I had just got the licence and number plates on my new car. Nothing was going to stop me from celebrating. So, I went out that night to celebrate.
It was a night for celebration. Friday nights were celebrated all over the world. Little wonder everyone was at home with the expression; Thank God it’s Friday. I went to over three nightclubs up nd down the Lagos Mainland and Island and guzzled a lot of beer and all else that was available. This was supposed to be a private celebration but as it turned out, I needed some company. I found someone standing under a streetlight on Kudirat Abiola road in Oregun. She was clad in the skimpiest of clothes.
“Going somewhere?” I asked.
“I am going where you are going if you can pay,” she said.
I could do more than pay. This was not me talking. I mean, I had a steady girl and all but I just got promoted in my company. I was driving my new car. I moved into a three-bedroom apartment only last month. You’ve got to have money to be able to do any of the things I had done. Besides, I was dead drunk and not in total control of myself.
“Get in,” I said. When she’d settled down in the bucket seat beside me, I asked for her name.
“Edwina,” she said.
“So Edwina, let’s go,” I said and stepped very hard on the turtle. The car took off like a plane that had hd a lot of fuel to drink. I’d bought it at the used car dealership but the first user was a fool, he didn’t put it to proper use. I was going to be different. I would put my car to good use. What was the sense in having a car you could not fully utilise?
I drove on for a long time without saying a word except telling her that my name Samuel. The roads were deserted. It was late into the night. I was negotiating a bend that would take me to my house in Mende when the silence was broken.
“It’s stuffy in here.” As she said this, she began to wind down the glass on the door on her side. At the same time, her purse fell out through the window. She was holding it over the car window with her left hand while she pressed down with her right hand.
“Please stop the car, my purse just dropped out!” She said in alarm. So many thoughts were running through my mind including, ‘put on the AC on full blast. This girl is beautiful’ when I pulled to one side of the road and waited for her to go get it. That was when things started to go wrong. It happened like a bad dream. First were the headlights of another car which seemed to have appeared from nowhere, three men jumped out of the car as the driver blocked my path. My first impulse was to run. The word kept on reverberating in my head, run! run! run! As I opened the door, vicious hands restrained me. The same hands pulled me out of the car and held me, my legs dangling in the air. I got the message; these guys were professionals, they knew what they were out to do. Alarm crawled over me like a second skin. Alcohol cleared from my head.
Within those moments that I was held high in the air, many things crossed my mind, They will kill me! They will take my car! And I was helpless to act!
Then I heard the words that broke my heart.
“Edwina, well done.” It was the driver of their car. Edwina was talking to him, she was standing beside his car. That was the last thing I saw. Someone hit me on the back of my head with something hard. Darkness enveloped me. A deep void, without a bottom took over and I fell into it, alone.
I woke up in an enclosure. A moving throbbing enclosure. I was in the boot of a car and we were moving at top speed. From the way the car was vibrating I realised that the road didn’t have a smooth surface.
Where were they taking me? I wondered. They must have thrown me into the boot when I became unconscious. It pained me that this happened right next to the street on which my house was located. And on this one night when I decided not to go out with my friends, they would have certainly done something to help me. I wouldn’t have picked up Edwina in the first place. My appetite for the exotic that one night served me right. I returned to the problem on hand. No matter how hard I tried, I could not bring my mind to focus on it. It must have been the throbbing pain in my head. The back of my head where I was hit still hurt. The big question was, how do I escape?
An overwhelming wave of fear enveloped me. These people were taking me for their satanic rituals. I, who had never said a prayer since my childhood, began to pray with the zeal of a pastor who had just acquired a new church building for his multiplying flock.
I didn’t want to die. Not when I had just begun to enjoy the fruit of my labour. I’d worked very hard in school. I’d worked very hard at my workplace. Which was the reason why I was getting results. Now this. Those who had been scheming to take my place would rejoice. I would be no more.
The ride got even rougher, my legs were as heavy as lead, cramped. I laid on the right side of my body, it was burning hot like the underside of hell. I was in hell. The psychological effect was daunting. I didn’t know when the journey would end. I could only imagine what would befall me at the end of the journey. What crossed my mind was horrific, unutterable.
The car jerked to a sudden halt and then took off again. This time, it moved slowly. It must have been a checkpoint. As we approached it, I began to hear voices. Muffled at first, then clearer.
“Keep calm. Bambu will take care of it. Our man is planted among them. Besides, we have enough money to take care of them,” a voice said.
“I am scared. I don’t think I can continue to do this. It gets more dangerous every time.” That was unmistakably Edwina’s voice.
I heard another voice, distant, groggy.
“Wetin una carry?”
“Officer, nothing. Just bags,” that must have been Bambu’s voice. It had an air of importance around it.
“Open your boot,” the groggy officer said.
“Chill, just chill,” Bambu’s voice said.
“What’s that?” asked the officer.
Within moments, we were moving again. They must have handed the officer some money, I couldn’t say for a fact. He didn’t ask them for their papers. I was locked in the boot of my car. The officer must have known it was stolen but didn’t do a thing about it. They were all too drunk to even save themselves if Bambu and his gang intended to take it out on them. Our journey continued. I was claustrophobic. It got so bad I passed out again for some reason wondering why I never asked Edwina why she kept a low cut.
Continues next week.
