Trend phase 2

Flora

My days at office had suddenly grown rusty, hasty and misty. There were much paper works and it afforded no space for respite, so much that i brought some of the files home to attend to them. i was used to such gestures before my brief spell with myself but the super high tech robbery that transpired a day ago added to the loads of my rigorous paper works as there have been so numbers of irregularities in the whole set up, with funds diverted to unknown destinations and no one accounting for them.

The organization was still bamboozled by the much impetus garnered by the robbers. It was remarkably devious that a bunch of lousy citizens would gain access to the operation’s mainframe and wire out billions of dollars funds without help from an insider. The operation was smooth and deviant. They have made a monkey of every personnel in the organization, discombobulating the unsuspecting head of operation into believing they were interested in paying the recapitalization funds of a non- existence bank. Their gusto left us with no choice but to conclude an insider had a hand in the whole set up. It was no surprise to see the anti- graft agency lurking around the scene and sealing out the effected department with a yellow line and quizzing everyone involved with the operation of the department. They conducted a session of monotonous interrogation, quizzing the living day light out of the members of the department.

I was among the first five to be quizzed. The ungodly looking man, with dark shades and a terrible tribal mark, smearing his already face of darkness, sat in the opposite chair as he asked questions that can turn a patriot to a felon. I was on an official duty to the ministry of finance that fateful morning and that would have been enough for an alibi but the man was having none of that as he quizzed me to death, banging on the table and making conjectures that could only amuse me. He found me clean and decided to let me go for the time being. The investigation continued without leads. The CCTV that would have conjured up a miraculous lead was blank and nothing to figure out from the blankness. There was a point of general acceptance that those that attacked the cyber system of the bank were indeed professionals. Dr Iwena had suspicions, so he employed me to cross check the transactions of the bank for the past nine months.

The assignment was without doubt, a hideous task but i was determined to work on them and unravel the truth. I worked into the night with the knowledge that my son was returning today. So i packed up and went home, to continue the assignment from the house. I worked with my mind stuck with him. my anticipation soon gave way to worry and anxiety, with his phone declared unavailable since it midday. Fear began to creep in clandestinely. My fingers on the system began to turn numb and i was aware that i could not in fact, feel my feet. I had a terrible feeling that things were not right but my positive reservation encouraged me to dispel such perfidious insinuations.

The night began to gradually grow old but there were no signs of Fabro. I tried his number again and it was still unavailable. I stood up in cold fright and walked out of the room, hoping that the fresh air outside would help me from choking away with my worries.

I heard my phone ring as my movement were hesitant; i turned and latched on the phone, praying earnestly that it was him. it was Dr Iwena when i picked. His voice was cold and smeared with drops of soberness.

Hello... Dr Okolie his voice sneaked out through the receiver.

Good evening, Dr Iwena...

Have you come with anything yet?

No... But i will be able soon

Okay, that is soothing... i maintained an awkward silence, i was bothered but i knew it was the robbery that bothered me. The agency has been able to trace the funds to some banks in Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago, but the bad news is that the money have been transferred almost immediately into discreet undesignated accounts of non-existence banks in the middle east.

“That is awful!”

“Yes... it is! I think they are preparing fraudulent charges against me.”

“That’s not right; they should give us some time to assess the situations...”

“I think there’s a political bigwig behind all these drama...”

“I am sure there is”

“How is your brother?”

“My brother... he is in Paris, why?” I asked incredulously, with suspicions ringing through my head.

“Not to worry!” He said. “Please, do what you can do for us!” He concluded with a voice that pleaded more than barked instructions as the line went dead. I picked myself up and wondered why he asked after Smart in such a critical point of our discussion. Could he be involved in the massive fraudulent transfer of the funds? I quizzed myself. He can’t! I assured myself. I knew he was a terrible soul but there was no way he could pull off such high level of theft. He was too stupid for such high levelled organization.

I brushed aside the issue of Smart with a wave of hand. I had more telling issue at hand to deal with, not Smart and his criminality.

I was still worried, pacing up and down the whole house that was obstructively void and lacking of a loved one. The time crept past midnight and he was still not forth coming. I thought of going to school, to ascertain if there had been an accident on their way from the sports festival but my rational mind advised me, it was late. i sat on the arm chair with my head blank and my sight ghastly bleak. I prayed in my inward parts that he should be safe wherever he was. I must have slept off in that chair because i work at the early hours of the morning to find myself there. Anxiety had knocked off and it had also knocked me up.

Everything i did in that morning was marked with haste and sheer worry. i ran through the morning routine and set out for the school before i resumed whatever official duty that beckoned.

As soon i got the school, i went straight to principal’s office, ignoring the rickety school my son enrolled himself into.

“Good morning...”

“Good morning, Madame... he answered, smiling as if all was well, as i was obviously familiar to him. “Please, have a seat!” he admonished.

No thank you, i am in hurry... i am here to inquire if my son has returned from the national sports festival...

“Your son... is your son in this school?” he asked, drooling like a he- goat on a heat.

“Obviously... he is!” i remonstrated.

“I had no idea...”

“Well you do, now!”

The team was scheduled to return yesterday... but some issues might have come up... so we should be expecting them soon...

I hope you are right after all! I asserted before leaving the office. I hated the environment; it reeked of decay and national rottenness. How could he have enrolled in this unkempt national disgrace christened a school? I was visibly aggravated as i marched into my car, wondering why a nation will be extravagantly pleased with haste and waste: the maintenance culture, so farfetched and elusive. As the car, glided down the sloppy lane, i resolved to pull him out of the wretched wreck called a school as soon as he returns.

Fatou

I waited, sweating profusely under the bus. I had been lucky to escape the ghastly eyes of the insurgents that attacked our bus. I had been terrified. My blood had been overrun by cold fear. I thought I would be caught and then shot at the spot but divine providence insured I was undetected.

I was certain they had gone because everywhere was portentously quiet. They feet had plodded deep into the little bush that was parted by the road. I was not sure about the number of minutes or hours they have gone because I had passed out over and over again, out of pulsating terror. I felt had the urge to crawl out, so I can get some help but I couldn't feel my feet and my entire body. It was as if my bones had permitted numbness to reign supreme over them. I decided to wait for a while, in case there was an ambush oscillating between the road and the bush for me.

I decided to crawl out with a stern resolve when I was weary of waiting. I felt myself uncoiling like a lazy python, stirring itself after a huge meal. My head was the first to sneak out, and when I was sure that the coast was clear, I crawled out and strengthened myself, hearing the bones in my body crack at the shuddering stretch. The atmosphere was gloomy and reeked of smells of bullets. I ran a scan with my eyes to be sure i was safe and not running into any trap but there was no one in sight, everywhere looked deserted, even birds of the air and the beasts of the field seemed unappeased with the environment as horrid quietness overwhelmed the crevices of the road. i did not understand what prompted me, but i saw myself enter our bus. It was ravaged and ploughed with ostentatious callousness. At the far end was Moses, lying still, his blood oozing and saturating the deck of the bus. I certain i was going to shout because i felt the sudden rush of staccato sounds welling up from the chambers of my lung: it would have been a terrible scream, a scream that should have woken Moses from his rest but i felt a strong hand pulling those screams back to where they came and all that could come out from my mouth was a muffled whimpering. I checked to see if anyone was with me in the bus but i soon realized that my palms had made that strong resistance to the unprecedented scream. I quickly ran through the deck of the bus towards Moses, i shook him but he responded without a tinge. I shook him again but the result was still the same. I looked into his eyes and he was busy sleeping away the sorrows of this world infamy. i left him and went up the bus to where i previously sat. I searched for a few of my property in the scattered debris everywhere. I suddenly felt i was riding my luck by sticking around the fatal scene. Frustrated by the scattered deck of the bus, i ran out and headed towards the road.

I had no idea where i was headed but i was positive i wanted to leave the horror scene.

My feet wearied me as i walked through the rough patches of the simmering road under the heat of the sunlight. I was burdened by so many questioned. My head was heavy with those questions. My thoughts ran wild and abrasive. I wondered how they carried out their operations in a major road, although less plied with so much gusto and impunity. Where were the patrol teams when all these happened? It was so funny how a politician is designated with platoons of security patrols and the masses left to sort out their securities themselves. The picture of Moses, lying lifelessly with blood oozing from his body gave a goose bump and i hated everything about my nation. i was sure that those assigned to patrol that road had parked in the blind spot of a busy road, frisking motorists and squeezing out their hard end money from their pockets. If they had been there, those operations would not have been bread smeared with butter. I felt sorrow welling up in my arteries and corpuscles.

My friends had been abducted and whisked into an unknown fate. Fatamata rung bell in my head as much as Fabro. I felt warm tears trickle down my cold face. I wondered why Fabro chose to safe me when it was convenient for him to hide unnoticed. I felt a second string of tears run through the course of the tarmac, they have created for themselves. Soon, my face was moistened with the soft tears as my trekking became heavy and unpleasant.

The road was infinite and unending with no house in sight and few vehicular movements- those that moved, breezed by with enormous speed. They ran as if something was after them. I offered thousand prayers, hoping to be heard and rescued from this rigorous plight.

Soon, my shadows began to threaten me as i kept plodding through the lonely haunted road. Moses' gory sight kept appearing to me, tormenting me without recourse. I clutched my heart in my hands as I felt an evil presence trailing me all the way. I decided to follow another route that conjoined with the major road that haunted me with invisible hunters, with the hope that I might find a respite. The end of the route taken was unforeseen but it had imminent hope than the major road I had plodded hopelessly in.

I waded through the low shrubs as the sun threatened to withdraw its face. I was determined to get help, however it came, even as my feet numbed with hunger ploughing the fortress of stomach. I would have passed out but I was determined to get help. My sunken eyes soon beamed with flints of ecstasy when I saw light flickering through a scanty hut in the twilight. The hut seemed creepy as it sat alone in the middle of the low bushes but I cared less. I needed water, I was hungry and I needed rest. I stood, scratching my head, trying to make the right decision. But the choices offered my few options. So, I made up my mind and decided to limp towards the hut.

I saw an old woman, who had her head wrapped in veils. She had a smirk of creepiness, writhing and swaying through her faded veil and dirty wrapper, she donned. I walked up to her, not of wisdom but of desperation. She looked me over, with fear written in her less exposed face. Her fears soothed me and spurred me to greet her.

“Sala malaku!” She looked at my weary body and observed the dirty uniform I donned. She knew I was a stray student.

“Not many ply this path...” She said in South Hausa, a language I was scantily furnished with. My father had always injected fluids of Hausa to me but I felt it was unnecessary in the evolving era of globalization and syncretism. Now it was going to haunt me. “Where are you coming from?” She queried with that same flint of terror in her face.

“We were attacked on our back...” I tried to explain in a smattering but intelligible Hausa. I would have gone ahead with details of the narration but i was assured of my incompetence.

“Attacked by whom?” She probed, her voice shrinking into the distance between us.

“I don't know!” I turned my eyes into the space ahead of me, with mild tears trickling down. I was certain she saw the wetness of my face glitter in the twilight. She knew I was distressed at that instant.

“Come in inside... I am sure you've had a torrid time.” She invited me inside. I followed her into the hollow house, which had nothing but hoes, machetes, spade and pick axes. My heart skipped a beat with the massive amount of handy weapons I found there although I knew they were farming tools; I still had that doubt sneaking in and out of my pores. You must be tired... She invited me to sit. I sat and she offered me a kettle that was half filled with water. I washed my feet and arms before washing my face. I had no idea why I chose that order because I saw the woman, watching me with an invisible irritation. One thing was definite I lacked religious and traditional culture, a trend that was fast sweeping across the reins of my generation. She kept watching me with vague reservation and I did not blame her for that. After all, girls of my age have become perfect tools for suicide bombings. You must tell me your name and where you come from! I heard her say, knocking me into the reality of my immediate environment.

“My name is Fatou and I am a student of the college in the capital city.” She wobbled her mouth and wagged her head. I was convinced she only got my name as every other thing I said were code mixed. She looked away for the first time and went outside. I looked up and saw the local kerosene lamp that attracted me onwards the hut.

Fabro

I didn't know why I allowed Fatou slip away when I had the exclusive privilege myself to escape. I knew it wasn't so much about love but the humanity in me believed I would fare better than she would in wherever they were taking us to. It would have been Eva or Fatamata or any girl that was close but I was grateful it was her. She had joined us to the tournament, just for my sake and I couldn't have fared any better, if I had left her to suffer the devious fate that beckoned ingloriously to us.

My fears soon translated to diaper and confusion as we kept plodding deep into the bush. I made silent prayers. I prayed that God will deliver us from the horror that awaited us. Our captors kept us in a single line and I was made to watch my school mates from the rear as we kept plodding. My heart went out to Eva. She had come along with us because she was the only recognised leader the school cheerleading crew had ever had. The final year class had been exempted from participating, save for her. I wished she never joined us, I wished she said no, I wished she stayed behind and focused on her exams. Now, we had no idea of when they would release us, even if they had that plans. My head began to spin as several thoughts began to haunt me. My mom... What would become of her? How would she receive the story of my abduction? I knew she would be mad at herself for allowing me to go because she saw it coming but my indefatigable allegiance to my school could do nothing but persuade her to let me go.

I felt streams of tears beginning to well up in the fountain of my eyes. I wanted to burst into flames of tears but I decided against it. I had already promised myself that no matter what happened to us, I would never give in to feline emotions.

They hassled us with sheer inhumanity, barraging us with the weapons of infamy they wielded, swaying it form right to left and left to right. i felt the plight of our forebears. The history teacher had always told us that the white slave master had treated them like less-humans and those that fell sick were thrown into the sea as they could not afford their medications. I wonder if they would do the same to us as subdued whimpering filled the air.

I noticed the environment soon changed as huge trees began to sprout everywhere. That was when i realised we had descended into the forest. The forest where we would be kept for days, months or probably years: the future appeared bleak. We have not descended deep into the forest when a wriggling black creature sauntered across the bushy path in between the giant trees. It was swift in its attack as it felt threatened by the massive bodies threading the path and without much hesitation, struck the man at the front, who i believed was their leader in his heel. There was an unprecedented rowdiness.

The black mamba had stirred the cruel side of our captors as they left their wailing leader to chase after the reptile, firing random shots towards the spot it came. They kept rattling the low bushes with flashes of their gunfire. I saw the man, shrinking into an ominous death. i was convinced he would die and i felt no pity for him but that humane side kicked me forward to him. i did not know why i was moved but whatever moved me was respect for humanity. I quickly grabbed his hideous dagger; i held his knees and punctured the spot with the dagger. I saw blood, mixed with venomous fluid gush out from his heel. He was still panting and gasping for air, when i cut a piece of cloth from his wretched shirt and tied his heels with it and then left him to his misery. i turned and discovered that my school mates have scattered. Some have scampered into the forest. The few that stood were practically indecisive.

Fatamata and Eva were among those that stood confused. i was grateful they did not try to escape because those savage, soon began to rifle shots randomly across the directions they ran to, chasing them with clandestine ambition. Some hours later they returned with everyone that went astray, kicking and hitting them with venomous hatred. The air was filled with beatings and concomitant sorrowful wailings.

“Enough...” thundered the leader, who was still writhing in pain. He staggered up with his slightly fiery eyes in the half lit sky. He shuffled between Hausa and Arabic, most of the time. “Let’s keep moving!” i saw him thrust a glance on me. i removed my eyes when the star became uncomfortable as we began to move. i saw him limping with the aid of his gang member. I felt a tinge of hunger rumbling in my stomach and my feet were becoming weak. The journey was rigorous and hideous. I wished we would get to the destination, so we could catch our breath. We arrived at the camp when the sky was utterly dark, bleak and ghastly.