LION’S DEN PART 1

The tip of the gun rested firmly on my neck, its metallic nuzzle sending flashes of promised pain of bullet hole pumping blood and jagged veins. My veins!

I cowered in fear. Shaking like a leaf at the mercy of the night wind. The night was pitch dark. Even the crickets did not dare to chirp nor the owl hoot. Tragedy loomed in the air. Help seem impossible as I knelt in submission, my knee burrowing into the sands, I was surrounded by 15 men, who had stones for a heart and smirks for a smile. The stench of their Marijuana smoke filled the air, infiltrating my nostrils. My lungs rebelled but I dared not to cough.

Tears ran down my face like a dam that has broken free. I stood at the boundary of life and death, my fate dangling before my eyes like a bone hanging on a tree.
Fear weighed on my mind like the noose on the condemned man. The events that led to this night floated in my heart. It had all begun only the previous day, my 21st birthday.

Life is a school. We learn with every experience, every sorrow, every fear and every triumph. I was a final year student at the University of Benin, but what life taught me in few hours of fear, I never learnt it in all my four years of study under different professors of various fields.

The birthday was not going to be held within school premises. No! No! I wanted to make a name, make a mark, show my friends exactly how big girls rolled.
I hired a hall in a beautiful fast food along Ugbowo express road, just 50 meters from my school gate. My friends converged, girls loved to party, guys loved to drink. It was an electrified party. I wanted everything well planned. I didn’t want anything to linger to nightfall. I could not handle the drinks that would sustain the guys till nightfall. All my good friends came, Gerald, Amobi , Donald , Uche, Frank, Ifeanyi, Louis and a bunch of others, all friends who had been with me from day one. And of course my girls were there too.

The party was increasing its tempo. The DJ was blasting music that made our ear drums tremble and our feet jingle. My best friend, Benjamin who served as the M.C called me to the dance floor. I was expected to take the dance with my boyfriend. I knew that I couldn’t do that, to wine and rock to the beats with my sweet heart, while lots of guys there were still hoping on me with proposals of love. I didn’t want hearts to bleed nor hopes to shatter.

So I picked two platonic friends, Gerald and Ifeanyi began to dance with them. The cheers rose, the applause followed, I glowed. “This is my day!” I said loudly.

After the dance, the M. C, announced that a certain special friend of the celebrant, Uche, wanted to dance with her, I did not object. I began to dance with Uche. Indeed, he was a special friend, we had been close from our first year at the University. We were bonded. So the dance was deserving. As we danced, his friends came on to spray us cash. My eyes struck four guys who were looking rough and brutal.

I was almost angry that Uche had invited people without informing me. It didn’t matter though, they were spraying me a bundle of 500 hundred naira notes. That was enough to diffuse any anger of their intrusion.

TEN minutes after the dance,My best friend cum MC, Benjamin called me to the back yard.
“How much did those guys spray you,” he asked. His eyes were bloodshot, he was furious.
“8000 naira,” I replied hesitantly wondering why he was interested in the money.

“Give it to me”, he said, “Uche and his guys are cultists. He has been harassing me. Please, Becky, I cannot come to your party and leave in sorrow.”

I looked into his eyes. I trusted him. So I gave him the money.
”Thank you”, he said, and left.

The party ended in a mild chaos. My friends that I invited began to leave one after another without saying goodbye. Uche and his friends roamed from one point to another smoking and drinking recklessly. I didn’t want that kind of behavior, I didn’t want it in my party. I gave him a mild warning laced with an affectionate smile.

The night drew near. Uche called me. “Becky, where is your boyfriend?’ He asked aloud. I instantly knew that the alcohol was taking its toll on him. It made his tongue bolder and his voice louder. I laughingly brushed the topic aside as a skillful footballer would slid the ball. Of course, my boyfriend was there, but I could not bruise Uche in that manner. Uche had been singing songs of his undying love to me since our second year, but I simply was not dancing to his tunes. I kept him in a friend zoned corner of my heart where he was valued even far above a boyfriend, he was a family.

Still, my reassurances did not penetrate Uche’s ears. He continued his search of my boyfriend, stopping people and prying into my friends’ affairs just to dig up my secret.

That day, as the sun gradually set, the music slowed. The birthday party was over but the event that would follow will forever remain green in my mind.

To be Continued

With Love!
Chioma