SISTER MARY

14

                 FAR FROM HOME

                        ~~~°°°~~~

Ikechukwu held tight to the hundred naira note he had in his hands, the trousers he was putting on didn't have any pockets to put the money in and he didn't exactly want to take any risk. His plan was to find a payphone and make a call to his mother, her number was something he would never forget, since she made him recite him it hundred times.

"Good afternoon," He greeted the girl who sat under the MTN umbrella.

"Twenty Naira per minute," she said looking up from the novel she was reading. When she saw his appearance, she raised a suspicious eyebrow and hissed. "I hope you're with money?"

He frowned. No matter the state someone was in, he didn't think they deserved to be treated in such a rude manner. "Yeah," he said. His mind went back to how he had gotten the Naira note in the first place, never had Ikechukwu thought he would ever be moved to pick pockets.

She eyed him once more and reached for the phone in the table. "Take!" She handed it over to him. "Don't go far with my phone oo, make the call here."

Ikechukwu sighed and nodded, not ready and too tired to exchange words. He dialled his mother's number, calling each number as he typed the digits. It rang for awhile, Ikechulwu held his breath praying his mother would have her phone by her side.

The phone buzzed. "Hello, who is this?" Relief flooded over him when he heard the voice of his mother, her voice was low and rough, not holding the usual smoothness Ikechukwu knew his mother to have, his heart ache knowing it was because she had been crying.

"Mummy!" Ikechukwu shouted with excitement. "It's me, Ikechukwu! Your son!"

"Ikechukwu!" She screamed. "Ikechukwu, is this really you?"

"It's me."

"Daddy oo!" She called for his father. "They said our son was dead, they lied, I told you." Tears welled up in his eyes as he heard his father's shout from the background. He sniffed, turning his back to the payphone lady so she wouldn't see his tears.

"Mummy, I'm not dead."

"Ikechukwu." It was his father who spoke instead. "Who dared kidnap you, how much are they demanding?"

"Daddy nobody kidnapped me, but, I don't know where I am...wait, let me ask." He turned to the lady. "Please, what do they call this area."

"Abena," she said.

"Local government?"

"Ilukoya." She eyed him. "Why are you asking so many questions?" She leaned forward in a gossip manner. "Or are you on the run?"

He ignored her. "I'm in Abena, somewhere in Ilukoya, I'm calling from a payphone."

"Oga, It's now forty naira, I hope you hold my money sha."

Ikechukwu didn't care much about the lady, hearing his father's voice was enough comfort, he could hear his mother singing songs of praise in the background, he smiled, a tear ran down his cheeks, he wiped it away with a small smile as he listened to his father.

"We're coming, stay where you are. We'll call again for directions."

"OK, I have to go now." He hanged up and handed the phone to the lady who snatched it immediately. "Calm down na, am I going to run with your phone?"

"Pay me my money."

"How much?"

"Fifty naira."

He handed her over the hundred naira note. She scrunched her nose at how dirty the money was. "This your money carry bowleg, are you sure you didn't steal this?"

Guilt ate at Ikechukwu. "What kind of question is this? Please give me my change."

She clicked her tongue, then brought out a neat fifty naira note from her bag and handed it over to him. "See the money I'm giving to you, isn't it fine? You-"

A bright light appeared right in front of her, suddenly standing before them was Mary.

"Jesus!" The call lady screamed and jumped up to run away. Leaving her bag and everything behind, she ran away as fast as she could, kicking her slippers away. "It's not my time o!"

Shouts arose from passerbys who had seen Mary appear. Many screamed and ran away to a safe distance, while others ran without looking back. Ikechukwu froze not knowing how to react, for a second, he decided to react like others and run away too, but he knew Mary would chase him.

Mary ignored them, she didn't have the strength to care anymore. She faced Ikechukwu. "I need you to come with me."

"W-What? No. You're the one who left me earlier, leave me alone."

"Oh please, don't act like you weren't happy when I left."

"Your mother wanted to kill me."

"But she didn't, you're standing here exchanging words with me aren't you, dead people can't do that."

He kept quiet for awhile, looking round the area, some men were beginning to approach with stones. "My Dad is on his way here, I'm going home with him."

"You called your Dad?" Mary didn't seem bothered by what was going on, she didn't care about the cutlass people were scraping on the rough road of the street, intending to use it to cut her head.

Ikechukwu didn't understand why, he took a step back from her, but she took another step forward towards him. "Yes. I'm not going anywhere with you."

Mary sighed. "Don't make me use force, I wouldn't come to you if I didn't need your help."

He scoffed. "You? Need my help? Oh, how the tables have turned." He didn't see the hand coming, the next thing he felt was the pain of being smacked.

"Don't sass me young man."

"You have gotten your powers back?" He asked.

"No, I'm only here with help from my mother. To get my powers back fully, I need to find the weapon that holds it, after I find the bitch who caused all this."

"So why do you need me?"

She stared at him for awhile biting her lower lips. "Well..."

"Well?" He probed.

"I need to sleep with you."

Ikechukwu blinked twice. "Eh?"

"I can't find Chioma, but wherever the Tarum is, that's where she should also be, the Tarum holds my power and so it's still holds little connection with me, to try and find it's location, I need...I need to sleep with you, to boost up my tie. It's going to create a stronger connection, helping me find the Tarum faster."

"I don't understand anything you have just said, if you need to sleep with anyone to boost up your tie, sleep with someone else."

She sighed. "You're a virgin and there isn't time."

"Witch!" Someone in the crowd behind them. "Witches and Wizards!"

"No, I'm not with her!" Ikechukwu shouted to them, then to Mary. "You can't take me with you, you don't own me, my parents are coming for me and if I dare die-" Before Ikechukwu knew it, Mary was grabbing his shoulders, his body went limp immediately but she held to him. "What happened, I can't move, what..." He felt drained, really drained. Mary was carrying him, he didn't know or understand how she was able to hold his weight.

"You should sleep now," she whispered in his ears, the last thing he heard were the roar of the crowd before sleep washed over him.

•••

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