We meet again
1441 Words
“Are you in love with any girl?” Devon once asked a friend.
“No.”
“You are safe and healthy.” He had said.
“Why? I really want to fall in love.” The friend had said.
“Go and climb Zuma Rock. There is a valley beneath. Jump and fall in there.”
“Why?”
“Because that is where love is and what you feel after falling is how love feels.”
This had been his phenomenon. He had never fallen in love. This was one of his dark sides. He was a Casanova. What girls called a player.
He had dated over six girls since he came on camp. He just went to check on Anna, one of his latest catch but she was not around. He was told she went out with one guy. He had just shrugged and started thinking of the next girl to go and pick. He forgot about Anna.
He saw one of the advantages of not falling in love. If he had been in love with Anna, he would have been wondering who she went out with, what was going on between them, and begin to nurse a pain in the heart.
A friend once said to him, “you don’t fall in love. You are just a dead lump of meat.”
“Nah!” Devon had said, “I am gallantly and vibrantly alive. I am resistant to heartbreak. A man in love is in trouble. A man out of love is a freeman.”
This was his opinion about love. He could not remember ever feeling jealous over any girl.
He left the hostel, got into his car and drove to a quiet lonely place and parked the car. It was a vast field with trees before a river just very close to the river. The corpse members and other citizens loved to come there in the evenings and enjoy the beauty of nature.
He opened the car door but still sat under the wheel. He was under a big baobab tree. He put off the car AC to enjoy the fresh natural air.
He opened a bottle of chilled Coke, before opening the glove compartment to bring out something. It was a big wrap of reefer. He put it in his mouth and used the car lighter to light it. He inhaled a smoke and puffed a cloud of smoke.
He put on the CD player and blared Eminem’s raps.
This was another dark side of him. He smoked cannabis, cigarette and wine. He smoked for about an hour when he heard, “you once told me that there was something you have become. Is this part of it?”
He turned to see her standing by the car door. What was wrong with him? How could he have allowed someone sneak up on him like that?
But here was someone he had not expected to see. He never had the idea she was in the camp.
Zina! He did not even ask of her the day he met Layla.
“Neighbour!”He exclaimed. “ Splendid! I missed you.”
Still tha crazy guy, she thought.
“Really?”
“I did. I saw your friend just the other day….”
“Layla?”
“Exactly. That was what she called herself.”
“You missed me and you did not care to ask about me?”
“Asking about you means I did not miss you much.” He said and threw the fag end away. “I so much missed you I could not ask after you. When you are extra dumbfounded, you become speechless. I was so speechless I could not ask of you. The level at which I missed you was beyond having the ability to ask of you. Does it make any sense?”
“The only thing that makes sense to me is that you did not want to see me.” She said. “You just vanished.”
“I just changed base for a while. I won the house so I can’t leave it. You guys moved out just three weeks later. The agents told me.”
“You only avoided us.”
“Us means plural, right? He said and smirked. “ Your friends did not seem so uncomfortable with me like you did. So I gave you a little space.”
“I guess you hate me now.”
“No. I love you. Will you marry me?”
“I tried to kill you.”
“It was not because you hated me. You were into something and you felt I knew too much.”
She glanced at him.
“I am sorry about that.”
“It is past. I forgive easily. I also forget easily. What even happened? Did you say you tried to kill me? I can’t remember that. When? How?” He giggled. “See? I have forgotten. Am I not such a nice guy? I don’t even remember what happened. I only remember that sweet smile of yours.”
“Devon Sarcasm.”
“Sarcasm is not my last name but the middle name.”
She smirked.
“Devon, I am sorry about what happened.”
“It’s okay. It’s behind me.”
“I want to explain what really happened.”
“No,no,no.” He said as he spray perfume on himself. He always did that whenever he smoked. “I don’t want to know what you were doing. I knew it was a deal but don’t really want the details. Thank you for the offer.”
“I can see that you still feel I intend to harm you.”
“Do you think I am scared of you? If I was, I would have killed you when I discovered your evil plans to kill me. I have seen devils in red and black. I am not scared. I have got no reason to be scared because I lost one of the precious thing to me: my mom. Everything about this life is temporary. My mum died and left a lot of money, houses, cars but she was buried just wrapped up in a white cloth, buried in a hole and covered according to Islamic rites. She took care of her body, had a healthy skin, and ate good food but what is that body made up today? It is decomposed, left for worms. This will happen to me, you and everybody breathing right now. If luxury does not leave you, you will definitely leave it. They say I take nothing serious. What the hell is the world all about? All I need now is to take get closer to my Lord. I know I am not religious. I am far from Him and it hurts. Zina, I once felt something strong for you but not now. I don’t want to see you. I don’t have a scintilla of trust for you. I risked my life that night to save you. I did not know what it was all about and still don’t know. I just did not want those military men to get you. That was foolish of me and I still don’t know why I did it. I knew there was something sinister about you right from the very first day I saw you. I could feel the coldness in you. I did not help you because I needed anything from whatever it was. I just need a favour from you. Never you come close to me again, ever. I may draw a battle line with you. It does not matter if you are a girl or not. You are not just another ordinary girl on the street. I will watch my back. If you don’t mind, please leave.”
Zina was speechless. No one had ever spoken to her like this. A man? He just asked her to leave! She did not know is the feelings of rancor that swept through her was a result of anger or shame. She felt like shooting him and leaving him with a hole in his head while he lay in a pool of his blood.
She gave him a spiteful glare before turning to walk away. Even though he knew her beauty was so infectious, he refused to admire her.
She got into her car which was parked far away and drove off angrily.
- Writer
