Leave Her Alone!

It was a stormy night.
She had missed the last bus to Iyana Ipaja and decided to go to a friend’s apartment nearby to pass the night. It was a walking distance from the CMS motor park. The streetlights were off and another power outage had left the motor park and surroundings in darkness, except for the flickering light from the tealights and hurricane lamps used by the few people at the motor park. They were the food sellers packing up to return to their respective homes and the motor park touts who had nowhere to go. These touts were the most dreaded roughnecks in Lagos city, because she had heard horrifying and terrifying tales of how they metamorphosed into hoodlums at midnight and assaulted unwary commuters stranded at the motor parks. She had to get away from the danger zone before midnight. The worst thing that would happen was to fall into the hands of these hoodlums and be raped.
God forbid, she prayed.

She was already feeling the chill of the cold night as she held on to her small black synthetic leather bag with her left hand and the small red umbrella with her right hand.
The hem of her knee-length black skirt flayed as the wind blew menacingly. Her knees jerked as she walked briskly in her wet black leather shoes that had been soaked as she stepped into puddles of rainwater in her path.
She glanced at her wristwatch and saw that it was 11.30 pm.
I must hurry before the gates to Bimbo’s street would be shut.
As she looked up, she saw six rough looking young men in front of her. Her earlobes twitched. She had to beware of them. They looked dangerous as they walked toward her direction along the sidewalk of the Marina.
She could not avoid them if she must continue going to Bimbo’s residence at Campus.
Oh, God, have mercy on me, she muttered in Yoruba, her mother tongue.
Suddenly they rushed for her. She flinched and she felt chilling shivers in her veins. They were going to assault her!

She quickly turned around and hurried towards the Christ Church Cathedral of the Anglican Church opposite the CMS motor park. The men chased after her as she ran in fear and trembling. She ran to the entrance of the cathedral and found the doors shut. She knew there was a small gate leading into the parking lot of the cathedral meant for the parishioners. She dashed for it, but she found it locked. There was no light on the building of the cathedral and no light could be seen in the parking lot. She swallowed lumps of saliva. She was in a state of emergency and the doors of her nearest place of refuge were shut! How would she escape from the hoodlums?
Oh, God! Have mercy on me! She said aloud in Yoruba.
She heard the men laugh and their laughter sounded like hungry hyenas.
She was at the mercy of the six hoodlums!
As they lunged at her in the darkness, she heard the echo of a booming voice.
“Leave her alone!”

A floodlight shone on her and the hoodlums who suddenly stopped in their tracks.
The small gate of the cathedral opened and an old man in a white cassock and long walking stick came out and stood beside her.
“Aha! Papa Vicar!” The hoodlums said aloud in salutation as they saw the old man. They seemed to recognize him.
“Leave her alone!” The old man ordered again in an authoritative voice.
They bowed their heads and walked backwards away from her.
“Come my daughter,” the old man said and holding her left wrist, he led her into the premises of the cathedral.
“Thank you sir,” she said.
“Thank God my daughter. You can stay here until tomorrow morning,” he said.
He led her into the vicarage and told an elderly woman to serve her hot tea. She drank the tea and thanked them. Then, the elderly woman in a long blue nightgown led her to a small bedroom where she slept until the third cockcrow before the sunrise.



By Orikinla Osinachi.

N.B: Nairaland is the first place that this short story is published in Africa.
Leave Her Alone was written a year ago on Bonny Island, Rivers State, Nigeria.

It's actually pretty good. I enjoyed it!!! You should write more. It just needs some minor editing but I would read this and want to buy the book. Well done!

another by orikanla
nice nice

Thanks for reading.

I have posted so many formally published and unpublished short stories online and offline.
Simple search for Orikinla Osinachi and Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima on Google and you will find them all.

This is a fantastic piece, I'll definitely look for the others. You can check out mine too, not as good as yours though. lol

uhm