ESCAPE

Chapter 6B

It was noisy outside, cars moved to and from, horns here and there, conductors yelling for passengers and people going about their daily activities, most of them trying to cross the roads without getting hit.

Everything seemed to amuse me. I had not been out in a long time. I smiled when I saw a boy trying to win a girl over by holding her hand to cross the road although he looked like the one who needed help crossing. The boy's lips moved anxiously as he looked left and right as though he was trying to recite the traffic laws to himself, and at the crucial moment he launched forward letting go of her hand and running over to the other side leaving the girl alone.

'Come on Alex, let's take a bus to your place.' he said as he waved his hand to an on-coming bus.

We got in and Wole gave the man a hundred Naira note.

The journey was quick, not counting the many stops we made along the way. A woman with a baby on her back was the first to get down. I noticed her when we got in, she had her baby tied to her back while she was squeezed in between two men. I felt sorry for the child. The next to get down were two different men who got down at the same time. One was wearing a suit and tie, he had a black briefcase which he put in between his armpits as he searched his trousers for change. The other wore a long-sleeved shirt and black trousers and dark shades.

'See your fine shade.' The conductor flattered as the man got down. He replied with a smile.

They were some other conspicuous characters in the bus who were in the bus when we got down, like the man in the police uniform who wouldn't stop picking his nose and the girl whose music playing on her headphones was too loud for her eardrums. I think she was listening to electronic music.

The conductor was another character one couldn't help but notice, with his sleeveless shirt and faded brown shorts or were they white? On his feet were bathroom flip flops,the kind Mallam Aliyu used to wear. He would always rub his fingers around his lips and sniff occasionally, his lips were black as coal.

My house was not far from the junction where we alighted from the bus, it was just a short walk. The streets unlike the church area was quiet as usual. Houses lined up on both sides. Fenced duplexes and bungalows. A dog barked as we walked past a house with a huge black gate. The bushes around my compound had been chopped down. The frontage was filled with footprints and empty water sachets. The gate was half open. I pushed it aside and we walked in. The compound was empty but it looked like there was a recent stampede of humans.

I looked up at the building, all I saw was destruction. The walls were burned down and half the building was a shambles. The front door was fully intact except that it was just testing to the side of a broken wall. I went close and pushed the aside, it crumbled revealing an arsenic disaster. The spring room was filled with melted chairs and burnt papers. The television was smelt to rubble. The banisters were burnt but the stairs seemed to be intact no doubt a death trap waiting to happen.

I wanted to go in further but Wole held my hand and said, 'You've seen enough.'

We came around and went outside, to the backyard. We walked by the pool which was covered in ash. Then I saw them. The graves.

My heart skipped a beat, grew heavier, too heavy for my feet to carry so i feel on my knees, shedding tears hoping to reduce the now growing pain in my stomach.

'I'm sorry Alex.'

I crawled closer to the graves. The epitaph in the tombstones read...

---HERE LIES MR EMEKA RODNEY. A LOVING SON, HUSBAND AND FATHER.---

---HERE LIES MRS PRISCILIA RODNEY. A LOVING DAUGHTER, WIFE AND MOTHER.---

---HERE LIES MASTER ALEX CHUKWUYEM RODNEY. A LOVING SON, A FRIEND TO ALL AND A WONDERFUL STUDENT.---

Seeing your own grave was less appealing than I expected it to be. I squeezed the soil on which my tears had fallen.

'Why? Why?'

I wiped my eyes, but it didn't stop the tears from coming. But amidst those fallen tears was the eyes of a young man filled with an and vengeance.
'Mom, dad, I swear to you that this would not go unpunished.' I said in a hoaxed voice.

I got up and dropped the sand from my hands. I dusted them on my trousers.

'Will you be ok?' Wole asked.

I hugged him and smiled. 'I will be fine. Thank you for coming with me and most importantly thank you for being my friend.'

We started back. Walking as fast as we could, back the way we came, past the half alive grasses, the pool and straight for the gate. We had to get back as quickly as we could. I stopped at the gate and turned to take one last glance at place I called home for the past sixteen years.

Then almost suddenly like a train coming out of nowhere came the deafening sound echoing through the silent aura of a tranquil neighborhood. My heart beat faster, and as I turned around to see, I was greeted by the huge thud of a black object on my face.

I fell down flat on my back and tried to open my eyes but could not. I couldn't even feel my face. All I saw was pitch black and all I heard were voices.

'We should kill him now.'

'No. We need to know what he knows, who he's told, then we can kill him.'

'What about this one?'

'Leave him here. He's probably dead anyway.' I heard large footsteps. 'Get that one in the booth, I'll give the boss the goodnews.'

Almost immediately I felt my body move up. Whoever was carrying me was obviously a strong a man because I felt so heavy. My head hit a metal object as I was thrown down but I could barely feel the pain, as it was nowhere near the one before which I was still recovering from. I heard doors slam, then the roaring of an engine followed by a sudden jerk movement. I could not breathe, all around me was darkness. I gasped for a air as I felt my grip on reality loosening.

Slowly and quietly my gasps ceased and the would around me was just dead disturbing silence.

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