was too much to bear.

 

I returned back to Asaba to take over Long Uche's house and business not as an innocent, naive sixteen year old boy but as a sixteen year old man who didn't give a single damn anymore.

 

I had given life a new name, to me, Life was Hokum, I was never going to take anything seriously again, Life to me was one playground where you should come, play your card, live free, allow nothing bother you and when death finally comes knocking, answer the call, I was going to live my life that way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Eight

 

Asaba didn't provide me an easy life but I guess I was well prepared for it, I already anticipated the 'no good thing' from life so presenting me with difficulties wasn't something I didn't anticipate.

I moved into Long Uche's one room apartment, it was one among the ten rooms in a passage house, the kind we refer to as 'face me I slap you' in Nigeria, I had neighbors but everyone seemed to mind their business, only a few concerned ones asked about Long Uche and were probably sad to hear the news of his demise, some others didn't bother to ask and even if they might have heard the story some time later, they still chose to keep to themselves.

Long Uche's shop was located very close to Onitsha-Asaba road, he had a one room shop there where he sold motor spare parts, I was impressed by what I saw, the shop was pretty big and pretty full too, I had absolutely no idea about the trade but in his dying breath he had directed me to Mr. Sunday.

Mr. Sunday was to be like my holy spirit, who would teach me all things.

Mr. Sunday had his own shop at Onitsha, so on my first day at work, I had paid him a visit, introduced myself and after he had sympathized with me, he sat me down and opened my eyes to the rudiments of the trade. Indeed he was a good teacher, he taught me all I needed to know about the trade and introduced me to some of Long Uche's former business contacts.

It wasn't an easy ride at all for me, starting over from almost scratch, with no friends, no customers and most importantly not being an Igbo by tribe was a very difficult way to succeed in the spare parts business, most of Long Uche's already existing customers were easily stolen by some other traders who took advantage of his absence.

I was only sixteen years old, though one wouldn't easily know, I guess hardship had hardened my face, but that struggle was indeed one big struggle for an inexperienced sixteen year old boy trying to carve a life among very experienced older Igbo traders. Life was indeed unfair as I had expected it would be, I kept going to the shop for three full weeks without making any single sale, infact no one even entered the shop to even say hi, talk more of looking at the wares I had for sale. The little money I had was fast reducing, it reminded me of the proverb Pa Udoka used to give about fetching water from a pool that had no source from which it was refilled, the end point would always be that one day there would be no pool to fetch from.

 

After spending three weeks of no sales and when hunger was now almost staring me in the eyes, I went back to Mr. Sunday.

When I got back to him, he laughed loudly in a way that irritated me, to him it was usual for a newbie like me, but he volunteered to help me, he made some calls and directed me to one Mr. Kalu who was a very big trader too, Mr. Kalu was a very popular man, he had three very big shops along Onitsha-Asaba road. He also had big shops in Onitsha too.

 

I paid him a visit, even though I had once said I didn't care whatever card life dealt me, I discovered that in the face of hunger, desperation forced me to begin to care about life. I had to survive, even though life to me was Hokum, I just knew I needed to survive this hokum.

Mr. Kalu told me some very strange things, but what I could understand from the whole conversation was that I needed to join some kind of association if I wanted to make it big like the others that we shared the same shop location together.

He called some very big names in the trade and made me understand that they were all members, he pointed out to me that it wasn't a big deal, all I needed to do was attend one of their meetings, have a special session with the god father and all my problems would be settled.

I spent three days thinking about it, I really didn't give a damn, infact if joining them would make me have the last laugh at Life, I was going to join them, at this point, I really didn't care, I wanted to be among the society of elite traders.

 

The day of the meeting came, I attended the meeting, it appeared to be like a general club meeting where club members all came together to eat and drink.

I saw familiar faces and a whole lot of unfamiliar faces too, there was nothing sacred about the meeting, it appeared to be a general harmless meeting, most of the participants came with their own cars, it seemed I was the only one that came on foot, about one hour into the meeting, a young girl came to me and told me my presence was requested by the god father, I followed behind her as she led me away from the general hall into a room, she left me in the room, closed the door and left.

As I stood there waiting by the door, a fat potbellied old man walked into the room from the bath room, he was tying a towel around his waist, he smiled at me and asked me 'are you ready to join the league?'

The man was so ugly looking, I nodded, he walked towards me and touched my cheeks, that was irritating to me but I bore it, he smiled again and spoke 'You look very young, you have a very bright prospect in this trade, you would do great things, but there is a price, are you willing to pay the price?'

I looked at him in confusion, but Mr. Kalu never said anything about a price, he stood directly in front of me and moved his hands from my cheek to my chest, he began to move his hands slowly over my chest, o my god!! This was really irritating, I began to have a glimpse of what he meant by paying the price, this ugly old fool was trying to seduce me, sleeping with him was the price I had to pay to join the league, at this point, I was boiling with anger but I managed to control myself, I carefully held his hand and slowly removed it from my chest, he looked at me in a funny way and spoke 'young man, don't be shy, every great person you see today had to pay a price'

He suddenly made to kiss me as he came forward I pushed him with so much force that he almost fell, I looked him straight in the eye and told him I would rather die in poverty than join their league if that was the price I had to pay,

He laughed loudly as I made to leave, he held my hands and spoke in whispers, 'You will come back, this I promise you'

I forced my hands away from his grasp and made my way out of the room, as I got back to the hall, all eyes were staring at me, I ignored them, marched out of the hall, marched out of the compound and made my way back to my house. I could hear loud laughter as it trailed behind me, obviously they were mocking me because they were pretty sure I would come back.

 

Maybe they were right after all because the next morning when I got to the shop I discovered that my shop was gutted down by fire and every single ware, every single property inside it had suffered damage, there were five shops along the same line that my shop stood but only my shop suffered the fire.

I didn't know how to feel, I swear I didn't foresee anything like this happening, I didn't even talk to anyone, a few people were gathered around the shop entrance, I walked past them into the shop, the insides of the shop was a complete mess, it had been reduced to nothing but burnt and useless wares, I accessed the damage and when I was sure nothing could be salvaged from the ruins I walked out of the shop, ignoring their sympathetic greetings, I got into a bus and went straight home.

 

Another shocking sight greeted me when I got home, I entered my compound, as I tried to open my door, I discovered it wasn't locked, as I stepped into the room, my room had been swept clean, every single property was missing, it was like a room that had just been moved out of, I knew this was not burglary as it seemed, this was indeed professional and organized attack.

 

As I stood there looking at my empty room and recalling again the insides of my shop that had being reduced to nothing but burnt and useless wares, I remembered the words of the ugly old man 'you will come back, this I promise you'

 

At that point, I knew it, the old man was right after all, I knew I would go back, I had to go back to visit the old man.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Nine

 

At that moment, I had absolutely nothing except the clothes I wore and the two thousand five hundred naira that was in the back pocket of the jeans I wore. I usually tucked all the money I had into the side of the traveling bag that I usually kept my clothes, now it was all gone.

I was boiling with rage, I knew I had many other options but no one would blame me for picking the option of going back to the old man that was popularly known as the god father, I just couldn't think right at that moment, the only thing that came to my head was going back to him.

The time was about past ten that morning, I walked out of the compound, none of my neighbors were even in, it seemed they were in on the plans too because I wonder why everyone in a ten rooms passage house would just disappear at the same time.

In a few minutes, I was knocking at the giant gate of the house of the god father, the security man opened the gate and asked me who I was, I told him my name but I was practically a nobody, no one knew my name and he was about to shut the gate against me when the old man suddenly appeared and inquired about what was happening, when the old man saw me at the gate, he smiled happily and asked the gate man to allow me in.

I entered the compound, and followed him into the house, he was beaming with pride and the joy was written all over his face, he offered me a chair in the sitting room as he walked over to the mini bar in his sitting room to get a drink, he came with two glasses and handed one over to me.

'I told you, you would come back, they always come back' he laughed as he said this, he looked at me again, this time he came to sit beside me, he put his right hand on my thighs and started moving it slowly up and down.

I suggested to him that we moved over to his bedroom, he bought the idea, infact he was beaming with the smile of a predator that was about to feed on his prey, if only he knew the plans I had for him, he would have indeed been very scared.

We moved to the room and immediately we got to the room, he hugged me and his hands were all over me, this man was indeed one hell of a homosexual, I could tell that he had done this so many times, I stopped him and suggested that we had a bath together first before anything, I could see the joy in his eyes, indeed he couldn't believe his luck, he released me momentarily and began to take off his clothes in a seductive way, probably he thought that should get me more in the mood.

I forced a smile and told him to go into the bathroom, that I would join him, he took of all his clothes, as he stood naked before me, I totally detested the sight of him, he winked at me as he walked into the bathroom, I winked back, he sure didn't know what I had inside my left pocket, I dipped my hands into my left pocket and brought out the slim wooden handle knife that I had purchased a few minutes before, I heard the showers running, I went into the bathroom after him, I could tell he was a little shocked to see the expression I had on my face and also shocked to see that I still had my clothes on, maybe he would have been more shocked if he had seen what I had in my hand, but I didn't give him that chance, if he saw it and made any loud noise, my whole plans would be ruined, in one quick move, I rushed at him, my left hand found his mouth and covered it to stifle his scream just as my right hand thrust the knife into his stomach, I stabbed him five times all the while having images of Long Uche in my head. I knew only once would have been enough but I just kept on, he fell to the ground with little noise, the sound of the shower running masked any noise that would have been heard outside the bathroom, I stared at his lifeless body as it lay inside the bath tub, I didn't feel any remorse, infact, if I had a chance I would do it again, I didn't know how but I had completely lost my conscience, I didn't give a damn anymore, if life was hokum, then I was going to take a lead role in this hokum, no one was ever going to bully me again.

I thought about the shop, thought about the house and again I thought about Long Uche, I had made a resolve that I wouldn't allow life ever cheat me again and this was just the beginning, I looked at the dead man again, I still didn't feel any kind of emotion, I didn't feel joy, I didn't feel sadness, I washed my hands and closed the bath room door behind me, as I left his room, maybe they would find his body in a few hours but then I would be long gone.

When the security man let me out of the house, he sure had no idea that his master had been translated to the land beyond.

Few hours later, I was in a bus headed for Benin City, I had no plans whatsoever but I knew if I was going to remain alive, I had to leave Asaba, infact I had to leave Delta state for good and that was how I relocated to the ancient city of Benin.

 

 

Settling down in Benin would have been certainly difficult but I found an advert for factory boys that came with an offer of accommodation, I jumped at it, I got an interview and got the job the same day I entered into Benin and that was how I began to work with Eagles construction company, they provided me with accommodation and feeding and gave me little money at the end of every month, I was able to save a little portion of it every month for the four years that I worked with them and when I eventually became twenty, I left them, got my own self contain apartment and opened my own spare parts shop at Uselu.

 

Funny enough, Life decided to be fair to me this time, but who cared? I managed to secure a few customers and gradually the trade began to move upwards for me, I began to earn money that was large enough to save a larger part and live more comfortably.

That was how I continued the business for another three years in Benin city, My graph would have been a horizontal straight line graph, my resources didn't plummet like I had thought it would, I only had a little amount of money saved, my shop didn't experience any major boost like some of the other traders I traded with. I was working twice as hard as most of them but I wasn't getting even half of the results they were getting.

I was now twenty three years old, No major change had occurred in my life, except the physical changes that occur when one migrates from teenage hood to adulthood, I still lived in the one room self-contain apartment, I had managed to get a few more items to make the room appear more comfortable, I had also being able to buy more stocks for sale, but my only complaint was that other traders had really made it big within the same time frame that I had spent trading, why was my own progress slow and theirs very fast.

I wasn't suffering though, at least in the three years I had being able to save quite a sizable amount, I still had plans to go back to school to complete my education and that was what I was saving for.

The first three years of my trading in Benin were quite uneventful, I guess my Benin City moments officially began one Saturday afternoon, I know it was rather very close to the Christmas celebrations around 17th or 18th, some traders had already traveled to the village as was customary for most of them.

 

The time should have been around 2pm, I was trying to kill a cockroach with a broom when I heard a voice speaking to me from behind me 'good afternoon, please excuse me, I am looking for......'

The words were cut short as I turned to face the person and a sudden wave of recognition hit both of us

I couldn't believe it, the person that stood right in front of me was the least person I had expected to see that sunny afternoon in the city of Benin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Ten

 

'Jackson!!!'

She wiped her eyes severally as if she was trying to obtain proper vision, I also couldn't believe my eyes, after so many long years, there she was staring at me, I was a little surprised she could still remember me so well

'Amaka!!! Is this really you?' the words fell out of my mouth on their own accord.

She ran into the shop and hugged me very strongly, fourteen years had passed since we last saw each other, it was a miracle that she still even knew me, she hugged me so strongly and wasn't willing to let go, I hugged her too very strongly, since the death of Long Uche, this was the first time I was feeling a strong wave of emotion, Amaka was crying, her tears were really getting to me, I didn't know why but the Hard Jackson was beginning to feel really soft, I had to pull myself away from the hug before I totally lost control and started crying too.

She looked at me again and touched my face as if to be sure I was real, 'O Jackson, we thought you were dead'

I looked at her in confusion 'dead? How do you mean dead? I thought you all would have also concluded that I ran away'

She shook her head and suddenly became silent as she continued to stare at me as if she was lost in deep thoughts, I tapped her to bring her back to consciousness,

'Jackson, we knew what happened to you, a lot has happened between the time you disappeared and now' as she spoke, she still couldn't take her eyes off me

I knew we had to talk, I asked her what or who she had being looking for that made her come to my shop and she told me she wanted to actually ask me for directions to a certain house that was meant to be around that location, a friend of hers was having a birthday party and she wanted to ask me if I knew the place when she suddenly discovered I was the Long lost Jackson.

I knew the place she was seeking but she changed her mind and preferred we hung out together so we could catch up on old times, there was indeed so much to catch up on, fourteen years was not a small deal indeed.

I locked the shop, got some money and we went together to an Eatery that was along the road not very far from my shop too.

We talked at length over lunch, there was so much to talk about, and Amaka had shocking stories to tell.

Her Father had been busted by the police a few days after I had disappeared, he was caught along a police check point with the body of a young boy inside the boot of his car, the young boy had suffocated and he was probably going to dispose his body when he was caught, he had confessed to using many young boys for ritual purposes, including the young boys that had lived with him at different times, he had died mysteriously in police detention while he was still awaiting trial, meanwhile strange things began to happen to the Ndubuisi family, just after he died, few weeks after his burial, his wife died in a ghastly motor accident, the car she was driving was destroyed beyond repair, their house at Obiaruku was attacked by armed robbers three consecutive times such that they had to abandon the house and a relation decided to take them in. Meanwhile all her Father's businesses were immediately repossessed by some powerful people who had legal backing and documents to re possess the business.

As it was, after their parent's death, in the space of one year, all their wealth died with their parents too, the only major property that was left was the house at Obiaruku, because even the cars were stolen during the first raid on the house by armed robbers.

Their uncle that took them into his own house was a nice man, he was able to sell the house at Obiaruku, and with the proceeds was able to invest and care for them till they finished their education and were able to be on their own. Chinyere had being fortunate to be married to a barrister who was based in London and had moved to meet him overseas too.

Ngozi was also married, and her husband was doing well for himself, Amaka was through with her NYSC and had a small supermarket in Benin City which she was able to open after two unfruitful years of job searching.

Amaka's story seemed very difficult to believe but I knew she was speaking the truth, indeed so much had happened in my absence, Uncle Ndubuisi had received the due rewards for his trespasses but nevertheless I still felt sorry for him and his wife.

It was my turn to tell my story, I recounted my whole story to Amaka, how I had escaped death on that fateful night that I was meant to be sacrificed to the great lizard, how I had found myself in the company of Pa Udoka and Long Uche, how Long Uche had departed the world and how I had found myself in Benin City, I carefully omitted the part that had to do with the godfather's murder, I only told her that after they burnt my shop and burgled my house, I ran to Benin city because I knew they wouldn't rest until they had my life.

It was a great re union, Amaka wasn't doing badly for herself, she lived somewhere around Sapele road, she had a one bedroom flat to herself, and business was probably more favorable to her than it had been to me, she handed me her business card and asked for mine, I didn't have one, so I just gave her my phone number.

We talked till late into the night and I had to remind her that it was late before she eventually stood up to leave, she hugged me strongly again and promised to keep in touch with me, I followed her out of the Eatery back to the main road as she took a cab, I waved her as the cab driver drove away, when the cab was out of sight, I took a bus to Ring road, from Ring road I could walk down to my self-contain apartment at Sokponba.

 

True to her words, Amaka kept in touch, she was always calling, morning, day and night, I gradually learnt to start returning calls too. For the first time since after the death of Long Uche, I began to enjoy the benefits of friendship and companionship, I grew to like Amaka so much, obviously the fondness we had for each other as kids hadn't died, it resurrected and became even stronger when we encountered each other again.

Amaka invited me over to her house on many occasions and I invited her to my house too, we began to live like the brother and sister that we once were, Amaka didn't have any man in her life and whenever I tried to talk about it, she always found ways to cover it up and change the topic.

I didn't have any woman in my life either, I wasn't interested in women, after the death of Long Uche, nothing really interested me, I saw life as rubbish so there was really nothing worth caring about because if one really cared about anything then one became vulnerable to life and before you knew it, Life would take it away from you, that was what happened with Long Uche, I didn't want to be played like that again, so I carefully avoided being so close to anyone.

But with Amaka, I had no control over it, I just found myself being so fond of her, Amaka was three years older than I was, but she treated me like an elder brother, infact we began to introduce ourselves to people as siblings, Amaka was a very intelligent person, she had studied business administration at Delta state university, Abraka, she helped me with many business ideas too and even though our businesses weren't top notch, I could say we were doing well for ourselves. I was able to expand my business and get two boys to work for me as sales boy and accountant respectively, but I couldn't really spend so much of the money I earned as I would have wanted as she was very meticulous about spending cash, she encouraged me to go back to school and in three years I had an Ordinary National Diploma certificate (OND) in mass communication from Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, she pressed me all the more to get an HND, but to me the OND was even more than enough.

 

In the space of three years, that it took me to get my OND, she expanded her business and got some girls to work for her, her supermarket grew very big and she even got a car of her own and moved into a two bedroom flat.

Still there was no Man in her life, and she still wasn't ready to talk about it, whenever I tried to bring up the conversation.

I always visited her in her shop whenever business at Uselu was moving slowly, after all, my boys at the spare parts shop were trustworthy and could handle things, they actually handled things very effectively while I was busy schooling, I still didn't have any woman in my life because I didn't want to be vulnerable to the hokum called life.

 

On one of my visits to her supermarket, she wasn't in, and I had to wait for her, as I was waiting for her in her office, one of her girls came to attend to me, I hadn't seen this particular girl before, I could tell she was a newbie there, she was dark, tall and beautiful with very pretty eyes, she asked me to call on her in case I needed anything, that was the directive she received from her madam, I couldn't even answer her I just nodded, I was completely taken away by the elegance of her dark skin and the beauty she radiated. She smiled and turned to leave the office, as she walked away I still couldn't take my eyes off her, she had this body of a model, even after she went out and closed the door behind her, I still had visions of her in my head.

 

When Amaka returned, I didn't mention what I had felt to her, I knew whatever it was that I had felt was only momentary and it would fade. But while I and Amaka chatted on, I couldn't stop my mind from wandering away occasionally to the black beauty that had blessed my vision only minutes ago. I couldn't even ask Amaka for her name, I didn't want to talk about her, I knew my voice would betray me and Amaka would have a very mocking laugh at me because I had once boasted to her that no woman could interest me.

It was until Amaka called her to get us a drink that I knew her name, she was a Yoruba girl, and her name was Damilola.

 

I drank too much wine at Amaka's office that day and when it was time to leave, she could tell I was a little intoxicated, she offered to drop me off in my house, I accepted the offer, but deep down even if I tried hard to fight off the feeling, I just knew I wasn't really intoxicated by wine, I was intoxicated by something I had never thought could intoxicate me, the girl Damilola was beginning to have an unexpected effect on me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Eleven

 

The days that followed saw me in a new dimension, for the first time in my life I was beginning to care about the opposite sex, the only people I had ever come to love in my life were Sister Agnes, Amaka, Long Uche and Pa Udoka, but for the first time in my life, I was having a different kind of attraction for the opposite sex.

I began to dwell on thoughts of Damilola, every new day brought new desires to see her, I fought hard with myself, I didn't want to go back to Amaka's shop to see her because I had promised myself that I would never love in that way anymore, I didn't want to be vulnerable to life, but most times as the bible puts it, the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak, five days later, I found an excuse to visit Amaka at the shop.

Normally, I would have informed Amaka that I was coming to see her but on this day, I chose not to, infact I even prayed that Amaka wouldn't be at the shop, I wanted to be able to have a few minutes conversation with this piece of beauty that was fast becoming my focal point.

 

When I got to Amaka's shop that day I could say I was quite disappointed to find her car parked outside the shop, I entered the shop and I guess for the first time in my life, things played out in my favor, Amaka was on her way out, she apologized and told me that she wouldn't be long, that I could stay and wait for her if I wanted to, and just then as she made to walk out the door, she gave me the best blessing of all, She called out Damilola and told her to attend to me and provide whatever I desired.

If she had been able to see beyond my blank expressionless face, she would have probably seen my spirit dancing to 'Yinka Ayefele's newest sound'

As she made her exit, I watched her get into the car and zoom off, this indeed was a blessing in disguise for me, if only she knew how much I longed to be alone at her shop that day.

 

Damilola smiled at me and asked if I would like a drink, I guess I didn't hear when she first asked because I was totally enthralled by her beauty, I was busy looking at her almost perfect white set of teeth, her eyes that shone like the sun, infact I was totally lost in her world, studying her well sculptured physiognomy when I heard her voice burst through my thoughts 'Sir, would you like a drink?'

I looked up to her and our eyes met, she immediately looked away but in that split second that our eyes met, I knew, I didn't need anyone to tell me, the worst had happened to me, I had fallen for this Yoruba beauty, I suddenly didn't care that life was hokum after all, for this beauty, I was willing to be vulnerable.

When I looked up at her again, I could see she was standing there looking undecided, that was when I remembered she had asked me a question, I promptly apologized and told her I would have a bottle of soft drink and that she could bring it to the office, my voice sounded rather funny, like I was trying hard to breathe, I guess she sensed it, as she smiled in a rather weird way, as she replied 'yes sir, I will do just that' as she walked away, I couldn't help peeping, she was truly endowed like most Yoruba girls, as she swayed her hips from left to right, I couldn't just help myself, I knew at that moment that I had found the one person I could do anything for, as strange as it sounded to me, I knew that I was in love, I had found something special in this Yoruba girl and I was willing to do anything to have her. I walked slowly to Amaka's office, she had handed over the keys to me as she was leaving, I opened the office and sat on one of the single cushions, as I anticipated the presence of the beautiful Damilola.

A few minutes seemed like hours during the wait, She appeared with a bottle of malt and a glass cup on a tray like three minutes later but it seemed like hours to me, she still had that sweet smile on her lips when she apologized to me for taking time, I couldn't even reply, I just nodded as that was exactly what her smile did to me, it left me speechless, she dropped the tray on the table and as she turned to leave, I gathered all the courage I could muster and spoke to her, because my heart was thumping very fast at that moment.

'Hmm, Damilola, if you are not very busy at the moment, can I have a few minutes of your time?'

She paused for a split second like she was confused, then she smiled again, that killing smile, she responded that she had a chore to finish before her madam returned that immediately she was done with it, she would return back to me, she apologized again and promised to be back in a few minutes, as she walked out of the office and closed the door behind her, I couldn't help but imagine how blessed I would be to have her in my life.

Immediately she went out, my mind began to work, I had to tell her exactly how I felt about her, even though I felt really anxious and probably scared of how she would respond, I was willing to give it a try, after all, it's appointed unto men, once to die and after death, judgment, I was willing to try, even if I got rejected, I would know where I stood once and for all.

 

I had been so busy planning the best way to tell her about my intentions that I didn't even know when she came back into the office some minutes later, it was her soft cough that brought me out of my calculation mode back to the realities of life.

She smiled as she spoke with her polished voice 'Sir, you wanted to see me'

I nodded and pointed to the chair opposite me as a sign for her to sit down, she was reluctant to sit at first, then I found my voice and asked her to sit in a more reassuring tone, she took her seat but sat on the edge of the chair, I could understand she was uncomfortable, this was her Madam's office and she probably had never sat there before.

I asked her to be relaxed, though that didn't seem to calm her nerves in any way, she was indeed very uncomfortable, I had to bring up some other discussions just so I could loosen her up a bit, I made her tell me about herself, She did but she was rather too concise about it, she went straight to the point, she was from Ondo state, the only daughter and only child of her mother, her father was a polygamous man, he had three wives, she had finished her secondary school education and had come to Benin city to make a living, probably till when she could save enough to further her education, she was twenty years old, she currently lived with some friends till she could save some money to rent a house too.

As little as the details she gave me, I couldn't help admiring this young girl, I could already see myself thinking about marriage, I had to stop myself in the middle of those thoughts, I believed I was already pedaling this bicycle too fast. I would have wanted to talk to her some more but I couldn't get her to relax, she was edgy all the time, obviously she really couldn't be comfortable in that office or was it me? Maybe she felt uneasy being around me, I knew I couldn't tell her how I felt that day at least not inside that office too.

 

I asked her for her phone number, she was reluctant to give it at first but after I pressed on, she gave it and asked me if she could leave, I really wanted to spend some more time with her, I needed an excuse to keep her, so I continued talking 'what do you do with your spare time? I mean what are your hobbies?'

 

Somehow her face brightened as I asked this, it seemed, she was more comfortable to talk about her hobbies, she liked dancing and cooking, back at Ondo state, she had being a very great dancer, she had being in the Ara dance troupe, one of the best in her local government but it wasn't really bringing in any money and since her Father really didn't believe in spending his money on any of his kids that had finished secondary school, she had to quit dancing and relocate to Benin to find a means of livelihood, she continued to talk about her dancing hobby and how she loved dancing, she told me, she would like to dance for a living in future and the more she talked, the more I fell in love with this girl, she suddenly became so comfortable and lively that I began to wish we had begun the conversation with her hobby, she was still telling me stories about her dance escapades and conquest when Amaka opened the office door and entered the office. I had been so engrossed in what she had been saying that I didn't even hear Amaka's car when it came.

 

Immediately she saw Amaka, she jumped on her feet and had this guilt written all over her face, I didn't expect the next reaction from Amaka. Amaka scolded her with a rather unnecessary harsh tone

'What are you doing, sitting down here, and idling away when your mates are busy working? Is that what I pay you for? Come on get out of here now and join the others'

Damilola moved quickly as she replied 'sorry ma' I could sense hurt in that voice, she opened the door and walked out of the office in a hurry. I looked sternly at Amaka, I was angry, I didn't expect that kind of reaction from Amaka, I spoke up

'Amaka, what was that about? Why did you have to scold her like that? Amaka looked up at me, reduced her voice to almost a whisper and replied 'Jackson, that girl is no good for you, if you want to have a girl, go for someone your class, not a low life girl like Damilola'

Those words stung my heart like a bee's sting, I couldn't even reply Amaka, I just got my stuff from the table and left her office as she stared at me in silence, obviously she was surprised at my reactions too, I told her goodbye and left, a few minutes later while I was in the cab going back to my shop at Uselu, I pondered on the events that had taken place some minutes ago, One thing that struck me as odd was the look on Amaka's face when she said those words about Damilola, the face she wore wasn't really the face of an angry woman, what I had seen was a different kind of face, there was something in Amaka's eyes when she spoke those words but I couldn't understand why, this was rather confusing, something wasn't right.

Chapter Twelve

 

When I got back home that evening, my mind was an entire mess, I was totally restless, I couldn't help thinking about Damilola and how she would be feeling at the time.

I knew she would close from Amaka's shop at about 6.00pm, I wanted to call her when she was home,

My phone rang, I looked at the phone screen, it was Amaka again, this was like the fifth time I was ignoring her call that day, I just didn't want to talk to her, I was still angry at her for the sour behavior she had put up at her shop.

I got myself busy with a movie and finally got to put a call through to Damilola at about past 7pm, I really wanted to apologize and probably make it up to her, it was my fault that Amaka had scolded her in that way.

'Hello'

The sound of her voice over the phone got my heart beating faster, I couldn't reply immediately and she had to repeat herself

'Hello, please who is this?' that was when I found my voice.

'Good evening Damilola, sorry to bother you, this is Jackson, I just wanted to apologize for the events that transpired at the shop earlier today, please forgive me, it was totally my fault'

I practically rushed my words as if I had memorized them and didn't want to forget it as I spoke

She wasn't mad at me like I thought she would be, rather she even apologized too for embarrassing me, I had to cut in and make her understand that I wasn't embarrassed in anyway and if anyone should be blamed, it had to be me. I offered to make it up to her, I asked her out on a date, she was very reluctant but after much pressing from me, she agreed but it had to be a Sunday and she couldn't spend more than an hour with me. That was totally fine with me, when I ended the call, I felt like doing a somersault, I felt so happy, my dreams were gradually beginning to materialize, I immediately got to work, planning how I was going to make the date unforgettable for her, indeed it was my one chance to make it up to her and probably make her understand how I truly felt about her, my thoughts were interrupted by the beep of my phone, it was a message from Amaka. She was apologizing, she was sorry for over reacting at her shop and she wanted me to at least take her call so that she could apologize better.

Actually, I wasn't angry with her anymore, so I picked up my phone and called her, she was still trying to be apologetic over the phone but I stopped her and made her understand that we were cool, Amaka was like family to me, we had come a long way together and just a few minutes of uncontrolled emotions couldn't actually put asunder to what existed between us, we made up over the phone and by the time I ended the call I could say we were as good as fine wine.

I and Damilola began to share regular calls over the phone and she was indeed a very sweet person, we talked about everything and nothing, most times we could be on the phone for over an hour just talking sweet nothings.

Sunday came quickly and I was at the agreed venue like one hour before the time, My anticipation level was just overwhelming, my adrenaline was pumping so fast, I wanted us to catch a movie together at Kada cinema, I very well knew the movie would run into two hours as opposed to the one hour she had promised to spend with me, that was why I chose we caught a movie, she sent me the directions to her house as an sms over the phone and I sent a cab to go pick her, I really needed a car and I intended obtaining one as soon as it was most convenient for me.

I sat at a vantage position where I could easily see the gates and probably be able to catch a first view of her when she came in.

I guess I was distracted at a point because I didn't get to see her when the cab drove her in, it was when I received her call that she was already in the building that I climbed downstairs and went towards the front entrance to receive her. I was still climbing down the stairs when I saw her royal majesty standing close to the door, patiently waiting for the man who had invited her on a date.

Oh my God! Damilola wasn't just beautiful, she was the goddess of beauty, she wore a red gown that hugged her body so closely that all her natural features and physical endowments were practically shouting at the top of their voices.

If I wasn't holding unto the rails, I am quite sure I would have fallen down, I almost ran down the stairs as I hurried to meet her, she had this face that already looked awesome without make up yet she decided to completely finish me off by adding little make up touches to her face.

When she saw me climbing down the stairs in such a hurry, she smiled, that million dollar smile that was irresistible even to a man that had all the self-control in the world.

I met her and opened my arms for a hug, but she smiled and stretched out her hands for a handshake instead, I felt a little embarrassed but I got myself together and received her hands in mine, the handshake was rather very warm.

I led her up to the movie studios, I had already got everything I needed, including the movie tickets and some snacks too. It was a Sunday, Kada Cinemas didn't experience so much traffic on Sundays so in the particular studio we were seated, I could say we were like five different couples seated there. We were seated in a way that every couple had a certain level of privacy, as we all sat at various ends quite far away from each other.

I chose the movie for a certain reason, it was an horror movie and I knew during the course of the movie as a lady that she was, she would always have to hold onto me whenever the frightful scenes came up and I was totally correct, the hours spent at the studio watching that movie were indeed well spent, she was indeed a very emotional person, many times she would grab my shirt, some other times, she would hold my hands in fear, some other times she would bury her head in my shoulders, and two times during the movie she actually had tears in her eyes.

If I had been told to write an essay on the movie that we had watched, I am quite sure I would have failed because I hardly concentrated on the movie, all that was running through my mind as the movie went on was having Damilola all to myself forever.

As the movie came to an end and the cast came up on the screen, my heart began to beat very fast because the hour had come, the reason why I got to the venue earlier than planned was to achieve this purpose, normally the studio lights should have come on but it was still off, it was a part of the extra three minutes plan I had paid for, other couples began to leave and I guess Damilola was also about to stand up, when the movie soundtrack suddenly switched and a soft soundtrack replaced it and the words 'Damilola this is for you' appeared boldly on the screen.

 

I couldn't see her face in the darkness but I knew she was shocked, the other couples that were already leaving before stood as the words began to roll on the screen, I wasn't a poet but I knew I had done a great work with those words that appeared on the screen.

The words weren't many, it was little but those little words conveyed my whole heart to Damilola. The last lines were straight and simple, it went thus

 

'I would indeed be proud to say I have fulfilled my purpose here on earth if you agree to become a part of my set, that set that an intersection and a union of it would produce a single element, which would be US, Damilola, I love you with my whole heart, and I would indeed be the happiest man in the world if you could love me in return'

 

As the last words rolled over, the lights came on, the other couples were looking at us now, one of the other girls was smiling so much as if I had written the words for her, I looked at Damilola's face, she was so shy, she couldn't even look up, when she discovered more eyes were on her, she covered her face with her hands and in that same second as if she was on remote control mode, she hugged me closely and replied to the happiness of our onlookers, 'I love you too' Jackson.

I didn't think I had heard her well, but when the other girls began to make sounds of 'awww' and claps followed, I knew I heard her right. We all exited the studio because my three minutes had elapsed and a new movie had to begin, I left the studio that day, Damilola's hands in mine feeling like Spartacus, the bringer of rain.

Damilola wanted to spend some more time with me but she had a fellowship meeting to attend and as it was, she was already late considering the fact that she had already spent more than the one hour she had planned to spend with me. I got her a cab, she blew me kisses as the cab drove away, as I stood there feeling like a king, I could very well imagine how my night was going to be that day, I was going to have the best night that I have ever had, I thought about calling Amaka to inform her but I decided against it, I didn't want to get Damilola into any form of trouble, at least I had to really find out what Amaka thought about Damilola before I broke the news to her.

 

As I returned to my house that day riding on the back seat of the cab that took me home, I for the first time began to see life as fair after all, maybe life wasn't hokum as I had come to believe, but as the popular adage goes, the evil that men do, live with them, I never thought my sins of over ten years ago would come back haunting me, as I made my way home that day, the shadows of my dark past slowly followed behind me.

Chapter Thirteen

 

I got home at about 9pm, I had barely settled down when I heard a knock on the door, it was rather strange, I hardly received visitors let alone at nights, I opened the door and there I was staring at a rather unfamiliar face.

The person at the door was a young man, he wore a red cap, a black top and he had his hands inside his blue jeans pocket, he was smiling in a funny way as if he expected me to recognize him, I didn't recognize him and I was beginning to feel irritated by the way he just stood at the door looking at me and saying nothing.

'Can I help you?' I said it more out of anger than a willingness to actually help, he smiled again, shook his head as if he pitied me and replied

'No, the question should be the other way round because I am the one who can help you'

I sighed and made to close the door against him but he held on to the door and as I tried to force the door close, he said something, the words caught me off guard, I went stone cold immediately in fear, I began to assume I didn't hear him right, I looked him in the eyes and asked him 'what did you say?'

This time he wore a serious expression on his face as he replied me

'I said, I know you and I know what you did to the god father'

 

A sudden wind of coldness overtook me, I couldn't believe this was happening, he pushed the door open, entered my room and sat down without invitation, I closed the door and entered the room too, I couldn't sit down, a certain fear had engulfed me, I couldn't even think, the young man had so much confidence, he stood up, went to my fridge, got a bottle of wine, and a glass cup, he opened it, served himself and took his seat again as I watched him impatiently waiting for him to tell me his mission.

When he was satisfied that he had my attention he spoke again 'how much are you willing to pay to make me disappear?'

I looked hard at him, I didn't know this face from Adam, so how could he claim to know what I did to the godfather, as if he could read my mind he continued

I don't have to prove anything to anyone, I don't even have to go to the police, everyone back at Asaba knows you killed the godfather, the security cameras in the compound saw you get in and get out but trust me even after so many years, some loyalists of the godfather would still be willing to pay handsomely for information that would lead them to his killer. So I would ask again 'how much are you willing to pay?'

I looked at this man again, he was beaming with so much confidence, I couldn't recall his face but I naturally assumed he was one of the traders that shared same domain with me back at Asaba, probably he had seen and recognized me at Kada plaza and he had followed me home.

I looked hard at him again, I went to the fridge, I got a bottle of wine and a glass, I really needed to relax my nerves, as I walked towards him, a thought came to my mind but he spoke as if once again he could read my mind

'Hmm, just in case you are thinking about getting rid of me, it might interest you to know that my younger brother is in on this too, once anything bad happens to me, he passes down the information I have to the people that would need it' he smiled again like one who had just won a lottery.

I swear, I had actually entertained thoughts of killing this man, I looked hard at him again and spoke

'How much do you want?'

He nodded and replied 'Five hundred thousand naira'

'Five what?' I interrupted him quickly, 'I can't get that kind of money' he stood up, smiled again and spoke 'I will meet you again here at approximately the same time in two days’ time to collect the money, if I don't get it, then I would sing like a bird to those who would love to hear my song'

He walked out of my house, still holding the half empty bottle of wine and whistling happily to himself.

As I watched him walk away, I just couldn't pull myself together, I felt the whole world had come crashing on my head, Now that I was beginning to think life was fair after all, the shadows of my dark past came knocking at the door.

I was still in thoughts when my phone rang, it was Damilola on the phone, as I saw her call, I immediately remembered that I should have called her before now, I tried hard to calm myself down before I answered the call, we didn't talk for long and somehow she could sense that all was not well with me but when she pressed to know, I made her understand that I would be fine.

After I ended the call, I couldn't help thinking hard, who did this man think he was to just come and demand for almost half my life savings? I had a little over one million naira in my account and this man was asking for five hundred thousand naira.

I thought about the evil club, I knew the implication of them finding out where I was, I knew I had two options, it was either I bent to the will of the blackmailer or I began another life of running away. Running away was totally out of the option, I thought about my shop that had now grown very big, thought about Amaka, then most importantly I thought about Damilola, no I wasn't ready to lose all that, if five hundred thousand was the price I had to pay, then I sure had to pay it, I resolved to tell no one, I would get the money and when the blackmailer comes, I would pay him off and pray he stays away from me for good.

The day that followed left me in a very sour mood, the boys I had at the shop could tell I was in a mood, my countenance improved when Damilola called me during the day but somehow she could still tell all wasn't well with me, she pressed me hard to tell but I just couldn't let her into my dark past.

I got the money that same day and kept it in the house, the next day came quickly, I stayed away from Amaka's shop with the excuse that I was traveling but I stayed home all day waiting for the blackmailer, true to his words, he showed up that night, I handed him the money and made him promise to leave me in peace. He did promise to leave me and he left my house that night and bid me goodbye forever, I was happy to see him go, I had got my freedom back but it was indeed at a very costly price.

 

Life returned back to normal for me, once again I was back to my regular life, I and Damilola continued to enjoy a smooth ride but I couldn't see her or talk with her as often as I would have wanted because she worked at Amaka's shop every other day from morning till evening, her only free day was Sunday.

I visited Amaka's shop twice that week but I still hadn't told her about I and Damilola, neither did I tell her about the blackmail and the money I lost because she wasn't even aware of the murder in the first place, I had skipped that part when I told her the story of my life.

The Sunday that followed saw Damilola at my house, we had hung out at noon and she had insisted on visiting my house, when we were done with our outing, she followed me home, We had spent about one hour just catching up on general gist and watching some television programs when I heard the familiar sound of Amaka's car outside my house.

Damilola suddenly became jittery when she peeped through the window and saw it was Amaka, Amaka hadn't even informed me she was coming to my house, that wasn't strange though, it was a Sunday evening, Amaka knew I was always in my house on Sunday evenings and that wasn't the first time she was visiting me unannounced. Damilola became unnecessarily tensed, it took a lot for me to calm her down and make her feel relaxed as we waited for the knock on the door.

Amaka knocked and opened the door, she was smiling broadly when she entered the room but immediately she saw Damilola, her countenance  fell, she looked at Damilola, then looked at me, her eyes wore that same expression I had seen the other day, I could see hurt in her eyes, she had a small package in her hand, it seemed she had lost her voice because she couldn't bring herself to say anything, she simply turned back, opened the door and began to leave, I knew it was my fault, I should have told her about Damilola before now, I called her name and ran after her but she ignored, I opened the door and called her name again just as she was about to enter the car, she looked up at me, there was tears in her eyes, she still held the package in her hand, she dropped it on the floor, entered the car and drove away without saying anything to me. I went to get the package, it was a small box and was beautifully wrapped, as I held the package in my hands, Damilola opened the door and came out too, she was carrying her bag, she was leaving, I couldn't understand why, she told me she had to leave, she was really uncomfortable that she just had to leave at that moment, I tried to convince her to stay but it seemed her mind was made up, she practically ran out of my compound. Now I was really confused, I didn't know what to do, I went back into the house still holding the package, my curiosity got the better part of me and I opened the package, inside it was a very beautiful leather box, I opened the box and inside it was a very charming gold wristwatch, this should have been very expensive, there was a note lying beside the wristwatch, I opened it and read it to myself

'Sometimes we find love in the least expected places, Jackson I found love in you, and this gift is just a little appreciation from me because you have always been there for me. With love from Amaka'

 

I was lost for words at that moment, I didn't know what to do or say, now I knew what I had seen in Amaka's eyes the day she had scolded Damilola so rashly, it was jealousy, I doubted it that day but now, it had been confirmed.

 

There was a knock on my door, I immediately hid the package under the bed, the person at the door had to be Damilola, maybe she had come back after all, I moved quickly and opened the door but right there standing in front of me was the least person I had expected to see, It was the blackmailer, he was standing there smiling confidently, as I stood there looking at me, the only question that came to my mind was 'what does this man want with me again'

 

And again as if he read my thought as always he spoke 'I think we have to make another bargain' he pushed the door open for himself and walked past me into my room as I stood there staring helplessly at him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Fourteen

 

I closed the door and sat opposite him scared of what he had to say, of course I knew he wanted more money, maybe I was too quick to have provided the first one and maybe he had begun to think about the fact that he probably should have demanded for more money than he demanded.

 

My face was totally expressionless, he looked at me again and smiled but when he observed for himself that I was in no mood for jokes, he went straight to the point.

'I would be needing some more money' as he said it, he looked up at me, my face still had no expression whatsoever, he continued speaking 'I really want to disappear, like leave this country to a neighboring Africa country, and I know you do understand that the farther I am away from you, the better it is for us all'

He looked at me again, I still had nothing to say to him, he continued, 'I would be needing another Five hundred thousand, with one million naira, I would be able to travel to my destination and finally leave you in peace' He stressed on the word peace and smiled again like a clown from a very stupid comic movie.

I didn't want to reply him at first, but as he continued to stare at me I heard myself saying 'And what if I can't provide that money?

He got up from the chair, did a slow walk around my room and replied 'then I guess I would trade a certain information to people that would be willing to pay handsomely for it'

He smiled again, tapped me on the shoulder and began to find his way out of my room, he turned towards me and spoke 'I would be here in two days’ time, if I don't get my money, then I guess a man would have to do what a man has got to do'

I watched him as he stepped out, he didn't even bother to lock my door, I stood up and as I stood there watching him as he walked away, an idea crossed my mind, it was indeed a brilliant idea, why didn't I think about it in the first place, I quickly rushed into the house got some money, put on a black jacket and in less than three minutes I was out of the house too in a very big hurry.

 

When I returned back to the house two hours later, I was certain I had done a good job all I had to do now was sit and wait, but that was just on one end, on the other end, I still had big problems to attend to, I was caught in a Web, a Web I never thought I could be caught in, here I was having feelings for someone and someone else that I least expected was having feelings for me too.

I really liked Amaka so much but I had never thought about I and her in that way and again, this wasn't good for Damilola at all, she couldn't of course contend with her Madam over a guy, she was a lady, even without telling I knew she understood the movie that played in front of her some few hours before.

Now that I was done with the blackmailer, I was in a better mood to address my personal issues. I dialed Damilola's number, it rang the first time without response, I tried again and she responded, I wasn't prepared for what she said over the phone.

'Please Jackson, I really need you to leave me alone, at least for some time, I really can't afford all this drama right now, please I beg you in God's holy name, just stay away from me for some time, I really hope you do understand' and the phone went dead.

I didn't understand, No, I didn't even try to understand, I was suddenly mad at Damilola, even if I could understand that she was hurt and probably scared, there were better ways to handle this, how could she talk to me like that over the phone? I thought we had something great going on between us, even though her voice over the phone was soft and she was pleading rather than being rude, I felt really angry at her, she was acting like I caused all this in the first place and the most annoying part was the fact that she hung up on me. I thought about calling her back to express my disappointment but my pride got the better part of me 'what the heck, who did she think she was anyway, people say there is a thin line between love and hatred, I guess that was what happened to me at that point, I was suddenly mad at Damilola, I felt insulted that she had responded towards me in that manner, I even caught myself calling her a low life girl, using the same phrase that Amaka had used on her. I deleted her number from my phone, I couldn't understand why I was so mad at her but I knew I was really mad at her.

 

I made another call, this one was to Amaka, she picked the call at first ring, before I even said anything, she began to apologize for her rude behavior, she was indeed very soft and apologetic on the phone that for a second I thought I had fallen in love with her, I apologized too for not telling her about Damilola and I lied to her that Damilola was only a friend.

She wanted to meet up that same night but it was already late, she promised to visit me the next day and once again I and Amaka were cool. She was family, we couldn't stay mad at each other for long.

That night, I had difficulty sleeping, the anger I thought I now had for Damilola suddenly turned into restlessness, I missed her so much, I began to regret deleting her number, I hardly knew phone numbers by heart, the only way I could see her now was probably going back to Amaka's shop but that was totally out of the question, I rolled over from side to side thinking about Damilola, I was no longer mad at her, infact I had quickly given excuses for her to have spoken to me in that way, if I were a lady and I was in her shoes, I was quite sure I would have reacted in the same way, I was eventually able to sleep at about 3am that morning.

I woke up at about 11am, with a banging head ache, I quickly got my phone, I expected to see missed calls or sms from Damilola, at least, I thought she would try to reach out, as this was a new day, every hurt should have passed with the day before, but I saw nothing, no missed calls, no sms, rather I saw ten missed calls from Amaka and an sms from her that simply passed the message 'please call me as soon as possible'

 

I made a call but not to Amaka, I called my accountant at the shop and told him I couldn't come to the shop that day, then I placed another call to Amaka, she could sense I was not sounding very okay over the phone, she promised to be with me in another one hour and ended the call.

True to her words, the next hour saw Amaka in my house, I just got out of the bathroom, when I heard the familiar sound of her car, I unlocked the door, though I left it closed and went ahead to dress up, she opened the door a few minutes later, I hadn't put on my shirt then, she was carrying a white cellophane bag, she obviously had made a stopover at an eatery before she got to my house. She dropped the bag on the table and came to hug me. I felt rather shy having her hug me when I had no shirt on, but it didn't matter to her.

Amaka hugged me with purpose, I could feel it, she didn't want to let go, somehow I didn't want to let go either, maybe I was just hurting from the fact that Damilola still hadn't reached out to me and I probably needed someone to just hold unto me, we would have hugged for about three minutes before she broke away and said 'I got you something to eat'

 

I smiled as she sat down on the chair, I put on my shirt and sat beside her on the chair as I helped myself to the delicacies she had got me from the Eatery.

 

She hung around for a very long time I really got to enjoy her company, I still couldn't bring myself to tell her about my feelings for Damilola and she didn't bother to ask, it seemed we were both stylishly avoiding the topic. I thanked her for the gift and again stylishly refused to say anything about the note, she did expect me to mention it though but when I said nothing about it, she decided to ignore it too.

She stayed for about two hours and when she announced she was leaving I felt bad, I tried to convince her to stay some more but she had a client she had to meet,

I saw her off to the door, she made to open the door but just then she stopped, I didn't expect her next move, she turned round swiftly, hugged me very closely and kissed me passionately on the lips, I couldn't think, I returned the kiss and I guess it was passionate as well. She broke the kiss as suddenly as it had begun, looked me in the eyes and said the words 'I really do love you Jackson, it hurts to see another woman have you' she turned almost immediately, opened the door and walked swiftly to her car, she didn't bother to look back, she kicked the car and zoomed off as I stood there staring, totally dumbfounded and rooted to the spot.

I didn't know how to explain what had just happened but I was certain of one thing, that kiss did something to me, I always loved Amaka so much but what I felt now was far stronger than what I always felt for her, as stupid and crazy as it appeared, it seemed the kiss had started an unbelievable chain reaction, I was falling for Amaka.

 

As unbelievable as it appeared, this wasn't just a thought anymore, this was the naked truth and it stared me in the face, I was in love with two women.

 

Chapter Fifteen

 

For the remaining part of that evening, I couldn't put my mind at rest, thoughts of Amaka and Damilola kept flying in, Amaka called me a few hours after she left my house just to check on me, She stylishly decided not to talk about what happened between us, I couldn't understand why though but I chose not to talk about it too, I knew the next time I and Amaka would be spending alone, there would be a whole lot to talk about. I knew I had to make up my mind about who I really wanted.

As it was, I couldn't even make a pick, I had fallen for Damilola first but her current disposition wasn't helping matters at all, Amaka on the other hand was someone I had come to love since I was nine years old, I never ever thought I would develop romantic attractions for her though, maybe it was partly due to the fact that she was three years older than I was or probably the fact that we had come to see ourselves as siblings as I had being her adopted brother at a certain time in my life.

With the way Damilola was acting, I was fast losing it, My feelings were quickly tilting in favor of Amaka, it was suddenly beginning to seem I had being blind all along, for the first time, I was beginning to see that Amaka was indeed lovable in a different way after all, I began to wonder why I didn't fall for her all those while, I guess the brother and sister tag blinded me all those years. I began to remember how Amaka had always being there for me since the first day I met her at my spare parts shop until now, she had being a real source of inspiration and motivation, she had motivated me to go back to school, she had helped me grow my business to the point it was now, indeed she had done so much for me, I always thought it was all a sisterly gesture, but it had suddenly become clear to me. Amaka had being showing me the green lights all along but I was too dull to notice, she had taken the bull by the horns before I was eventually able to see.

 

Night came, still I heard noting from Damilola, Amaka called me again and we spent a long time on the phone, we were already talking like lovers, our talks were more intimate this time but even as intimate as it was, we still skipped talks about Damilola. She ended the call with 'I love you' it sounded weird but I replied accordingly 'I love you too'

Amaka called me one more time that night before she slept, she just wanted to say goodnight, that's what she said, but we ended up talking for almost an hour again, it suddenly seemed like we had so much more to talk about.

 

The next day was a busy one for me, I knew the blackmailer was going to show up but I was prepared for him. I did all I needed to do, Amaka called me twice during the day, while I was at the office, she wanted to come around but I found excuses why she couldn't come, I didn't want any distractions, I wanted to be focused enough to handle the blackmailer when he returned that evening.

I was beginning to think less and less of Damilola and more and more of Amaka, indeed it was a true saying that 'out of sight is out of mind'

I closed from work that day at about 4.00pm because I had an appointment for 4.30pm. I kept the appointment and spent about thirty minutes on that before I eventually made my way home.

 

It was about 6.30pm when I heard the knock on my door, I opened the door and he was standing there smiling as always, I smiled too and I could see the shock that crossed his face, even though he tried quickly to mask it, I saw it, I made way for him to enter the house, he hesitated for some time, I could tell that he was scared too but all the same, he braved up and entered into the room, he sat on the chair and I closed the door and sat opposite him, I still had the smile on my face, he was struggling to keep the smile on his face, he was totally uncomfortable, He wasn't used to me being so bold around him.

'Do you have my money now' his voice sounded off, it seemed he suddenly had problems speaking fluently, I smiled at him and answered 'No, I don’t’

I could see the smile vanish from his face, I swear I was beginning to enjoy myself, He stood up as if he wanted to leave, probably he expected me to call him back, he got to the door and opened it and when he discovered I wasn't going to call him back he closed the door again and faced me 'So I guess you are willing to allow me go ahead and sing to people that would be willing to hear my song?'

I smiled at him again and replied 'A man has to do what a man has got to do'

He was staring at me, he appeared rather confused, I knew he was wondering what had come over me, as he made to speak again I cut him short with my words

 

'Maybe you have being bluffing all these while, maybe you are the only one in on this, maybe you are on the run from your fellow cult people at Asaba, maybe they currently seek your head now for the money you stole from Chief MBA six months ago, maybe you actually need my money so that you can travel out of the country and escape from them finally, maybe it's you who should even be more scared as there's currently a bounty on your head and maybe if I just had a way of sending your house address at Sapele road to your guys in Asaba, you would be history'

 

I watched how his face turned, I could see so many emotions written all over his face, I knew he couldn't understand how I got access to all those information, he certainly wouldn't know that I had trailed him home the last time he visited me, he also wouldn't know that I had paid Anthony the private spy to help me find out all about him, I had given Anthony just fifty thousand naira and it had saved me a whooping five hundred thousand and of course more as blackmailers always had a way of coming back for more.

 

He stood there looking at me, there was murderous anger in his eyes, I couldn't help it, I began to laugh and in that split instance, when I least expected it, he attacked me.

 

He charged at me like a bull, his fist caught my face and sent me sprawling onto the floor, in another split second he pulled  a knife on me, he dived at me on the floor and made to stab me but I was quicker than he was, I ducked and caught his hand that held the knife, there was a struggle, he was quite powerful, he hit me again with his left hand, it hurt but I held onto the knife as we struggled on the floor with the knife, I got my right leg free and shot at his jaw with my right knee, he fell backwards and freed the knife for me, I expected him to stop now since I had the knife but he was stubborn, as I tried to rise from the ground, he picked one of my stool and charged at me with intent to smash my head, I swear I didn't want to but I had no option, as he rushed towards me, I attacked him with the knife, the knife sunk into his left side like hot knife would sink into butter, I don't know what happened but I suddenly became possessed, images of Long Uche came running into my head again, images of the godfather appeared before my eyes, I drew out the knife and stabbed him again, I drew it out again and stabbed him again and again and again, I was possessed now, all the hatred in me suddenly resurfaced, this was the same spirit that had possessed me when I killed the godfather.

 

I released him from my grasp, he was dead before he hit the floor, only then did my senses return, I had just murdered another man, a sudden cold wind began to blow around me, I was indeed confused now, I didn't know what to do, as I stood there scared and contemplating my next move, I heard a sound at the door and I stood there watching my door open in slow motion, the door wasn't locked and there was no way I could rush and lock the door now,

 

I just stood there holding the knife, my body covered in blood standing over the dead man as I watched the door open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Sixteen

 

The door opened and there I was staring into the eyes of Amaka as she stared at me in horror, her first reaction was to shout, I could feel the shout coming up but she displayed a very high level of self-control that till this day, I haven't stopped wondering the kind of woman she was.

She entered the room and shut the door behind her, I watched her as she turned the key inside the key lock, she had locked the door, this meant she was in with me on this. She walked towards me, she still had surprise written on her face but she was calm, far calmer than I was, of course it had to be so though, after all, I was the one guilty of murder.

I tried to explain but she put her forefinger to her lips indicating that I didn't have to say anything, then she spoke 'I think the first thing is that we have to find a way to get rid of this body right now'

I couldn't believe my ears, she was so calm when she said that too, and she immediately swung into action, she took my bedspread off my bed, and handed it over to me, 'let's wrap him in this' I had been staring unbelievably at her but immediately she said that, I knew there wasn't much time left, we had to get rid of the body as fast as possible.

The next few minutes saw us wrapping the corpse with my bed spread, I dashed into the bathroom, took off the soiled clothes and washed myself clean, I got rid of all the blood, I put on a different cloth and got the soiled one inside a black bag.

 

Thirty minutes later, I and Amaka were driving down the road to the nearest river, we were going to discard the body into the river and I was going to burn my soiled clothes afterwards, it was all her ideas. As I sat beside her on the passenger's side of her car as she drove away, I couldn't help but imagine the kind of woman she was.

Till that moment, she still hadn't asked me the events that had transpired between me and the dead man yet she was helping me out risking being apprehended as an accomplice to murder.

We didn't say anything to each other as she drove me back to the house after we discarded the body, We got back to my house at about past 10pm, She unveiled her intentions to spend the night as it was already late and according to her she didn't want to be driving back home that late.

 

She went into the kitchen and fixed us dinner, while I attended to the duty of burning the soiled clothes and getting rid of any implicating signs of murder that remained in the house.

It was while we were having a very late dinner at about 11pm that she eventually asked 'Now tell me, what happened, I guess I am ready to listen now'

 

I couldn't hide anything from her again, not after she had done so much for me that night and proven to me that she could go any length for me,

I told her everything, she already knew most of it though, I just told her the parts I had edited before, I told her about the evil brotherhood back at Asaba and how they had tried to initiate me, how they had tried to bring me down and my subsequent revenge on the godfather, I told her about the blackmailer, I didn't fail to mention that he had probably found me during my outing with Damilola, I searched her face for an expression when I mentioned Damilola but her expression was blank.

 

After I finished my story, I expected her to express shock or at least any form of emotion, but she was still blank, she even smiled and that got me a little scared too.

Then she spoke 'I know you might be having so many unanswered questions about me, especially regarding the things that had happened tonight, maybe it's high time I also let you in on some little secrets of mine'

She paused and looked me deep in the eyes as if she wanted to be sure she had my attention, when she was certain she had it, she spoke 'I have dated three men and I killed them all'

I thought I hadn't heard her properly, I looked at her face again and asked 'what did you say?'

She stood up, paced around the room for some time and repeated the same words I heard before 'I have dated three men and I killed them all'

I became mute, I didn't know what to say, I suddenly became scared of Amaka, she had no emotions whatsoever in her eyes, she was totally blank and then she smiled.

When she smiled I saw it, Amaka didn't regret the fact that she had murdered three men, infact she seemed to bask in those moments, as she took me down the road to her past, and narrated to me how she had murdered three men for different reasons, I just couldn't help but become all the more scared of Amaka.

 

The first man she had murdered was her Lecturer in the university, she had dated him for a year and he attempted using her and dumping her, it was her first murder, she really had no intents to murder him but she could remember how he had coldly asked her to leave the hotel room after she had been under the sheets with him that night, he had told her that their relationship was over and that he was getting a fresher, Amaka had recently moved into two hundred level then, she confessed that she had become possessed with hurt and grief because she had lost her virginity to this man, she thought he loved her, it was in this state of possession that she had smashed a bottle on his head and stabbed him severally, she confessed that she had felt good afterwards.

She murdered the second one while she was in her final year, He had being her boyfriend for two years and she had caught him cheating on her, she poisoned him in his own house and got another of her male friends that liked her to a fault to get rid of the girl too.

She had murdered the third man only few months before she met me, he was a rather wealthy man, she made much money off him too, his own offense was that he wanted to let her go just because his wife became suspicious, Amaka interpreted that to mean he had used her and dumped her, she murdered him with a knife in her own apartment, when he came visiting, her male friend that had helped her with the second murder was still available at the time, but this time he had fast become her side guy, together they had gotten rid of the body the same way she had helped me get rid of the blackmailer's body few hours before.

 

I watched Amaka as she told me her unbelievable story, I couldn't believe my ears but from what I saw in her eyes, I knew she wasn't just making up stories, Amaka was dead serious.

 

As she lay beside me that night on the bed, I couldn't sleep, Amaka was a monster, maybe she had the same murderous spirit as her Father. I thought I had encountered the worst fear but there was more to come, I might have fallen asleep when she woke me up, I got my phone and looked at the time, it was about 2am, she wanted me to sleep with her, It seemed really strange to me, I probably hadn't expected that at least not in that manner, I tried to resist, but when she said it again, she wasn't begging for it, it was more of a command than a request, I couldn't understand it but there was this power that went with her voice, I wasn't under a spell but I felt like I was, I obeyed her command and I slept with Amaka that night.

 

The next morning, I woke up to find an already dressed Amaka, she looked so radiant, beautiful and innocent, I guess I might have even believed everything that happened the previous night was a dream if she hadn't said what she said that morning.

 

She told me she had an appointment early that morning and had to leave quickly, as she got to my door, she turned back and spoke to me as I still lay on the bed lazily with half opened eyes.

 

'As for your girlfriend Damilola, you can forget about her because I can promise you that you won't be seeing her again'

 

She opened the door walked out of my room and shut it behind her as I sat there staring at the closed door, mouth agape and my heart beating at a very alarming rate

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Seventeen

 

True to Amaka's words, I never saw Damilola again, She simply vanished out of sight, I had deleted her number in my anger, I knew nothing else about her, The only people I could ask about her were the girls at Amaka's shop, even when I mustered courage to ask, their answers were simple and straight, she simply stopped reporting for work.

No one seemed to even know where she lived or any other detail about her, the only person that could have a definite answer on the whereabouts of Damilola was Amaka, but I couldn't dare to ask her because as it were the fear of Amaka was the beginning of wisdom.

And that was how I began a fear filled and a rather forced relationship with Amaka. I was beginning to love her before but after that night, the love was replaced with fear, what Amaka felt for me also became sort of domineering, I suddenly became one of her subjects in her mighty kingdom, She dictated how the relationship went, she practically bossed me around, I didn't have any say in the relationship, female friends were a 'no no' for me, She made me pledge allegiance to her and indeed I was totally caught in Amaka's Web, there was no going back now, there was only one way out, but that one way out, I couldn't possibly go that way, I still loved Amaka so much.

I and Amaka had this relationship for three years and somehow I guess that saying about the available becoming the desirable finally became true in my life. I truly began to love her from my heart, the fear I once had for her was gradually replaced by that overpowering feeling of love I once had for her, she began to be more loving and less domineering too, and everything began to go sweetly for us until he showed up.

We were at Amaka's shop one day when a rather tall, dark and handsome fellow walked into the office, Amaka screamed at the top of her voice and jumped on him like he was the famous Troy, I just sat there watching the drama unfold, they were so happy to see each other, the hug should have lasted for over five minutes before Amaka probably remembered that I was right there.

She freed him from the hug, still clutching his hands like her life depended on it and introduced him to me as Douglax.

What! Douglax??? Where the hell did he come out from, Douglax was the guy that had helped her get rid of the girl that attempted stealing her boyfriend back in school, it was this same Douglax that helped her get rid of her last man friend's body after she murdered him, she had told me that Douglax had suddenly vanished out of sight, now this same Douglax had suddenly shown up out of nowhere.

I was still trying to process all these thoughts, when she shocked me all the more by introducing me to Douglax as her favorite cousin and telling me that she had a lot of catch up to do with Douglax, so they were going out and I could leave whenever I wanted, that she would call me.

I watched them as they walked out of the shop, hand in hand, laughing and falling over each other like two love birds, I could sense it, I was incredibly jealous, and Amaka had being using me as a pun all these while.

When I got back home that night, I couldn't sleep, I was waiting for Amaka to call me on the phone so I could give her a piece of my mind.

Amaka didn't reach out to me, she ignored my calls. For one week, I couldn't get to Amaka, The next time Amaka visited me in my house, she came with a wedding invitation card, she was getting married to Douglax, she didn't even try to give me a reasonable explanation, she stared me in the eyes, she still had the boldness to wear a smiling face when she broke the news to me. Amaka was so excited about this guy, why she was, I wouldn't know, she didn't care how I would feel, it was really so odd that anyone could be so callous, she kept stressing on the fact that I was family to her and so I should be happy that she was happy.

I smiled back at her and told her it was okay, not really because it was okay but because I knew I was going to make it okay, my point had been proven, life after all was Hokum, I was a fool to have believed, it would ever turn out nicely for me.

The wedding came and I attended the wedding, yea, I was a part of the family and I acted as one, Douglax knew me as her brother and that was exactly what I planned to be till I got my pound of flesh.

I began to visit the couple very frequently, many times I spent the night with them, many times I played unsuspecting pranks on them even when they were in the bedroom, Douglax liked me so much, he thought I was a very free and jovial person, Amaka too was easily taken away by my acts, she was glad I got over the hurt quickly, she always reminded me of how special I was for being a part of her happiness.

I became a part of the family, yes, but I had my own reasons, I had to infiltrate the family if the murders were going to be perfect, I was going to have my revenge, I was going to strike back, it was one year later after their marriage that I decided to strike back. It had taken me one whole year to plan this, I didn't want to strike them out of anger, I wanted the hurt and pain to have worn off, I knew it would feel a whole lot better, if I struck them in my balanced state of mind.

I picked my birthday to strike, it was December 20th, I turned thirty on that day that I chose to have my revenge.

 

I got down from the cab and paid the cab driver, I waited for some seconds for him to drive away and be completely out of sight.

I adjusted my face cap, I also wore a dark shade not really because I didn't want to be recognized but I just wanted to be that way.

I looked at my wristwatch, it was a few minutes past 11pm, It was December 20th, yes, my 30th birthday as well as exactly one year after the unforgettable incident that changed the course of my destiny. I moved slowly towards the house, I had meditated on what I was about to do for the past one year, I had rehearsed it over and over again and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I had being a friend of the family for this one year but it was all a part of the grand plan to take my pound of flesh.

As I opened the door with my own copy of the key and stepped into the sitting room, I knew there was no going back, I could very well anticipate the headline that would rock the papers the next morning.

'Twin Murders at midnight'

No, I trusted the Nigeria papers, they would sure have a catchy way to express the murders.

As I moved slowly towards the master bedroom, I checked again to make sure I could feel the butt of the pistol as it pressed tightly to my waist, safely secured in position by my belt. My heart beat raced fast, but my mind was made up, there was no going back now, this was my revenge and I had to take it.

I stopped at the door of the master bedroom and contemplated for the umpteenth time what I had planned to do, something kept holding me back but it sure wasn't fear, I didn't know what it was but at this point I really didn't care, I paused for some seconds, I knew that once I opened that door, there was no going back, I took a deep breath and muttered to myself, 'it's now or never'.

I knew the door wouldn't be locked, I was that familiar with the house, as my left hand turned the door knob, my right hand went for the pistol.

I entered into the room, with my right hand pointing the pistol into the room and my fore finger on the trigger, the goal was straightforward shoot them both, and leave.

A few days ago, the plan in my head had being different, I was considering shooting them both then shooting myself afterwards, but early that morning, I just discovered I wasn't really ready to die, I was ready to take my pound of flesh and live with the guilt for the rest of my life.

I closed the door softly behind me without even the slightest noise, I had really practiced this, all the times I had been sneaking into their room in the name of pranking them was actually in preparation for this great day, I was going to shoot them in their sleep, at least I wouldn't have to face the guilt of having their surprised stares in my head for the rest of my life.

The room was poorly lit by two blue colored bulbs situated at opposite walls of the room, I went closer to them, Amaka was a real deep sleeper and so was Douglax, I knew that, way back while they thought we  had things going smoothly for us. I didn't have a silencer on my pistol, I didn't even know where to get one but my plan was simple, I would shoot Douglax first then most probably the noise would wake Amaka up but before she would even understand what was happening, the bullet would find her head too.

                  *****************************

I was running madly ten minutes later out of the compound and into the street, I couldn't stop or even turn back, it was until I got to an almost empty bus stop that I paused to stop and rest a little. I couldn't even understand what had happened in the last ten minutes, I knew I had prepared for this, I knew this was all I had dreamed of in the past one year but suddenly I didn't even know how I felt anymore. My heart continued to thump very fast.

                                                        ******************************

Now my thoughts slowly returned to the present as I sat on the wooden bench that was at the bus stop, the old woman still didn't say anything to me, I wished I could confide in her, infact I just needed someone I could confide in, there was so much on my mind, once again, I recalled the events that had played out in that room just about ten minutes before.

Chapter Eighteen

 

The room was poorly lit by two blue colored bulbs situated at opposite walls of the room, I went closer to them, Amaka was a real deep sleeper and so was Douglax, I knew that, way back while they thought we  had things going smoothly for us. I didn't have a silencer on my pistol, I didn't even know where to get one but my plan was simple, I would shoot Douglax first then most probably the noise would wake Amaka up but before she would even understand what was happening, the bullet would find her head too.

I moved close to them slowly and quietly, I just stood there watching them as they slept, I looked at Douglax again, He really had done nothing to me, this was all Amaka's fault, but I decided to still my voice of reasoning, I pointed the gun at his head and pressed the trigger.

 

 

BANG!!!

The sound of the gun startled even me the shooter, it pierced into the stillness of the night as Douglax's brains scattered all over the pillow where he lay, I was once again possessed with that same spirit that possessed me when I murdered the godfather and again when I murdered the blackmailer, I might have been concentrating so hard and probably enjoying the pool that his blood was fast forming around the bed that I didn't notice on time that Amaka had woken up and was staring at me in disbelief.

 

I looked towards her, she was sitting on the bed, there was tears in her eyes but she didn't shout, I guess she was too shocked for words, she couldn't believe her eyes, She just continued to stare at me, I lifted up the gun and pointed it at her head, she didn't even make any effort to shield herself, she didn't say anything to me, the tears just kept running down her face, I held the gun to her head, I knew I was still possessed with the desire for vengeance but my fingers couldn't just press the trigger, I for the first time in my life understood what people meant when they said love conquers all, I couldn't bring myself to shoot Amaka, I tried to think about how much she hurt me and how much she deserved to die but nothing could make me pull that trigger.

She didn't for one second take her eyes off me, she didn't for one second stop crying either, I didn't know what came over me, but I dropped the gun on the bed, turned my back and began to walk away, I was leaving everything behind me, I definitely couldn't hurt Amaka, she was the only one left in the world that I truly loved.

 

As I turned my back and walked slowly to the door, I heard the movements, yes, like I anticipated, she was going for the gun but I suddenly didn't care anymore, I was willing to allow her kill me rather than press that trigger, suddenly I understood what I had felt for Amaka, it wasn't a superficial thing, I had really loved Amaka with everything I had, it was true love, not one borne out of greed, lust or selfish desire, what I felt for Amaka was love in its pure and unadulterated form.

 

Even though she had hurt me so bad, I discovered to my amazement that I was still willing to die for her.

Somehow I knew when she got the gun even though I turned my back to her, I stopped at the door, I didn't turn back, somehow I knew the gun should be facing me from behind now, I was willing to die but I didn't want to look at her face when she shot me, I wanted to save her that guilt of always having to remember the face I had on when she murdered me.

I held my breath for some seconds and then I heard the shot, this time it was louder than the first, this time the shot took me entirely by surprise.

 

But wait!!

I heard the sound, if I heard the sound, it meant only one thing, it meant I was still alive, I turned swiftly and was in time to watch Amaka fall to the bed as pieces of her brain splattered all over the wall, it was a clean head shot, she had delivered it herself, no one could survive that at such close range, I ran back to catch her falling body but she was already gone.

I held unto her lifeless body, I didn't even know what to feel, the tears poured freely from my eyes, I couldn't even make any sound, I was lost for words, I suddenly couldn't even imagine that I had gone there with intent to kill Amaka in the first place, suddenly it seemed like scales had fallen from my eyes, then suddenly, I didn't even know what came upon me, I began to run, I ran out of the room, out of the house and into the streets and that was how I found myself sitting on the bench at the bus stop with the old woman who hadn't spoken since I sat there.

 

For the first time since I sat there, the old woman looked at me, it seemed she wanted to ask a question but she held it, she opened her bag, gave me a piece of paper and walked away, I watched her as she walked away till she was out of sight, I looked at the paper, it was a tract, a few lines were written boldly on it

 

'For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord'

 

I had seen this scripture many times but I had never been a Christian, Life had been Hokum and there was nothing anyone could say to me that could bring me close to God. But as I sat there that night, holding that tract in my hand, I knew something greater than me was calling out to me, I didn't know how or why but I got down on my knees and for the first time since after orphanage home, I prayed.

 

I was still kneeling down, when the police came for me, obviously someone had heard the shots and reported to the police, and I guess the police had done a sweep on the area and I was the only odd man sitting at the bus stop with blood stains on my hands and body at the time.

I didn't even bother resisting arrest, I knew the law, I was going to die but that night was unforgettable to me for two major reasons, firstly was the fact that I lost the only person I had ever truly loved with my whole heart in this life and secondly was that for the first time in my life, I understood what love truly was and I had found the love of Christ.

That tract had spoken to me, I guess the old woman was at the bus stop that day to save my life. That was why she was there in the first place.

 

As I write my last lines sitting in my cell room and waiting for my execution day as already decided by the court, I wish I could have a second chance at life so as to live life again for the one true source of love, I wished I could live my life all over again for God, but it's too late now, my only consolation is the fact that this my book will eventually get published, thanks to my pastor friend who visits my cell regularly, and I know that my life story would teach many people out there that there's no life outside God.

 

Indeed I was right when I once thought that life was Hokum but I missed a point, and that's is what I hope to correct here, life might not naturally be Hokum, but a life outside Christ is HOKUM.

I really hope all readers would learn from my story, I know I will die soon, maybe sooner than it should have being for me if I had not followed the wrong path in life, but I have hope, if we have hope only in this life, then we are of all men most miserable, I exit the world soon but a better life awaits me, indeed my whole life was Hokum but it was simply because I lived it outside Christ.

 

I would never forget Sister Agnes, or Pa Udoka, or Long John, but more importantly, I would never forget Amaka, I really wished she had an opportunity to know God before she died, she didn't have that opportunity but you all reading this piece now, do have that opportunity, please don't misuse it.

 

Life without Christ is Hokum, I love you all, I chose to end my story here as I await certain death.

 

Yours Truly

Jackson Peters

 

(The End)