Two Mistakes Ago

Chapter 1

Her name is Sheila Anang. Aged, 25.

Her ravishing looks constantly intrigued me and sent shivers down my spine but surprisingly I was not in love with her. I won't lie, I admired the colour of her skin and the sparkle that flashed across her eyes when she smiled, her ruby lips and all, but those were things only humans would fall for. I was no longer human. Believe me, I lost my humanity long before she was conceived and my tortured soul found solace in an old akwaaba clock. And someway, somehow she happened to be the owner of this wall clock.

That morning, she was pacing restlessly up and down her messy bedroom. I felt she was upset for no reason because she had everything she needed. She was quiet a lucky young woman who had a good job and an adorable personality. She didn't need a man to be happy, she loved herself and made herself happy always. She could spend eight hours watching English subbed Korean dramas, laughing happily to herself throughout the night. Sometimes, if she was unable to finish watching the complete season, she would wake up suddenly in the middle of the night and scream the name of her favourite character. Baek Seung Jo! It was evident she was having nightmares about what would happen in the subsequent episodes.

I didn't know what was going on outside this morning, she obviously left the newspapers in the other room so I couldn't get a peep of the latest news. I was uneasy, it looked as if there was something imminent she was expecting. Finally, she entered the bathroom and giggled childishly as the cold water glided down her body. When she got out of the shower, she dashed out of the room naked to get her towel in the arm chair. Actually, she was as clumsy as her house was disorganized. Only if she knew of my existence in that akwaaba wall clock in her room she wouldn't have been parading her uncovered body around the room. She would have had the decency to quickly cover herself with the blue and yellow towel on the arm chair. I watched as she applied various contents of tubes and bottles on this one body of hers. Then she picked up her tablet to flip through her notifications. She was naked, still naked with water dripping from her hair occasionally and the towel in her other hand. Finally, she dressed up, her warm fingers fumbling with the buttons in her plaid shirt. She grabbed her white handbag and stormed out excitedly.

She returned two hours later with a weird looking man. He had no beard and his face looked like akple - stale, hard akple that had developed cracks. He had a permanent irritating smirk on his face that made him look like a VIP, as in a Villager In Public. He was obviously one of the big men in the media house where she worked. What I didn't understand was what he was doing in her bedroom at that time of the day.

He dumped his fat self on her tiny bed and ordered for food at once. She reluctantly served him a bowl of fufu with boiled mushrooms swimming in tomato soup.
He grabbed the bowl and stuffed his belly with dangerously huge morsels of fufu.
After which he slept on her tiny bed again and snored loudly. When she entered the room, she was in a very skimpy skirt and a sleeveless top that looked more like a tube.

She managed to squeeze herself by his side on the bed. She wasn't happy, I could tell from her dark cold eyes that were shutting slowly. I watched them sleep for an hour and make love for another hour. I was upset. My Sheila had slept with a much older man for a reason best known to herself, but I was sure it was not out of love or even lust (considering his fat body).
My heart ached terribly, he had no right to disrespect her that way. She was special, angelic..... What man, born of a woman, would not appreciate such beauty?

When the devil announced that he was about to leave, she smiled happily and walked him to the door.
She came back to the room and stuffed a few clothes into her traveler. I knew she was travelling but I couldn't ask her to stay. She stood up, picked a napkin and started wiping the wall clock gently. I felt a bit ticklish and silly. I knew she liked the clock because it was beautiful. She had no idea, the poor wandering soul of a discontented old man had finally found solace in it.
She had left, but everything in the room smelled like her and I was missing her badly. I tasted her like blood in my lips and it was quiet unpleasant because I had given up those humane feelings several decades ago.

For two weeks and three days she was absent and when she finally returned, she brought the devil along. That smirk was still on his face as she led him in. He had come to stay I was certain.

"I am not a fan of live-in relationships Seth. I don't want things to stay like this. You need to send my dowry and head drink to my family". Sheila lamented when they were eating that night.
He said nothing, he just sat on the bed with the tray on his fat laps. There was a coffee table besides the bed. Sheila sat on it calmly and stared directly into his bulging eyes. She also said nothing throughout the meal. They managed to sleep on that tiny bed together again.

The next morning the sun was up, and she smiled happily to the new morning.

She got up sullenly and entered the bathroom. This time she didn't act silly. She wasn't running around her room naked. She didn't giggle childishly when the cold water touched her body.

"I won't go to town today," Seth declared.
"Then go with me to the general office. I'll buy you porridge, she said as she applied a good amount of lip gloss on her lips.

"Nope. Thanks I will stay here and watch television".

"Television! You won't go out and search for a job now that you are jobless....television??" The anger in her voice was threatening to slap Seth.

"Why are you raising your voice?"

"I am not raising my voice!!!!"
Sheila slammed the door behind her as if she wanted the entire building to collapse.

She left him all alone in the room.