Resurgence

22. Bed-Rock

“The people in your life, are like the pillars on your porch. Sometimes they hold you up, sometimes they lean on you. And sometimes, it is enough to know they are standing by.” – Merle Shain.

•••

“…a lot of things aren’t definite or confirmed as a result of the thorough security detail employed by the young author that the hospital is currently swamped with but one thing is for sure – there has been no improvement or else the mood of things would have changed. Concerning the architect who helmed the building project, a certain Tari Ibiyemi who is still currently being held in prison as a result of his unprofessionalism and carelessness, there isn’t much to say about him but even if Dayo Tijani was generous enough to release him, one thing is for sure. He’d never be free as far as the public and mass lives. He’s very likely to be held captive by this vice for the rest of his life…”

“Oh, God I don’t even know if I want to watch it or not.” Lani sighed, burying her face into the space between her propped legs on the couch. It was the evening of Monday, three days after Tari had been arrested and there was no significant improvement. No sign that the situation of things was going to change and favor him. And since her visit on Saturday that had been an emotional tumultuous one, she had been barred from further visits as a result of Tari’s request. She was so furious at him when she found that bit out. He was going to suffer for her, carry her cross and wasn’t even going to allow her see him? Even if she harbored feelings of a resentful nature for him, it would still be impossible to move on with her life like he had implored her to do so with his nature of actions.

He was being impossibly impossible. And there was nothing she could do about it.

“Should I put it off?” Fisayo sighed from her right, on where she was seated on a couch—empathy embedded in her voice. It was well past 9:00P.M. or thereabout, she couldn’t be so sure. She wasn’t really sure of anything these days it would seem. Dare was somewhere in the house, giving them space, after he had tried to the best of his efforts to console her but it was all in a futile effort. Nothing could console her, except time was reversed and the disaster was made to go away. Even if Dayo released Tari, it wouldn’t change the fact that his life had shattered beyond repair and couldn’t be mended, even by a sorcerer or supreme deity. Everything he had worked for in the past few years. Everything he had made his life about—sacrificing friends, family and love, all for the sake of amassing success in his career all blown to smithereens in order to save her. All for her.

It was too much to handle.

“I don’t know, I just don’t know.” The tears started to get the better of her, but she squeezed her eyes shut to keep them at bay. She was tired of being weak, tired of crying even and felt it did Tari some injustice as she should be out there, pulling strings to exert some pull or gain some leverage on his fate but she was here, sprawled out on a couch, weeping like a child who had lost her parents and had no knowledge on how to handle the predicament, since they’ve never had to function without said guardian.

But the truth was that there was nothing she could do. The little she could do was being restricted by Graffity. Since their narrow escape of dodging bad publicity owing to their workers being on board the project, they had ordered her to stand down and stay away from the house, hospital and even Tari’s detention site altogether. The last one was an order she defied of course, without no regrets or fears but the rest were ones that could incur serious damage. The press hadn’t backed down from either sites, and there was no way she could go about the activity in a stealth way.

Still, there was nothing tangible she could do.

Off the top of her head, what she could think of was cornering Dayo Tijani and pleading in the most emotional way possible to get him to release Tari, but even if he caved in—it didn’t drive away the thought that there was nothing she could do to get Tari’s life back on track. Absolutely nothing. There was nothing anyone could do. It was beyond redemption.