GHOST (The Shadow in the Dark)

Part Twenty Eight

“What?” I shouted. I just did not understand what I had said wrong.
“Jason is married and happily married. So forget about him.”
“I did not even think that way, stop being…” I paused, I could not find the right word to use.
“Being what?”
“Jealous I guess. Stop being insecure, I want to meet him because he sounds closer to the average human, the average guy on the street” and he started coughing again.
“I am more normal than Jason.”
It was my turn to laugh.
“You? Even though Wild is something else. He is more normal than you and that fast guy.”
He was no longer coughing he was laughing very hard.
“My family must hear this. I am the most normal man in my family. Why on earth do you believe Wild is anywhere near normal. Seriously?”
“He has a deep voice and though his love for nature is wild, he made me feel calm, like I was having waves and waves of peace and he helped me get over my trauma.”
He stared at me.
“What?”
“And I make you feel?”
“Fear, dread, terror from the first encounter until I got to know you.”
“Whatever you think you felt double it and replace me with Wild.”
“Trying to make yourself look like the normal guy, won’t work. Wild is more human than you.”
“As long as you are on the right side of life you don’t need to worry about any of us including Wild but if you are caught on the wrong side of life, that waves and waves of calm can be waves and waves of terror.”
I immediately understood him. He made me feel what he wanted me to feel with just his voice.
“Shit, you look scared.”
He sat up and pulled me to him.
“Are you sure I will survive meeting your family?”
But he smiled at me.
“What?”
“Two yes in one day. What a day?”
I shook my head.
“I did not.”
“Yes you did. You want to meet my family.”
“No I was saying…”
I could not continue. I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulders.
“I’m lost Ghost. I feel empty when you are not around. My mind have been battling with my body but it seems you were right. It was because I thought you a killer. But what I want so badly is to find that file and unravel the truth. I want to meet your family.”
“Ouch.”
I raised my head afraid. He was holding his chest and falling on the mat.
“What is wrong?” I panicked thinking about all kinds of things, like he was having a heart attack.
“My heart.”
And I was right. I had no idea what to do.
“What should I do? How can I help?”
He took my hand and placed it on his heart.
“Just keep your hand here for a while. You set it on fire the moment you accepted you want to meet my family.”
I pulled my hand and punched him.
“You just scared the shit out of me. Not funny” but he was laughing.
“And it does not automatically mean I want to marry you. I want to start by knowing you. Jerk.”
“My heart is burning again. I can’t wait to tell them you said yes.”
“I am done with you. Can we go now?”
“Why? You don’t want me to see you blushing?”
I could not tell him the reason, it was a feminine stuff. I could feel my monthly visitor as Grandma called it. I could feel it was coming. 
“Emmanuella.”
I closed my eyes.
“Please we need to go back, it’s very important.”
“Only if you tell me why. Try it, you will discover it’s fun having someone you can tell anything.”
“I’m..” I thought of a way to put it, it was so embarrassing but I knew he would never leave the tent if I did not talk.
“I’m seeing my period, it just started.”
He did not say anything making me open my eyes. He was staring at me.
“I told you I have a crazy sister, I am very acquainted to what you are talking about. Sometimes we played games and the loser would serve the other for a day. She had sent me to go and buy pad. That was the worst embarrassing moment of my life. The lady had looked at me for some seconds, then she asked me if I knew what it meant. I avoided that area for a month and I never played that game again. She even told me I was lucky because she would have asked me to go get a condom while on boxers.”
I was not supposed to laugh at his embarrassing story but I did.
“Your sister is really crazy.”
“She knows that. And we all know that. Rule number one, stay away from her during her forty seconds madness. The only one to stand her all the time is also crazy. They fit each other.”
“To think you want me to meet them. Can we go now” I said after I could control my laughter.
“They are wonderful people Ella, especially the women including my sister. She will never go gaga on you. They are even forming their own club and it always drive Beast and Jason crazy because their meeting could be lethal to them, Wolf not exempted. They are lovely Ella, you won’t see the other side of them because you are a civilian, not a criminal. You will also meet our cute little creatures, they always brighten our day. Just find that file and you will see for yourself."
      No matter how I wanted to pretend, I really loved this side of Ghost. He looked like a normal human not someone who could disarm and kill with ease. I tried to leave the tent but he pulled me to him, we were so close and the heat was back.
“Yes, I think we should go before I do something stupid” he said gently pulling me away.
       As I came down from the bike he called me.
“Emmauella, do you want Wild to help with the file?”
I even wanted to ask him so I quickly nodded.
“Okay, I will call you but for now take this.”
He was giving me a hand band.
“What is it for?”
“It has my heart, whenever you feel you are in danger and you need me, just press the middle showing something round okay?”
“But it’s pink.”
“I can’t give you red, pink is less suspicious. Don’t forget I love you” and with that, he drove off.
       I entered my room feeling overwhelmed with excitement. My phone started ringing few minutes after I climbed on my bed to sleep. It was the DPO. I had almost forgotten about him.
“Ella.”
“Sir, Good evening sir.”
I greeted him using Isoko.
“Any news about the file?”
“No Sir.”
“I have information on the ghost guy.”
I did not answer, something told me it was not going to be good. He continued.
“I can’t send his picture because there is no picture to send. I am not going to say I am sure but he is a soldier.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, it could mean there had been some miscommunication on both sides.
“But he is not working for the military. From the little information I got, he is working for Senator Mohammed and he is a Hausa soldier. I am eighty percent sure he is the man Musa talked about. He is all about the file and he will silent you once he gets the file.”
I shook my head.
“No it’s not true, he does not have their accent.”
“He is a trained Special Force soldier, you have no idea how deadly they are and how their best are made to conceal their identity. You..”
I cut the call. I did not want to believe him but my mind told me he might be saying the truth. He never told me his tribe. I was sure he must have listened to our conversation, I waited for him to call and defend himself but he did not. I had to dial his line.
“Tell me it’s not true.”
“Which part do you want me to deny?”
“Tell me it’s not true. Tell me you are not Hausa. Tell me” I shouted.
“You never asked me that question before and you are sounding like it’s a crime to be Hausa. I am half Hausa, half Fulani and I am proud of my identity.”
“How dare you?”
“Emmanuella, you..”
“Don’t you dare call my name. All these while, I had been romantic with someone from a tribe I hate. You fooled me.”
“So you suddenly hate me because of my tribe. Ella…”
“Is it true? Were you the soldier assigned to watch my parents? Were you the soldier who worked with their killers and watched them butcher my family?”
There was no answer. His silence was deafening.
“Oh my God.”
I saw myself on the bed.
“Ella you need to rest. I will come so we can talk. I think I have some explanations to do.”
“Just answer me” I shouted.
“Ella I told you truth is very important to us. I did not watch your parents die, neither did I work with their killers and Musa never mentioned a soldier. You were deceived because you did not follow the news and the trial, if you did, you would have known little about me. I wished I got there on time to save them but I got there late…”
I cut the call. My heart could no longer take it. At the end I became a victim of the characters in some novels I’d read, only this one was real.  I had been yearning for the person responsible for my family’s brutal murder. I could not believe I betrayed them. My mind had been right. I hated my body. I rushed into the bathroom crying. I scrubbed and scrubbed hoping to remove his touch from my system. I hated myself so much that I wanted to die. After scrubbing my skin raw, I staggered to my writings on the wall. I was the world award winning fool, jerk, asshole, idiot. Not only did I fall in love with the person from the tribe I hated most, I had a romantic relationship with the main culprit responsible for so many deaths. I felt headache and pains in my heart. I staggered to my bed and grabbed Ibrahim, then I cried and cried.
I did not know how long I was crying but there was a sudden power supply making the room bright. That was when I saw it, debris of foam from Ibrahim. I had squeezed it so tight. I looked at it with shock and fear that Ibrahim was disappearing. I raised the cloth to check if I could fix it. Then I saw where the debris were falling from. It looked intentionally torn and roughly sewed with needle and thread. I did not remember ever tearing it and the only name that came to mind was Ghost. I felt so mad. I picked the debris and tried to force them back in but my finger touched something strong. There was something inside. I became inquisitive and opened it more, then dipped two fingers inside. I pulled out the strong object and I was stunned with what I was holding in my hand. It was a flash drive. My father had said he was going to hide the file where I would be the only one that could find it. I never imagined he meant Ibrahim. He had hidden it inside Ibrahim when I had gone to the market, no wonder I had met him inside my room. This was the evidence Ghost so wanted. I was going to make every one of them pay for their crimes. I quickly searched for my Nokia torchlight phone and I was happy it worked. I quickly dialed the DPO’s line.
“Sir, I have the file.”
“How?”
“Does it matter, he will be here before I tell you the full story.”
“Oh I almost forgot. I will call my men to get it now.”
“I thought you withdrew them?”
“Yes from following you, but some needed to be around for this purpose. Run quickly to that building.”
“Is there no other place?”
I did not want to go there.
“I understand but that’s the only place they will know to come fast. Your hostel is too open and it may be dangerous…”
“I got it sir. I will be there in five minutes.”
I cut the call and quickly wore my clothes and pad. As I got to the door, my phone blinked. I wanted to ignore him but I found myself checking the message.
“Ella please I’m begging you in the name of God, don’t go out. Don’t. Please. He is lying.”
I dropped the phone and my phone blinked again after I had locked my door.  I ran all the way to the place and there was no one there. I felt dread, might be because of the events that happened there. I saw someone flashing a torch.
“Are you there Ella” a voice called.
I walked towards them. They were five. It was when I saw them I remembered I should have checked the file before contacting the DPO, but it was too late because Ghost was coming and there was no way I was going to allow him take the file. I did not care if he killed me, as long as the file did not get to him, I would gladly die.
“Here it is” I said giving the file to the one who spoke.
My back was almost touching the wall of the building. I turned to start going back but heard the sound of a gun being cocked. I turned to see the one I gave the file pointing a gun at me. I thought I was dreaming.
“What is going on?”
“Thanks for the file and goodbye.”
I opened my mouth to tell him he was pointing the gun at the wrong person but it was too late. Everything happened in a blur.  He fired at me but I was not the one that felt the impact of the bullet, someone else took the bullet, Ghost.