FICTION: BETRAYED
“Guys, guys, calm down”. Eunice stood up as she gesticulated with her hands, trying to calm her two friends down. She hated having to be the referee in fights between the two guys she has come to love so much.
They were closest friends. First met in secondary school, almost got separated during university as Joshua went to University of Port Harcourt while Eunice and Sam went to the Rivers State University.
They however never lost friendship because they always made out time to meet at least once in a week. Sometimes Joshua came to visit Sam and Eunice, other times the visit was reversed. ‘The triangle’ as they were popularly called had remained intact.
They’ve had moments of quarrel and fights, most times Eunice had been the mediator and peacemaker and today seemed to be one of those moments. Though she was the youngest of the three, she played the role of big sister. Their girlfriends usually called her to intervene in certain of their ‘couple’s issues’. Or at least some of their girlfriends.
It was a Friday evening and they were sitting in one of their favorite hangouts. They had agreed to meet here to celebrate a recent business breakthrough. Little did she know she would end up settling another fight. “Please guys let’s bring down our voices and discuss this like grown adults. We’re friends for crying out loud, this shouldn’t be happening; not on a day like this, we should be celebrating”.
“Sam is always doing this”. Joshua said. He’s light skinned face could be seen turning red with anger even in the dimly lit cubicle they were occupying. “He’s too crafty. How can someone be so greedy?”
Sam appeared to be calm. He took a sip from his tall glass of beer, replaced the glass on the table, smacked his tongue before responding. “This is purely business man. I executed the deal, so I get the lion share. It’s that simple”.
“But I got the contract. It was my deal. I brought you in as a friend and brother. We had an agreement on the sharing formula; I get 60% of the profit, you get 40. Why are you doing this now?”
“You got the deal but I had the contacts and resources”.
“Liar!” Joshua exploded. Heads turned and looked in their direction as Eunice tried to pacify him. It worked a bit because he reduced his voice. “We shared the cost of execution evenly, the only other thing you did was to contact the company that did the supply”.
Sam spread his hands open. “Which is more than what you did. Therefore I deserve more. I am taking 60% and nothing less”. He made the last statement matter-of-factly.
Joshua felt the rage swelling inside him like a volcano ready to spew it’s hot lava. Eunice spoke up just in time to avert another outburst. “But Sam, did you guys have an agreement or not?” Joshua nodded in concurrence.
Sam’s reply came with an air of indifference. “I don’t remember signing any agreement papers”.
Joshua through his hands up and slumped back on his seat.
Eunice was perplexed. “Since when did we start needing documents before agreeing on something? Sam I can’t believe this. Is this how you betray your friend just because of money?”
“I didn’t betray anybody. If there’s any evidence to show we had an agreement, he should provide it and I’ll back down”. Then he said, almost inaudibly as he lifted his glass to his lips again, “53 million naira is not just money”.
Joshua had had enough. He got up from his seat slammed both fists on the table, causing the bottles and glasses to dance around. Sam quickly picked up his remaining beer to prevent it from falling.
He was the only one that had been drinking. “This is bullshit. You think you can swindle me? I’ll deal with you. I’ll show you how not to play with fire”. With that he stormed out. Eunice got up to run after him and maybe stop him, but she thought better of it. Joshua had anger issues, when he’s upset it’s better to let him be until it cools off. Trying to calm him would only infuriate him the more. So she came back and gave Sam some real talking down before she stormed out too. All Sam kept saying to her was “He threatened me, did you hear him? He said he’d deal with me”.
Joshua drove home straight took a cold shower and went straight to bed but could not find sleep. He could not get over the fact that his friend of many years could turn his back on him just like that. It was simply too much to comprehend. He kept turning from side to side until he had covered all corners of the bed ten times over. He needed someone to talk to right now, Gina his girlfriend was in Law School preparing for exams so had her phones turned off, he had refused to take Eunice’s calls earlier now he feels too guilty to call back and it’s too late to call mum. He continued tossing until he finally fell asleep mid thought.
“I hope you don’t have any plans of giving in to his demands?” That was Vickie, Sam’s fiancee. She couldn’t join them in the supposed celebration because she was working late. Truth was that she never liked Eunice, she didn’t like Joshua much either. Ever since she started dating Sam 6 months earlier, she always worked late whenever it was time for the regular hangouts together.
“But he threatened to deal with me”. Sam looked genuinely worried.
“It is Joshua we’re talking about, he gets angry quick and talks toughs but you know it doesn’t go beyond that. His threats are empty”.
“Yes, but he has never been swindled of millions before. People can do anything for money”. The last sentence sounded ironic even to his own ears.
“You didn’t swindle him. You worked for the money. You put in more so you deserve more. You’re simply getting your entitlement”.
“But they’re like family, can’t do this to them, can’t do this to him”.
“Stop talking like a baby”. She snapped. “Twenty kids can’t be together playing for twenty years. Its time to move on to bigger things”.
He still didn’t feel to comfortable with it but he agreed it was too big an opportunity to let slip. She assured him it would be alright, she would take care of it.
“Don’t worry your head”. She said when he asked what she meant by ‘taking care of it.
After Church on Sunday, Joshua drove to his mum’s to pick up Deborah , his daughter. Holiday was over and school was resuming on Monday. Besides that he hadn’t seen his mum for two whole weeks. More so he needed someone to talk to. His mum has always been his confidant. He got there at a quarter past twelve, just a few minutes after his mum and daughter had returned from church.
Deborah was a delightful 7 year old cutie. She was born in Joshua’s first year in the University; a product of his relationship.
Lilian’s parents were not ready for any grand child yet, couldn’t support an abortion either, so they took care of their daughter till she put to bed and then for another 6 months before sending Deborah to her father and Lilian to Canada to study. She was just 17, naïve and exuberant, first time in love. They did not want to throw away the baby with the bath water so they forgave her exuberance but made her vow never to look for the baby or see Joshua again. Joshua’s mother was more than eager to accept the baby. She was a widow with Joshua as an only child. She took care of Deborah until he was able to cater for himself and his daughter although his mother always had her during holidays and most weekends.
It was past 7 pm when they said their goodbyes, Joshua and Deborah got in the car and drove off. On the way home they chatted and laughed so hard. Theirs was more like best friends' relationship than father-daughter. She was the only person he loved more than himself. He loved her mother too, unfortunately, things turned out the way they did. Now Deborah got a double portion of the love, he would do anything, practically anything for her.
They were so lost in their own world in the car that he didn’t notice the black Highlander SUV that had been following them. He saw it a little too late. Just as he made the turn onto the street where they lived, the SUV overtook and double-crossed them.
Everything happened so fast. He woke up with a crushing headache. How long he been out? He couldn’t tell. His daughter; where’s his daughter? “Baby!!!” He called out. All he got as response was silence. He managed to drag himself up, looked around. The car doors were wide open, the engine still running. Just then it began to dawn on him. Four big guys had come out of the SUV brandishing M16 assault rifles, one of them shattered the window on the side were Deborah sat and had dragged her out. In a split second he flung his door open and was charging to rescue his daughter but found his way blocked by 3 frightening giants. 15 giants can’t stop me from saving my baby, he told himself as he tried to fight his way through. That was the last thing he remembered as one of the kidnappers smashed the butt of his rifle into the back of Joshua’s head.
The pain was immediately numbed as a sudden rage took over. After 30 minutes of fuming, he realized that wasn’t going to solve anything, he needed to act fast, get to the police first. Yes, that’s what he would do.
He needed to be quick, the thought of his baby in the hands of strange men…. . No, he had to get her back. He got into his car. Just then his phone rang. “Hello Vickie”. He said. “Look I’m heading to the Police Station, Dee has been kidnapped. Please call Sam and tell him to meet me there”.
“I know she was kidnapped”. She said coldly, emotionless.
“OK, good. So hurry… … wait, how did you….? No! No!! Did you…?”
“Keep quiet and listen Joshua”.
He gripped the steering wheel tightly with his free am and tried to stay calm. “If you touch so much as a strand of hair on her head, I swear I’ll kill you”.
“Shut up I said. I know where your daughter is. Do what I say and you’ll have her back safe and sound, if you don’t..well…” She let the rest hang.
He slammed the steering wheel repeatedly with both hands. He could feel the frustration boil over. The condition for the release of his daughter was the forfeiture of all his earnings from the contract. If he made any attempt to contact any security agent she ‘would be gone for good’.
Joshua paced the length of his living room, his face contorted into a grotesque. It was the day Vickie promised that Deborah would be released. He had signed off his part of profit to Sam just as Vickie had requested and told no one about the kidnap except Eunice who sat at the dinning watching him. “Joe please sit, you’ve been pacing for over an hour now. You’ve done all they asked, I’m sure Dee will be back soon.
He was worried that they hadn’t called to tell him where to pick her up. More worrisome was the fact that Deborah was asthmatic, of course Sam and Vickie knew that but would they bother to let her have her inhaler? Few minutes later his phone rang, private number. He picked it. The voice was that of a man, frantic, panicked. “want to see your daughter again? You have 5 minutes to come and get her”. He could hear the confusion and chaos in the background. What could be the matter? He didn’t have time to try to figure out the answer, he grabbed his key and ran out.
Eunice followed in his wake. Luckily the address the caller gave him was just a few streets away. In 5 minutes he was there. It was a lonely corner of the street, there was no one about, no car, nothing. Where could they be? Where is his daughter?
“Over here”. Eunice screamed as she ran across the street. Before she got there he had overtaken her. There she was lying on the ground, convulsing uncontrollably, foaming from the mouth. The next second he bundled her up and ran back to the car. Eunice followed. “Wait, you can’t drive in this condition , you’re shaking. Gimme the car key, get in the back with her”. He quickly obliged. She got into the driver’s seat and sped off.
“What could have happened to her, asthma attack?” Eunice asked.
“Can’t be”. He answered. “Her inhaler is in her pocket, recently used”.
He clutched her close trying to still her. Held and little face in his arms and stared in her eyes; those pretty eyes like her mother’s. “Baby, baby”. He said softly. “It’s me, it’s daddy. I’m sorry this happened to you. You’ll be fine I promise you. I’ll never let anything bad happen to you”. Two dropped of tear landed on her shirt, he didn’t bother to wipe his eyes, he just let them flow. What ever he was doing seemed to be working, the shaking and convulsing reduced. She turned her head and up at him. She was crying too. She opened her mouth to speak, no words came out but he saw her lips move. “I love you dad”.
He burst into tears “I love you too baby. You’ll be fine now”. He looked up at Eunice. “Step on it please”.
“We’re almost there”.
Just then it hit him. He slap his head, he knew he was missing something, how could he have forgotten? This had happened before. She had suffered similar seizure when she was 3 and had fallen from a swing in the school playground. The doctors called it grand-mal epilepticus. They assured him it was not serious and would not occur frequently. According to them it must have been as a result of cerebral disorder caused by pregnancy and delivery complications. Since Lilian was quite young and her pelvis and birth canal not matured enough, It must have put pressure on the baby, leaving to slight nerve damages.
The kidnappers surely were not prepared for that, when she started convulsing, they quickly dropped her and took off after administering the inhaler to no effect.
Finally they were at the clinic. Surprisingly she was calm now and seemed to be sleeping. Before Eunice stop the car he was on the ground already, his baby firmly clutched in his arms. But it was of no use, the doctor came and confirmed her dead-on-arrival. There is no word in he English dictionary to describe Joshua’s reaction. He was simply uncontrollably.
Later that day, Deborah was buried in one corner of the compound. Yet there was no way to console Joshua. He locked himself up for hours. Not even his mum could get him to open the door, Eunice had tried severally and given up.
Suddenly the door opened. His mum didn’t know how to react to that. First she wanted to be happy that he was coming out finally, but then something else overshadowed the happiness; a dread. Joshua was dressed all-black; black jeans, black polo, head-warmer and sneakers. What frightened her the most was the look on his face. Actually there was no look on the face, it was blank, empty, hollow. “Son, where are you going?” Her voice shook as she spoke.
Silence.
Eunice tried to block his way but thought better of it as she saw his face. She has known him for over 15 years, but the person standing before her right there was a complete stranger. She stepped aside.
“Please Joshua don’t do anything stupid”.
His mum came from behind and grabbed him by the waist. His first reflex was to swing an arm and knock her off, but his hand froze mid air. It was mum he couldn’t hurt her.
“I’m just going for a walk”. He said without emotion. “I need to clear my head”.
“Let me come with you”. Eunice offered. A request he immediately rejected. Insisting he needed time alone.
Finally mum let go of him after making him promise to come home quick and not do anything silly. She knew his response was mere perfunctory yet there was no need pushing it any further because she also knew he would do what he wanted.
He walked out nonchalantly. Next minute he was speeding out of the gate. He could barely see through the tears that stung his eyes and blurred his vision. Luckily traffic was light at this time of the night.
He drove until he came to a big black gate; Sam’s residence. He drove past it a bit then parked and turn off the engine but he sat still as sweet memories of his daughter replayed in his mind. “My baby, oh my Dee, my princess”. He kept repeating as the waterworks flowed freely. Suddenly he stopped crying and wiped his eyes. Opened the glove compartment of his car and pulled out a silver colored 9mm Remington RP9 handgun which carried 18 rounds of ammunition. He didn’t bother to check, after all he needed just 2 rounds.
He looked himself in the rearview mirror and was taken aback by what he saw, he couldn’t recognize himself in the mirror. ‘Joshua Teme is dead and gone’. He told himself as he stepped out of the car with the weapon in his hand, he didn’t try to conceal it.
The gate was open, he stepped in. There was movement inside the house. Without breaking stride he moved closer, just before he got to the door he pulled out his phone and dialed a number; the Divisional Police Officer. As the person on the other end picked the call, he reported that a robbery was ongoing, gave him the address of the place and other necessary details then he clicked off and took a deep breath.
He opened the door to the living room, there was no one there, only luggage. He walked across the room to the dinning and took a seat. Vickie walked in to the room dragging a roller box behind her. “Bae, we need to hurry, I’ve told you we don’t need all these things. Just pick the essentials”.
A voice came from inside the other room. “You caused all these, I told I couldn’t do such evil against my friend. Now we’ve become fugitives”.
“Stop being a cry baby and hurry up. How could we have known she had seizures? I got her inhaler, thinking it was only asthma. She was going to die anyway, how can one child be carrying so many sicknesses?”
The last two sentences struck a hard chord in Joshua’s head, pierced him like a spear right in the heart. He immediately stood up, the sound of the chair jolted Vickie who spun around and found herself staring into Joshua’s fiery eyes and blank face, she froze. With the gun in his right hand he motion her to move to one corner of the room as he raised his left index to his lips and mouth. “Shhhh. Not one sound”. Like a well trained dog, she obeyed. Few minutes later Sam entered the room after he called to Vickie and got no response. He found her sitting. “What are you doing? We need to mo…”. The rest stuck in his throat as he felt the cold barrel of the gun on the back of his neck. His hands went up instinctively, slowly. He’s expression changed from shock to horror and utter regret.
Joshua made the couple kneel as he interrogated them both. Vickie did not say as much as a word. But Sam spent the next 30 minutes crying, blaming Vickie and begging for his life. He reminded Joshua how far they had come as friends, how they were like brothers and nothing could come between them in the past until this devil, (pointing at Vickie), came in to his life.
Promised to give him every dime they made from the deal “Joe boy”. He called his pet name. “Please, we can work this out. I’m so sorry I allowed the devil and this his agent use me. You know I could never hurt you”.
Joshua smiled and looked as his watch. He knew the typical Nigerian Police would take hours to respond a robbery alert, so he had some more time to taunt them. “Well”. He said to his friend. “I am sending you to the devil with his agent as your escort back to hell”. “I was willing to let you have the bigger share of the profit after mum talked to me. But no, your greed wouldn’t let you. You wanted everything, you even killed my daughter”. He burst into tears. “Why didn’t take me instead? Why? Cowards! You and innocent little girl and killed her”.
“I’m sorry Joe”. He tried to crawl towards his friend, but came face to face with the raised pistol. “Please, we didn’t know she had seizures. We never wanted any of it to happen, all we wanted was the money”.
Just then the wailing of a Police siren was heard. “Well you got the money, but you won’t enjoy it”.
Sam was actually relieved that the cops were coming, so was Vickie too, they both heaved a sigh. They were sure Joshua would be arrested too for possession of firearm, breaking and entering, attempted murder, he took a mental count of charges they would bring up against him. Even if he and Vickie got arrested, they could manage to get a bail; much better than being dead. “Joe the cops are here, you can leave now, we won’t tell them anything. Please just go, I don’t want you to go to jail”.
Joshua let out a mischievous laugh. “I called them”.
The surprise on their faces was inexplicably. Vickie tried to speak for the first time, realizing that what would happen next wasn’t going to favor her any bit “Joshua I’m terribly sorry. Please forgi…..”
Well she would complete the sentence in the after live. The white wall behind where she was kneeling was repainted red with blood and tissues. Sam let out a shriek of horror as he tried to wipe his fiancée’s blood from his face.
“I forgive you”. Joshua shrugged looking at her crumpled body or rather what remained of it.
The sound of the gun must have alerted the Police because the next minute they were at the door. Joshua pointed the gun at his friend whose eyes went wide open as the reality of the moment dawned on him.
“I am sorry brother”. Was the thing he said as he saw light fade from his eyes. He clutched at his open chest where the bullet had blown out most of it.
Joshua dropped the gun, knelt down and put his hands behind his head as the Officers barged into the room, guns blazing. He knew the end had come.
…………….
“That was when I woke up. You needed to see the way I was sweating, the mattress was soaked with sweat”.
There was an awkward silence around the table. Sam was the one that broke the silence. “I’ve told you to stop eating Eunice’s abacha late in the night, it always messes up your head”.
They all broke into a hearty laugh.
“So I am now the one to blame ehn? Don’t worry, lemme hear any of you ask me for abacha again”.
There was more laughter which made Joshua choke on a mouthful of Eunice’s famous famous abacha (sliced tapioca with special sauce). It was her birthday and the triangle had opted to celebrate it low-key in her house. Sam and Joe had pleaded with her to make the tapioca as part of the menu.
“But wait oh”. Sam said. “You mean you had the guts to shoot me? You Joshua? Since when did you become bold enough to carry weapons?”
“That’s true oh”. Eunice responded. “Dude you need to go for a typhoid test first thing in the morning, this isn’t ordinary”.
They all laughed again and continued their merriment.
They were closest friends. First met in secondary school, almost got separated during university as Joshua went to University of Port Harcourt while Eunice and Sam went to the Rivers State University.
They however never lost friendship because they always made out time to meet at least once in a week. Sometimes Joshua came to visit Sam and Eunice, other times the visit was reversed. ‘The triangle’ as they were popularly called had remained intact.
They’ve had moments of quarrel and fights, most times Eunice had been the mediator and peacemaker and today seemed to be one of those moments. Though she was the youngest of the three, she played the role of big sister. Their girlfriends usually called her to intervene in certain of their ‘couple’s issues’. Or at least some of their girlfriends.
It was a Friday evening and they were sitting in one of their favorite hangouts. They had agreed to meet here to celebrate a recent business breakthrough. Little did she know she would end up settling another fight. “Please guys let’s bring down our voices and discuss this like grown adults. We’re friends for crying out loud, this shouldn’t be happening; not on a day like this, we should be celebrating”.
“Sam is always doing this”. Joshua said. He’s light skinned face could be seen turning red with anger even in the dimly lit cubicle they were occupying. “He’s too crafty. How can someone be so greedy?”
Sam appeared to be calm. He took a sip from his tall glass of beer, replaced the glass on the table, smacked his tongue before responding. “This is purely business man. I executed the deal, so I get the lion share. It’s that simple”.
“But I got the contract. It was my deal. I brought you in as a friend and brother. We had an agreement on the sharing formula; I get 60% of the profit, you get 40. Why are you doing this now?”
“Liar!” Joshua exploded. Heads turned and looked in their direction as Eunice tried to pacify him. It worked a bit because he reduced his voice. “We shared the cost of execution evenly, the only other thing you did was to contact the company that did the supply”.
Sam spread his hands open. “Which is more than what you did. Therefore I deserve more. I am taking 60% and nothing less”. He made the last statement matter-of-factly.
Joshua felt the rage swelling inside him like a volcano ready to spew it’s hot lava. Eunice spoke up just in time to avert another outburst. “But Sam, did you guys have an agreement or not?” Joshua nodded in concurrence.
Sam’s reply came with an air of indifference. “I don’t remember signing any agreement papers”.
Joshua through his hands up and slumped back on his seat.
Eunice was perplexed. “Since when did we start needing documents before agreeing on something? Sam I can’t believe this. Is this how you betray your friend just because of money?”
“I didn’t betray anybody. If there’s any evidence to show we had an agreement, he should provide it and I’ll back down”. Then he said, almost inaudibly as he lifted his glass to his lips again, “53 million naira is not just money”.
Joshua had had enough. He got up from his seat slammed both fists on the table, causing the bottles and glasses to dance around. Sam quickly picked up his remaining beer to prevent it from falling.
He was the only one that had been drinking. “This is bullshit. You think you can swindle me? I’ll deal with you. I’ll show you how not to play with fire”. With that he stormed out. Eunice got up to run after him and maybe stop him, but she thought better of it. Joshua had anger issues, when he’s upset it’s better to let him be until it cools off. Trying to calm him would only infuriate him the more. So she came back and gave Sam some real talking down before she stormed out too. All Sam kept saying to her was “He threatened me, did you hear him? He said he’d deal with me”.
Joshua drove home straight took a cold shower and went straight to bed but could not find sleep. He could not get over the fact that his friend of many years could turn his back on him just like that. It was simply too much to comprehend. He kept turning from side to side until he had covered all corners of the bed ten times over. He needed someone to talk to right now, Gina his girlfriend was in Law School preparing for exams so had her phones turned off, he had refused to take Eunice’s calls earlier now he feels too guilty to call back and it’s too late to call mum. He continued tossing until he finally fell asleep mid thought.
“I hope you don’t have any plans of giving in to his demands?” That was Vickie, Sam’s fiancee. She couldn’t join them in the supposed celebration because she was working late. Truth was that she never liked Eunice, she didn’t like Joshua much either. Ever since she started dating Sam 6 months earlier, she always worked late whenever it was time for the regular hangouts together.
“But he threatened to deal with me”. Sam looked genuinely worried.
“It is Joshua we’re talking about, he gets angry quick and talks toughs but you know it doesn’t go beyond that. His threats are empty”.
“Yes, but he has never been swindled of millions before. People can do anything for money”. The last sentence sounded ironic even to his own ears.
“You didn’t swindle him. You worked for the money. You put in more so you deserve more. You’re simply getting your entitlement”.
“But they’re like family, can’t do this to them, can’t do this to him”.
“Stop talking like a baby”. She snapped. “Twenty kids can’t be together playing for twenty years. Its time to move on to bigger things”.
He still didn’t feel to comfortable with it but he agreed it was too big an opportunity to let slip. She assured him it would be alright, she would take care of it.
“Don’t worry your head”. She said when he asked what she meant by ‘taking care of it.
After Church on Sunday, Joshua drove to his mum’s to pick up Deborah , his daughter. Holiday was over and school was resuming on Monday. Besides that he hadn’t seen his mum for two whole weeks. More so he needed someone to talk to. His mum has always been his confidant. He got there at a quarter past twelve, just a few minutes after his mum and daughter had returned from church.
Deborah was a delightful 7 year old cutie. She was born in Joshua’s first year in the University; a product of his relationship.
Lilian’s parents were not ready for any grand child yet, couldn’t support an abortion either, so they took care of their daughter till she put to bed and then for another 6 months before sending Deborah to her father and Lilian to Canada to study. She was just 17, naïve and exuberant, first time in love. They did not want to throw away the baby with the bath water so they forgave her exuberance but made her vow never to look for the baby or see Joshua again. Joshua’s mother was more than eager to accept the baby. She was a widow with Joshua as an only child. She took care of Deborah until he was able to cater for himself and his daughter although his mother always had her during holidays and most weekends.
It was past 7 pm when they said their goodbyes, Joshua and Deborah got in the car and drove off. On the way home they chatted and laughed so hard. Theirs was more like best friends' relationship than father-daughter. She was the only person he loved more than himself. He loved her mother too, unfortunately, things turned out the way they did. Now Deborah got a double portion of the love, he would do anything, practically anything for her.
They were so lost in their own world in the car that he didn’t notice the black Highlander SUV that had been following them. He saw it a little too late. Just as he made the turn onto the street where they lived, the SUV overtook and double-crossed them.
Everything happened so fast. He woke up with a crushing headache. How long he been out? He couldn’t tell. His daughter; where’s his daughter? “Baby!!!” He called out. All he got as response was silence. He managed to drag himself up, looked around. The car doors were wide open, the engine still running. Just then it began to dawn on him. Four big guys had come out of the SUV brandishing M16 assault rifles, one of them shattered the window on the side were Deborah sat and had dragged her out. In a split second he flung his door open and was charging to rescue his daughter but found his way blocked by 3 frightening giants. 15 giants can’t stop me from saving my baby, he told himself as he tried to fight his way through. That was the last thing he remembered as one of the kidnappers smashed the butt of his rifle into the back of Joshua’s head.
The pain was immediately numbed as a sudden rage took over. After 30 minutes of fuming, he realized that wasn’t going to solve anything, he needed to act fast, get to the police first. Yes, that’s what he would do.
He needed to be quick, the thought of his baby in the hands of strange men…. . No, he had to get her back. He got into his car. Just then his phone rang. “Hello Vickie”. He said. “Look I’m heading to the Police Station, Dee has been kidnapped. Please call Sam and tell him to meet me there”.
“I know she was kidnapped”. She said coldly, emotionless.
“OK, good. So hurry… … wait, how did you….? No! No!! Did you…?”
“Keep quiet and listen Joshua”.
He gripped the steering wheel tightly with his free am and tried to stay calm. “If you touch so much as a strand of hair on her head, I swear I’ll kill you”.
“Shut up I said. I know where your daughter is. Do what I say and you’ll have her back safe and sound, if you don’t..well…” She let the rest hang.
He slammed the steering wheel repeatedly with both hands. He could feel the frustration boil over. The condition for the release of his daughter was the forfeiture of all his earnings from the contract. If he made any attempt to contact any security agent she ‘would be gone for good’.
Joshua paced the length of his living room, his face contorted into a grotesque. It was the day Vickie promised that Deborah would be released. He had signed off his part of profit to Sam just as Vickie had requested and told no one about the kidnap except Eunice who sat at the dinning watching him. “Joe please sit, you’ve been pacing for over an hour now. You’ve done all they asked, I’m sure Dee will be back soon.
He was worried that they hadn’t called to tell him where to pick her up. More worrisome was the fact that Deborah was asthmatic, of course Sam and Vickie knew that but would they bother to let her have her inhaler? Few minutes later his phone rang, private number. He picked it. The voice was that of a man, frantic, panicked. “want to see your daughter again? You have 5 minutes to come and get her”. He could hear the confusion and chaos in the background. What could be the matter? He didn’t have time to try to figure out the answer, he grabbed his key and ran out.
Eunice followed in his wake. Luckily the address the caller gave him was just a few streets away. In 5 minutes he was there. It was a lonely corner of the street, there was no one about, no car, nothing. Where could they be? Where is his daughter?
“Over here”. Eunice screamed as she ran across the street. Before she got there he had overtaken her. There she was lying on the ground, convulsing uncontrollably, foaming from the mouth. The next second he bundled her up and ran back to the car. Eunice followed. “Wait, you can’t drive in this condition , you’re shaking. Gimme the car key, get in the back with her”. He quickly obliged. She got into the driver’s seat and sped off.
“What could have happened to her, asthma attack?” Eunice asked.
“Can’t be”. He answered. “Her inhaler is in her pocket, recently used”.
He clutched her close trying to still her. Held and little face in his arms and stared in her eyes; those pretty eyes like her mother’s. “Baby, baby”. He said softly. “It’s me, it’s daddy. I’m sorry this happened to you. You’ll be fine I promise you. I’ll never let anything bad happen to you”. Two dropped of tear landed on her shirt, he didn’t bother to wipe his eyes, he just let them flow. What ever he was doing seemed to be working, the shaking and convulsing reduced. She turned her head and up at him. She was crying too. She opened her mouth to speak, no words came out but he saw her lips move. “I love you dad”.
He burst into tears “I love you too baby. You’ll be fine now”. He looked up at Eunice. “Step on it please”.
“We’re almost there”.
Just then it hit him. He slap his head, he knew he was missing something, how could he have forgotten? This had happened before. She had suffered similar seizure when she was 3 and had fallen from a swing in the school playground. The doctors called it grand-mal epilepticus. They assured him it was not serious and would not occur frequently. According to them it must have been as a result of cerebral disorder caused by pregnancy and delivery complications. Since Lilian was quite young and her pelvis and birth canal not matured enough, It must have put pressure on the baby, leaving to slight nerve damages.
The kidnappers surely were not prepared for that, when she started convulsing, they quickly dropped her and took off after administering the inhaler to no effect.
Finally they were at the clinic. Surprisingly she was calm now and seemed to be sleeping. Before Eunice stop the car he was on the ground already, his baby firmly clutched in his arms. But it was of no use, the doctor came and confirmed her dead-on-arrival. There is no word in he English dictionary to describe Joshua’s reaction. He was simply uncontrollably.
Later that day, Deborah was buried in one corner of the compound. Yet there was no way to console Joshua. He locked himself up for hours. Not even his mum could get him to open the door, Eunice had tried severally and given up.
Suddenly the door opened. His mum didn’t know how to react to that. First she wanted to be happy that he was coming out finally, but then something else overshadowed the happiness; a dread. Joshua was dressed all-black; black jeans, black polo, head-warmer and sneakers. What frightened her the most was the look on his face. Actually there was no look on the face, it was blank, empty, hollow. “Son, where are you going?” Her voice shook as she spoke.
Silence.
Eunice tried to block his way but thought better of it as she saw his face. She has known him for over 15 years, but the person standing before her right there was a complete stranger. She stepped aside.
“Please Joshua don’t do anything stupid”.
His mum came from behind and grabbed him by the waist. His first reflex was to swing an arm and knock her off, but his hand froze mid air. It was mum he couldn’t hurt her.
“I’m just going for a walk”. He said without emotion. “I need to clear my head”.
“Let me come with you”. Eunice offered. A request he immediately rejected. Insisting he needed time alone.
Finally mum let go of him after making him promise to come home quick and not do anything silly. She knew his response was mere perfunctory yet there was no need pushing it any further because she also knew he would do what he wanted.
He walked out nonchalantly. Next minute he was speeding out of the gate. He could barely see through the tears that stung his eyes and blurred his vision. Luckily traffic was light at this time of the night.
He drove until he came to a big black gate; Sam’s residence. He drove past it a bit then parked and turn off the engine but he sat still as sweet memories of his daughter replayed in his mind. “My baby, oh my Dee, my princess”. He kept repeating as the waterworks flowed freely. Suddenly he stopped crying and wiped his eyes. Opened the glove compartment of his car and pulled out a silver colored 9mm Remington RP9 handgun which carried 18 rounds of ammunition. He didn’t bother to check, after all he needed just 2 rounds.
He looked himself in the rearview mirror and was taken aback by what he saw, he couldn’t recognize himself in the mirror. ‘Joshua Teme is dead and gone’. He told himself as he stepped out of the car with the weapon in his hand, he didn’t try to conceal it.
The gate was open, he stepped in. There was movement inside the house. Without breaking stride he moved closer, just before he got to the door he pulled out his phone and dialed a number; the Divisional Police Officer. As the person on the other end picked the call, he reported that a robbery was ongoing, gave him the address of the place and other necessary details then he clicked off and took a deep breath.
He opened the door to the living room, there was no one there, only luggage. He walked across the room to the dinning and took a seat. Vickie walked in to the room dragging a roller box behind her. “Bae, we need to hurry, I’ve told you we don’t need all these things. Just pick the essentials”.
A voice came from inside the other room. “You caused all these, I told I couldn’t do such evil against my friend. Now we’ve become fugitives”.
“Stop being a cry baby and hurry up. How could we have known she had seizures? I got her inhaler, thinking it was only asthma. She was going to die anyway, how can one child be carrying so many sicknesses?”
The last two sentences struck a hard chord in Joshua’s head, pierced him like a spear right in the heart. He immediately stood up, the sound of the chair jolted Vickie who spun around and found herself staring into Joshua’s fiery eyes and blank face, she froze. With the gun in his right hand he motion her to move to one corner of the room as he raised his left index to his lips and mouth. “Shhhh. Not one sound”. Like a well trained dog, she obeyed. Few minutes later Sam entered the room after he called to Vickie and got no response. He found her sitting. “What are you doing? We need to mo…”. The rest stuck in his throat as he felt the cold barrel of the gun on the back of his neck. His hands went up instinctively, slowly. He’s expression changed from shock to horror and utter regret.
Joshua made the couple kneel as he interrogated them both. Vickie did not say as much as a word. But Sam spent the next 30 minutes crying, blaming Vickie and begging for his life. He reminded Joshua how far they had come as friends, how they were like brothers and nothing could come between them in the past until this devil, (pointing at Vickie), came in to his life.
Promised to give him every dime they made from the deal “Joe boy”. He called his pet name. “Please, we can work this out. I’m so sorry I allowed the devil and this his agent use me. You know I could never hurt you”.
Joshua smiled and looked as his watch. He knew the typical Nigerian Police would take hours to respond a robbery alert, so he had some more time to taunt them. “Well”. He said to his friend. “I am sending you to the devil with his agent as your escort back to hell”. “I was willing to let you have the bigger share of the profit after mum talked to me. But no, your greed wouldn’t let you. You wanted everything, you even killed my daughter”. He burst into tears. “Why didn’t take me instead? Why? Cowards! You and innocent little girl and killed her”.
“I’m sorry Joe”. He tried to crawl towards his friend, but came face to face with the raised pistol. “Please, we didn’t know she had seizures. We never wanted any of it to happen, all we wanted was the money”.
Just then the wailing of a Police siren was heard. “Well you got the money, but you won’t enjoy it”.
Sam was actually relieved that the cops were coming, so was Vickie too, they both heaved a sigh. They were sure Joshua would be arrested too for possession of firearm, breaking and entering, attempted murder, he took a mental count of charges they would bring up against him. Even if he and Vickie got arrested, they could manage to get a bail; much better than being dead. “Joe the cops are here, you can leave now, we won’t tell them anything. Please just go, I don’t want you to go to jail”.
Joshua let out a mischievous laugh. “I called them”.
The surprise on their faces was inexplicably. Vickie tried to speak for the first time, realizing that what would happen next wasn’t going to favor her any bit “Joshua I’m terribly sorry. Please forgi…..”
Well she would complete the sentence in the after live. The white wall behind where she was kneeling was repainted red with blood and tissues. Sam let out a shriek of horror as he tried to wipe his fiancée’s blood from his face.
“I forgive you”. Joshua shrugged looking at her crumpled body or rather what remained of it.
The sound of the gun must have alerted the Police because the next minute they were at the door. Joshua pointed the gun at his friend whose eyes went wide open as the reality of the moment dawned on him.
“I am sorry brother”. Was the thing he said as he saw light fade from his eyes. He clutched at his open chest where the bullet had blown out most of it.
Joshua dropped the gun, knelt down and put his hands behind his head as the Officers barged into the room, guns blazing. He knew the end had come.
…………….
“That was when I woke up. You needed to see the way I was sweating, the mattress was soaked with sweat”.
There was an awkward silence around the table. Sam was the one that broke the silence. “I’ve told you to stop eating Eunice’s abacha late in the night, it always messes up your head”.
They all broke into a hearty laugh.
“So I am now the one to blame ehn? Don’t worry, lemme hear any of you ask me for abacha again”.
There was more laughter which made Joshua choke on a mouthful of Eunice’s famous famous abacha (sliced tapioca with special sauce). It was her birthday and the triangle had opted to celebrate it low-key in her house. Sam and Joe had pleaded with her to make the tapioca as part of the menu.
“But wait oh”. Sam said. “You mean you had the guts to shoot me? You Joshua? Since when did you become bold enough to carry weapons?”
“That’s true oh”. Eunice responded. “Dude you need to go for a typhoid test first thing in the morning, this isn’t ordinary”.
They all laughed again and continued their merriment.
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