GHOST (The Shadow in the Dark)

Part Twenty Four

      So many thoughts ran through my head, like how on earth did we travel so fast to Osun state? Then I remembered Fast, his crazy brother. It was exactly the way I saw it, the way Wild described it. I pulled away from Ghost and ran excitedly to the flat rock and placed my hands on the rough edges of the tall round rock where the water was splashing on. I did not care about the chills that came with the water touching my hair and clothes. This was just bliss, I felt like crying but my body was faster than my mind because I was already crying. I removed my hands from the rock and raised my head to try locate the origin of the waterfall but Wild was right. Thick braches of fresh green leaves where covering the source. The different voices of night creatures where alluring and soothing. I was lost in awe wishing life could be this peaceful. I was so jealous of nature, and the trees which would remain green because they would always be nourished by the water. The heavy sound of the waterfall was music to my ears. I was lost in nature and had almost forgotten Ghost.
“Emmanuella come join me here.”
I turned to see him resting on something that looked like a swing. It had four poles and four ropes at the edge of a mat which were tied to each pole making it hang above the ground. It was very large, enough for ten of me. He had with him the smaller bag he had carried with him from the helicopter. I quickly walked to him and he lifted me and placed me close to him.
“Like the surprise?”
“Yes, this is amazing and beautiful and…”
I remembered something,
“Wait why did you call me that?”
“Emmanuella?”
“Yes.”
“That’s your full name. What is wrong with calling your full name?”
“Nobody calls me that, I don’t like it.”
“Why?”
I wanted to tell him Ibrahim used to call me that and Grandma had stopped using my full name after his death, just only in my identity, but he would think I was being ridiculous so I shook my head.
“Okay Emmanuella, I won’t force you.”
“Can you just call me Ella?”
“Only if you tell me why.”
“Because it reminds me of Ibrahim, he used to call me my full name.”
He looked at me for a long time and I wondered what he was thinking about.
“I know it sounds ridiculous to you and I don’t expect you to understand.”
But he was still looking at me.
“What?”
“I don’t think it’s ridiculous, I’m just jealous.”
“Jealous of a dead guy?”
“Well for that part I’m happy.”
I just did not understand why he had to ruin my good mood. I was so pissed off, I tried to come down but he held me back.
“Let me go.”
“Only if you explain your anger.”
“I thought you now have a new soul, do you understand the meaning of empathy? How can you be happy Ibrahim is dead? Does it even matter to you that he means so much to me?”
“Yes Ella, I’m sorry he died but I also know Ghost will never have had a chance to your heart if Ibrahim is still alive and I prefer Ghost. My family never plays with truth and fact. The normal thing will be to tell you I’m so sorry and I wish he did not die but I will be lying that I’m not benefitting from his death. No matter how you want to see it, no matter how ugly the truth sounds, it remains the truth. I won’t be in your heart if Ibrahim is still alive because he still has a place in your heart even after being dead for a long time, it says a lot. But don’t force me to lie that I’m not happy I have you. You are the best thing to ever happen to me.”
I still wanted to be angry but there was no basis for it. I understood him and he was right. I did not want to start another lie that he was not already in my heart and I would feel the same way if I were him.
“Do you really love me?”
He pulled me to him and made me sit between his legs. I rested my head on his chest.
“You are the first girl outside my family I’m proposing love to. I don’t joke with words because I was trained to know words are significant and powerful. You are special to me and I wish you will see the real me.”
That made me raise my head to look at him.
“Well we can start with the face cover. Let me see you.”
“Not until we find that file, only then will I reveal my face.”
“What if we never find it?”
“I will give you some time to try think of somewhere the file could be and if you can’t we may need the help of Wild to access your memory.”
There was no doubt Wild would help but there were more pressing issues.
“You said you are not a killer and you don’t want to tell me who you are.”
“Like I said before, you can ask me any question and I will answer except it will compromise my mission.”
I rested back on his chest and let him wrap his hands on my stomach. I stared at the waterfall and tried sorting out what questions to ask first. I should have asked about who he was but I wanted to know more about his unique family. My mind screamed ‘liar.’ I was really afraid of the answer he would give.
“You said you have a sister, a mum and an instructor but you keep mentioning brothers, are they your blood brothers.”
“No.”
That was it, he did not elaborate.
“What about your real family?”
“I don’t have.”
I never expected that answer.
“What happened to them?”
“I lost them.”
Yet another confusing answer.
“So you moved in with your current mum after you lost your family?”
“No.”
“You are confusing me Ghost.”
“I am answering your question and I like it when you call my name.”
I took time to construct my next question.
“Where were you before you moved in with your current family?”
“On the streets.”
“How long?”
“For two years.”
I did a quick calculation.
“You were thirteen?”
“Smart girl.”
“So you had no house?”
“That’s what living on the streets mean?”
“How did you survive?”
“I was a pickpocket. Very good at it. I picked from the rich ones who will forget about their loss within few hours, then I ran some errands for some criminals.”
“That’s your new family?”
But he chuckled, I really loved the way it sounded.
“You still see us as criminals. Well no. Drug dealers, even arms dealers but I did not like it so I left that town to another place.”
“Then how did you meet them?”
“You mean my current nuclear family?”
I nodded.
“In one of the towns I moved to, I pickpocketed a Major’s wallet. I took my treasure far away from the scene. As I savaged the wallet while sitting under a tree, I got hit by a walking stick. Usually I am sensitive to my environment and I can sneak on someone and the person won’t feel a thing. How do I explain this?”
He paused.
“Okay, have you heard of the word autism?”
I nodded.
“Autism spectrum comes in different form, a particular group are hypersensitive to everything, the light is too bright, the noise is too loud and they can’t stand body contact. I’m like the opposite of that. I almost have lack of it. Somehow it affects my environment. I can stand close to someone, deep my hands in the person’s pocket and the person will never sense me. You are the first person ever to know when I’m around.”
“But I can’t locate you, it’s just a feeling.”
“That makes you unique, nobody feels my presence not even Wild.”
I turned to look at him. I had never seen Wild but I could write two foolscap pages about him being weird.
“For real?”
“I told you we are linked together. Your body knows, it’s just your mind.”
I wanted to argue with him but his story was more important.
“So?”
“It was an old woman I had never seen.  She told me I was holding my destiny in my hands. She said this was it, the most important phase in my life and I must decide my fate from that moment. I was confused and I was still recovering from the shock that someone caught me unawares. She hit me with the stick again and told me to take the wallet back and apologize or spend the money and seal my doom. Then she walked away, just like that. I was concentrating on rubbing my head to reduce the pain that I did not see where she entered. I brought out the ID in the wallet. He was a Major and I just did not understand how he was connected to my destiny but there was a pull, a pull to take the wallet back. Things didn’t just happen without significance, even at thirteen I knew it was not ordinary and I had nothing to lose if I returned it. I felt like I had something important to do for the first time since I joined the street life and I loved challenges. The Major was gone when I went back to base but his wallet had all the information I needed to track him. I pickpocketed enough money and travelled to his base, then straight to his home. I easily sneaked into a study room in the house without being discovered, then I placed the wallet on his table. But as I was about to walk out, someone blocked me. A girl that looked about my age. She was with a sword and she attacked me without warning and if I was not unique in my own way, she would have killed me. I could not fight then but I had learned how to run and dodge and avoid being caught.  That was what I did but it seemed to have infuriated her and it became messier when she knocked down one of her dad’s artifacts. Then this Major walked into the room, stood by the door arms folded and watched his daughter’s attempt on my life like we were rehearsing for a movie shoot. I got tired of dodging because she was so good. I just accepted that it was my destiny to die that way. That was when the man called his daughter to stop. She told her dad I was a thief but I explained that I actually came to drop what I stole. This man did not say anything but kept watching me. A woman came to join us and I was expecting her to make the husband arrest me after the daughter repeated what she caught me doing but she did not. She ran to me and asked what happened which I explained. She started crying. She felt the world was not fair that I had no parents and I was surviving on my own. She took me to the parlor after lecturing her husband and daughter. That was how I came to stay with them. Major and her daughter refused to let me in but his wife stood her ground. He later agreed after saying I had talents. He made me sign on some rules he wrote down. He said he would train me on how to hone my gift but I must update my education and I would be out of his house if I went below seventy percent in everything. I had a beautiful room, a woman who loved me and who saw me as her son. I was going to resume school and I was going to hone my gift and learn more about sneaking on people and I had an opportunity to one day become like him. I never made it below seventy percent and he was brutal with his trainings but I loved it, I always did everything to exceed the challenge for the day. As for my new sister, she was something else. She was okay with Major being my instructor but fought me every time I personalized her mum. We fought each other a lot but we still learnt to get along and I love her so much. She is wild, crazy but soft at the same time. That’s how I became part of the family. Major taught me the difference between a gift and a phobia. He said everybody is supposed to become one with their gift but also grow past their phobia. With his help I started understanding I can use my emotion to control my impact on people around me. It’s one major reason I was not that interested in girls, because I hardly felt the need and desire until I met you. ”
I listened to everything and I was scared when he stopped talking. I wished I would not have to ask the most important question but I knew I could not avoid it for long.
“Major, military bag, you’ve also used military language once. Who are you?”
“I’ve asked you before if there are other forces with the license to shoot criminals but you chose to ignore the answer.”
“Are you a soldier?”
“No.”
“Air force?”
“No.”
“Navy?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“How much do you know about armed forces all over the world?”
“Not much, but I know about US marines, I followed one film about the marine, I also know about US Naval SEAL, they are the number one ranked military in the world. I have read so many action novels about them. They are not much because their trainings are intense and they are trained to fight on land, sea and air. They carry out dangerous missions, especially those considered as a threat to the nation. I read a lot.”
“Then you know who and what I am.”
“Are you now saying you are a Naval SEAL officer?”

“I belong to the Special Force Unit known as The Circle. We are trained to fight on land, air and sea.”