The Developers

Part 1

When I came back home this afternoon, I immediately put some fried rice into the microwave to heat up. Then I plopped down on to the only sofa in my small apartment and turned on the TV. The Channels TV breaking news music assailed my ears, as the female news presenter smiled at the camera and began her report. Her voice wobbled as she spoke in what most Nigerians thought was a British accent, an idiosyncrasy common among Nigerian TV presenters. They never really sounded British, but the idea that they impressed the Nigerian public with their shaky accents impressed them. So they kept up the charade until they had to pronounce a Nigerian name.

"We're live at the University of Lagos, where a professor at the General Studies department was found encased in ice from his waist down. Our correspondent, Yemi Olatunji, is at the scene. Yemi, tell us, what exactly happened there?" The presenter asked.

The correspondent, standing in front of a Do Not Cross line, said,

"Stephanie, I'm here in front of the building where Professor Adewale was found at 3pm. People had been hearing thumping sounds coming from his office and finally came to investigate. They were unable to get in because the door was locked. They eventually had to call one of the Supa security guards to fly up to his office on the 5th floor and enter through the window. What they found was the 48 year old professor of logic gagged and encased in a block of ice from his waist down. The word "pervert" was written in what appeared to be red lipstick across his forehead."

"Yemi, do they know who did this?" asked Stephanie, "I mean, this must have been done by a Supa".

"Strangely nobody saw anything. The only suspect the police have is this picture taken from one of the security cameras of this woman entering the building." A picture of a woman came onto the screen.

"The Nigerian Bureau of Supernatural Activity, the BSA , is already looking through their database to see if any registered Supa matches this picture." Yemi continued.

"Yemi, how is the professor at the moment? " Stephanie inquired, as I stopped listening and stared at the picture of the woman. She looked exactly like me. It was in fact my twin sister. I switched off the TV. I hadn't seen my sister in a year, nevertheless I knew she hadn't registered as a Supa. Most Supas didn't. Given her perchance for disappearing, I doubt anyone would be able to locate her. On the other hand, I was easy to locate, and people probably thought her image on the video was me. Enemies at my workplace would probably be calling the police right now. I could hear Mrs. Bamidele, my boss' self-righteous secretary, already speaking to the police, her voice dripping with unconstrained excitement,

"Officer o, I know that young woman who attacked the professor. Her name is Taiwo Adeola. I've always known she was no good because you should see the short skirts and high heels she wears to work, chai! Hmph, I almost fainted the other day when she walked in. I'm telling you officer, I almost fainted. She wants to seduce half the men in the office. Officer o, hmph, this is what happens when you wear skirts that come above your knees, high heels, earrings and makeup. I hope you arrest her quick."

Just thinking of Mrs. Bamidele's character made me realise that the authorities would be at my apartment soon. This was one area you could count on the authorities to show up: an unregistered Supa or to check out a woman who wore what they considered short skirts. I was an unregistered Supa, and I was currently wearing a skirt that came above my knees and some seriously high Tiffany Amber boots. I was the perfect criminal. I wondered what I should do, and I knew straightway. I went to get my fried rice from the microwave. I sat down on the sofa and started eating. In stressful times a Supa must not forget to eat. The one power all Supas have is the ability to fly, and that requires a lot of energy.

I thought about my twin sister as I munched down on the rice, being careful not to eat too fast because that can lead to flatulence. I didn't want to be known as the farting Supa. There was actually a man who tried to get registered at the BSA claiming his supernatural power was the ability to pass very smelly, long, and loud gas. It turned out that the only ability he had was eating a lot of beans. If I got caught, which was unlikely, I didn't want the newspapers headlines to read: REAL SUPER FARTING HERO FOUND ! My twin would definitely find that hilarious. As I wondered at her appearance at the University, there were two loud knocks at my door. I sighed and put down my rice. This was earlier than I expected. I took out some lipstick from my purse and applied it. One must never get caught looking scruffy. I turned over my sofa and pulled out my "just in case" backpack. I walked to the window of my small kitchen; the knocks turned to banging.

I opened the window and pulled up the mosquito net shutter. The door of my apartment smashed open. I didn't bother to look and see, but lifted myself half a meter from the floor. Two seconds later, my feet came down by themselves. I tried again to levitate myself, but nothing happened.

"you dey waste your time. White cat dey here", a deep voice cackled behind me.

I turned and saw three suited men standing in my kitchen. One of them had a stun gun pointed at my chest, another one was holding a pure white cat with an iron collar, and the third one was wearing a sinister smile. The sinister smile assured me that despite the suits, they weren't the police or the BSA. The police didn't smile, in fact, they were very studious looking. Oh yes, the police looked like people who had many degrees: a Bachelor of Science in Bribery and a Masters in Corruption. The BSA on the other hand were pompous looking, with suspicion in their eyes. Any sound or unusual smell was considered illegal supernatural activity; no wonder that guy had tried to register his farts as supernatural.

"Wetin be dis?," I asked calmly, "why you dey break into my apartment?"

Mr. Sinister Smile cocked his head to the side and bared his teeth at me. "ah!, dis piqin tough o."

Actually I was quaking in my very expensive Tiffany Amber boots, but they didn't need to know that, that my boots were expensive that is. They could steal them and sell them online on Jumia. You can't trust some people. Imagine that, my favorite boots, which I had slaved away to buy, being worn by another woman. The thought almost made me forget that armed men had just broken into my apartment

The man with the cat moved to my right, while Mr. Sinister Smile moved to my left. The stun gun man remained in front of me. They were trying to circle me in, so I moved closer to the open window. The cat being here made it a bit tricky for me to escape, but I am full of surprises.

"Abeg, make am easy", Stun gun man spoke, "our oga wan talk to you". The cat meow in agreement.

Uh huh, I thought, sure your boss wants to talk, talk with his fists pummeling my body. I calmly sat on the window sill and said, "Who be your oga?"

Then before they could answer, I tipped my body out the window. I somersaulted 3 feet before I felt my ability to fly return. I zoomed up through the air. I felt something whiz past my ear. Oh, no, I had forgotten about the stun gun. I began to fly in a zigzag manner as I saw and felt other darts whiz past me. It was a terribly ungraceful way to fly. I probably looked like a bee that had drank some pepper soup, and was now buzzing about crazily trying to cool its tongue.

As I zigged right and zagged left, dodging stun darts, it occurred to me that unless the stun gun man had incredibly great eyesight, there was no way those darts should be coming close to me. I whipped around in mid air and saw Mr. Sinister Smile, his sinister smile still on his face, zooming towards me with a stun gun. He fired the gun. Whether it was the shock that he was also a Supa, or the fact that his front teeth had small feathers lodged between them, I don't know, all I know is that I stared at him perplexed, and then I felt a sharp prick in my left shoulder.

Instantly, I felt my eyesight dim, and my body began to plummet. I sent a quick prayer to God to preserve my Tiffany Amber boots. I remembered to pray for myself as I knew no more.