₦airaland Forum

Midnight Love

By

Kayode Odusanya

© 2020 Kayode Odusanya


2:22 am

The moon was at its fullest, and it lit up the forest like floodlights at a late night football game. Wind whistled as it blew through tree branches. They were at a clearing in the forest that looked like a temporal home to a nomad. The whole place was tense. Wale was on his knees, with his hands tied behind him. A rifle was pointed at his head by a heavyset man in army fatigue, and he was hyperventilating as blood dripped from his mouth and nose. On the ground a few feet to his right was Nkechi, holding up her torn clothes while she let out muffled tears. Her once white polo top was now a muddy mess. A lanky soldier was standing over her with a rifle pointed at her. The third man was scanning the surrounding bushes. After a few minutes of surveillance, he came back to the little clearing in the bush where everyone else was. He was just as stocky as the man with the gun pointed at Wale, but he wasn’t as tall. He looked at Nkechi for a few seconds and then said in a silent voice, “Kill them.”

Nkechi’s cries went up a notch, and Wale looked at her from where he knelt. He couldn’t believe everything was going to end this way. There was nothing he could do. The men had guns, and there was no way he could overpower them with his hands tied. He closed his eyes to say his last prayers, and just then he heard some movements in the bush in front of him.

“How many of you are remaining?” The man standing over him asked in a low voice. He pressed the barrel of the AK 47 to the back of Wale’s head as a threat, but Wale still didn’t say anything. The men were alert now, standing with their guns pointed at whatever or whoever was coming.

A white cow came into view, grazing nonchalantly. After a few seconds, a few more cows appeared from the bushes. Everyone was quiet; even Nkechi stopped crying. When two herdsmen appeared from the bushes with guns raised, Wale’s heart skipped a beat.

So, I am going to divide the short story into three parts. I will post the first part now...it's quite short. The second and third parts are longer, but the story is still just a short story of between 2,000-3,000 words.

I will post the remaining parts of the story tomorrow.

itsyoms:
Morning and evening (7 times). When you wake up in the morning you say it seven times and when you are going to bed you say it seven times.
Now, In the evening, When you get to the point where you say "Some huge amount of money is coming to me "today, " change it to "Tomorrow" in a super, super easy way...
God Bless You As You Do...

Thanks

itsyoms:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMyA4TaJUdc
All things are working for my good
I am rich and in good health
I am fortunate
I am always at the right place at the right time
Some huge amounts of money...

How often do you say the affirmations?

This will be a short story...just about 3,000 words in length. I will post it in a couple of days. I know I am still posting a story, but this will be quite short...a quick read.

I initially planned for the story to be 8-10 chapters, but things have changed. It is going to end up being 14-16 chapters.

Chapter 9

It seemed odd to him that the therapists office was in a shopping mall, but Bola had told him her ways were unconventional, so it didn’t shock him much. He had noticed she had an accent when they spoke on the phone but couldn’t tell if it was an American accent or Canadian accent. He concluded she was one of those Nigerians that grew up in foreign lands that started traveling back home when the Nigerian entertainment started booming about 20 years ago.

John was dressed casual in a white polo top, black jeans, and brown sandals. The mall was filled with noisy teenagers that had been home for months because of the Covid-19 pandemic. There was a little more peace and quiet when he stepped through the glass doors of the pharmacy. An attendant dressed in white short-sleeve shirt and grey pants stepped up to him with a thermometer gun pointed at his forehead. John waited for him to do his thing, and within a few seconds, he let John walk in. He wondered how accurate the thing really was in checking a person’s temperature.

Jane, the therapist had told him her office was at the back of the Pharmacy when they spoke on the phone, but he wanted to do a little window shopping before locating the place. He walked through an aisle stacked with different types of deodorants. His favorite, Old Spice caught his eye. He walked over to pick up the red container to check for the price. From the corner of his eye, he noticed someone behind him. When he put the deodorant back on the shelf, and turned around, an attendant was standing there, smiling at him. “Sir, can I help you find what you’re looking for?” The teenage girl said in the most polite tone.

“No. Thank you.” He said and kept looking through the shelf. She went on to the other side of the aisle and started rearranging some things that didn’t need rearranging. “Actually, I’m going to Dr. Jane’s office, can you direct me to the place?” John said on second thought.
“Oh. Yes. Please follow me.” The girl said enthusiastically as she led John down the aisle. They navigated through a maze of aisles till they got to a white door at the other end of the pharmacy that looked like it led to a store room. The girl knocked on it, opened and popped her head through the door. She spoke for a few seconds, and then got out of the way for John to step in.

The first thing he noticed when he walked into the office was how cold it was. The pharmacy was air-conditioned, but this room was freezing. “Good afternoon.” The brown skinned slender lady with glasses said as she got off her seat to greet him. “You kept to time. That’s good.” She said as she looked at her wrist watch. She had on a white t shirt underneath the blue blazer she was wearing, and her braids were neatly packed to the back. “Have a seat please.” She said with a hand gesture at the chair in front of her. It was a small office; about ten by twelve feet in size, rugged, grey painted walls, with a table, four chairs, and a couch facing the door. Hanging above the couch was an imitation of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece painting, The Mona Lisa. John took his seat, his eyes focused on the portraits of the Governor Sanwo-Olu and president Buhari up on the wall in front of him. The office was both formal and informal at the same time, he liked it.

She pointed the air conditioner remote at the split unit up on the wall to her right and pressed a button a few times. “So, how are you doing John?” She said with a smile as she placed the remote back on the wooden table.

“I’m fine.” He said. He had expected her to call him by his last name, with a Mister in front of it, but this was good. It made him more relaxed. But still, looking straight at her made him a bit uncomfortable. She was quite attractive, with full luscious lips and he was having all sorts of thoughts. John looked back before saying, “can I sit on the couch?”
“Yes. Of course.”
He got off the chair and headed over to the couch. It was a three sitter. He first sat facing the door, and then he turned to one side so he could see her.
“You can sit however you want.”
“Can I…” John was saying and stopped to lay on the couch, with his head on the arm rest, facing the ceiling.
“Anyway you want; as long as you’re comfortable.” She said with a little laugh at the end. “So…I usually start my sessions with meditation.”
“Okay.”
“Nothing out of the ordinary; just follow my simple instructions. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Please close your eyes and breathe in.” She said in a low, almost seductive voice. “Breathe out.” She let a few seconds go by before repeating, “Breathe in. Breathe out.” She repeated these words a couple of times, and stopped. John kept the breathing going; feeling more and more relaxed as he did so.
“Keep taking deep breaths. Concentrate on your breathing.” Her voice was so soothing and relaxing to John. “The goal is to empty your mind.” She said and waited for a couple of seconds before saying, “Don’t fight the random thoughts. Let them be, and they will pass away. Just focus on your breathing.”

He did exactly as she said, and with time, the thoughts on his mind became less and less. He was at that point between consciousness and sleep, and he felt like he was going to fall asleep, but he kept hearing her voice, and that kept him awake. It was a simple exercise, but the feeling was great.

She went quiet for a couple of minutes, and then she said, “Let’s begin.”

Chapter 8

The place was at the top of a 5 storey building, with a splendid view of the ever busy road that led to the University of Lagos. It had tables for four here and there and tall bar stools by the walls. The walls didn’t make it up to the ceiling, and this gave the place a breezy feel.

It was 3pm, and it was just John and Bola at the spot. They were seated side by side, by the wall, sipping their drink and reminiscing on good old times. John couldn’t remember the last time he felt this great, and he could tell she was having fun too.

Bola used the opportunity of an awkward silence to ask if he wanted to talk about what was really going on. If she had asked him right when they got there, he would have felt too awkward to talk, but the Stout had relaxed him. Also, catching up on old times had made him feel more comfortable around her. “Suicide is not the answer.” He said after a prolonged silence and she looked at him strangely. “I know that is what you would say in response to whatever I say.”
“Well…it is true. No matter what you were going through, suicide is never an option.”
John looked at her for a while before saying, “I want to ask you a question.”
“Okay.”
“If you were at the top of a burning building and you had to choose between getting burnt to death or jumping to your death to avoid the torture of being burnt, what would you do?”
“Hmm. That’s a weird analogy.”
“Just imagine for a second it was a reality, what would you do? Would you rather burn to death, or jump?”
“John, I cannot rationalize suicide with you. This analogy isn’t the same as what you are going through.”
“But that’s how I felt.”
“You can’t equate being in debt with burning.”
“Do you know how much my debt is?”
“Yes. Tunde told me. It’s a lot, but still…I just don’t think that should make you even think of…” She stopped when she saw the reaction on his face. He wasn’t sure she fully understood him. “I know. I know. I can never fully understand you, but don’t think I don’t have problems too. Everyone has problems.” John sighed and took a sip from his cup. “If you think of killing yourself over a debt of two million, what do you want me to do?”
He looked at her for a few seconds before asking, “You in debt too?”
“No. But I’ve been married for ten years without a kid.” She said and kept her gaze on him. He had been so lost in his troubled world he had not realized that his friends didn’t have kids. “Do you know what I go through? You can’t even imagine it.” He was quiet. There was nothing he could say to counter her. After a prolonged silence, she said, “I know someone you can talk to.” He looked up at her but didn’t say anything. She went through her brown leather hand bag for a couple of seconds and pulled out a business card. “She’s a psychologist, and a trained hypnotherapist.”
“She’s a hypnotist?” John said as he collected the charcoal black card from her and examined it.
“Yea, it sounds spooky, but she’s really good with what she does.”
“Okay.”
“She used to work with the artists Tunde managed when he was in the entertainment industry.”
“Hmm. You do realize I’m broke, right?”
“Don’t say that. Words have power.”
He laughed a little before saying, “I know. But…” He was saying and stopped when he didn’t know how to phrase his thoughts.
“Her first session is usually free. Just go and see if you would be comfortable with opening up to her.”
“Okay.” He said, turned the card side to side before putting it in his left breast pocket.
“Promise you will go?”
“I promise.” He said and smiled at her. She smiled back.

Chapter 7

The first thing John grabbed when he walked into his BQ apartment was the white sheet of paper on the center table in his living room. Bola was in the car outside, but he didn’t trust she would stay there. Although it wasn’t obvious, he had noticed she had been trying to never leave him alone for too long.

He read a few lines of the suicide note and couldn’t believe where his mind was at just yesterday. Footsteps outside made him hold his breath and slowly crumple up the paper in his hand. “Uncle John, good afternoon o,” A female voice said outside his door, followed by a knock. He relaxed, put the rumpled up paper in his jeans back pocket and went to the door. “Good afternoon sir.” The light sinned girl at the door said with an expressionless look on her face. She held on to her son as the little boy tried to wonder off. The collar of the black t shit she had on was slack, and it looked like she just rolled out of bed. “I’m collecting the money today sir.” She said and finally let go of the boy. He ran off, chasing a butterfly. She couldn’t have been more than 19, and had taken over the cleaning business from her mom as a means to support her kid.

“Okay.” John said and headed back into his apartment. Even though he was deeply in debt, paying her one thousand Naira monthly was not and never had been a problem. Like her mother before her, she did a great job with cleaning the compound thrice a week, and deserved to get paid when due.

His wallet was right where he had left it when he walked into the room; on the bed, with a little note beside it. He grabbed the paper. He had written a short cryptic note that only a family member would be able to decipher to get his ATM pin code. He tore the paper twice and threw it in the black thrash can by the wall, grabbed his wallet and walked out of the room.

Back at the entrance of his apartment, he had his head down as he went through his wallet. The little boy was back by his mom’s side now. When John looked up and saw the look on the girl’s face, he went through his wallet a little longer, before handing her two Naira notes. “I put 500 Naira on top. Use it to buy biscuit for your son.”
“Thank you. Thank you very much sir.” She said. Her face lit up as she collected the money from him. He stood by the door a couple of seconds, lost in thought for as he watched them walk away. Being able to make someone else smile in his situation made him feel joy. At least he wasn’t as useless as he thought he was. When they walked out of sight, he shut the door and walked back into his room.

He grabbed a black backpack on the floor by his mattress. It was heavy, and he remembered he had planned to go look for a place to charge his laptop the day before. He unzipped the bag and headed over to his wardrobe. The first things he threw in the bag were underwear; four neatly folded white t shirts, and four boxer shorts. Then he placed the bag on the floor, and started grabbing and folding shirts before putting them in the bag. After putting four shirts, he stopped to think. He didn’t know how long he would be with his friend, but it’s better to have too much clothes than too little, so he picked three more shirts, before throwing in two jeans trousers and zipping up the bag.

He was heading out of the room, but stopped by the door, and walked back to the wardrobe. After looking at the remaining shirts on the hanger for a couple of seconds, he picked out a navy blue, double pocket long sleeve shirt and wore it on the white t shirt he had on.
He turned off all the lights in the apartment as he headed out with the bag on his back. A cold wind blew in his face as he walked out of the door, and for some weird reason, he felt like it was a sign of good things to come.

Bola was sitting in the driver’s seat of the black S-Class Mercedes Benz, dressed in fitted brown and purple patterned Ankara gown, looking bored. Her face immediately lit up when she saw him walk out of the gate.
She was smiling when he got in the car, looking really pretty with her made up face. “What?” John asked.
“You haven’t changed. You haven’t changed much since school days.”
“Hmm. Thanks for reminding me of how skinny I still am.” He said as he fastened his seatbelt.
“No. Not that.”She said with a little laugh before continuing with, “It’s just...the way you dress. You still dress the same.”
“Hmm.”
“Well, it’s not really a bad thing.”
“Okay.”
“I’m serious.” She said with a smile to convince John she wasn’t just trying to be nice. ”I actually liked that you always dressed in long sleeve shirts back then when every other guy wore oversized t-shirts.” There was an awkward silence in the car for a couple of seconds before she went on to say, “So…you want to go anywhere else?”
“Hmm. I don’t think so. What about you?”
“Nope.” She said and started up the car with a push of a button. She put the car in reverse, and as she was backing out of the corner she was parked in, she stopped and looked at him. “You remember that rooftop bar you and Tunde used to take me to back in the day?”
“Oh! Yea.” His face lit up as he said so. The place is actually not far from here.”
“And the bar is still there?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. I don’t mind some nostalgia right now.” She said, looking into space.
“You want to go there?” He asked and she nodded with a smile on her face. “Hmm. Not a bad idea. Okay. I’ll give you directions.”
“Cool.” She said enthusiastically as she pulled out of the spot she was parked in and drove off.

Chapter 6

Present Day

John woke up in bed, not knowing where he was for the first few seconds. He heard voices close by and concluded that was what had woken him. He lay there with his eyes closed as he gathered his thoughts. The smell of fresh sheets felt good. He opened his eyes to the white everywhere; white walls, white bed sheets, white rug, and white split unit air conditioner hanging on the wall. There was power outage when Tunde had led him into the room with a lamp yesterday and he hadn’t realized how beautiful the room was.

Footsteps heading in the direction of the room made him sit up in bed. He grabbed the t shirt on the bedside stool and threw it on. He knew it was Tunde heading to the room, but Bola could pop up too.

There was a knock at the door, and he cleared his throat before saying, “what’s up?” The door swung open and Tunde walked in dressed in a grey suit, white shirt, and no tie. “Hmm! You’re heading to work this already?” John Said as he robbed the back of his neck.
Tunde looked at his watch before saying, “I’m even fifteen minutes late. I normally leave the house at 5:30.”
“Oh…okay.”
“Umm…so, Bola’s office hasn’t resumed fully, so she still works from home.”
“Okay.”
“She will drive you down to your apartment later in the day to get some of your things.” John didn’t say anything. He just looked into space, and Tunde continued with, “It’s best you stay with us for at least a week.”
John sighed before saying, “I don’t want to be a burden.”
“Bro, don’t worry about that. It was Bola’s idea. We are not complaining.”
“Okay.”
“I have to rush now.” Tunde said and looked at his watch again before turning around and heading to the door. He stopped half way out, turned around and said, “Yeah, I put some cans of Stout in the fridge for you.”
John laughed lightly as he watched his friend walk out the room. Beer was the last thing on his mind this early in the morning, but he might be in the mood for one or two cans in the afternoon. Tunde and Bola weren’t psychologists, but he was sure that they had discussed between themselves to make him as comfortable as possible and not thoroughly discuss the suicide issue just yet.

John lay back in bed and admired the white pop false ceiling. He had remembered playing Xbox for hours in this same room back in day, but Tunde had refurbished the whole house. It almost felt like he was in a hotel room. Back in school days, he was always the smart one. But now, Tunde was the one with the better life. He was about to go down a path of regretful thoughts when he closed his eyes and started taking deep breaths. Within a few minutes, he drifted off into sleep.

……….

He was awoken by the sound of a knock at the door and his name being called out. He sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes as he looked up at the wall clock. It was already mid day. He couldn’t believe he had slept that long. “Come in.” He said in a hoarse voice.

She cracked the door open a bit and her head popped up. “Hi.” She said with a smile on her face. John smiled back. “I just wanted to ask what you would like to eat.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“What did you eat?” John asked as he stretched.
“Bread and egg, but I can make you whatever you want.”
“Thanks. I will have bead and egg too.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” He said with a smile.
“Okay. Let me get to that.” She said as her head disappeared and the door closed. John sat there for a couple of seconds, wondering what to do next. His phone was back at his apartment, and he felt incomplete without it. He got out of bed, took off the blue jeans he had on and walked over to the table in front of him. He got out of his boxer shorts, threw it on the bed, and grabbed the white towel hanging on the back of the chair. A knock at the door startled him and he almost tripped trying to quickly throw the towel around his naked lower body. “I forgot to ask if you like your egg scrambled or normal.” Bola shouted out from the door.
“Umm…scrambled. No, sorry, normal. Fry it normal.”
“Okay.” She said and John stood still. When she didn’t say anything else, he tied the towel properly around his waist, and headed for the door.
There were three rooms in the house; a master’s bedroom and two rooms side by side. John was in one of those rooms, and he had to come out of his room to use the bathroom, which was between his room and the other room. The space between the two rooms had a door cutting the rooms off from the other side of the house, but the door was open, and he could see a shadow moving around. Probably Bola moving from the kitchen to the dining room, he thought to himself as he opened the bathroom door and walked in.

Everything was sparkling white; from the white bathtub, to the white tiled walls and the white wash hand basin, and toilet bowl. As he made to pull off his t shirt, he felt a sharp pain around his right shoulder. He guessed it was an injury from yesterday but wondered why he was just feeling it now. He attempted the move again, this time slowly.

He hung his t shirt and the towel on the shower curtain rod and stepped into the tub. He turned on the shower, and stepped under it with his eyes closed. As the water hit his body, flashes of last night flooded his mind. He realized just then that he had not really taken time out to think of what he did yesterday. The thoughts brought up strong emotions within him, and it felt like everything was happening all over again. His heart raced. He turned off the shower, and sat in the bathtub as he proceeded to take deep breaths.

With time, his heartbeat went back to normal, and the haunting thoughts of yesterday left. But in their place came thoughts of his reality. He wasn’t dead, but he still owed a total of two million Naira. Thoughts of calls from all his creditors and threatening text messages from loan app companies left him overwhelmed. And then, all of a sudden, he bust out crying; uncontrollable sobs, with snot-bottle coming out his nostrils.

He hadn’t realized how loud he was crying or how long he had been crying, but just outside the bathroom door was Bola standing there, with tears rolling down her cheeks.

Franzinni:
Baba op you seem to be an OG here on NL nice ... And to be honest this story as a movie would be sick ... The way his life flashed back in his head under water I could imagine every single millisecond as I read on ... I must confess ... You are up there among the best of them and far above the rest of them ...


If I finally get around to shooting a movie baba I would honoured to work with you on that project in fact ... Baba I could even hear the sound of the water as it hit the side of the canoe while they tried to revive john ... But the part that blew my mind was when the fisher man spoke about his new baby and something about his hope that the baby does not have a big head like him ... I still laugh as I remeber it now... Baba you are an artist
I cut cap for your talent all the characters are well developed and uniquely interesting... And to be honest I connect because the story really rings bells on so many levels for me ... Nice one bros...

Thanks man. You just made my day. Any time I am having a bad day, a comment like this comes along.

By the way, sorry for the delay in posting guys, something came up. I will start posting again on Monday. Thank you all.

joytothewise:
nice piece! 10/10

Thanks

Chapter 5

October 2000

It felt weird being the only one in the elevator at the senate building. He guessed the rain had kept people from moving around. It had slowed down to a drizzle, but lightning and thunder were still doing their thing. The elevator doors were closing when he heard a female voice shout out, “please hold it.” Her high heels made a ‘clack-clack’ sound as she ran up to the elevator. “Thank you,” she said in a soft voice as she got into the elevator.

The girl was tall dark skinned beauty. Her expensive looking weave went down a little past her shoulders, and she reminded him of a young Naomi Campbell in the old Michael Jackson music video from the 90s. The scent of her sweet smelling perfume filled the air. She had on a sky blue gown, and a silver belt brought out her coke bottle shape. John had been looking for an opportunity to meet a girl that wasn’t in his class since he got into the University three months ago, and he felt this was the perfect opportunity. She pressed 3 on the elevator control board, and judging from how fast this particular elevator moved, he had just a couple of seconds to spark up a conversation.

He cleared his throat, adjusted the navy blue long sleeve shirt he had on and was about to say something when the lights went out and the elevator stopped moving. “Oh my God.”The girl said and pressed a button on the control board a couple of times. “Oh my God.” She repeated again, and it was clear she was going to have a panic attack.

“Relax. It will open very soon.” The inside of the elevator was pitch-black, and John was also terrified, but he had to reassure her that everything would be okay.
“I’m claustrophobic. I can’t. I can’t be in here” She said, sounding out of breath. She proceeded to press the buttons on the elevator control board a couple more times. “It’s not opening. It’s not opening.”
“Relax.” John said. He didn’t know what to do, but he knew he had to do something fast. He turned her around, and pulled her into his arms. “What’s your name?” He asked in a calm voice.
“Bola.” She said, and held on to John.
“Okay Bola, I want you to do something for me.” He said. They were chest to chest now, and he could feel her heart racing.
“Okay.” She responded.
“I want you to breathe in and out, slowly.”
“Okay.”
“Breathe in.” He said, and waited for her to do so before saying, “breathe out.” After a few seconds, he could feel her heart beat start to regulate. Just then, the lights came back on and the elevator doors opened. The whole thing hadn’t lasted more than two minutes, but it felt like forever to her.

They were still on the ground floor, and she disentangled from his hold and hurried out of the elevator. John also got out of the elevator. He stood there, and watched her walk away…Clack! Clack! Clack! She stopped all of a sudden and turned around. Clack! Clack! Clack! She headed back in his direction.

“Thank you so much.” She said and held him in an embrace for a couple of seconds, while people passed staring at them. And then she let go, smiled and said, “Bye” before turning around and heading back in the direction she had come from.

John stood there, and waited for her to walk out of sight before heading for the stairs to his right. He wondered if he would ever see her again. He didn’t even get to tell her his name, or ask for her department. He still had her scent on him, and the smell was so refreshing.
He was still deep in thought when he bumped into Tunde on the fourth flight of stairs. “What are you doing here?” He asked his friend, with a shocked look on his face. Tunde had on a big white t shirt, and his face cap was turned backwards on his head.

“Looking for you…come on, we have a test in about five minutes.” He said and headed down the stairs, pulling John along with him.
They were taking the stairs two at a time, hurrying along. As they took the last bend to get to the ground floor, they almost bumped into a girl. When they stepped out the way, John saw it was the girl from the elevator. She recognized him too and smiled. “Hi. Thanks once again.” She said, as she walked passed them. She stood at the top of the stairs, looked back and waved at them with a smile.
“Holy crap. How do you know that girl?” Tunde asked in a low voice, staring at his friend in disbelief. “Call her back. Call her back.”
“You said we have test.”
“Damn! That’s true. Let’s go.” Tunde said and they continued down the flight of stairs.

……….

During their test, Tunde had been caught spying on John’s work and sent out twenty minutes before finish time. It was a good thing that he had already copied 80% of the John’s answers, with that he was guaranteed at least a ‘B’ in the test.

John was heading back to see his aunty after the test when he saw them. There, in the open space between his department building and the senate building was Tunde and the girl from the elevator, talking and laughing like they had known each other all their life. Tunde had a way with girls, but this was not just any girl, this was meant to be his Cinderella.

“Hey, John.” Tunde saw him walking in their direction and waved him over. “She was telling me about the elevator incidence.”He said with an excited voice.
“Oh yea.” John said with a forced smile on his face to hide his disappointment.
“Hi. Thanks for earlier. I don’t know what I would have done if I was alone.” She said with a smile on her face.
“It’s okay. I’m just happy I could…”
“Good thing Johnny boy was there.” Tunde said, cutting John off. The girl laughed at what he said. It wasn’t what he said, but the way he said it. Tunde naturally radiated an infectious energy that people couldn’t resist. “She told me how you calmed her down. I didn’t know you were such a smooth talker.” Tunde said and the girl covered her face laughing.

While writing his test earlier, all he could think of was what he would say to the girl if he ever ran into her again. He had rehearsed it all in his head. But now, looking at her laugh at everything his fiend said, he wasn’t sure he wanted to tell her any of those things any longer. There was no use.

Deleman234:
Thanks for the updates Kay though you have gone for awhile now. Hope you are good health?

Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks.

enirock:
Its good to have u back Kay. We await more updates. I guess this work is not just fiction

lol. I some times draw inspiration from my real life experiences and those of friends, but this is fiction. Pure fiction.

Chapter 4

They were parked outside Tunde’s house now, sitting in the car quiet. The chirping sound of crickets filled the air. The house Tunde lived in was the same one he grew up in. As time went on, all his older siblings married and left the house. His parents died within a space of twelve months and he ended up being the only one left in the house. There was no use moving somewhere else when he had a full house to himself in a nice residential area in Lagos like Surulere.

“John, why you go wan kill yourself na?” Tunde said in broken English, breaking the silence. His tone was more of disbelief than anger. When John didn’t respond, he went on to say, “You would have at least called me or something.”

The car was quiet for a couple of minutes after that. John wanted to mention all the times he asked his friend for money and got ignored, but he decided not to. Tunde had helped him with money a lot of time in the past, and he appreciated that. “See John, all those times I was giving you money, I discovered I wasn’t helping you.” Tunde said and stopped for a while to continue with, “Giving money to a man would make him dependent and lazy.”
“Bro…Bro…” John started to say with an angry voice but stopped to take some deep breaths before continuing with, “You know what I have been working on. It is not like I have been sitting on my ass doing nothing.”
“Bro, do you know long you have been working on whatever it is that you have been working on?” When John didn’t say anything, Tunde continued with, “We left school 15 years ago bro. 15 freaking years ago.”

John sat there silent, holding back tears. The truth was bitter. He knew a lot of years had passed since he left the university, but hearing his friend mention the number of years was like a wake-up call that maybe he really had been wasting his life. “I was always ready to help you get a job, but you always turned down the offer.” Tunde said. John remembered all the times Tunde came to him with job offers, but giving up his dreams of being a successful novelist always felt like death to him. He felt like he had just one life here on earth, and it would a disservice to the world if he gave up writing to sit in an office doing what he didn’t like. He tried it once, and he became depressed after a couple of months.

“I know you’re passionate about your writing, but you could have continued writing in your free time while you had a job.” Tunde said. It was like he was in John’s mind how he always seemed to speak on what John was thinking.

John had tried holding a job while still writing, but it never worked. It was like the jobs always sapped all his creative energy; he could never write while working a regular 9 to 5 job. So, he tried various businesses; blogging, poultry business, opening a CD/DVD sales shop, but all the businesses failed, and he was left with huge sums of debt each time a new business venture failed. The only thing he could show for all those years was the 32 novels he had written so far. But they weren’t selling the way he thought they would.

You sell a novel for a dollar on Amazon, Amazon takes 65 cents share from the dollar, and you are left with 35 cents. And then the American government charges you 30% tax on selling in their country. That would live you with about 24 cents. Then you have other charges that come with using online companies that help you with digital payment from Amazon. Before you know it, you are left with 20 cents on a book you sold for 1 dollar. That’s about 80 naira on a book. You would have to sell at least a thousand books a month to make the whole thing make sense, and John hadn’t been able to sell that many books.

“So…how much do you owe?” Tunde asked. John had been so lost in thought and had forgotten his friend was beside him. “Is it up to one hundred thousand?” John laughed lightly at the fact that his friend would think he would try to kill himself over a debt of one hundred thousand Naira. “Anyway, we’ll talk about it tomorrow morning.” He said and opened the car door to get out. John also got out of the car, sluggishly.

Tunde opened his house gate with a key. As he pushed the gate open, a dog started barking in the compound. He walked over to the dog’s cage by the wall and the German Shepard started whining out of excitement. John headed for the house entrance, through the middle of two cars; a Mercedes and a space wagon. The front door slowly swung open as he got to it, and there she was standing in front of him. She had added some weight since the last time he saw her. The worried look on her face was quickly replaced with a smile.

Ann2012:
Kayo is back!!!!!!
Well done boss

Yes o

nastynic:
Nice one bruh...
Its been awhile, what happened? You just left us hanging

I just needed a little hiatus. But I'm back.

Chapter 3

They were by the University of Lagos lagoon front now, waiting for John’s friend, Tunde to arrive. The canoe was tied to one of the metal poles that served as barricade from the lagoon and the university property. John sat at one corner of the canoe, holding his ripped polo top in place with folded arms. After saving him from drowning, he had sat there in the canoe, silent, staring into space for minutes while they questioned him. Not like he didn’t understand the Yoruba or broken English they were speaking. He was just too embarrassed to speak. But when he heard one of them mention olopa, he had to speak up. There was no way he was going to let this turn to a police case. All he could think of was his suicide story on the front page of Nairaland forum, or on Linda Ikeji’s blog. That would make him kill himself for sure.

He had initially suggested that they help him to the foot of the Third Mainland bridge, by Oworonshoki. It was around, 10:30pm, not too late to get a bus back to Bariga where he lived. He could even walk home from there, but they said they couldn’t allow him go home alone. They asked if he had anyone he could call that could come get him. He had left his phone at his apartment, and the only numbers he knew off the top of his head were those of his mom, dad and one of his oldest friends. His parents weren’t in Lagos, and he wouldn’t want to call them anyway. Tunde was his only option, even though they hadn’t spoken in a long while.

When he got on the phone with his friend, he couldn’t say anything past “It’s me, John.” One of the fishermen had to take the phone from him and explain the situation to Tunde. Now, they were sitting there in the canoe, waiting for Tunde to show up. John hoped the school’s security don’t show up and ask what they doing there.

He had to commend the fishermen. They didn’t know him, and didn’t owe him anything, but they sat there, waiting, not complaining for once. John understood enough Yoruba to follow their conversation and liked the fact that asides from the initially questioning of why he had jumped, they didn’t speak on his suicide attempt anymore. They spoke about their individual families. One of them was talking about his young wife being pregnant, and his friend said he hoped the child didn’t end up having a big head like him. John had to hold back laugher, because the man did really have a big head, but he hadn’t expected middle aged men would be cracking jokes that way.
They stopped talking when car lights flashed in their direction and they heard a car approaching. A few seconds later, one of the fishermen’s phones started ringing. The big guy looked at the screen of the phone before handing it over to John. A black Corolla was now parked a few meters away from them on the school property. John collected the phone from the fisherman, and stood up in the canoe to look in the direction of the car. It was Tunde alright; he confirmed to himself and wave the phone at him before picking up. “What’s up? Can you see me?”
“Yeah.” Tunde responded, and there was silence on the line. John could hear the humming sound of the car air conditioner. And then he heard the sound of Tunde opening the car door, getting out and closing it. He heard the sound twice; on the phone, and the real sound. The phone call ended and Tunde started heading towards their direction. He was about the same height as John, but bulkier; 6 ft 2, dark skinned and muscular. His black shirt was unbuttoned and it danced as he moved. He had a white singlet underneath his shirt and something around his neck. When he got closer, John realized it was a white t shirt. He had asked him to bring him something to wear when they spoke earlier.

John thanked the men for their help and got off the canoe onto the school premises. “What’s up?” He said to Tunde and his friend handed him the white t shirt before heading over to where the fishermen were. He greeted them, thanked them, and attempted to give them some cash, but they refused and requested that he just take care of his friend.

John got out of his ripped polo top, threw it into the shrubs nearby, and walked over to thank the fishermen once more as they untied the canoe, and paddled away.

John and Tunde walked to the car without saying another word to each other. They got in the car, Tunde backed the car out of where he was parked, and drove off.

The air conditioning in the Corolla had John shivering after a few seconds. Tunde noticed this and switched it off. They continued to drive in silence. John looked out the window as they drove past the University of Lagos senate building. The 13 storey edifice brought back memories. When he was schooling here about twenty years ago, he had an aunt that worked in the building. He would always go to see her on Fridays, and when he was leaving, she would give him two hundred naira. That money went a long way for him back in the day.
One rainy day, while heading up to see her, he was waiting for the elevator door to close shut when a girl shouted out, “please hold it” as she ran up to the elevator. He pressed the button on the control board to stop it from closing, and as she got in, she smiled at him and said ‘thank you.’ She was the finest dark skin girl he had ever seen. She had a perfect set of teeth, and her smile was heavenly. John also loved the fact that she was just about his height. If there was anything like love at first sight, John was sure he had just experienced it.
When she pressed 3 on the elevator control board, he knew he had just a few seconds to spark up a conversation with her. He wished he had more time, and his wish came through when they got stuck in the elevator.

Tunde’s phone started ringing and it disrupted his train of thought. “Yes, he is here with me.” He heard his friend say after picking up the call and it got him curious.

When Tunde ended the call, John turned to face him and asked, “Was that Bola?”
“Yes.”
“She knows what happened?”
“Yes.”
“Shit.” John cursed under his breath.

Chapter Two

John went through the water like knife through butter. The darkness of underwater had him in panic mode and his heart beat quickened. Consciously he wanted to die, but when that survival instinct kicks in, you are no longer in control of your actions. He kicked and fought to get to the surface, every cell in his body screaming for oxygen. He felt like he was in a dream; everything was in slow motion, even though he was trying to move faster.

His mind raced. Flashes of his life came on the screen of his mind. The first time he played sonic the hedgehog on Sega Genesis at a cousin’s house as a kid, when his favorite teacher brought him up on stage at assembly in primary school for being roughly dressed, being chased by a house master the first time he went out illegally at night in boarding school, speeding through the expressway on a Sunday morning in his mom’s Camry, the smiley face of his first girlfriend; all these flashes within seconds, while he kept struggling for his life.

Minutes had gone by now, and his movement reduced. His memory flashes came on and off now like a TV when a generator was out of fuel and about to go off. He felt something swim past him, and he got a sudden surge of energy. Images of a shark flashed through his mind and he fought for a few seconds before finally going limp. Everything went completely dark. He slowly started to sink deeper into the lagoon.

The night was a moonless one, and John hadn’t noticed a canoe down in the water before he jumped. There was now a man swimming blind sighted, trying to locate the man he and his fellow fisher man had seen jumping into the water. When he finally found John, he grabbed him by the collar and started swimming upwards.

When the man made it to the surface with John, he took in a deep breath. He had jumped in on instinct immediately he sighted John jumping from the bridge, and hadn’t thought he would be under as long as he was. A few feet away from him was a canoe with a man standing in it holding up a rechargeable lamp. The fisher man proceeded to make sure John’s head was above water as he swam towards the canoe.

The other man grabbed John’s body and hauled him into the canoe as his colleague climbed in. The man quickly laid John’s body flat on the inside of the canoe, and ripped his red polo top to expose his bare-chest. He proceeded to continually pump John’s chest with his hands over each other. After fully catching his breath, the diver came to his side to see what he could do.

“O dabipe o ti ku o,” the man said in Yoruba, suggesting probably John was dead. He kept pumping John’s chest while the diver held up the lamp on John’s face. “O dabipe o ti ku.” The man repeated and slowly stopped what he was doing. He sighed and sat back in the canoe. The diver dropped the lamp and proceeded to try his luck. He pumped John’s chest for a while, and then tapped his cheeks a few times. He waited for a few seconds and was about to continue the act when John suddenly threw up water and leaned forward coughing.

Doyinsunshine:
I received this mail with gratitude of heart. And I will say, acknowledgement and acceptance of little efforts as this goes a long way in encouraging Nigerian Writers.
I feel encouraged and much honored to be have secured second position.

And thanks so much for the token of gift. I promise to keep writing for humanity.
.
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#writingcommunity #writing #blogwriting #essaywriting #sdv #poetrycommunity #competition #unic #worldenvironmentday #environment #climate #un #unitednations

Nice. Congrats.

Franzinni:
Bros I cut cap for you... You had my imagination for at least 4 minute of read time I would like to believe you are trained in storytelling ..


I have parked my car at the carpark and I have brought my tent along ... I am here till chapter 10 pampam!!!


Nice write up Sir.

Thanks. I appreciate the compliment. Next chapter will be up early tomorrow morning.

I like this moniker o. It sounds like an Italian mob boss name.