₦airaland Forum

Special Christmas read

https://1drv.ms/b/s!Aj2YGetA7QoVanzd4dTb_cztX_Y

It's a collection of Christmas short stories. You'd love it.

S02E12


It wasn't until I entered UBTH's sprawling facility that I realized I hadn't confirmed the location of Sansa's ward. Knowing that whoever held her phone would decline to give me the answer, I went to the ward she'd been admitted to the first time. She wasn't there. No one knew where.
I was walking down the corridor thinking of where next to go when someone called me.
"Oga long time."
It was a slim elderly-looking lady wearing light blue garbs and wielding a broom and dustpan.
"Shebi na you come with one banker woman that time wey con do surgery?" she said, a curious look on her brow.
I nodded, wondering where I'd met her.
“Ahahn. You travel? Why you no come since?"
I scratched my head.
"You dey find madam abi?"
I nodded again, but she'd already started leading the way, whistling a tune.
We went back the same way I'd come and walked past the flowers and trees to another block of bungalows. She spoke to a beautiful light-complexioned woman in brown garbs who eyed me warily before asking me to approach. She led me to a corridor, pointed at a waiting area and said visiting time was in thirty minutes.
I made to seat, completely neglectful that I was not in good terms with Sansa. The edge of my vision caught a sight—a large cuboidal projectile bounding at me. I managed to ward it off with my hands. The buxom dyed-close-crop-haired projectile was Uwem, Sansa's bosom friend of many years who lived and worked in Benin. I'd met her once but Sansa had told me all about her—and her rabid rage—which she now bestowed on me, clawing at me with all her might.
"Accursed son of a gun. Mad man! Goat! What are you doing here? You traitor you!"
It took a few seconds for those around to react and when we were finally separated, I'd lost my photochromic specs, two of my shirt’s buttons and a sharp pain was surging across my face.
I was flustered, not knowing whether to back off and go home or try to reason with Uwem. I looked over and saw Sansa's mother and another sibling of hers sitting on one of the benches. They just stared sober-eyed at me. In that moment, I felt a twinge of pity for Sansa.
"Leave the bastard for me—the good for nothing... He's lucky Nnedinma is not here. She'd have eaten him for dinner—"Wicked laughter, fresh lunge "—Just give me a moment with this bastard…" Strong pair of hands restrained her again.
A matronly bespectacled lady in white garbs walked up to us and after eyeing me critically, asked me to follow her. She led me to her cubicle, sat me down and asked why I was causing more trouble to the troubled.
I explained as detailed as I could, Sansa was my fiancée but no more because she had been unfaithful. I had cared my best for her but did not realize that it was this complicated.
When I finished, she snorted.
"Still, I don't approve of what you did. You've not heard her own side of the story, have you?"
I shook my head, wanting to hint her that I wasn't here for it either, then thought better.
"So you're here to discuss what exactly?" She asked, her hands in front of her on the table.
"I just wanted to clear the air on a few issues."
"Hmm, she's actually not in any condition to talk…"
After a silent moment and a sigh, she rose and strode out of the cubicle. When she returned, she beckoned on me and led me past the waiting area—in sight of fiery glares—to Sansa's room.
The body on the bed was a gangly frame of bones with flesh stretched taut over it like leather over wood. Her skin was pale and sallow, with patches of cottony white on portions of her skin. Tubes ran in criss-cross lines all over, one running into her nose, another into her mouth. Her chest heaved slowly and uncertainly.
"My God, is this Sansa? What happened to her?"

S02E11


“But how far this babe na--?” Cletus asked.
“Who? Sansa? I don free her na. nobody messes with me--”
“No, Kome.”
“Seriously? Guy, I don’t bother with losers like that. I've got a life to live."
“Yeah. But do you know where she is?”
“I know she’s somewhere in this Delta State sha. I don’t know where exactly. Why are you asking?”
“I was just wondering if I could speak with her.”
Speak with her? My mind began to rove. What did Cletus know about Kome anyway...
“Una get business?” I asked jokingly.
He ignored me and said. “I’ve called Sansa and asked her to help me get her number, but she said I need to call you and tell you first.”
“Tell me what?” I said and cocked my ears.
“I'm sorry for all I've caused you bro, but that pregnancy, the baby…”
Holy Uriel. I couldn’t believe my ears. Cletus!
If he hadn’t cleared his throat, I wouldn’t have known that I had been quiet for long minutes.
“I don’t know what to say bro… I just don’t know what to say. Do you know what I’ve had to go through because of that experience? This was the last straw that led me into drugs. I almost took my life. You were responsible?”
"I'm sorry man."
I still couldn't believe it.
"First, tell me how it happened." I said, finally.
Cletus sniffed.
“The night Shaggy brought you and her home, I woke up as soon as you came in and chased all of us out of the room. I kept wondering what was special about her. Then I saw she was drunk, and I later went into the room and it happened. She didn’t know. I thought she'd blame it on… I mean... her boyfriend. I didn’t mean for it to happen, I promise.”
I considered telling him to sod off, then reconsidered. This was my brother. But he had been responsible for all that I had gone through and faced with Kome.
"So why are you telling me now? What difference does it make?"
"It's been a burden on my heart, and when I spoke with Sansa, she said I needed to apologise to Kome to enable her heal, but that I needed to tell you first."
“You’re crazy. It’s better to drown in a swimming pool than to tell Kome. Do you know that she took my matter up with an international NGO? Now you want to go and tell her that you’re responsible. What if she puts the baby and all it's care on you? Or she takes you to court. Do you know what that means?"
“I kind of feel responsible for what she may be going through now. Just thought I should let you know since Sansa already gave me her number.”
“You are still in talks with Sansa? What do you need from these ladies anyway?”
“Bros… you should go back to that babe. Things are not as they seem.”
“Go back? Lai lai! But you really messed up that Kome's issue..."
We said our goodbyes morosely and I went back to my brooding. Thankfully, I was not at work so I had time.
This new revelation was completely unsettling, and had Cletus not been my blood brother, I would never have forgiven him. What did Cletus mean by things were not as they seemed. Had Sansa told him negative things about me?
I resolved to speak with Sansa and find out why she was meddling in my family business. I called her phone.
The lady on the line said Sansa was unavailable. I didn’t blame her. Sansa must have stuffed her mind with bad things about me. I waited for an hour and then called with another number. The lady simply said Sansa was sick in UBTH and couldn’t talk for the time being. So Sansa was still sick? I thought she was recuperating...
I decided to go see her the following week.
The picture I saw on that hospital bed is something I will carry with me to the grave.

S02E10



“Four thousand dolls for wetin?” I ejaculated. “Where they want mek you see am?”
Cletus sniggered. “Like play, like play, one month pass, two months, three months for detention. Nna ehn...”
My mouth was ajar on the other side of the line, I was wondering what Cletus now looked like after going through all of this.
“Many people die.” He said and paused for a long moment, then sniffed.
“Even Alex, Dumebi and Ekpo no make am. Those Asma boys waste them. Na God go punish those boys.” He sniffed some more.
I wiped a tear from off my eye and sighed. Life was hard.
“So how did you get out?” I asked finally.
“Na God o. One night dem go patrol, leave us with only one guard. The guy drink sotey e high. Na so we collect im gun, kill am, bundle im body for body, con start to dey waka for inside bush, we no know where we dey go. One time, we hear gun shot, all of us scatter. One farmer see me, con hide me. The man na angel sha. He take care of me for like two weeks. Me when be say dem don cut my finger comot—“
“Dey cut your finger!”
Cletus laughed.
“Dey shoot me for leg sef. Many things wey dem do for that camp. See as dem dey rape girls anyhow. E get one time wey they rape one thirteen-year-old girl for our front. Who born you to close eyes. Na there dem shoot me for leg. God save me, I for don kpayin tey-tey. Those people brutal, Boko Haram dey learn where dem dey.”
So my brother had lost a leg. Tears streamed freely down my eyes as I imagined him hopping about with a crutch.
“So na one leg you get?”
Cletus laughed.
“That farmer been carry me go where they hep me set the bone. To say the bone don set before, I for no fit use the leg waka again. I still dey waka now, but sometimes, e dey pain me.”
I exhaled. His legs were intact. Thank God.
“Small time, the farmer no fit hide me again as the Asma boys dey search the area for we wey escape. Na so e put me for lorry wey dey go Zuwarah, he loan me small money for transport. As I reach, I see one boat wey dey cross from there to Italy, he collect four hundred out of the five hundred dolls wey the farmer loan me. That farmer na angel, I swear.”
“Na so you take reach Italy. Na wa o.” I sighed, grateful for a final end.
“Reach ke? Fuel finish for the boat. They con say make we bring more money so that they go fit radio another boat to bring fuel. People con dey rake, as we wan turn am to fight, na im Proactiva—one rescue patrol—catch us. Oh boy, I don reason repatriation. But as dem carry us on board, o boy, na Italy straight o. I no believe am.
“So for there, I work small, Eke send me small money join, two months later I carry flight from Milan to Kuala Lumpur.”
The end. I sighed.
“You see why I no wan gree you go that time…”
He laughed for a long time, then said,
“Abeg tell them Onyeka dem say mek dem no try am o. Na to take straight flight. Mek dem no try am o!”
I nodded. You needn't teach the monkey to say "amen" after he’d been dealt with by Ijapa; it would be his natural language.
This was when Cletus dropped the payload.

Electricboy:
that episode 12 mad o

Glad you're feeling it broa

S02E09


Cletus told me something else that was entirely shocking but first he told me the rest of his story. Apparently, he hoped to cushion the effect of the shocking news with his entertaining story, a plan that worked excellently.
With the truck dead and the bleak situation, the men whispered among themselves that it was better to start trekking. It was Dumebi, one of Cletus' companions who first suggested the idea. But it didn't sell. This was the desert for God's sake, sandstorms, scorpions, mummies and uniform nothingness in all directions. Trekking for a whole week could as well be futile.
Besides, there were no more supplies. The best and only option was to pray and expect another truck.
They shuddered when they remembered the man who died in a praying position.
Suddenly Cletus declared, "let's go." They'd come too far to lose out on their dreams, he said. But other than Ekpo and Dumebi, he was on his own.
They stripped their luggage to the barest and stamped brazenly into the dusty horizon like there was a bus stop next mile.
They'd travelled for a little over an hour when Ekpo heard the sound of revving engine. In a moment, a truck rumbled past in a dizzying cloud of dust. It took them a moment to realise it was their truck. They screamed, waved and danced theatrically, the truck rumbled on mindlessly. For the second time, it was over. Cletus said he'd never been that miserable in his life.
But fortune smiled on them.
After plodding around like idiots till eventide, Ekpo heard another rumble. This time, they successfully stopped and boarded the truck. It was not as full as the previous truck and the occupants didn't mind having others join them. The only thing was that there were two dead bodies riding in the truck with them; the owners unwilling to let go. Incidentally, the truck was headed for Sabratha instead of Tripoli and had left Agadez only three days before. But the boys did not mind.
The rumble continued through the desert for another few days. Cletus and his companions were shocked to again pass by their own truck which seemed to have gotten stuck once more. Only this time, the new truck driver was unwilling to entertain new riders in his truck, so he sped on.
One night as they neared the border town of Libya which could be seen by the bright skylight, another vehicle, a Toyota Hilux drove towards them and ordered them to stop. Their truck attempted to out-maneuver, but it was no match for the sleek Hilux. Men with guns came out and began snaring instructions to the occupants of the truck, all of who came down quietly--they'd had enough on the journey to be fazed by some gun-wielding men. Cletus later found out they were the legendary Asma boys.
The Asma boys was a criminal gang which held migrants for ransom in detention centres and then promised safe passage into Italy on payment of the ransom. Cletus' was $4000, and it sounded funny until the first month passed and a third part of the group was either dead or brutalised.
It was at this point in April 2014 that Cletus called me.

Brainiac12:
This is the reason I don't like reading stories on nairaland small thing buy my story or read it in my blog wtchewwwwwwww

Lol. That's not the issue naa, Thing is I began the story on my blog, and I update there every Sunday evening. The reason why updates are inconsistent here is because the spambot often blocks my posts.
I'll be better from hence. Promise.

Electricboy:
next update on your blog please, what happened to sansa ?

Incoming... Sunday evening...

I started updating late here, the latest update on my blog is S02E11.
Do well to visit and read.
superiorwords.com/blog

S02E08


"You did not know she was pregnant?"
I shook my head, dazed.
“Well, I suppose she was waiting for the perfect moment to tell you.”
My brow creased all the way down. Perfect moment?
"You're saying you're not responsible?" The doctor said, impassively.
I shook my head again, not in reply, but in wonder. How could it be?
Then I told him, as true-to-God as I could.
Sansa had firmly decided against sex until our white wedding. 'Since the wedding isn't much longer,why not wait?' She'd say every time, then tell the story of the little boy who stole his own rice because he couldn't wait. This was why she wouldn't let me live with her at first. She said it was an instruction from her pastor and that she would no longer violate herself. We visited, saw each other frequently, and did all other things but sex.
So whence was this? I couldn't believe Sansa was seeing someone else. I felt like a spinning top whose rotation was coming to a gradual end, sputtering and jerking electrically.
The elderly-looking doctor unpursed his lips finally.
"We found evidence of oral thrush and her body was mostly filled with rashes. It is likely that she has an untreated STI which may have damaged her foetus. In all honesty, the diagnosis has proven to be complicated and I may have to refer you to the University of Benin teaching hospital."
I listened with my head in my hands.
Afterward, he advised me to stay by Sansa and not jump to conclusions yet. He also said not to ask anything until she was well enough to talk.
I just looked on and thought, this man clearly knows nothing about love.
I went back to peep at Sansa snoozing body, I could swear that every iota of affection I had for her was slowly diffusing away, like a gas, moving from a more concentrated region to a less concentrated one.
Her colleagues came from work later, including Shaggy I was told, for I had left to prepare dinner.
The next day, we moved her to UBTH. A surgery was performed. Sansa survived but the complication had affected her foetus and it had to be removed. She was placed under a long rest.
I decided to leave quietly; she'd been too kind for me to disgrace her publicly.
I stopped seeing her, got a job as an insurance broker and moved to another part of town.
I couldn't let one woman ruin me. I had a whole life ahead of me and I was going to live it.
When I told Cletus later, he said,
"I swear, all women are like that."

S02E07


I was on my back on the cold tiles in my room reflecting on Cletus’ riveting story when the knock came. By this time, Cletus and I had been speaking on and off for one week; he’d get called in for work and would be gone, for long stretches at times. Other than the job applications which I was making during the day and the few online jobs I undertook at night, I had time to kill. So whenever I laid down to rest, like this afternoon, there in front of me was Cletus wading in the desert sand, a muslin cloth over his head and dust caked in his beard.
It was Ariyo at the door. Ariyo was one of the janitors at TrustMond; faithful as a dog. I had been kind to him and now he was the chief janitor. I wondered what he wanted, we’d only spoken twice since I left TrustMond. He was succinct.
“Madam collapse for office today.”
“Madam? Which Madam?”
“Madam Sansa. We just hear shout from her office. Somebody say she don die…”
I didn’t wait to hear the rest of it. I dashed out and onto a bike. Only when I arrived St Clarence Missionary Hospital did I wonder how I knew it was here. It was the hospital where I had done the paternity test regarding my run-in with Kome and her child. The nurses recognized me and soon, I was in the room with Sansa. She lay peacefully on the bed. When I saw her chest heaving gently, I let out a long pent-up breath.
“What happened to her?” I asked the nurse who’d ushered me in.
“She must have suffered a heat wave. You know its early March and the heat is much. We are however performing a series of tests right now so as to diagnose her condition.”
“Heat wave?” I said, incredulous. “She works in a bank. The AC is on twenty-four-seven.”
“Oh, well then.” The nurse said resignedly and made to leave. “Do your best not to wake her up. She needs all the rest she can get.”
I ignored her. “Has anyone been here from the bank?”
“Some of her colleagues, yes. They promised to check on her later, perhaps at the close of work.” The door whined shut behind her.
I patted Sansa’s temple, it was moist, and her hair lay in ruffled bangs on her forehead. Her breathing was short and muffled, almost silent.
Suddenly, I became rueful. Sansa rarely got ill but since I got out of prison, it had been one thing or the other. She'd asked me to move in with her but I'd declined saying I needed a job first. Then there was work, she had been pushing herself vigorously because of the forthcoming promotion and Shaggy was a formidable rival. I should have had her slow down. Or maybe it was that sly bastard who did this to her. I resolved to ask Sansa when she stabilized.
I was beside myself all day, even missing calls from Cletus, having left my phone at home. When much later I was ushered into the doctor’s office, I lightened up, expecting the news.
“Miss Ebime is your betrothed?”
“Yes doctor.”
“I need you to take this news as a strong man, okay?”
I nodded.
“There was a complication with the baby…”
“Baby? What baby?”

Brainiac12:
Update iyanyin.......

Yes sir!!

S02E06B



On the seventh day, supplies were running low and suddenly, a group of people were standing in the obscure path, waving frantically and hysterically. Someone whispered that they had either been robbed or their driver had deserted them. Cletus made a mental note to always stay in the truck or hold on to a part of it if Abu ever asked everyone to disembark. It turned out that they’d been robbed.
He couldn’t believe it when Abu stopped the truck, approached them and began to bargain with them, some on their lives. In moments, Abu was rearranging the packed-full truck to the fury of everyone in it, to make room for the new passengers. Of course, it couldn’t take everyone, but the stranded did not mind if a thread was all they had to hang on to.
This was a bad idea because a number of people who didn’t get good grips fell along the way. You just realized that when the truck stopped, certain persons could no longer be found. And you were either glad because you had a little more space to stick out your nose to get a dollop of the dust-ridden breeze or worried because you just could be next.
On the twelfth day with all supplies gone, the truck waded to a stop plunk in the middle of nowhere. Push as they might, it wouldn’t budge. The women wailed, the men bit their fingers. It was over.

S02E06A


From Agadez, the road disappeared; it was all desert, with hot howling winds that filled every crevice in your body with sand. They said there was a trail which only the drivers knew but sometimes missed whenever there was a desert storm.
Cletus learned within the first few days the essence of keeping your property close to your skin. This was after he’d lost his money, his toothbrush and a host of other items. Everyone had a gallon of water tied to the wooden railing and hung outside the truck. Whenever there was a stop, you took out your tin cup, put in some Gari and added water and that was your supper.
When the driver got tired and stopped, passengers alighted and sat or slept in the dust. But no one actually slept because they were protecting their property. Four days into the journey, they lost track of the other vehicles and it became a horror story. At several points, the truck broke down. They had to push and push in the hot sun.
There were bodies strewn everywhere, bodies with passports on them. The whole place was like a graveyard. One time during a toilet break, Cletus and Alex his friend discovered the fresh bodies of two men, one on his back while the other had died while he was praying. They nearly went mad with shock, but the driver acted like it was normal. They buried them, but this was one of many others they saw on the way, of mother and child, of breadwinners who sought to bring their families out of penury …

MightyFortress:
Brilliant Writing. Good job, OP.

I'm honored sir

I'm getting too many blocks from this spam bot argh!
I need a permanent solution.

Brainiac12:
Good work Hydronium

Thanks a great deal Brainiac12

Lavish88:
I just stumbled on this series this morning and I couldn't drop my phone or do anything else until I read it all. Waiting expectantly for continuation.
You're an extremely good writer. Bravo!

So glad you enjoyed it. Hope you keep reading.

mansakhalifa:
Just one question.

How did one man get himself into so much trouble

Nice write. Nice read.

Loooong story.

Thanks man. I hope to write better stuff so you can keep reading.

ChiefSweetus:
Not bad, man.. Well done!

I'm honored to write for chiefs.

ChiefSweetus:
Not bad, man.. Well done!

Thanks a great deal man.

ThePreachersSon:
OP you're doing great, can't wait for the next episode.

Honored, man. I hope you'll keep following

jenifer007:
Just stumbled on this great work this morning....very interesting.... Keep it up

Thanks for the kind words. Do keep reading.

gokecont:
I just stumbled on this morning, and it made my day... Wish I could like this Gooooood why naaaa!!!

Glad to have been able to make as much as a glimmer of your day.

Electricboy:
great story

I'm Honored electricboy. Keep following, lots more coming.

USTAppreciation:
Interesting piece.

You're mighty welcome. Hope you'll keep following

KelvinCoaster:
Speechless.

Hey KelvinCoaster, thanks a great deal. Just trying my little best over here. Hope I'll keep seeing you.
And... Great idea. I'll consider that title... Metamorphosis...

USTAppreciation:
Interesting piece.

You're mighty welcome. Hope you'll keep following

S02E05B


The boys arrived on Monday night, the day most smugglers left town. Abu decided that since it was late, he'd leave with the boys if they had enough passengers by Wednesday night. Till then, everyone had to pay for lodgings and food and water.
On Wednesday morning, a white Toyota Hilux revved up in front of the compound. The car had blacked-out windows and ripped-off license plates and the boys gave a satisfied nod, but a short while later, a dusty truck plodded into the yard, belched a satisfied puff of smoke and halted in the center of the compound.
It was loaded with about five hundred liters of fuel and about three hundred liters of water for the three-day journey. When at last it was time to board, Cletus couldn’t believe how many people showed up outside the compound—over 50 passengers. He and the boys went to reason with Abu but were met with stern looks. The more they argued, the more seemingly comfortable spaces were taken up. When they finally conceded, they had to be crammed at the back of the truck, faces outwards, legs dangling from the parapet and gripping to the sticks attached to the truck to keep them from falling out when the vehicle picked up pace.
They went in a line, a caravan of three cars from Agadez to Durku, near the border of Libya, and when the vehicles zoomed off in a cloud of dust, a loud cry of prayer went up from the passengers, each calling upon his own god to bless the journey.
Prayer or not, this supposed journey of three days through the wilderness took twelve.

S02E05A


Agadez was a squat town, Cletus said, a warren of low clay buildings circling the thirty-meter-high minaret of the grand mosque which could be seen from most parts of the Islamic town. The houses were mostly single-storied with courtyards and windowless walls. The place was mostly quiet until Monday afternoons when preparations went into top gear for the journeys which were to be at night.
Eke had given him the number of a ‘connection man’, and had warned him not to trust anyone. Since Cletus was technically in charge of the gang with him, he bought a new line and called the number. The man, Abu, a Nigerian living and trading in Niger, referred them to his compound and there the haggling began. He would take a hundred and fifty thousand Naira per person. He boasted that he made the journey once a week, that the Sahara was a dangerous place to be—each time the route looked different, thanks to the regular sandstorms which changed the shape of the desert after each gust. He knew the Sahara ‘like his bedroom’ but others didn’t get so lucky, that’s why they died and people heard all that bad news on TV. And once you got lost, you ran out of fuel—and then water. And if there was no water, you couldn’t survive for more than three days. Then there were the bandits, Jihadis and other opportunists looking to steal cars, and kill you or leave you in the desert. Besides, driving them was illegal. What if they were caught? That meant he had to settle policemen and all sorts. By the time he finished, Cletus and the boys were pretty shaken up, so they agreed to a hundred thousand per head, although they later found that they could have paid as low as fifty thousand had they not been sweet-talked by Abu.

I was once again banned by the spambot. I guess it's the content of the story. If by any chance you do not hear from me in a while, you can read from here [url]superiorwords.com/blog[/url]

Slimpotter:
She's blunt and doesn't mince words right?

Yes blunt and as true to herself as can be