Oge felt his heart pounding. So na so I go die, he thought frantically.
‘Please don’t kill me’, he pleaded looking at those dangerous eyes looking at him from his back seat noticeable even in the darkness, ‘I’ll give you anything you want’.
‘Oga shut up joor’, Tobi said obviously frustrated with the drama, ‘you’ll be dead already if I wanted to kill you’.
That made Oge relax a little. He was tempted to switch on the light in the car but he did not give in. I don’t want him to change his mind, he reasoned, I no wan die. He prayed silently for an escape route.
‘What then do you want?’, he asked still frightened.
‘Your help’, Tobi said and proceeded to switch on the light. Oge got a good view of the two men and noticed one was bleeding. Tobi switched the light back off.
‘Is he dead?’, Oge asked; trying to control the panic that was building. Everything felt like a scene from a dream or movie; at least that was what he thought.
‘You too dey ask questions’, Tobi said with irritation, ‘he is alive, drive and keep calm’.
Oge felt like protesting but he obeyed wondering what his fate was.
‘Should I take you to the hospital?’, he asked thinking of ways to escape the nightmare.
‘No hospitals’, Tobi replied. I no wan go prison again, he mused.
‘Did you shoot him?’, Oge asked after some minutes and got a grunt as a reply.
‘I saved him’, Tobi said finally. He suspected Oge did not believe him. I no blame you, he thought.
‘You should know him’, he continued, ‘Rahman Abubakar, that’s his book on your compartment’.
Oge almost slammed on his brake. This is definitely a dream, he could feel his heart pounding, Rahman Abubakar in my car.
‘I think I know someone that can help’, Oge said finally, ‘I hope she’ll be willing’.
‘What happened?’, Oge asked. He remembered telling his friend, Tunmise, that the author would step on toes. He wondered whose toes.
‘Long story man, long story’, Tobi replied exhausted from the whole day. He knew his life was in danger if Ghost knew he betrayed him. it was for a good course bro, he mused. He tried to fight off sleep but nature took its course.
Different thought raced through Oge’s mind as he drove. He noticed when Tobi slept and was tempted to drive straight to a police station or hospital but his instinct told him otherwise.
I hope I’m doing the right thing, he whispered and drove on avoiding checkpoints.

Ghost opened his eyes and saw different faces staring down at him. His head throbbed with pain. His mind was blank for some minutes. He tried to block all the whispers from his brain. A policeman helped him to his feet and they brought water on his head. Gradually, the scenes came back to him. He remembered everything bar when he wanted to pull the trigger. That was where I went blank, he reasoned. He wondered where Rahman was. He knew the cops wanted a statement so he acted dumb for some time to get his story straight.
‘Are you okay?’, a policeman asked him and he nodded.
‘What happened here?’, another one asked looking at him suspiciously.
‘I dey go on my own when I hear gunshot’, he said acting like an illiterate, ‘na so everybody run’.
‘How come you ended up here?’, one of the cops looked at him quizzically.
‘I see one man wey carry gun shoot another one there’, he said pointing to where he shot the lawyer, ‘I think say the man don go, I com go help am. I no remember anything after that’.
He acted it so perfectly and he knew they believed him while the cops whispered and took down notes.
‘Can you describe the person with the gun?‘, a policeman asked him.
He gave a faint description of Rahman as the shooter. He answered some few questions and they collected his details for further interrogation.
‘Where the other man dey?’, Ghost asked curiously.
‘Dead’, one of them said while taking down notes.
‘He can’t be of much help since he was just passing by’, the cop said to themselves. Ghost heard them talk, smiled and made his escape. Stupid fools, he whispered. He wondered who hit him from behind; if it was a random person. Something kept telling him it was a sabotage. I’ll get the person behind it, he vowed.
Meanwhile Tolu was being rushed into a nearby hospital by a doctor accompanied by two cops.
‘Commence immediate surgery on him’, the doctor said. I hope he survives it, she prayed silently.

Ella was off duty and used the opportunity to clean the house. She relaxed after the final round of cleaning and reminisced. She wondered why she had been thinking about him recently. I probably shouldn’t have listened to what others said about him, she mused, I let a good man go. She had been tempted to pick up her phone to call him but she always chickened out at the last minute. She sighed and wondered if he was in a serious relationship. She was still thinking when she heard the bell ring.
‘I’m coming’, she said wondering why her naughty friend comes only at night, ‘Wunmi, you no well’.
She opened the door and was about scolding her friend when she got the shock of her life. The very man she had on her mind was standing right there infront of her.
‘Hi Ella’, Oge said; happy he met her at home.
‘Ehnm; hi’, She stuttered.
‘I need your help’, Oge said quietly.
If only you knew how much this moment means to me, she thought.


www.realyans./2014/11/19/the-convict-the-broken-and-the-storyteller-cbs-episode-8/