BLACK BOY

CHAPTER 1

LIFES UNREAL AND DEATH'S UNCERTAIN.. is a phrase which sounds vague, but is actually very simple, straight and clear. Life, however long, has an expiry date, which will remain a mystery to every one of us till our time comes. So till then, we're just living to die later..

At 16 years, I, Diego Obaeze already had these thoughts running through my head, not because i liked it, but because of how life treated me, and those around me..

My parents, old and poor, two abusive older brothers, one dead older brother, an abusive grandfather.. just to mention a few
My parents, like every other average Nigerian, were made to work all their youthful lives, only to be paid peanuts.. but they did their best to train their children as far as possible.. their first son, Amadi Obaeze had a masters in business administration from UNN, Nicholas and Nonso Obaeze, currently in 400 and 300 level respectively in University of Lagos ( UNILAG ) and my little sister Princess Ini Obaeze.

"We are all responsible for our actions whether we like it or not, whether good or bad, intentional or not" is a phrase which i came to understand the hard way when my brother Amadi Obaeze died..

5 YEARS AGO
December 2017

There was barely enough food at home, and Mrs Obaeze didn't know what to do. The little pension her husband was receiving from his previous place of work  couldn't do much to handle all the bills and debts they had.. talk more of her three young sons and daughter who was just 3 years old.. Amadi at 23 just got his MBA degree and was currently working at a local cyber cafe to support the family, while he saved up and waited for NYSC ( National youth services corps ) call up. But even the little he brought wasn't enough to help the family. Nicholas at 19 was in 100 level  in University of Lagos ( UNILAG )and would be resuming a new session two months later, and Nonso, 17 years old had just gained admission, in the same school as Nicholas, also due to resume two months from then and Diego, 11 years old and about to resume a new term at his secondary school.. So yeah, there was a lot to worry about, with nothing much to make do with. Mr and Mrs Obaeze decided to send Nicholas and Nonso and Diego to their maternal grandparents in the east, since their dad's parents were dead..

DIEGO OBAEZE

You see, my grandfather was a retired soilder.. and he made sure we never forgot. From the day my parents brought I and my brothers to stay with him, he made sure to let us know that we were not welcome, and we'd have to make our way up into his good books through hardwork.. intense hardwork. From waking us up with insanely hard whips from his hand crafted 3 headed koboko, or his age old engine belt, My grandfather lived alone in his own compound, while he gave each of his 2 wives their own house and compound, so we didn't have anybody to run to. We were never safe from his abuses, especially my brothers and this in turn, made them release their pent up anger and pain on me.. me !!.. I also went through the same torture as them from the hands of our grandfather, but they didn't care. Because they were bigger, they did more of the hard work while i mostly handled the cleaning and washing. I even stole food from time to time to give to them and though I got caught sometimes, i still did it. But they thought I was enjoying while they were working hard, and they used that as a reason to mess me up.
At some point, i couldn't take it, so one cold January night, I stole my grandfather's phone and i dialled Amadi's number...

" Hello.. who's this" Amadi answered as he picked the phone on the second ring

" brother it's me Diego" 11 year old me replied.. even though i hadn't started talking about anything, I was already crying.. hard

" Ah, Diego, what's the problem.. why are you crying.. did anybody beat you" the irony of that statement made me cry even more, and i began to recount my whole experience, since i got to that house, to him, but i made sure to leave out all my brothers did to me.. for the sake of the blood that we shared. After i finished talking, the line was silent for about a minute, so i thought Amadi had cut the call or something

" Hello, brother Amadi are you still there ?" Immediately he replied, and I released a sigh of relief as i heard his voice

" Yes Diego, am still here.. you know what, first thing tomorrow, I'll take the first bus I see, and be on my way there, so just calm down alright" hearing him say this made me happy... Extremely happy, even after we had finished talking and i was washing the dishes after dinner, i was still smiling, which of course Nonso noticed.. to which i ended up receiving two hot slaps to the face, but that didn't still weaken my spirit. Though the smile had been wiped off my face , my heart was still joyous.. very much joyous.. but what I didn't know was that joy was about to be cut short, come daybreak, the following day.

Amadi couldn't believe what he was hearing from his little brother, he knew his maternal grandfather was wicked which could be attributed to the way he was brought up, and the life path he took, but he never expected him to be this ruthless, treating his grandchildren like slaves. So he decided to take the first bus to east, and pick up all his brothers.. he didn't know where to take them, but that would be a bridge they'll cross as soon as they get to it.
So the following day, a cool Saturday morning, without packing any clothes or luggage, he went on his journey, but little did he know life already had its own journey mapped out for him.

It was already 6:00pm in the evening and Diego hadn't seen Amadi yet, he began to worry because he felt his brother had lied about coming to get him. At about 8:22pm, their grandfather called Diego and his brothers to the living room.. although their grandfather was a retired soilder, death was still something he couldn't take, whether it was him holding the gun or not, he always felt part of his soul leave his body whenever he pulled the trigger. So when he found out his grandson, Amadi had died on his way to get his siblings, that particular feeling returned, so he decided tell the kids, to spare them the pain of finding out the truth through another means..

"your brother Amadi is dead " he said with a stoic face, then he walked out of the living room, to his room, to shed the tears threatening to fall.

Diego couldn't believe his ears.. did he hear his grandfather correctly, how could Amadi be dead when they had just spoken yesterday. He and his brothers just sat on the floor, not knowing what to do, not knowing what to say, each boy with his own thoughts. Then it came to their knowledge that Amadi had died on his way to see them, which of course made them wail so hard, harder then they ever had their entire lives..

A week later, all 3 boys were on their way home, back to their parents.. Amadi had been able to save up enough money to pay Nicholas and Nonso's bills for the new session, and Diego's too.

A month later, first week of February, Nicholas and Nonso had gone back to school, Amadi had been buried, tears had been shed and cries had been sung in the house of Mr and Mrs Obaeze.

I officially welcome you all. Thanks for checking out my book. I hope you can stay long enough to enjoy it.
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