Oaths - Season 1 - Episode 24

Episode 6 years ago

Oaths - Season 1 - Episode 24

☆☆☆☆
Three days.

Three days of torture, merciless beatings, starvation and unending trials weakened me to pulp. I became bony and pale beyond recognition, adding to the bruises and wounds around my skin. I suddenly became a nightmare to behold in just three days.
• • •
Splash!

I felt a wave of water wash down through my body, bringing me up to life.


“Wake up, idiot,” a voice echoed fiercely beside me. I slowly opened my eyes to see Big Tiny as the figure, holding a bucket in his hands.

I was still in my sitting position, with my hands and legs tied, and my mouth sealed. I looked around and noticed we were alone in the room, with the other guys gone.


“Wetin you dey look!” he yelled out aloud. I tried to say something, but my voice croaked up.

“You wan talk?” He asked. I nodded.
He slowly moved towards me and stood behind, unveiling the wrap off of my mouth. I breathed in air and gasped.

“Water, please,” I begged weakly.

“You wan drink water?” He asked harshly. I nodded again.

“Take water!” he said and, swiftly raising the bucket over the top of my head, I felt the cold water wash down through my body. He had poured it on me.

“Idiot!” He cursed and raised a hand to hit me, and then he stopped. I noticed him looking in-between my thighs in disgust.
“Wetin be that?” he asked, pointing there. I looked down at my thighs and saw blood trickling down slowly. I was on my period.
He waited for an answer, still staring at me in disgust as I looked back at him too. Then all of a sudden, he spat out saliva and acted like he was about to vomit, and he then ran out of the room, locking the door behind.

Shortly after, the door creaked open and a figure walked in. The figure held a tray containing a stainless plate, bottled water, an handkerchief and a tissue paper.

He pulled an empty chair close to me and sat, placing the tray on his lap. He then rolled out a piece of tissue and advanced closer to my thighs with it.


“Stop it!” I shouted.
He paid no attention to me and stretched his hand further.
“I said stop it!” I shouted again, tightening my legs shut.
“Aunty, behave yourself.” he simply said.
I watched him scrub the chair with the tissue, directly below my thighs where the blood stained. He wasn’t the same person I knew anymore. He wasn’t the same kid I knew some days back. He wasn’t the same innocent, helpless boy I thought he was.
He was something else now! Something different entirely; with a stone-cold face that depicted no emotions. I wondered what made him choose this path.
“What’s your name?” I silently whispered to him. He ignored me.
“Do you have parents?” I asked again.
He ignored.
“What of your mother?” I pushed on. This time, he raised his head up with an expressionless face, staring coldly at me.
“Aunty, shut up! Don’t put me in trouble.” he warned silently, almost in a whisper.
I ignored his remark and continued, “Were you forced to do this? To live this life?”
At that, he angrily turned to face me.
“What is your business with my life?” he whisper-shouted at me.
“I want to help you…” I whispered calmly.
He laughed silently to himself, peering at me as he did.
“Look at you! Your hands are tied, your legs are tied, your body is bruised, your skin is pale, and you look terribly sick to death. Yet, you want to help me? Why not help yourself first,” he taunted mockingly.
“I can help you,” I persisted.
“What possible help can you render to me?”
“Do you have a family?” I asked, neglecting his mockery.
Immediately I said that, his countenance changed.
“Don’t ever mention my family again!” He raved, “I don’t have a family! I hate them!”
I was shocked at his words.
“Why? Why do you hate them?” I tried to maintain my calmness, in order not to provoke him.
“I lost my father…” he said.
“Go on?!” I urged him on.
“I lost my father, and…” he continued, “I became an orphan overnight! He was the only one who cared for me; who fended well for me. And he just died…” he stopped, and continued, “I hated my step-mother with passion. I never liked her. Sheʼs the reason I turned out this way. She poisoned my father and killed him, and I would have been next if I didn’t think wise to run away.”
“I understand how you feel,” I tried to comfort him, “but this is not the way forward.”
“Do you know how much I suffered before these people picked me up?” he questioned. “Do you know how much I begged?”
“I understand you, but…”
“You don’t understand anything!” he cut me off angrily.
“I truly understand you,” I assured him, “I know what it feels like to lose someone you love. I also lost my mother too, and right now as we speak, my father lies on a hospital bed, probably dying inside with the thought of his daughter gone missing for three straight days now,” I halted, feeling my eyes becoming teary.
“You need to help me, please.” I begged.
“So that when I do, you would finally come back with a tonfold of police forces to arrest us, isn’t it?”
“No! Never! I swear on my life, I don’t harbor such thoughts for revenge. If you help me, we could both escape together. We could leave this place – you could start afresh; start a new phase of your life again. Think about it!” I tried convincing him.
He looked at me like he was about to say something, when we heard footsteps outside coming towards the door, and then it opened, with Big Tiny and some guys walking in. Big Tiny stood at a distance with a frown on his face, observing me and the boy who already pretended to be on his errand, while I bowed my head too.
“I heard voices now! Na who dey talk, Emeka?” his voice rose fiercely.
I was wondering who he referred to until the boy beside me turned to him. I realized the boyʼs name was Emeka.
“Nobody at all o, Bros T!” Emeka countered in defence.
“You mean say I deaf?” Big Tiny yelled again.
“Bros I swear, nobody talk…” he countered back.
The next thing we knew, a heavy, unexpected slap landed on the boyʼs face.


[B] “Na me you dey raise voice for?” Big Tiny fumed, holding onto the boy’s collar. He clenched his fist and raised it up, about to punch him hard when a colleague stopped him.

“Guy leave am!” his colleague pleaded and withdrew the boy from Big Tiny’s grasp. He rough-handled the boy outside and pushed him out.

Then, after that, they turned to face me.

“You still dey bleed?” Big Tiny asked. It sounded rhetorically stupid. I didn’t have to answer that.

“You deaf?” he asked again, clenching his fist and moving closer to me. His colleague quickly intervened and pulled him back.

“Guy calm down na,” his colleague pleaded, [B] “This girl is bleeding, she doesn’t need this. Make we just leave am until Senator go land tomorrow, then we go see wetin go happen,” he reasoned. Big Tiny concurred with him and slowly unclenched his fist.


“I’ll make sure you die here. You think say you stubborn!” he threatened and moved behind me to re-tie the wrap on my mouth. Thereafter, he left with his guys, locking the door from behind.

• • • • •
Seconds ticked to minutes, minutes ticked to hours, hours turned to night time. The day slowly passed and time flew.

I gave up hope of ever leaving this hell hole I found myself into. It was unfortunate that I had to leave this way; to die a cold, wasteful death all alone.

I accepted my fate and prepared myself for the worst. I thought about my family. I thought about my sister. I remembered my father. I remembered Boma.

What was he doing now? I wondered! Perhaps, drinking himself to stupor, thinking about me? I thought. Or probably living his life like we never happened; like I never existed? I gave that a thought too.

In the midst of these thoughts, I heard footsteps approaching the door. I quickly pretended to be asleep, while the door silently creaked open and a figure walked in, tip-toeing towards me.


“Aunty?” The figure whispered, pointing a torch to my face. I instantly raised my head, having recognized his voice.

“Emeka?” I whispered back, surprised.

“I thought about what you said, aunty. You were right. Let’s get out of here!”
I couldn’t believe my ears.

I watched as he got behind me and loosened the ropes on my hands and legs, and then unsealed the wrap from my mouth.

“Aunty we have to be very careful,” he warned silently. I nodded.

“I will lead the way and you would follow behind me. When we get outside thereʼs a guy sleeping on duty who was supposed to keep watch, I already drugged his drink so we have to tip-toe across him,” he explained. I nodded.

“Now let’s go!” Emeka said. He held my hand and led me to the door, and we came out.

Just as instructed, there was a guy sleeping just beside the door with a machete in his hands. We top-toed past him and proceeded towards a corner, where we took another corner leading to the exit door.

“Stop there!” a voice screamed at us from nowhere.

Immediately, Emeka tightened his grip on my hand and dragged me with force towards the door. He kicked it open and we started running in the dead of the night.

We ran as fast as our legs could take us. We ran without looking back…

Suddenly, there was a gunshot…

Suddenly, Emeka screamed…

Almost immediately, I turned back and saw him fall right to the ground, panting heavily. He had been shot at the neck, bleeding profusely.
I screamed out loud and continued running as fast as my legs could carry me…