[b] “Madam shut up.”
Mama keeps mute like the still of the night.
I look at Aisha. She is not shivering like Mama. She is still like a pond. I can see a liquid flowing beside her right leg. It looks like water, but it isn’t. I think it is urine.
Few minutes later, Baba returns. The intruder who escorts him is slapping and kicking him from behind. I hear him cursing.
“What happened?” Tunde asks
“He go bring hundred fiba. He say na wetin he get be dat.” The guy laments. He connects yet another kick to Baba’s back. Baba wobbles and falls.
“I’ve always known you to be a smart man. So you value your life more than three hundred thousand naira abi.”
“No o… that’s all I have.” Baba defends.
“And you’re still lying ehn.”
“No o…That’s all I have.”
“Ooh, I hate lies. I hate to hear them.”
“My son.”
“If you mention my son again, I swear I will shoot you in the head.”
Baba is quiet like a well fed baby. Mama is shivering and grumbling. Aisha is still.
“Now, I will count to three. If I don’t see that money, I will shoot you and find the money myself.”
Baba stands, but he doesn’t move. Maybe he thinks Tunde is bluffing and he won’t shoot.
My mind does not follow the countdown. Fear is holding my mind hostage. When I think the countdown is about to start, I hear gunshots. Three fast simultaneous gunshots. I hear two more, but I am no longer looking at the scene.
There is a way fear will knock at the door of your heart, but you don’t open the door for it because you are armed with the knowledge of its villainous nature.
Fear is like love. You will never know how it enters your heart. But it will. Easily.
Fear will enter your heart and present itself as a guest. You will be relieved at first, but it will never last long as fear will soon begin to overstep its boundaries. You would be patient and you won’t talk. Your silence will cost you as fear will take over your heart and chase you out of control.
Fear is a dictator and it will rule your heart ruthlessly. Your heart will be in a bad state, and soon enough, it will be in a rabbit hole.
Seeing the horrors before me, I lose control of my heart and fear takes over. My soul goes on a trip to oblivion through a rabbit hole.
***
As I finish narrating, I lock eyes with Detective Soogun like the barrel of a gun. “That is what happened.” I let out a sigh. “I fainted and I don’t recall the rest.”
He adjust his stance, “Tunde, you’ve said it well. Your narration is in line with our investigation.
We came to your house after your neighbours reported that they heard something that sounded like gunshots. As soon as we breached the door, we saw five bodies on the floor of the parlour, all covered with blood. The house was scattered, like someone was looking for something in a haste.
When we searched the house further, we found you lying unconscious in the kitchen.”
He brings out a small book from his breast pocket and begins to scribble something in it.
The doctor enters the ward. A stethoscope hangs around his long neck that houses an Adam apple.
I set my gaze on his cupid face. “My parents. What happened to them?” I am hoping I will hear something good.
He shakes his head. “You have to be strong.”
I touch the dark scar that runs from the side of my right eye to my forehead, feel it with my right palm, and I let it slide to my hairs. Then I blinked.
“I will be fine. Just tell me what happened.”
He shakes his head for a while, and as slowly as he can, he says the three words, “They are dead!”
It feels like someone is hammering something in my ears. I shout. “Dead!” I jerk from my supine position on the bed. I start to wail. I want to cry, but no tears escorts my exaggerated wails.
The doctor removes a kerchief from his lab coat’s pocket and he uses it to mop my brows. He must be thinking that I am shedding tears.
“I told you to calm down. Your tears can’t bring them back.”
I know he is trying to be empathetic, because I cannot get the tears to flow down my cheeks. I increase the intensity of my wailing.
“Baba mi ooo… Mama mi ooo… Aisha mi o…”
“And there is a good news o.” Detective Soogun announces, shouting on top of his voice to catch my attention.
I stop wailing. “Good news?”
He locks his eyes with mine. “Yes good news.” he clasped his fingers together and cracked them. ” The criminals were three. But we found two of them dead in your house. Shot at point blank. We suspect the third of the criminals did it.”
“How did you know they were three? Is there any witness? ” I say rapidly.
A flicker of smile appears on his face. “Yes there is.”
My eyes light up with curiosity. “Who?”
“Aisha.”
I want the ground to open and swallow me, but it doesn’t. Sweat breaks out of my skin pore, and my skin hairs stand still.
“She survived miraculously.” The doctor says; the Adam apple on his neck going up and down as he speaks. “The bullet went into her head but it ricochet off her cranium and it came outside. We’ve stitched up the wounds. She will be fine in no time…. She is coming to—“ [/b]
