Ann2012:
Thanks for this interesting piece May God increase your knowledge

Amen, thanks Ann2012

PrudySara:
Whew!! Finally, it has come to an end. More ink to your pen dearie Thank you..

Welcome PrudySara, thanks for your time

izaray:
The end? Cha!! Sis you just took us unaware

Thank you so much for your time. May God bless u with knowledge and the grace to do more! Kudos!

Welcome izaray and thank you for the prayer

Thank you all who have followed the story. The story will soon be out on Okadabooks, you can support me then by purchasing it if you have loved it. Anticipate more stories. Cheers.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Lancelot, some people are here to see you,” Rahila said as she opened the door.

Lancelot was dancing to a Bob Marley song and holding a can of malt when they entered. He stopped abruptly as he saw all of them and squinted his eyes to look at them properly even though the lights were bright. It was 8:00 p.m, the night was still young and families were in their houses watching TV or discussing issues.

“Who are they? Did you bring your friends to beg me?”

Jane went up to him and collected the can gently from his hands.

“They are good people and they have come to help you, you need to listen to them, Sir.”

“Jane, what’s going on, Girl?”

“Doctor Lancelot, do you mind accompanying us to the hospital this night?” One of the men said. He was a staff of the Psychiatry ward at the General Hospital, Gwagwalada.

“Don’t I know you?” Lancelot asked and squinted his eyes again.

He looked at Jane and frowned. “What have you done now?”

Jane stammered, “I...I...I...I did what w...as best... f..for you.”

“Treason! Conspiracy! I can smell what you’ve done Jane and it’s not good, you don’t know what you’ve done Girl.”

“We just need you to come with us to the hospital for proper examination, please Doctor.” Another man said.

“Listen to them please,” Rahila begged.

“Oh shut up, what do you mean listen to them? Do you know my mission now? Do you know what’s going to happen if I go? My mission will be aborted.”

The three men present exchanged glances.

“What mission Sir?” One of them asked.

Lancelot began to sob, he went over to Jane and held her firmly. “Your life is in danger My Girl, I can’t leave you here. Don’t allow them to take me away, I can protect you from the evil about to come, help me.”

“I’m doing just that Brother Lancelot, just follow the men.”

“You can see he has clearly lost it, he’s not the man I married. He doesn’t drink so he’s obviously not drunk, please take him away.” Rahila said.

The three men advanced him slowly while he shouted at them and attempted to escape, but they caught him and bundled him away. They took him outside where there was a hospital van waiting, they pushed him inside the back seat and two men sat beside him to avoid him getting away. The other man sat in the front with Rahila and the van drove away headed for the hospital.

“You don’t know what you’re doing, that girl’s life is in danger, and I’m telling you. Jane, you are in danger...”

His voice faded as the van drove on. Jane closed the gate and went inside the house. She cried helplessly as she entered and knelt down on one of the sofas.

Have I done the right thing? Of course, I have, he needs help, I couldn’t just stay quiet and do nothing. I did the right thing. But what if I am in real danger, no, he doesn’t know what he’s saying, everything will be alright.

She cried until she fell asleep

The next day she could not go to school. She prepared breakfast and took it to the hospital to see Rahila and Lancelot. Lancelot had been admitted immediately and the doctors said his case was critical and they were not sure when he would be released. He did not say a word to her when he saw her but only looked at her quietly while she kept avoiding his eyes.

“I need some clothes Jane,” Rahila said to her, “Get me few clothes that I can wear while in hospital, my hospital has given me a week off so thankfully, I will stay with him until then. Get us also our bath stuff, toothbrushes and get me fresh underwear, you will find them in my black trunk. Get some things also for Lancelot, I would have gone home myself but the doctors would soon be going on Ward Round and I need to hear what they would say. That will be all.”

Jane nodded, took a last look at Lancelot and left. She came back in the afternoon with the things Rahila asked for along with lunch for both of them. She made Lancelot’s favourite, semolina and fresh vegetable soup with lots of meat and fish. She met his two friends Joe and Bayo in his room when she came. They were talking to him and trying to cheer him up while he sat on his bed propped up by his pillow frowning and saying nothing.

“Oh, Jane is here,” Rahila said and helped her with the things she came with.

“Jane, it’s been a while.” Joe greeted.

“Wow, so nice to see you again,” Bayo said.

“Good day.” She replied to them, then went up to Lancelot and hugged him, “How are you doing this time around?” She asked him.

Lancelot did not move or say anything.

“He has been quiet ever since we came in, he does not want to talk,” Joe said.

“Yes, we have told him all his favourite jokes and given him all the recent gossip in town but he’s still not happy,” Bayo spoke. “Well, I’ll have to be going now, I need to go back to the office but I’ll be back tomorrow.”

He hugged Rahila and told her not to worry too much; Lancelot was going to be fine. She thanked him and saw him off.

“How is school, Jane?” Joe asked.

“School is fine.”

“Are you coping with the studies?”

“Yes, the studies are no problem.”

“I heard you won an essay contest, congratulations.” He winked at her.

She blushed.

“You know your big brother here is always bragging about how intelligent you are. He is always proud of you, make us all proud.”

She nodded and tried to suppress some tears from her eyes. “I think I should be going now, I need to do some chores at home.” She stood up.

“Oh, I thought you would spend some time here, at least try your luck making Lancelot cheer up.”

“Uhm, some other time.”

“Okay, take care then.”

She left. He turned to face Lancelot.

“She’s really a nice girl.”

Lancelot held him swiftly by the hand. “Go after her Joe.”

Joe looked surprised. “You mean like toasting her?”

Lancelot slapped him on the head, “I know you’ve secretly admired her but that’s not what I mean. She is in trouble, follow her home and help her out of danger.”

“Have you taken your drugs today?”

“Oh my goodness, why doesn’t anybody take me seriously? Look my instincts are very alert and I have a feeling that she is in great danger.”

Joe looked at him and sighed. “What kind of danger could she possibly be in Lancelot and at such a time?”

“I don’t know, but someone is after her and she needs to be rescued, please Joe, I know you like her, would you want something bad to happen to her?”

“Of course not, but I don’t think anything could happen...”

“Follow her Joe or don’t come back here again.”

“What?”

“I mean it.”

Joe sighed again. “Okay, as Your Majesty wants it.” He stood up, adjusted his collar and started going.

“Hey, stay safe.”

He shrugged and came out of the room. He was positive that nothing was going to happen to Jane, Lancelot was just being obsessive and irrational, but he was going to go ahead and pay the house a visit, have a few drinks with Jane and talk a little with her and leave. He had to fulfil all righteousness so that he could satisfy Lancelot. It was true that he secretly admired Jane. He even nursed hopes that she would agree to be his wife someday, but she needed time to settle down in school and he was not in the mood to rush things with her. How Lancelot figured this out was his confusion because he had never discussed it with him before. Could it be true that Lancelot had strong instincts?

Jane slowly made her way down through the stairs, she came to the section where the paediatric ward and the maternity ward met, She decided to take a look at the paediatric ward where Lancelot worked. The ward was big and wide, the walls were decorated with paintings of cartoon characters and alphabets. There were many children on their beds with their parents sitting on the chairs close to them. She thought about Isaac for a second and wondered when she will be able to see him again. She was about to go when she spotted someone who looked like Pamshak talking to a nurse. Perhaps it was her eyes playing tricks on her. His back was turned to her and he was gesticulating to the nurse who listened to him with folded hands. Then he turned his face to another side and Jane saw that it was indeed Pamshak. She backed out of the ward quickly and climbed down the stairs as fast as she could go.
What was Pamshak doing in a paediatric ward in Abuja? Had he come to visit a family he knew who was at the hospital? Or was he following her? No, that could not be, she thought. She flagged a taxi quickly and entered. Her mind raced throughout the ride as she considered the possibility that he knew her whereabouts. She tried calling Planang but her number did not go through. She waited till she was home and tried her aunt’s number, it rang and she picked.

“I saw him today.”

“Jane, who did you see?”

“Pamshak.”

There was silence.

“Did he see you?”

“No, he did not. But he was at the hospital.”

“You are safe as long as he does not see you, just be careful and tell your cousin about it, lock the doors whenever you’re inside and don’t open for strangers.”

“Yes Ma.”

The call ended. She remembered she had not locked the gate. She was about to go back to lock it when she heard a knock on the door.

Joe stopped at an eatery before he reached the Okafors residence. He ordered for two meat pies, he was about ordering for two bottles of yoghurt when he remembered Jane loved ice cream so he changed the order to two medium-sized bowls of ice cream. He paid through the POS device, collected his ATM card and receipt and left.

The door opened and Pamshak came in smiling. Jane looked at him and tried hard to put herself together.

“What are you doing here, Pamshak?”

“Is that how you greet your lover after so many years of not seeing him? Well, good afternoon to you too.”

“What do you want?”

He gave out a hysterical laugh. “You.”

He inched closer to her now and she backed away slowly.

“Did you think I did not see you at the hospital today? Well, to clear your doubts, I have been following you for the past three months now. I knew when you started attending school, I knew when you were awarded second place for the essay contest, I knew when your cousin-in-law started behaving strange and when he was rushed to the hospital, as a matter of fact, I know everything.”

“Look, just tell me why you are here.”

“Alright, I have missed you Jane. Missed you and my son so much I have been miserable. And then I thought to myself, how can I be so miserable when I can go and bring back my family and we can be happy? I have come to take you back with me.”

“There is no way I can go back with you, are you okay? I was the most miserable girl in the world while I was with you, you made my life so wretched, you trashed away every dream I had while growing up, you caged me and took away every hope I had once nursed. How could I not run away? I promised myself that if I ever ran away I will never come back to you.”

“Wrong decision Baby, what you need to know is that with me is where you rightly belong. All these things you think you are pursuing, they are not worth it. I’m the only man who can truly add value to your life; recall you have a son with me, no man can ever love you with your past.”

“That’s a lie. There are many men who will love me beyond my past, and even if there are not, I’ll be satisfied to know I am far away from you and you can never have me.”

“You know, I thought you were going to be sensible about this, but I can see I have to move to plan B.” He brought out a revolver from his jacket and aimed at her. “You see this thing, it’s loaded. I know you haven’t seen a real gun before but you have watched many movies so you know what a gun looks like. I have joined a group of assassins now; they’re very deadly. This gun I’m holding can kill you in a matter of seconds, don’t be a fool, just follow me and everything will be alright.”

She started sobbing. “Why can’t you just leave me alone, if you love so much why can’t you let me be.”

“I don’t want to kill you Baby, but if you force me I may do something bad to hurt you. You will follow me quietly and we will travel to Jos to get my son, after that we will go to Lagos where my crime syndicate is located. We will start life afresh in Lagos, after I have made enough money we will travel to Dubai or Australia, isn’t that lovely? So just follow me and don’t try anything funny.”

She started to walk towards him slowly while shedding tears. The door opened unexpectedly and Joe pushed Pamshak and he fell down. When he got up the two started struggling, Joe was struggling to get the gun from him and Pamshak was struggling to pull the trigger. They struggled for long until without warning a shot was fired. Joe was on top of Pamshak who was lying on the ground, Jane figured the shot had gone through Joe and had already secured a heavy object to hit Pamshak immediately with it, but Joe got up and she saw that it was Pamshak who had shot himself in the chest. Joe extricated the gun from him. Pamshak lay on the ground breathing hard, his eyes were open, and he stared at Jane.

“Sorry for not loving you properly,” he managed to say in a low tone, “I should have been a better man. Tell Junior I love him.” He stopped breathing.

Jane shook him and when she got no response she started crying. Joe held her and patted her back. Outside the police siren could be heard. Joe had apparently contacted them through text immediately he had overheard Pamshak threatening Jane.

“He would need to continue taking his drugs for a lifetime because he has already had three relapses so far. I need you to be there for him, encourage him, support him, that’s what he needs. Already he is showing signs of improvements but we will continue to monitor him for a while to be sure he is really responding.” Dr Amaka said in the office.

“Thank you, Doctor, thank you very much.”

“By the way, I’ve noticed you aren’t feeling very well...”

“Yes, I’ve been down with a fever, I’ve been vomiting of late. Maybe it’s the change of environment. You know I’ve been sleeping in the hospital for the past one week now, it’s not really conducive but I’m really anxious for my husband to get better, he’s all I have.”

“Hmmn, in some month’s time he won’t be all you will have.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Congratulations, you are with child.”

“What? How can you be so sure? The scan result showed my womb had been damaged.”

Doctor Amaka laughed. “Trust me; I always know when a woman is with child, my instincts are never wrong.”

“Oh my God!”

In Lancelot’s room, Jane and Joe were seated with Lancelot. Lancelot was laughing this time around at what they were saying. When he saw her enter he stretched his hands towards her, she came close and hugged him.

“You’re starting to look big, Sweetheart.”

“Well, there is a good reason for that.” She smiled proudly. She handed him the test result she had gone to conduct after leaving Doctor Amaka’s office.

“It’s a lie,” Lancelot said looking at it.
“Anything is possible if we believe dear.”

He stood up and hugged her even tighter; tears filled his eyes, he tried to clean them. What more could he ask for? Jane had been saved and now he was set to be a father. His life was beginning to make sense to him now.

The End

izaray:
I'm a she pls!

Sorry ma, my bad. Thanks for following.

Ann2012:
Na real wa
Well done OP

Thanks Ann2012

izaray:
This story just the boost my brain, more grace ma'am!

Abi, thanks man

divinelypruned:
Thanks for the update

Abeg that Pamshek should not go free oo, he need to pay for his wickedness

Welcome, keep reading to see how the story will end

izaray:
Nice story

Thanks man, keep reading

aprilwise:
So many wahala for the family. thanks for the update

Welcome Love

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Jane had won second place in the Edson’s Mental Health Essay Competition. She was going to be awarded a cash prize of N500, 000 including an Ipad and science books. Her essay had been published in the Health for All blog with more than 60 people commenting on it. Jane was happy and shocked because she did not expect she will win. She had done her best at writing the essay but had assumed students with better exposure and education will be competing too and hence she would not stand a chance, but when her name was published on the blog and a congratulatory message sent to her email address. She had been too happy to even shout.

Rahila and Lancelot followed her to the Award ceremony which happened in Abuja, they were all excited for her but the happiness was not the same as when Lancelot got an award the previous year; then they had been peacefully happy- what they had now was happiness that still reeked of pain. The event was great and they took pictures with her holding her cheque and other prizes. The first prize winner got a cheque of one million naira while the third prize winner got two hundred thousand naira. She made friends with many of the contestants and she was told how lucky she was to win the award, how intelligent she was and how the award was going to be very useful to her in future upon graduation.

On their way back, Lancelot asked her what she was going to do with the prize money. She was quiet at first, she had been thinking about this too. She had come to the conclusion that considering the fact that things had changed a lot in their home, it will be wiser to use the money for her education and not continue being a burden to Lancelot and his wife, she was scared things will continue to take a bad turn and they will no longer have the time to pay attention to her schooling. Perhaps this was a God’s way of giving her another source to pay her tuition when things came trampling down.

“I want to use it for my tuition, you know, and relieve you both. You have all tried a lot for me and...”

“Use it for your tuition; has it come to that now? You now think we will no longer be committed to your education because we have issues within ourselves? Come on, don’t have such ideas, your education is our responsibility; we aren’t going back on it. If you don’t have a plan of what to do now I suggest you keep the money in a fixed deposit account, you could find it useful when you graduate.”

“Okay Sir.” She answered.

Rahila looked on and did not say a word.

The days that followed gave Jane the shock of her life, Lancelot had changed completely. It was as if a demon had entered into him while he slept and taken control of his mind, he just woke up and became a different man. It started the day after the award was given to her, Lancelot came to the dining table to eat, Rahila and Jane were already seated for breakfast. They were having akara (bean cakes) and millet pap. He sat down with a heavy thud and looked at every one strangely.
“Get me my breakfast Jane.” He announced in a low but angry tone.

Jane got up hurriedly to serve him; she was in such a hurry that she almost threw off the akara balls from the flask if not for the intervention of Rahila. Rahila collected the flask from her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll serve him.” She said and went over to him with the intention to do so.

As soon as she got near him and was dishing the akara balls to the plate, Lancelot hit the plate down and it broke with a loud sound. He immediately stood up and faced her.

“Did I ask you to serve me? Eh, Rahila? Why don’t you keep your dirty body away from me, this should be the last time you would come close to me again.”

Rahila opened her mouth in shock. “What have I done to you now to deserve this insult?” She managed to say.

“You have forgotten what you have done right? After making my life miserable, you are asking me that damn question. Stay away from me in this house I tell you, stay away.” He warned and walked away.

Rahila and Jane exchanged glances, their shock did not allow them to utter any word, and they went back eating their breakfast and wondering silently.

Lancelot became someone to be feared in the house, apart from flaring up suddenly at any slightest provocation, he suddenly detested Rahila vehemently. He called her all sorts of names and moved from the bedroom they shared to the guest room. She took all these things sadly in tears, but when Lancelot started making it clear to her that he now preferred Jane to her, she became angry.

He only ate the meals Jane cooked and only conversed with her in the house in a normal tone. One of the days Rahila overheard him talking to Jane at the dining table and saying Rahila’s days of evil in the house were numbered.

“Please don’t talk like that Brother, I thought you had forgiven her for everything?”

He sneered, “Forgive her when she is bent on destroying my life? No way.”

“But you have changed dramatically Sir. You never used to be this harsh about anyone or anything.”

“When a woman drives a man crazy, he can’t control his actions any longer. Rahila has driven me crazy, she is nothing like you, you are understanding, loving and caring, she only cares about herself.”

“Is that how you feel?” Rahila replied cutting their conversation. She walked up to him. “If Jane is so perfect for you why don’t you just marry her? Marry her Lancelot and leave me alone!”

“I don’t even know what I saw in you to make me love you. You are the worst of wives.”

“Oh really? After years of happiness this is the statement you can come up with, just because of some little stupidity on my part, you want to throw away everything we have shared for the past few years. Why Lancelot?”

“I kept myself all these years, worked on my career so I could give the woman I will marry a good life and my future children as well. After marriage I was faithful, loving you above every other woman including my mother, what did I get from you in return? Secrecy, infidelity and unfaithfulness.”

“You are dragging this thing a bit too far, anybody hearing you will think I was indeed unfaithful.”

“You see,” Lancelot turned to Jane “You see how untruthful she is? Instead of admitting and asking for forgiveness she is busy trivializing the whole issue. I know what I saw that day; you think sending Bitrus to talk to me in my office was going to make me doubt what I saw? No way.”

“My goodness, I didn’t even know he came to talk to you in the office. I didn’t expect he would even try to save my marriage for me. You know I’m even wondering myself how I fell for you, you are the most callous, selfish and wicked man I’ve ever known.”

“Oh yeah? What are you waiting for? Go back to Bitrus then, or go back back to Pam. I should have known there was something else involved when he sent you that car as a wedding present. You slimy snake.”

“You guys please stop this, this is so unlike you. You have never raised your voice on one another and never had a fight like this? Just talk about this decently, I beg you.” Jane begged.

“I’m done condoling with this viper.” Lancelot said.


Rahila trembled as she narrated everything that had taken place in her house to her friend Angela. Angela nodded and shook her head where necessary. She finally sighed when Rahila was through with the story.

“This is bad, really bad. I didn’t expect this to ever happen in your home. You two were the most loving couple I knew.”

The most loving couple are usually those who end up having the most terrible fights that end up in divorce, her marriage is sure to end, she never wanted to take any of my advice.
Angela thought.

“You remember when I advised you to send your cousin back to where she was coming from. A pretty girl like that, she has succeeded in capturing your husband’s heart.”

Rahila looked up through her tears. “I don’t think that’s the way it is. From what I’ve observed, Lancelot is angry with me over the abortion and the Bitrus affair. He feels I have made his life miserable. He is now comparing me to Jane which he would never do before.”

“Babe I am telling you, there is something fishy here. Your cousin is not pure the way you see her, she has secretly admired your husband all these years and has been plotting how to get him to herself.”

“Jane? I seriously doubt that, Jane has been a very nice girl.”

Angela laughed dryly. “Nice, indeed. I caught her in the past looking lustfully at your husband when she first came, you said she is a single mother whose affair with her ex ran bad, she has probably poisoned the heart of your husband against you so he will leave you and settle for her seeing that he is a great husband. Babe, you need to fight for your man, throw that lady away from your house. I will tell you something, mention the fact that she will leave the house in front of your husband and if he tries resisting it harshly, then you will know he is already in love with her.”


Rahila looked at her. She nodded her head in encouragement.

“I need to know if you have been taking her drugs rightly, Sir.”

Lancelot laughed and turned the News Channel to Telemundo. Jane stared at the TV for a few seconds and looked back at him.

“Caring Jane, ever so caring, that’s why I say you are better than my wife.”

“Please answer me Sir.”

He frowned as he looked at her again, “Is that a command?”

“No, it’s not. It’s just that I really have to know.”

“Well I can’t answer that. Get me some orange juice, I’m thirsty.”

“Alright, I’ll get you the orange juice, but if you don’t tell me how you’ve been taking your drugs, I’ll make sure your wife knows about your condition.” She turned to go.

“Wait, I’ll tell you. But how will you know if I’m telling you the truth.”

“You don’t tell lies.”
“Ok. I stopped taking them two months ago when I found out about Bitrus and Rahila. I was so frustrated and I lost my balance.”

“Oh my God, Sir. You know it’s dangerous to stop, how could do so without the permission of your doctor. I bet you haven’t seen your psychologist and doctor in a while?”

“You don’t know what it means to have to depend on drugs like this; it makes me feel so hopeless.”

“No, the drugs are the things that give you hope. You needed to continue taking them for as long as you needed to.”

“Don’t tell me nothing Salem, you’ve never been in my shoes!” He shouted.

He began to sniff and then it turned to a loud crying.

“What’s wrong with me, God, why can’t I be normal?”

Jane rushed to him, held his head in her arms and tried to hush him.

“It’s alright Brother, there is nothing wrong with you. You are a gentleman, a good husband and an excellent doctor. You are just facing another relapse; we need to get you to hospital. Everything will be alright.”

He stopped crying and started sobbing. Jane felt strange holding an overgrown man this way, but she knew it was the least she could do; she sensed he was already having a relapse, Lancelot had never behaved like this before and could only do so because he was no longer his normal self, she thought of how she was going to break the news to her cousin so they could take him to hospital.

Rahila entered just then, she saw Jane trying to get up quickly from the position which she held Lancelot.

“So it’s true?”

“Sister, it’s not what you’re thinking, something is wrong...” She was interrupted with a slap.

Jane pressed her hand against her chin and tried to suppress the pain.

“Are you mad?” Lancelot asked Rahila. “Why did you slap her?”

“Why won’t I slap her when I caught you two romancing. So this is it Lancelot? Because you wanted to hide your infidelity with my cousin you decided to start insulting me for my mistake.”

“Look lady, I don’t know what you’re talking about but I want you to apologize to Jane immediately.”
“Apologize? I’ll show you my apology!”

She gave Jane another slap, Jane cried in pain and moved away from Rahila. Lancelot walked up to Rahila and slapped her suddenly on the cheek.

“Don’t touch this girl ever again.”

“Lancelot you slapped me because of her, that’s it. She is leaving my house immediately.”

“Jane is not leaving anywhere, if there is anybody to leave this house it is you, so get packing.”

“I’m leaving, don’t worry, I’ll go.” Jane cried.

“Hell no, you’re not leaving anywhere, you’re staying right here.” Lancelot ordered.

Rahila started crying as well; she ran into her bedroom and locked the door. Jane also left the living room and entered her room confused and afraid, what was happening and what could she do to stop it?

In the evening she came out of her room and headed outside. She went to a park nearby and waited. Moments later, Rahila joined her and sat by the bench which she sat.

“Tell me what you want to explain, if I don’t believe a word of what you say, you will leave my house for good.” Rahila said to her.

“Lancelot has been hiding a secret from you for a very long time; he has psychological problems. He has been receiving treatments for mental illness since when he was a kid.”

“Did he send you to tell me this trash or what?”

Jane removed her phone and opened her mail box; she showed Rahila the conversation she had exchanged with Lancelot when he had left home.

Rahila read it and was trying to make sense out of it when Jane thrust to her hands packets of the drugs Lancelot had been taking for the past one year.

“You are a medical person so you should be able to know what these drugs are for, your husband used to take them but recently he stopped without the advice of his doctor.”

Rahila collected them and stared. Jane continued explaining.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“We can start by you telling me your name,” Jane said to the boy in blue stockings and white pyjamas. She had come to the Psychiatric Ward of the Hope Alive Hospital in Asokoro. It was a difficult task getting the hospital managements’ approval to interview some of the patients’ family members and some of the nurses; she had written a letter of request to the management attaching photocopies of the flier for the essay contest and had come back to enquire again when she had waited but got no response from them. She wanted to collate some of the experiences of the patients’ relations and find out how they felt about the situation. A young doctor who had incredibly dark skin had finally heard her and given her permission to carry out her interview after making her promise not to reveal the responders' real identity.

“My name is Gospel.” The boy responded. He looked seventeen. He was looking after his uncle who had been admitted in the ward on the account of his schizophrenia.

They were sitting in the lounge of the ward. There was a big flat screen T.V showing a muted music video playing. There were long armchairs in the lounge, a medium-sized refrigerator, and a big glass centre table.

“Hi Gospel, as I said, my name is Jane Dung and I’m carrying out research on the attitude of people towards mental illness. I would like to know what your experience has been like since your uncle broke down. I won’t publish your real identity so please be free.”

The boy smiled slyly and wiggled his toes against the big centre table. His eyes looked worn out from lack of sleep and his lips were cracked from long hours of silence. “What should I start telling you?”

“How did your Uncle break down?”

He sighed. “He is a Professor of Languages and Linguistics when he is fully recovered, he is a very calm and friendly person who loves God and likes meeting people. But when he is in this state he is very rash, shouts a lot for no good reason and disturbs anybody close to him. Sometimes I wish I was not the one sent to take care of him, I haven’t had adequate sleep for days.”

“So this is not his first time of having a breakdown? Tell me what happened that resulted to his first break down.”

The Professor had been a very religious person. He was the best in his department and had come out with a first-class degree. The school had given him an automatic position to lecture. Because he was very young when he started out and because he was so good, many of the old lecturers hated him and tried frustrating him. Many times they brought unfounded allegations against him but the outcome was always to his favour. There had been a particular Doctor then who was known for his wicked ways. He was rumoured to be the head of a popular school cult called the Red Bandits that terrorized the whole school back then. The Doctor hated him so much that he never accepted the Professor’s greeting (the Professor had not yet become a real professor then) The Doctor had a son who was in the Professor’s class, he was very rebellious and made a lot of trouble for the Professor. He also never took his studies seriously, after the semester the son failed the course woefully. When all tactics to get the Professor to change the results were in vain, the son and Doctor resorted to the use of black magic. They visited the village and came back days later; the Professor had had a dream where he was warned not to shake the Doctor the next day, he told his wife the dream and he set off to work. The first person the Professor saw in his office was this Doctor who claimed he had come to greet him and make amends, he offered the Professor his hand and because he felt odd refusing the handshake, he took the Doctor’s proffered hand and shook it.

Days later the professor started behaving oddly when lecturing and at home, he would shout nonsense at the top of his voice. The wife locked him up and sent for his family who came and took him to see the psychiatry doctor far away from his state so that no one will hear about it. He was lucky he came back to himself after some weeks; he went back to his state but after some years discontinued his drugs on his own without consulting a doctor and had a relapse after which he was brought back again. It was now the third time he was brought back to the hospital and all the while, the family’s fear was that the news would not blow out of proportion so he won’t lose his job or face humiliation at the university from students.

“Wow, I’m sorry to hear that Gospel. Don’t worry the professor will soon be alright. So how about you? Did you volunteer to come and look after your uncle?”

“No, I did not volunteer, I was cajoled. His children are all grown up and working all the time, they promised to pay my university school fees if I came to take care of their father, I had no choice since my own father is not very well to do and made me take advantage of this situation. I am even ashamed of being here, I hope my school mates don’t get to find out I am here otherwise they would make fun of me.”

Jane thought closely about what he said before jotting down something in her book. She finished and closed it ready to go. “Thank you so much for your time Gospel, I know it’s hard, but have you ever thought that it could be you in your Uncle’s position?”

Gospel lowered his eyes and shook his head. She left.

At home, she tried focusing on the essay but her mind kept going back to her interviews with the people at the psychiatrist ward. She had interviewed a young woman who looked in her early twenties. The woman was crying as she narrated her own experience. She was taking care of her younger sister who was 20. Her sister was named Ann. Ann was a worrisome member of their family. To escape the trouble from home, Ann started mixing with the wrong company. She started smoking, drinking and taking hard drugs. Her parents had tried punishing her to make her stop but she had run off with some male friends and done many nasty things with them. She came back eventually but was in very bad shape. There were bruises all over her body and she was not behaving properly anymore. She would stare at nothing in particular for so long and even when she was being talked to, she would not give them her attention and would instead be silent. She continued like these for a few weeks until her father brought her to the psychiatric ward. Their family was poor and they barely managed to pay the deposit for the hospital admission. It was getting to two months now and she was barely recovering, her father was talking of withdrawing her from the hospital and taking her to a white garment church for deliverance.

Jane remembered what Ann looked like when they had met. She looked like someone who was between the land of the living and the dead; she barely spoke and when she did her words came out slowly and spittle fell off her mouth. Their room smelt of lack of basic necessities and their clothes were worn out. Jane had asked Ann’s sister what she felt bad mostly about. She had said it was the fact that her sister was now a child in a woman’s body and they couldn’t do much about it. Jane felt bad for all the patients and for all their families.

Bitrus had a crush on Rahila. He had tried hiding it but felt overpowered by the feelings he had for her. At first it was plain admiration; he admired the way she walked, so majestically he wanted to ask her if she was connected to royalty; he admired the sound of her voice, the way she laughed and threw her head back while cupping her mouth as if she was swallowing some pill; then he discovered he just could not get over her. At night he would roll restlessly in his single room by the gate and think about Rahila. When he finally slept he would see her in his dreams, talking to him gently the way she always did. He started to think of what could happen if he could have a piece of her, even if it was short-lived, he imagined it would be the most glorious time of his existence. He had never known any other woman as beautiful as she was, with her elegance, charisma, and confidence. Jane was always serious, her face was always in a tight grimace when she passed by him, he never bothered about her. But Rahila was ever-smiling, her eyes inviting and gentle.

He started imagining things. He imagined winning her love, separating her from Lancelot and taking her away to Jos to get married to her. He would get another job and she would get another herself at a bigger hospital in Jos. He brooded so long on this fact that the possibility seemed very near to him. He decided to set the ball rolling. He complimented her a lot whenever she was set to go to work and when they were alone he would go to her and strike a nice conversation with her, telling her about his past and future ambitions. She was always happy to hear him and would smile, a smile revealing her white teeth and cute dimples.

Then she too started becoming fond of him. He was not surprised at this because people always remarked that he had farin jinni which translated from Hausa meant white blood and was used to refer to someone who was easily favoured by people. He could remember a time when he just finished secondary school and needed a job to pay his tuition at the polytechnic. He had boldly told his friends he would get to work for the chairman’s wife even without knowing them previously. His friends had sneered and laughed at him pointing out that he needed to have connections first. He had guffawed and told them to watch and see. The next day he wore his best clothing, borrowed perfume from his father and strode casually to the chairman’s office, he requested to see the chairman and just like that he told the chairman he needed a job to pay for his diploma. The chairman had looked at him closely for up to one minute and asked: “are you a hard worker?”

“Yes,” he replied, “I work very hard and give my best into anything I’m doing.”

The next day his friends saw him driving the chairman’s wife around in her Sedan. In the evening they came to his house to congratulate him and one of them had remarked to him, “Kai, Bitrus, ka na de farin jini fa. (You, Bitrus, you really have favour) ”

It was favours like this that kept him alive when he was doing his diploma at the Polytechnic. Sometimes he would run out of money and his parents will have nothing to send to him, he would just go up to his lecturers and do odd jobs for them and without requesting for money, they would give him enough cash to settle his needs at the time. He had luck everywhere. So when Rahila started calling him Mai Gida na Biu (Second Husband), he knew his luck was working again.

“Mai Gida na Biu,” she would call, “Have you washed my car already? Have you fixed the bulb in the guest room? Have you bought the items I told you to buy?”

At times when Jane and Lancelot were not at home, he would come into the house, find her lying on the armchair and sit close to her. Then she would say, “Mai Gida na Biu, is it you?”
And they would start chatting as if they were husband and wife. One day he had just told her a joke and she was chuckling and covering her lips with her hand, she was sitting carelessly on the dinning chair and lost her balance and tripped, Bitrus caught her quickly before she landed on the ground, then they stared at themselves for a while and when Bitrus took his hand away from her shoulders she said quietly, “You behave like Lancelot a lot of times,” and then there was silence, and then she excused herself and began to preparseenunch.

Bitrus had seen this as an open door for him. From then on he made her aware of his feelings indirectly. He would hug her occasionally when they sat alone in the living room and she would not make any effort to rebuke him, but when he tried to kiss her one day she drew away from him and said in a quiet voice, “Lancelot will not like this.”

“Well, how about what you would like?” He had told her.

She always discouraged him from his romance acts but never said anything to dissuade him about keeping her company. As a matter of fact she told him plainly that his company made her happy. She had said so in a sad voice and afterwards began a story of how her husband had not been caring for her emotional needs for some time now.

“When did this start happening? You two always look happy.” Bitrus wanted to know more.

“We are happy on the surface but things are no longer the same again ever since our first real problem started. We simply treat each other with kindness, but our intimacy has gone sour.”

“Then why don’t you just let me in?” He wondered aloud.

“Because I still love him, and I know deep down in my heart that he still loves me. Things just need to cool.”

He did not want anything to cool; consequently, he never let things rest and always pestered her for physical attention when they were alone. He suspected she wanted him to push his luck and prove he wanted her badly irrespective of her marital situation. Some women wanted men to drive them nuts before they succumbed. So they struggled for the most time that they were together with Rahila getting away every time because he did not want to force her.

Lancelot did not notice anything going wrong. He knew of Rahila’s new name for Bitrus but was silent since he himself called Jane with a pet name. He was also aware of her fondness for the gateman which he took to mean nothing since he was also fond of Jane. He had forgiven Rahila of her offence but he was no longer as caring as he used to be; each time he thought about the fact that they could not produce a child, he was weighed down by pain and the only way he thought he could ease it was by staying away as much as possible from Rahila.

Rahila felt weakened by all the struggle with Bitrus. She liked him but still loved Lancelot and did not want to break her vows. But his present disregard for her physical welfare tore into her, confused her and made her vulnerable to Bitrus’ show of care. She could not bring herself to tell him to stop coming into her living room, or fire him even, though that would have been the proper thing to do. She silently prayed something would happen that would stop the error that was about to take place.

That something happened sooner than she expected, Jane was at school one day and Lancelot was out when she and Bitrus started struggling once again in the living room. “When will you just stop this pretence and let us express how we feel.” Bitrus said to her panting heavily as he struggled to remove her dress.

“I am legally married, don’t you get it. Get your hands off.”

“If you really did not want this you would have gotten rid of me by now.”

“One of these days I will, but not before accusing you of harassment.”

“This is not harassment; this is trying to help you out.”

“Cut it out Bitrus, leave me alone and get back to your post.” She cried trying to yank her dress from Bitrus’ clutch.

“What’s going on here?” Someone said from the door.

They turned, it was Lancelot with his eyes red as palm oil and his teeth clenched. Hurriedly Bitrus left Rahila’s dress and tried explaining but as soon as he started he received a resounding blow that sent him flying towards the centre table and shattering his head. He got up and swooned but got another blow to his face.

“It’s not what you think, Dear.”

Lancelot paid no attention to her, he ran madly to the kitchen and got the biggest knife and ran back to the living room with the aim of committing murder, when he came he saw the shadow of Bitrus dashing out. He pursued him but stopped when Bitrus came out of the gate. He gave the knife he was holding a dejected look and turned back and headed menacingly to where Rahila stood crying. He looked hard at her as the tears came out of her eyes and she stood trembling, making whimpering sounds, snot coming out her nose freely and her hair looking dishevelled. She was wearing a short yellow gown that had torn slightly from her struggling with Bitrus. He breathed heavily while staring at her and for a while Rahila was sure he was going to beat her up, she braced herself for an incoming slap, but nothing came, instead he walked out on her with maddened furiousness.

A deep silence descended over the house, it was a silence that carried heaviness, sadness and sorrow as thick as darkness. It was a silence that even the wind consented to because it refused to blow over the house; the air became humid, dry and pungent with a smell that made them all sick with grief. The silence cut into their hearts, penetrated their minds and filled them with desolation as black as death.

Things changed for the worst. Their once peaceful and understanding home was disintegrated with bitterness, mistrust and fear. Jane was shocked when she found out about what happened from Rahila, she did not believe Rahila when she said nothing happened, how could she be so naive like a teenage girl and allow Bitrus harass her for so long without saying or doing nothing. She must have wanted something intimate with him. She was ashamed of her and avoided her from that moment. Then she was also afraid of Lancelot because he no longer talked and was hardly ever at home. He spent most times at the hospital and came home only to sleep and bath. Jane felt scared of approaching him for talk because she could feel his anger and unhappiness with the world and did not know how he would take things with her.

Rahila felt ashamed and could not bring herself to explain anything to her husband. Nothing had happened yet with Bitrus but she felt guilty because she had done nothing to stop his madness with her, she had done nothing to put him on check and had not confided in anyone about the issue to receive advice. It was just like the time she aborted her baby, she had taken the decision solely and secretly. Secrets were dangerous, she now saw this for herself, if only she had shared her circumstance with at least a friend or family member, she would have known of a better way of handling the problem. Instead she kept mute and allowed the secret fester until it became full blown. She had done enough damage to Lancelot, she thought, he did not deserve such from her. He was a very loving and gentle man who had treated her with so much respect, she did not think she will find such a man again if she lost him because men like these were rare like diamonds.

Lancelot started skpping his drugs and working himself harder than he was supposed to. He forfeited sleep many times to do research on a book he had started to write to take his mind off his problems at home. The book served as an excuse and escape route out of the questions that bothered his mind. It was the only thing he could do to stay normal and not break down and yet it felt like he would soon lose his cool. One day he got a visit from Bitrus. The young man had come to tell him not to hate Rahila for what happened, that he started it and Rahila had fought the temptation of sleeping with him, that he was to blame.

“She fought the temptation of sleeping with you but she did not fight the temptation of hiding the sin lurking in our home. I’m sorry but your confession changes absolutely nothing. Go away and never come back again.”

So the bitterness against Rahila continued and their home was never healed of the pain they experienced.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Rahila and Lancelot decided it was time they hired a gateman and they brought in Bitrus, a diploma graduate of French who needed to work for a while so he could go back to earn his HND. He was short but good looking and carried the impression of one who was very smart and proactive; everyone in the house liked him, except Jane. For some reason, Bitrus reminded her of a sly fox whenever she met him. His steps were always hurried and his eyes were always darting about to and fro looking for something amiss to fix. Bitrus was also the handyman of the house; he would fix broken pipes, blocked sinks, and any other thing that was not functioning properly. He also assisted in the house when Jane was at school, he could fix a meal very quickly before anyone came back and he was a good cook too. Perhaps it was this bit- prying into her territory- that made Jane dislike him. Or maybe it was the fact that she did not enjoy sharing Rahila and Lancelot’s attention with anyone. Before Bitrus came, she was the baby in the house, everything rotated around her, now Bitrus got half the commendations, half the praising remarks and half the care that was meant for her. And though she could not prove it, something made her think that Bitrus was not as good as he presented himself to be.

At school, Jane felt frustrated. There were a million queues for her to line up in, a dozen files to sign and submit, many lecturer’s offices to go to and lectures that needed attending. She felt confused and lost, particularly because she was yet to have a friend. Planang did her best to guide her but she could not be there to assist her in the many things that needed to be done. Most times she would go to one of the school parks and just seat there, watching with envy as students went in and out of the lecture halls accompanied by friends. The ladies particularly would catch her attention; the ladies had a way of making her feel so lonely with the way their laughter would ring in the air and their voices would resonate as they walked gaily and swung their waists left and right. She would console herself that at least she had made it into the university and was now an undergraduate even though the system was somewhat confusing. Years ago, she was downcast with the thought that she may never be able to go to the university, now she was here; she had everything to be grateful to God for. She assured herself that things would turn out right, she would do well in her studies, attract nice friends, graduate with a Second Class Upper Degree and do her family proud.

When Pamshak noticed Isaac was standing alone outside the school immediately the school bell rang, he decided this was the moment. He was wearing a white shirt, blue tie, and black trouser and he carried a briefcase that was filled with nothing but newspapers. He went to Isaac and tapped him behind his back, when Isaac turned he smiled at him.

“How are you Junior?”

“My name is not Junior.” Isaac replied and looked away from Pamshak towards the gate.
Pamshak remembered the little boy and girl that Isaac always went home with and he hurriedly took hold of Isaac’s hand.

“Granny asked me to bring you home today, I am your uncle, your mother’s brother.”

Isaac looked at him perplexed and tried to figure out if he was being told a lie or the truth. Then he shook his head and turned away once again.

“You don’t believe me? Here, see a picture of your mother and me.” He gave Isaac a small portrait sized picture of Jane and himself when they were still in Secondary school. Pupils came out hurriedly now from the gate and some parents entered the gate to find their children. His heart raced and he shifted uncomfortably.

Isaac studied the picture very hard. He looked again at the young man before him and shrugged. Pamshak took his hand and led him away quickly to a motorcycle that was waiting.

“I need your help writing an essay, Brother” Jane told Lancelot as he sat in the living room watching a documentary.

“What essay?”

“I saw a poster at our department block calling for submissions for an essay competition; I want to send in my entry.”

“Is it not too early to start participating in a competition? You should rather be occupied with submitting your files, getting used to your lecturers and doing your assignments.”

“I really want to compete in this one; I feel my voice would be needed to give a better perspective towards the topic. The three top entries will be published in the Health for All blog and they will get cash prizes each, as well as laptops and books.”

“What is the topic of the essay?”

“Achieving a Healthier Atmosphere for Those Living with Mental Illness in Nigeria.”

“Oh.” He looked down at his work. “Why do you want to write on that topic?”

“I want to talk on how stigmatization has affected the treatment of mental illness in the country and how it has hindered many families from seeking correct help.”

He thought hard. “How about writing also on what affects this stigmatization; the crazy people left to roam about the streets in rags, the poverty rate that limits many families from seeking orthodox medicine, the cultural perspectives and beliefs, these are some of the things that could give your essay more depth.”

“Yes, and in addition, I also want to proffer solutions.”

“Such as?”

“Government and organizations establishing more mental institutions to cater for the abandoned people roaming the streets and hospitals giving more awareness about mental health in schools, religious centres, and community centres.”

“Nice. You already have what you need. A trip to a mental hospital and a stroll around the busy street to observe the roamers also won’t be a bad idea; it will give you more experience to write about.”

Her eyes brightened. “Swell, I’ll take that into consideration. Thanks, brother.”

They were having dinner in the evening when Aunt Gloria called her to inform her that Isaac had been kidnapped but thankfully recovered. She narrated that a teacher had been observing how a strange man had cornered Isaac and led him to his motorcycle, she came towards him and caught Isaac just before they mounted and raised alarm. Before people gathered, the motorcyclist had extricated himself from her grasp and had taken off. Isaac had been interviewed and he had told them that the man introduced himself as his mother’s brother and showed him a picture of both of them.

“It had to be Pamshak.” She said after her aunt narrated everything.

“Yes, I said so myself.”

“How is Isaac now?”

“He has been very quiet after that, but don’t worry, he will be alright.”

“I hope so aunt.” She said with a little tear escaping her eye.

Great story you have here

aprilwise:
Thanks for the update.

Welcome Dear, thanks for reading.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Lancelot felt better. He was grateful that he had gone to seek medical help. He was also grateful he had met Bob. Every day he read aloud the words that Bob had written down for him and it seemed to flush down all the anger, pain and weird feelings he had been harbouring since time past. His favourite written piece was the serenity prayer. It went like this:

Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference, living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking as Jesus did this sinful world, as it is not as I would have it; trusting that you will make all things right if I surrender to your will so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with you in the next. Amen.

He would feel inner peace after reading it and be able to go about his day happily. He continued taking the drugs and wandered if he would need to do so for the rest of his life. One day Rahila asked him why he was taking them to his amazement, considering the fact that he took the drugs away from where it could be noticed and hid them in a secured place.

“They are to aid me sleep as I am finding difficulty sleeping on my own.” He said praying the half truth will be sufficient for her.

“You know those things can be addictive, please don’t take them for long.” She replied, covered the blanket on her body and went to sleep.

Lancelot was disappointed. Although he was relieved he did not have to explain further, he felt she was too detached from him and to careless to bother why he had to resort to drugs to sleep. Another lady would have been aware of when the sleeplessness had started, when he had started taking the drugs and would have wanted to know how long he had to take them. Jane would have shown more concern if she were his wife because even though she was not married to him she seemed to take more notice of his feelings and attitudes. For the first time since he was married, he wished he was married to Jane.

Another thing that started bothering Lancelot was the fact that Rahila had not taken in since their wedding three years ago. He had not wanted to worry over it before now, explaining to himself that maybe Rahila’s biological time to conceive was not yet due. But he began to ponder on the possibilities of them remaining childless; perhaps there was something wrong with either of them and they did not know. If he continued to assume pregnancy will come in its own time they may never get a child.

“We are going for a test at my hospital tomorrow”, he announced to her when they got up from bed one morning.

She looked up from the bed sheet she was folding and stared at him for a long time before asking, “What tests?”

“Tests to find out if there is anything stopping us from having a baby.”

“Of course there is nothing.” She gulped noisily.

“It’s been three years Rahila.”

“I know, but I know there is nothing wrong.”

“I pray so.” He said and hugged her.

The next day they met with the female gynaecologist that was on duty that day. She asked them a few questions and ran tests on them; Lancelot had to give some drops of his sperm as well. She told them the tests results will be out the next day. They prayed earnestly that nothing wrong will be found. Lancelot was the one who came to pick up the results, the lab scientists handed them over to him and looked at his face to see his reaction. Lancelot, after looking at it for many seconds, felt dazed and walked dizzily to the gynaecologist’s office.

“You mean she really had an abortion, my wife had an abortion?” Lancelot asked not really expecting a reply. “Yet she told me she had only met with a man once and did not have sex again until she married me”

“Even that once was enough to get her pregnant. You should ask her. The abortion did some damage to her uterus; it was not carried out professionally. And since it has been quite a while the damage is now irreversible. It will take a miracle for her to conceive.”

The last part of that statement shattered Lancelot psychologically. For the whole day he could not attend to any patient. He met the management of the hospital and asked for leave. They were surprised since he never took his leave except Decembers. When they asked him what the issue was he shook his head and his eyes turned misty so they did not interrogate him further.

At home he blew up. It was the first time Rahila or Jane had ever seen him upset or angry. He shouted at Rahila and called her a liar, deceiver and murderer. She had murdered her own child, he said, and now wanted to make him childless for the rest of his life.

“How could you?” He almost said it in tears. “How could you abort and not tell me what you had done before we got married? Who was it for? Answer me goddamnit!”

Rahila cried all through like a baby without comfort. She tried explaining in tears. She had had a one night stand with Pam after they went out on a date. She had taken in after that and feared Pam’s parents and hers will arrange for a quick marriage for them and she did not want to marry Pam because she feared he was into a rituals and cultism and wanted nothing to do with him; she also feared becoming a single mother and bringing shame on her family, abortion seemed the only solution, so she bought some drugs, took them and lay indoors for a week till the baby was flushed out. She never told anybody for fear of criticism, not even her mother knew what she did.

“You have finished me!” Lancelot shouted. “After all I have suffered in this life, now I must be childless too, what kind of life is this? God, I’m out of here.” He finally announced and as if he was in frenzy started packing up quickly into a small suitcase.

Jane could hear everything from the living room and shuddered when she realized Lancelot was trying to leave the house. She heard her cousin crying and begging, swearing she had no idea it had damaged her womb, assuring him that there was a way out, that she was sorry and meant it. Few minutes later the door to their room opened and Lancelot came out dragging his suitcase tightly while Rahila clutched to it from behind still crying.

“Where are you going Dear? Please I need you now, don’t do this. We can get through this together.”

“Damn you! Damn everything!”

Jane knelt down in front of him as he neared the door. “Please Brother, please don’t leave. Forgive her, this situation can be resolved.”

“How? How on earth can it be resolved? It will take only a miracle for her to conceive.”

“Miracles do happen Sir.”

“Yes, but only when there is transparency and truth!” he yelled at her as if she was to blame and bolted out of the door with such fastness that surprised them.

They kept running after him to plead and possibly take away the suitcase from him but he was too quick, he manoeuvred them, opened the gate and drove away in his car.

For days Lancelot’s number remained unreachable. There was no trace of him. Rahila tried getting in touch with his friends and colleagues but none of them knew his whereabouts. She went to the Pastor of the church they attended and narrated to him everything that happened which resulted to his leaving the house. The Pastor was thoughtful and encouraging. He did not blame Rahila for not disclosing it to Lancelot before the marriage though he said that may have saved her ahead of time. He told her that it was just a storm that will soon go away; storms were normal in every marriage, every married couple faced their own unique storm, marriage was not all rosy and pleasant from beginning to end, but there was hope that it will come around. She only had to be resolved not to give up her marriage and use wisdom to approach matters, Lancelot was going to come back, he said and prayed with her.

Rahila stayed miserable at home. She too had to take an emergency leave from work. When Jane went for lectures, she wept at home and blamed herself for not telling him the truth initially. He could have understood with her then since he truly loved her and they could have discovered the problem early and possibly the cure for the problem. If only she had told someone at least, someone who could have advised her and guided her on what to do. But she had acted in fear and kept it all a secret.

Jane tried comforting her when she was back from lectures. It yielded little result. Rahila was too filled with sorrow. Jane did not know who to blame and who to side with. She tried putting herself in Rahila’s shoes, it was fear mixed with arrogance and deep feeling of shame that had made her do what she did. And Lancelot? Was it okay to just get up and leave? He too had an ugly past; he too had a secret he was presently keeping away from Rahila. He was not altogether insulated from error. It was painful knowing one could not sire a child because of his spouse’s mistake, but everyone had done something wrong before that resulted to problems, he needed to understand that. She resolved within herself to try and reach him. He could be in deep danger himself, considering the fact that he was prone to depression and was on anti-depressants. She feared he may think of ending his life or doing something reckless. She thought carefully on how to reach him.

Rahila had gone out to the park alone saying she wanted to clear her head. Jane thought it was better for her. She had been indoors for weeks now crying to herself and soliloquising. Jane also saw it as an advantage to rummage the room and get some clue as to how to find Lancelot. In their room now she searched Lancelot’s documents carefully but nothing seemed to click to her. She was putting them back together again when one of his complimentary cards fell down, she carried it, shrugged and wanted to put it back but drew it again to her face, his email address rang a bell in her head, and she nodded and put back everything else where she had carried them.

In her room she sent him an email and prayed silently that he would receive it and respond to it; it read:

Hello Cousin-in-law, it is with high anticipation that I write to you this e-mail. All your numbers are not reachable and none of your friends or family members has agreed to seeing or hearing from you. Your wife and I are all worried; she cries everyday and refuses comfort from any other person. She blames herself seriously for what happened and wishes she could turn back the hands of time and undo the wrong she did, but that is impossible. It is impossible to ever undo our wrongs; I know that because I am a victim of my mistake as well. I have spent the last five years of my life wondering if there is a technology somewhere whether in this world or another world that can possibly take me back to my teen years where I misplaced my priorities and took a bad turn. I see the scar of my mistake and the memory of my foolery comes haunting me and I wish I had a pill that I could take to clear away the memory of how I let myself be led astray. It is a waste of thought, at least now I am beginning to see that.

We have all gone astray at some points in our lives. We all have done some things that we wish we had never done ourselves; that is life. And I think God allows us to make our own mistakes so that when another person also makes his own, a part of us will understand with him and not castigate and mitigate him. Take me for example; I don’t see myself as better off than the other lady who committed abortion, or the other guy who got into drugs to escape from troubles. We need to understand and empathize with people when we discover they have fallen. Sometimes it is hard to do so especially when what they did affects us directly or indirectly; but we need to try. We are all striving to be better but none of us has reached there yet.

Please forgive Rahila and come back home. Together you would find a solution to the problem that was befallen your marriage. She greatly loves you and misses you. I miss you too and worry about you considering the fact that I know you could relapse into depression. Remember too that Rahila is not aware that you have a mental condition. Please reply.

Love,
Jane Dung.

It was the third week of his departure and still they had heard nothing about his whereabouts. Jane came home from school one day and decided to read her mails, and then she saw his email, short and crisp:

Hello My Girl, I have read your email and have thought closely on what you said. I have forgiven Rahila. I will be back tomorrow.

CHAPTER TWELVE continued
Pamshak got off from the commercial taxi that stopped at Gada Biu. He paid his fare and picked up his bag from the booth. He took in a deep breath and exhaled feeling glad to be back to Jos, the land of his birth, after the long time he had spent in Lafia. He gazed at all the new landmarks and buildings and felt proud of the developments. His mind then went back to the purpose of his coming; he smiled and congratulated himself in advance knowing he would not stop until he had gotten his task achieved. He walked to a confectionary and drinks shop and asked for a coke and doughnut to ease away his hunger. Minutes later he arrived at his father’s house. His mother was looking very old and sick but she welcomed him heartily and got up to prepare him some gote; he ate and slept off. When he woke up she had gone to the neighbouring house and could be heard conversing there. Pamshak took a long look at the house, the zinc that roofed the house had caved in and parts of the ceiling had also fallen away. The walls of the house were dirty and had lost its paint. He thought sadly how he had abandoned his mother to suffer.

He was her only son, her two elder daughters had absconded away to live with their poor lovers after their father’s death and could not contribute anything reasonable to their mother. He had wanted to go far from home believing he would be more successful there but even then things were still the same. He now thought of what he would need to do for their old house with the little resources he had managed to gather and bring back with him. He had to repair the house and also buy some medicine and food for his mother if only to compensate her being neglected for so long and prove he was not entirely useless as people said he was.

He sat and waited patiently for his mother to come back from the neighbouring house and intimate him on some news. He did not have to wait for long; she came back minutes later bearing some cocoyams in a tray which she intended to cook for dinner. Pamshak assisted her cooking while she talked to him about what had been happening to his sisters and cousins while he was away. After their dinner, he told her of his plans to renovate the house; she smiled and told him it was much needed. Then he asked her if she knew anything about Jane and his son. She took a deep sigh and began telling him how she had heard that Jane came back with his son years ago but could not set eyes on her because Jane avoided their house and she also was ashamed to go near her. She occasionally saw Jane’s mother but could say nothing to her and she did not know where Jane or his son were now. Pamshak thought for a while. He would go to Jane’s mother’s house within the week and find out about the whereabouts of Jane and his son.

He went to Mrs Dung’s house on a Saturday. The weather was cloudy and the air was wet with the morning dew. He met her outside the house washing clothes and rinsing them as quickly as possible so the rain would not fall before she finished. She had not changed much; she had only put on a few pounds.

“Good morning Ma.” He greeted and put on his bold air to show he was not afraid of any negative reaction from her.

She turned and when she saw him, she was shocked for some seconds and remained silent thinking of the best way to react. Memories of the trauma and shame he made her undergo came flashing her mind and for a little while she felt numb.

“What do you want?” She asked breathing fast and looking at him with angry eyes. Her eyes had suddenly turned red.

“I’m sorry to disturb you Ma, but I am here to ask of my wife and son.”

Mrs Dung was enraged. How could he? So he had the effrontery to call Jane his wife after he had shamefully led her to leave her home and mistreated her?

“You are a buffoon!” Mrs Dung shouted. She had previously been having a headache but anger had fuelled her with a strange energy to tear Pamshak apart. “Ingrate!” She continued shouting. “Nincompoop! Which wife? Na wa ne ka bia a ken ta? (How much did you pay for her?) Banzan yaro! (Stupid boy!) Allah zai sine ka. (God will curse you)”

Her shouting alerted the presence of her neighbours. One of them called Ali, a father of three but a famous tout in the area, sensing Pamshak was the one who had absconded with Jane and wanting to display his anger went up to Mrs Dung.

“Ya isa, Madam na ce ya isa. (It is enough, Madam I said it is enough.) Wai ne wanan? (Who is this?) He said with his muscles flexing and ready to pounce on the trouble maker who had dared to invade their peace.

“I’m Jane’s husband and I am here to see her and my son.” Pamshak responded thinking the men gathered will intervene on his behalf and side with him.

“My friend you are an idiot!” Ali barked. “You are a big idiot. Which wife did you marry here?” He turned to the other men gathered. “Kama shi mu dadaka shi!” (Get hold of him so we can deal with him)

The men got hold of him and began to beat him up. He shouted and pleaded but they did not spare him. Mrs Dung hung in a corner praising their efforts and giving Pamshak all sorts of warnings. “You will tell us where the marriage took place, how many people attended, who joined both of you and how many goats you bought. If you dare come to this house again, you will meet a worse treatment. Better go and find the wife you are seeking elsewhere, I did not give my daughter to you in marriage. Foolish boy.”

They beat him and threw him yards away from the compound warning him strictly not to come back. Passersby looked at him, shook their heads and went their way. None of them came to help him or ask him what had happened. Most of them were aware of who he was and they had heard how he had treated Jane after she had eloped with him, they had no pity for him, they instead carried the tale of his disgraceful beating to their sons and daughters to warn them not to misbehave. He managed to walk back home and his mother helped him wash his wounds and apply home remedy to them.

For weeks he stayed at home upset at the treatment he had gotten from Jane’s mother and her neighbours. But he was not dissuaded from finding Jane and his son. He was not one who easily gave up on his goals. He thought about other ways he could find them. He knew obviously they were not in Mrs Dung’s house. One day a friend of his at school who had been a junior came to visit him. They got talking and the friend mentioned that he had seen Jane and her son in town some years back. Pamshak was happy to have a clue and took down the address of the house from his friend.

When he had finished renovating his family house and the memory of his shameful beating had faded, he traced the address his friend had given him and located the house. He waited a whole day trying to get a glimpse of Jane or the boy but did not see any of them. He came back the next day and decided to ask the girl selling household items in front of the gate.

“Please does a lady known as Jane live in this compound?”

“Who are you to her?” Esther asked looking him up and down.

“I’m her classmate. My name is Emmanuel.” He lied using one of their classmate’s name, the boy used to have a crush on Jane while they were still in school.

“She does not stay here anymore. She has gone to Abuja.”

“Wow, Abuja, wow. That’s nice. Where in Abuja particularly?”

“Don’t you have her number? Call her and ask her because I don’t know” Esther also lied because she did not want to give out too much information.

Mafeng and Isaac entered the shop just then having closed from school. They greeted Esther and entered the compound. Pamshak stood stunned. He knew it was his son who just entered but for fear of being suspected he said nothing more, thanked Esther and left the shop with a new plan.

The next day he was back very early in the morning and waited till the children came out to go to school. He followed them as they trekked at a reasonable distance until they got to their school. He watched them as they entered and turned back to go his way. He would come back at a later time to abduct Isaac, he was not in a hurry.

I'll finish the story this week, tomorrow I will drop another continuation, thanks for reading.

Nobody cared to ask why they did it, nobody wanted to know their side of the story. They were all labelled as evil doers. Salem sank into her shell; day by day her world became darker, she lost her smile, her laughter and her song. Lancelot saw her drifting but could not reach out to her since their family watched them closely. One morning Salem woke up and refused to go to school; she refused to tell her aunt and uncle the reason she would not go, she just stared at them blankly as if they were statues as they questioned. They left her and went to work, Lancelot felt something would go wrong but could not stay behind. He left for school and wondered what she was up to. At 12p.m when the bell rang for short break, he hurried back to the house to check on her and also talk to tell her things will be alright. He opened the door to her room after he had knocked and the sight he saw shocked him, it was the sight that will continue to haunt him in his dreams- she lay with her eyes wide opened facing the ceiling, her hands holding a black thread that she had used to strangle herself.

He had another relapse after that; it was too much for him to bear. This time he blamed his parents for her death and became violent occasionally. It took him a while before he got over it and come out of that relapse. But he still felt the pain of losing her and many times her name brought back dark memories of shame, disgrace, fear and death. His family were told to erase her name from their discussions and give him time to fully heal, but he never fully healed.

Dr Bob sighed when Lancelot was done with his narration. He rubbed his hands together for some time before speaking.

“I see. I see the reason for your pain and hurt. You have not been able to forgive yourself because you feel ashamed for loving your cousin against society’s standard and also not being able to protect her from the consequences of your actions... you cannot heal except you forgive yourself. It was not your fault, you were a boy and your feelings were normal...”

“My feelings brought her to her untimely death”

“No, she caused her death. I’m sorry, you think you are being fair by blaming yourself, but believe me when I say you are not responsible for her death. You were both young and unguided, each person felt the pain of the shame and each person responded differently.”

“You know what also upsets me? The fact that I had to lose two ladies that meant the world to me, it made me feel like I was the one who brought bad luck to them.”

“Bad things happen all the time, they just experienced one of the bad things that happen to people over the world, you were not responsible.”

Seeing the message had still not sunk, Dr Bob took a pen and wrote on a paper and gave it to him.

“Read that and let it sink.”

“I am not responsible for Salem or Amaka’s death. I was only a witness. I am not to blame.” Lancelot read. “Come on Bob, reading this makes me feel irresponsible.”

“It’s okay to be irresponsible at times, you need to know you are free, for a long time you have been believing you are in a cage bound by love and duty, there is no cage. Read it some more times aloud and I will allow you take it home and read it to yourself every time. Don’t underestimate the power of words, they are powerful I tell you. They have the power to heal and make sick, what has been haunting you are as a result of the bad words you have been feeding yourself that torment you as negative thoughts. Your fears are not real and you can prove that to yourself by what I call Word Therapy. I am going to write some words on some pieces of paper and give you and your assignment will be to read it to yourself out loud every day at work or home for a few minutes. Each is important, do this and we will keep track of your feelings whenever you come for your sessions.” He began to write quickly with his pen.

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CHAPTER TWELVE
Jane had succeeded in getting a place in the university. After writing the Post-JAMB she had scored 80 over 100. Her name had come in the Merit list for admission. New school session started in the month of July and registration for the new students also commenced. Lancelot and Rahila were excited about Jane being enrolled into the University, they gave her all the help they could give; it gave them fulfilment to see a relative getting an admission as a result of their help, they shared in the joy of Jane’s dreams.

One Thursday, Lancelot was in the hospital with his psychologist Robert Bitrus who he preferred to now call Bob. Doctor Tunde had selected Bob on his behalf saying Bob was a kind and professional fellow. He was dark skinned, average sized and spoke with deliberate slowness. Lancelot noticed Bob had mastered the art of getting people to divulge their secrets; he had a way of getting you to feel what you were about to say was not really meant to be a secret. Lancelot cherished his confidence, some psychologists he had met were not really good at their job, but Bob was.

“Consider me first of all your friend because I really want to be your friend.” Bob had told him on the first day of their meeting emphasizing his nouns and looking into Lancelot’s eyes while they talked in the manner all psychologists did. Bob had then begun telling him about himself, his family and while he took on the job of a psychologist. At the end of their session it had seemed Lancelot was the one who knew more about Bob.

“Someday I will get to meet with your Jane, with the way you talk about her, I’m feeling I’m the biggest loser for not knowing her. She must be a gem?” Bob would say on one of those days they met.

“You bet.” Lancelot would answer smiling before realizing he had disclosed something important yet again.

On this Thursday Bob made tea for the both of them and served them in little yellow ceramic cups, the size used in Chinese movies. “I want you to tell me a little about Salem, just a little though because I notice her name upsets you; I can understand, but I want to have a sort of picture about her in my mind. I know she would have been pretty, with eyes of doves, lips like mangoes and a smile that could tame a lion.” He said as he put a drop of honey into Lancelot’s tea and pushed it to him.

“Thank you.” Lancelot accepted it and let the ginger flavour in the tea envelope him. He took a pause and thought how best he would unveil the memories he had of Salem without disrupting his emotions.

He remembered the day he had come back from school to meet Uncle Uche, Aunt Eunice and Salem sitting in the living room with his parents. He had greeted them bowing and had gone into his room to change. He met his brother, Gerard, also putting on his trousers. His brother intimated him on why their cousin and her parents were in their house.

“They have come to ask Daddy and Mummy to help them in paying Salem’s school fees.” Gerard had told him wearing his fake smile which signalled he had more to tell.

“It’s a lie.” Lancelot had replied. “Uncle Uche cannot be asking Dad for help, he has money of his own to take care of his children.”

Uncle Uche was their father’s younger brother. He had six children of his own. He ran a shop where he sold textiles and tailoring materials while his wife Aunt Eunice sold provisions in her own shop. They had never had to ask their father for financial help, perhaps they had run into debt. Lancelot thought about this as he fiddled in his box for a nice T-shirt to wear to impress his cousin Salem.

It turned out to be just as Gerard said, Uncle Uche had run into serious debt and needed all the help his brother could give him with raising Salem. Mr Okoronkwo understood with his brother and accepted to help raise Salem and pay her school fees. Uncle Uche and his wife left the next day to go back to Imo leaving a shy and scared Salem with them. He tried to be friendly with her and put her at ease, he could not understand it but her presence made him very happy. It would have been because he lacked a sister, all his siblings were boys, he was tired of the fights he had with his brothers, and he needed a feminine companion at home.

His brother Gerard could not be bothered about feminine companionship, he was more concerned about taunting and teasing Salem, sometimes he would try to physically bully her, when Lancelot found out about this he lost his temper and beat his brother like he had never done before. It took the intervention of his mum to stop. After this he became Salem’s hero. Soon they referred to them as husband and wife.

“Where is Salem’s husband? I need him to come and fix this blocked sink.” His mother would say on one of those days.

It irritated him sometimes and he told them to stop the jesting but they would not; the title stuck, they got used to it.

“Go and call your wife to take this corn to the grinding engine across the street.” His mum would tell him and he would silently rise from the novel he was reading and go into Salem’s room with a deliberate slowness to protest this forced marriage to his cousin.

One day the name calling stopped. His father put an end to it. He had come home from a meeting one Saturday and sat down on the chair only to hear Gerard say to Salem:

“You think I am your husband, eh? Oya, vamoose before I injure you so that he will not be able to recognize you again.”

There was something in the way Gerard said it that revolted his father, it sort of brought him to see the immodesty in the joke. He asked Gerard to shut up immediately and gave him a dangerous look; the sort of look he gave to his boys before he pounced on them. “Call everybody to the sitting room; I want us to have an emergency meeting. Call everyone.” He shouted at Gerard who shrunk away fast like a dog who had been kicked in the stomach.

“My husband, you sent for us and we are all here.” Lancelot’s mother began when they were all gathered in the sitting room.

Mr Okoronkwo scanned the room silently. He started from his wife and ended with Obi, Nonso and Terry the three youngest boys who had been banned from sitting on the chairs in the sitting room because of their rough nature.

“I want to emphatically state today that I don’t want to ever hear anyone in this household calling Lancelot and Salem husband and wife again. It is devilish to even imagine or joke that two cousins will marry themselves. God forbid, that will not happen in my household.”

Everybody shifted uncomfortably in his or her seat. Mrs Okoronkwo defended them asking him if he did not joke or tease people sometimes. “This joke started because of the way Lancelot protects Salem, there is nothing more to it.”

“I want it to stop!” Mr Okoronkwo declared. “That is how you put ideas into innocent people’s head. Words have power, don’t you know that?” He addressed his wife. “You are saying it is nothing more than a joke, the devil may not see it that way and would take this joke and start using it against us in this house to bring something shameful to happen. It is not natural for cousins to get married, it is not part of our culture as Ibos or our religion as Christians. Don’t put crazy things into these innocent people’s heads, biko. I have spoken. If I hear anyone saying that trash in this house again, the person saying it will not go unpunished. This is the end of this family meeting.” He stood up and went to his room leaving everybody feeling awkward.

One by one everyone left until Lancelot and Salem remained. They looked at each other and communicated using their secret eye language.

“Did you tell Daddy anything?” Lancelot asked with his eyes.
“Of course not.” Salem answered him.

Perhaps it was because Mr Okoronkwo was spiritual that was why he had been able to detect that something could go awry between both of them. It had all started innocently. Lancelot noticed Salem felt at loss in the household and needed somebody to make her feel better, he started getting her to talk when they were alone in the house. A friendship had formed between them; they wrote to each other in code languages when at school and when they walked back home together they communicated in their eye language no one else could understand. Salem felt happy; she told him often he was the reason she was able to bear the change of environment. Something about her made her endearing; the way she rolled her eyes when she was shy, the sound of her small voice that was never loud enough and the power it had to transport one to the moon and back when she sang, her laughter that was always reserved as if she had learnt the art of laughter in a special school. She was unique in a very good way and very soon Lancelot could not help but develop feelings for her, but he did not tell her, she was the one who discovered.

It was one of those days when they were alone in the house, Lancelot’s parents had gone to church and his younger siblings had gone to play a soccer game. They had been discussing about countries they would like to visit. Lancelot was interested in Europe and she was interested in Asia, particularly China and Japan where the teenagers there developed drones and computers, she wanted to raise her children there and when she said the word children she stared at him fixedly as if there was something in the word he had to know more about. He shrugged and said that would be nice. Then she reached out for his hand.

“How long are you going to keep your feelings for me secret, when do you plan to tell me what you feel?” She asked sinking her eyes into his in a way that made him feel off balance.

“What do you mean?” He averted her eyes.

“You like me a lot.”

“As a cousin. I take you for a sister.”

“No. You wish we could marry one day?”

“That’s absurd.” He was now offended, her knowing the truth was abominable even more that the idea itself.

He could not relate well with her for several days and those days he felt no other experience could be worse. In the end he wrote her a long encrypted message asking her to be his girlfriend and telling her he hoped they would get married when they were older. She replied with one sentence. Yes, but no sex. So their relationship started without the knowledge of his family and they limited themselves to just hugging. Everything seemed to be moving fine till his father called the meeting.

The next day under an orange tree they met and talked on how they needed to be careful so no other person would know. Lancelot was very worried though Salem reassured him nobody was going to find out. A thought came into his mind that he was going to lose her soon but he did not tell her this instead before they left back home he asked her if he could kiss her. She was shocked and said no initially. He pressed her. It will be just a kiss and nothing more. It was her turn to be afraid and he in turn assuring her. She gave in; it was so short and quick but both of them left feeling embarrassed as if more had happened.

The next afternoon after school there was another family meeting. There were in trouble this time. Someone had reported to his parents that they had been seen kissing under a tree. Did they admit to this or not? Lancelot spoke and said yes, they kissed, they loved each other and wanted to get married when they grew up. His family was shocked. Mr Okoronkwo immediately administered punishment. They were both beaten and warned not to desist the rubbish they started or else be disgraced. Mr Okoronkwo then called his son privately to tell him how he had disappointed them and how he must never allow such a thing repeat itself. It did not stop there; Lancelot’s mother was so upset with Salem that she stopped relating well with her and instead treated her with disdain. She called her bad names and warned her other sons to stop being friendly with her because she was a seductress who had come to lead them astray. Somehow, word also spread in school about their amorous relationship and the students whispered as they walked or giggled when they saw them. Salem’s friends stopped talking to her out rightly because they did not want to be influenced by her abominable opinion.

I'm so sorry friends for abandoning this story on Nairaland. I know you are all angry and to make amends I promise to complete it starting next week. The story has been completed and I will only need to post it here. Please forgive me, I am truly sorry. See you Monday.

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