I opened the door to our very silent abode, in comparison to that scenery. The familiar scent of my home drill its way into my nostrils, assuaging the tense feeling of terror embodied in my thoughts, both from the incident and that dream.
Mom was coming up to the entrance as the taxi strayed into the night.
So I left the door slightly open and moved to the center of the room, the quietness of the night and the serenity of the atmosphere inspired me to check, what time it was. I turned and moved towards the table clock, unsurprisingly it was 11:47 pm.
Instead, I was surprised the people were quick to have withdrawn from outdoor activities for the day, therefore making the neighborhood quiet and calm. But I love the tranquility, for I sincerely crave the peacefulness thereof.
I dragged the jacket off my shoulder and dumped it on the cushion. I made it towards the refrigerator to get a chilled bottle of water to revitalize my almost dehydrated soul.
I heard the door slam as I stretched my arm to open the refrigerator, now I was walking back to the sitting room,
as Adam’s five fingers inadvertently but fortuitously spelled the spoon; so does this bottle itself double, the number of the spellings of cup for a purpose, perhaps purposes. I raised the bottle to my mouth and the water galloped down my throat as the chills worked their magic that it even enchanted my movements to a stop so that I drank the whole hueless, yet satiating liquid contained in it to the very last drop, consequently I felt sudden heaviness and breathed out the carbon dioxide trapped in my lungs while drinking, through my mouth then dragged in a long deep breath through the nostrils, which literally satisfied my lungs but for the moment, as I approached a chair to relax my disconcerted, and stressed body system.
Mom was by the TV set, her left hand akimbo as she held the remote control on her right and tune in to a local live channel, prospectively she had tuned in to that channel for the local updates.
With a fixated glance, she retreated to the seat directly facing the television so as not to miss a thing I guess.
A few minutes later, I too had to concentrate for the host successfully tapped my interest with the news of the happenings at Mallam’s and that of the emperors’ gang.
“Once again, it’s 11:50 pm we will be going on a ten minutes break, and the latest news will be brought to your screen. Stay tuned!” The host said. As different advertisement programs substituted the feminine face on the TV screen with what I would refer to as an organized noise in the middle of the night.
The harshness of the instrumental sounds escaping from the speaker prompted Mom to grab the remote control and reduced the volume.
Thank goodness, that helped my sanity, too.
My seat angles towards the center of focus, same as her’s but she deviated, adjusted in her seat, and turned towards me in an almost hushful tone, “Ryker, will you talk to me and don’t just sit there.” She implored.
I shifted my gaze from the screen, with my left hand already resting on my face, spaces between my fingers made it possible to access the view in that relaxed position I was, as I sluggishly swiped downward my hand to caress my nose; scraped my index finger, pulled on my columella and swallowed the saliva lurking in my throat simultaneously, I sat up and nodded agreeably.
I never wanted to talk about it perhaps not at the moment, but thinking of it as a debt I owed her simplified the hard feelings of reticence and I was eager to pay it once and for all!
This is what happened Mom.
*****
I can tell by that keen interest, rapt attention, and the hypnotized look she wore throughout, she was flabbergasted and dumbstruck by my adventure and particularly the ordeal with Jude’s sinister set-up.
I detailed to her about Jude’s shenanigans, how he has fooled and threatened me to the point of death if I dare not dance to his tune.
Now, after she had regained composure, she went on to announce my culpability, for not telling her or some elderly people that can intervene beforehand, so I hesitated not, whilst I reiterated the ipso facto which compounded the situation, and the fact that all these were unanticipated as it happened fortuitously, and unfortunately for me, I undermined the seriousness of the matter by tackling it in my own way with my teenage life experience so it gets more complicated,
And also, what did fuels the propensities of getting entangled with the case to such extent.
She shook her head, but I cannot say for sure if what she did, was from her pitiful or disdainful guts.
But I was sure now she too can see reasons, and she was bitterly annoyed Jude was not who she thought him to be.
Instead, he had always proffered a furbished identity around her, of all his qualities he deserves an accolade for first-class deceptive.
Although I never had that free and clear conscience since I had left that place the newscaster now refers to as the “crime scene” on the screen, but I’ve lost a great deal of my sympathetic raw mind. Inescapable doomed circumstances cooked me!
I rarely feel what most people feel neither do I understands emotion like my folks, but one thing of all; I do feel pain too.