Risen from the dark

Trapped

She stood still, her heart beating rapidly, her teeth chattering with fear and regret. What on earth got into her head? What kind of curiosity prompted her to this dastardly move? And it was obvious she was in a mess.

It was on that day she came of the bank, about to get into her car when she saw Adnan standing outside. She had been so pissed off. She was tired of bumping into him and his rudeness. He  had given her that smile of his while she had frowned.

“ I don’t like the idea of you following about. You are becoming  a security threat. I would have to report you to the police.”

He smirked.

“ So I do not have the constitutional and civil prerogative to be here?” He said. “ I am not stalking you, Miss Sunshine. Our hearts are merged right from above so we keep crossing parts. I am doing my job diligently.”

“ Your job is in the bakery.”

“ Did you not read it on the daily’s? Did you not hear Cyril Stober announce it ?”

“Announce what?”

“ I have been promoted.” He said proudly. “ Look at this.” He pointed at his T-shirt and face cap. They had the bakery logo. “ I have been promoted from Production Technical officer to a Marketing Strategist and Distribution Officer. I am in charge of Zone A. And from a daily single bread allowance, I am now elevated to double bread allowance. That means if you agree to get married to me, you will eat bread daily and have one extra.”

“What are you distributing?”

He pointed at a bike that was parked with a box fixed behind with loafs of bread in it.

“ That is the distribution mobile motor.”

“ You have a sophisticated name for everything.” She said. “  But you sound educated. I have heard you mention some things to do with advanced science. What is your discipline?”

“  I attend a private university like you.”

“ Which university?”

“ Miracle learning University.”

She crinkled her face.

“ What? Where?”

“ Sambisa Forest.”

“What?”

“Just kidding.” He chuckled. “ Forget the things I mention. They just come and go.I will submit my CV to you.  I guess your family members will demand for it.”

“What for?”

“ New marital requisite factors. Submit marriage proposal along with CVs.”

“ You are crazy. And what is this marriage stuff you keep talking about?Would you believe me if I said I would go out with you?”

“ It does not matter. I love forced marriages. They help shatter the couple’s lives. It makes the home more adventurous . Nothing is boring.”

“ And who is forcing who?”

“ I am going to talk to your father if you don’t agree to marry me. I have a job. You can testify that yourself. I just got promoted.”

“ You got a job but you go to parties with polythene bags for extra food and go after girls for food and money.”

“I was doing it all for you. I am saving for our wedding.”

“Now I know you are sick . You started doing this long ago, after you graduated from going to your friends’ houses for food.”

“ So you know the school I graduated from and you were asking me.” He bowed slightly . “ I have to go. I am on duty.”

Without waiting for another word from her ,he left. Was that not rude of him? He took a loaf of bread, came back and put it on her dashboard.

“ What ?’

“ A gift from me.”

“Who said I wanted your bread?”

“ Nobody. That is just a tip of the iceberg. Next time, I will add kosai and zobo drink.”

“ Who said I eat such things?”

“ What is the difference with the burgers you eat? Put kosai in between the bread, you have burgers. See you Miss Sunshine.”

He climbed the bike, winked at her , smiled and then rode away, posing proudly on the bike. It was after he had gone she made a phone call. She had been planning this.

“ He just left. Wait for him at the bakery. He has gone to hawk . He would definitely go back to the bakery. Then follow him. Do whatever it takes to know where he lives. I will reward you handsomely.”

And it was done. It took two weeks to discover where he lived.

Now she was standing in his room. She was told he had gone to distribute bread. She had been too curious.

He lived in an uncompleted estate. She guessed this was what he meant when he said he lived in an estate. He occupied on of the duplexes where some building materials where hidden. She had pulled up her a car in a public parking space and boarded a bike to brink her here.

She had gone round the building before she found his room. The walls were not plastered so he used white  used flex advert material to cover the walls. He turned the printed parts inside and showed the white plane part, giving the room a white wall.

There was a small mattress by the wall, neatly dressed with white immaculate bed sheet. The floor was covered with rubber carpet which looked like tiles from afar. His few clothes were neatly hung on a simple homemade hanger which he made by simply nailing a thin wood at a corner of two walls then used clothe hangers to hold his clothes.

On a small stool were his body jell, toothpaste, toothbrush, nail clipper, hair cream, shoe polish and unused soap.

On a building block which he covered with a sheet of paper were two loafs of bread, can sardine, a bottle of coke and a small flask. A small container of sugar, a tin containing garri,  three sachets of milk. There were two varieties of kuli-luli( peanut-cake) there: the Nupe-kuli which was flat and sugary  and the conventional one which looked like  bullets.

This guy had a proactive potential for his stomach. Did he have chronic ulcer? Was he a gourmand and so voracious ?

Then the part that got her astonished: his library. She was shocked to see the piles of books he had  and the titles got her head ringing. Advanced Further Mathematics, Advanced Dynamics, Principles of Complex Calculus, Algorithm, Software Engineering, Engineering Mathematics, Fluid Mechnanics, etc.

He also had religious books, sociology, novels, inspirational books. What was this guy? Who was he? Why was he so puzzling and befuddling?

Then she saw piles of computer laptops. They numbered over ten. There were two laptops   by his bed which looked like the ones he was using currently.

This was sticky, bogey and  mindboggling.

She had gone into the room and searched. She knew what she was doing was wrong, but she was too curious and the fact that he was always showing up and talking to her got her more nervous. She found nothing substantial except some pictures she saw.

She had not gotten the chance to go through all of the when she heard the sound of a bike downstairs.

She had been so shocked and scared she just returned the pack of pictures and tried to run but it was too late.

She saw him standing before the door and his expression scared her. This was one of the stupidest things she had ever done. She had come alone, not telling anyone, left her car somewhere far and snuck here, a lonely uncompleted estate and alone with a criminal.

The worst part was she had brought herself to him. Oh no!

Adnan stood in his uniform, holding a polythene bag. The room was now getting dark as she had put off her flashlight. All she could see was his silhouette.

“ What are you doing here?”

She was now shivering.

She wanted to apologise, beg him to let her go but she did not want to let him see her fears.

“ Trying to know who has been stalking me.”

“How did you find this place?”

“ My secret. Now you know you are not as cagey as you think. You can’t just keep hiding in a hole, come out and fuc* with the world and go back. You keep appearing from nowhere, but knowing about people, and think nobody will try to find you.

You came to me and not the vice versa. And you kept appearing even when you know I don’t like you. So I got sceptical and suspicious. How come you don’t want anybody to know anything about you? What are you? Who are you? Where did you drop from?Who are your family members? And look at where you live. Is this not creepy? Look at the piles of computer laptops you have, is this normal? Look at the piles of books you have. How can someone who cannot feed afford these?

And if you have the knowledge to assimilate all these brain scattering scary books ,what the hell are you doing as a labourer who just got promoted to a bread distributor?

You can’t have these books if you are not well learned. What do you want with me? They said you don’t get attached to ladies, your mummies, then why are you sticking by me? You had what you wanted and if there is anyone of your victims you should run away from, it is me because I caught you but no, you chose to keep coming. What an effrontery!”

She could not see his eyes but she was sure he was staring at her.

“ Now you are in trouble.” He said in a low tone. “You are now going to know the real me!”

Damn!

Her heart dropped." Don't even try to hurt me!" She said in a voice which she felt was threatening but the quivering gave her away.

" You will regret it!"

" Regret comes after," he said, "after I have done what I want to do. Hope you know that you are not leaving here today?"

" You can't stop me! I am leaving here now!"

" I am not stopping you. There is a curfew in town."

"That is a lie!"

"Okay. Why do I have to lie? If I wanted to harm you, what would stop me? You can use a loud speaker to shout, no one would hear you. I have locked the exit. There is no way of escape for you. So better stay or get shot by the military men."

She studied him. He moved in, pressed a switch and there was light. There was no visible power supply. Where did the power come from?

He dropped his polythene bag, removed the contents and placed them. He had three loafs of bread as usual,  fried fish,  a pack of rice and four bottles of soft drinks.

" Don't stare at me like that. I was in in the city when the curfew was announced. Don't know when it would it would be lifted. I would not want to starve to death here."

" Are you serious about the curfew?"

" Do you want me to open the door for you? There is a twenty four hour curfew. The governor just made a speech."

Her phone began to ring.

She picked it.

" Hello?"

" Where are you?" Hajiya Fatima said worriedly. " Did you not hear what is happening?"

She could not tell them where she was. How could she say she was with a stranger, a man, in an uncompleted estate?

" I was in Nadia's house when I heard." She lied.

" Good. Just stay there. It is very serious."

" Toh (Okay)."

" And behave yourself. Don't go about bossing their workers."

Naairah grimaced. Only if she knew where she was.

" Toh(okay)."

"  May God protect us."

" Ameen."

The call was ended. She called Nadia.

" I just told mum that I am in your house."

"What? Where are you? The town is red!"

"I know. I went to ...."she looked at Adnan, " I found Adnan's house and he caught me there. Now I am stuck there."

" What? You mean you are in his house right now?"

" Yes."

" What did hid parents say?"

" No one else."

" What do you mean ? Just the two of you? Like alone in a house, trapped in a curfew?"

"  I'm in a katzenjammer!"

" Keep me updated, dear. I will pray for you."

" Toh(okay)."

Adnan looked at her.

" I heard that. You are in trouble,huh?"

Naairah said nothing. She hesitated then asked," What happened? Why was the curfew imposed?"

" Political brouhaha turned into a violent protest and a serious destruction of lives and properties started. The government was proactive. But we will settle it."

" What do you mean by 'we'?"

" Big political figures."

" Are you part of them?"

" I am too big to be there myself. I sent some people?"

"Liar."

"What do you mean liar? Who is Senator Garba Dabo representing? Who is Jalo Gambo of the House of Representatives representing? They are there for me. My constituency."

She pouted." You have ways of expressing your idiosyncratic ideas." She said. " You made it sound like you sent them personally."

"Idiosyncratic? I want you to remember that I am your host now and you are under my care."

" May God forbid it."

" What did you say?"

" I said  God forbid it."

" I think God just answered your prayer." He said and got up. " Okay."

"Okay? What is okay?"

" I am seeing you off .Anyone or anything in this estate is under my care. Maybe you don't know, I am a Private Intelligence, Defensive and Security Agent: PIDSA. You can see some building materials here. I am in charge of making sure they are well secured..."

" I get it. You are a maigadi( security man)."

" I am a PIDSA, point of correction."

" So you work in a bakery during the day, then as a maigadi at night and a scoundrel within the interval. What a guy!"

" No prevarication. You said God forbid you from being under my care and I said your prayer has been answered. Come on. You are leaving my estate. I will see you off."

" Wait! Are you asking me to leave?"

" No. It is an answered prayer."

" I can't believe you are chasing me out of this hole. I ,Naairah Adam,being chased out of an uncompleted building."

" You will know the value of an uncompleted building today. Come on, let's go, pronto."

"Alright then. Walk me out!" She said angrily.

She carried her bag angrily and followed him. They went down the stairs, passed through the big living room with building materials before he opened the door. She realised that she met the door opened. Why didn't he lock it when all these materials were there?

They got outside the building. It was now a few minutes after 7:00pm. The place was as quiet as a grave yard. The stillness was spooky and she felt a skittish sensation crawling up her spine.

" Okay, Miss sunshine. I will walk you to the gate and you leave. I guess you know your way out because you found your way in. Now you will not be under my care."

She said nothing. The anger on her face was gradually transforming into fear.

" You are a heartless man." She said. " You want to send me out this night!"

" Oh my God! You prayed for it. If you leave, it means God has forbade it."

"But you know what I meant."

" That is what I did."

"No."

"Yes."

"I said no!"

" Then what?" He said. " I said in retrospect that anyone or anything in this estate is under my care. I am the PIDSA and that includes you."

She looked towards the gate which was now a bugaboo. She did not know what lay out there. Times like this was when hoodlums stuck at lonely places or get shot by a trigger happy soldier.

" Yes, you said so."

" If you are going to stay.....no, let me rephrase it, if I , Adnan Abber , the PIDSA is going to allow you stay in this uncompleted building which will keep you safe, then it means you are under my care, yes or no?"

She felt as if her mouth was zipped or padlocked.

" Yes."

" I want your answer in a sentence."

" I hate you."

"Is that the answer?"

She paused.

" Yes. I am under your care."

He smiled.

" And I will take good care of you." He said sarcastically. " Come on, let's go back."

She followed him back. He locked the front door then went upstairs. She followed him. She still wondered how he got electric power.

He pulled off his shoes, and carefully paced them near his other shoes. She noticed that he was careful of the position he placed them. He meticulously arranged them, making sure they were not out of place. Then she realised that the whole room was like that.

He was very organised and neat. He made sure everything was placed at the right place, taking note of every detail.

" I think it's dinner time." He said as he plugged his phone to a charger. He brought out the pack of rice. " You can take half and leave half for me."

" No thank you."

" Baby this if curfew time. We don't know what lies ahead."

"I said thank you."

He shrugged.

He carried the pack, sat down and munched. He left half, eating neatly from one side. He covered it and then placed it on a stool. He drank a bottle of soft drink then performed ablution to pray.

" So You pray?" She observed. " I thought rogues don't. I would like to pray too."

"They do. I also thought uncultured people don't pray." He said before he started.

After the prayers, he said, " There is a toilet there. There is water. They can't build a house like this without a borehole. You can go there when you want to pee, or fart...."

"Must you go into details?"

" I have to cause I hate munafikin tusa( hypocritical farting)"

" What is hypocritical farting?"

" The silent ones. The type that happens in class and everyone is grimacing, grumbling, squeezing nose and you begin to wonder who did it. When you see a student raising up his head like he can't see the board well, he is actually raising a part of his butt, to give some gap between it and the chair, to avoid a sound, and he releases the virulent gas, and would be among the first to squeeze nose, hmmmmmm, who farted? Who messed up the air? Who polluted the air and my brothers in the down part of the city would be like. Yeahhhh,na who mess( Who farted)? E no go better for him mama and papa ( It will not be well for his parents)."

She shook her head. She was going to share a night with a whimsical bloke. She said nothing, got up and went into the restroom. The neatness marvelled her. She performed ablution then prayed.

He threw a thick blanket to her.

" It gets very cold here. We will need this."

Her eyes enlarged in fear.

"We?"

He laughed.

"Just kidding." He said. " You can use the bed. Something for a change ,huh? Not your usual royal king-sized bed in a fully air-conditioned room. One day, we are all going to be in a tight hole, no tiles, roof, furniture....just firewood, leaves and mud. Pride is a bastard."

She said nothing. She wondered if she could sleep with him in the same room. Ya God! She had never been with a man like this. What if this crazy guy decided to....no, no,no.....

She watched him spread some clothes on the floor, he muttered some prayers and closed his eyes without talking to her. She was shocked to realise that he fell asleep at once. Did this guy ever have any worries? Did he ever get angry?

He was difficult to understand. He seemed very bad, and sometimes harmless. She did not know what to think of him. But as she watched him sleeping now, she knew she had a lot of questions she had for him.

She was now feeling very hungry. She had been feeling it for a while but let her ego took control. There was an Hausa aphorism which said 'yunwa bata da hankali( hunger is senseless)' which she learnt from the almajiris .She silently drew the food closer and ate silently. She gulped a bottle of soft drink and felt okay. She saw Nadia's call. Her phone was in silent mode. She hesitated. She did not want to wake him up. The devil could creep into his mind.

She ignored the call. She sent her a text: He is sleeping. We would talk tomorrow . Our guy is a mystery. But he did not try to rape me. I need your prayers. May the devil not come into his crazy mind.

She felt so sleepy. She tried to fight it, stay awake till morning but she capitulated and lay on the bed. The last thought on her mind before she fell asleep was the picture she saw.

Who was this guy?