"I came down from the treetop, went over to the shallow grave and found Ego laying in it down with a terrible fever. I knew she must have been the woman I saw in front of a particular hut when I was been chased. I made a stretcher and with it carried her back to the hut. I cooked up some herbs and offered her" he said, then kept quiet.
"You have so much darkness in you my friend; I'm sure you did something to her. An unconscious woman in your care is like giving a goat yam to secure. So tell us what you did to her?" he asked.
"I had it under control although the day telling myself that I would not rape this innocent woman that has done me no wrong. Having been celibate for many years, at night I lost that control and gave in. She was so beautiful, inviting, her guards down and there was no way she would remember. I raped her twice that night and felt really ashamed afterwards".
There was an uproar of murmur among the crowd. People started calling him all kinds of name. Ego, on the other hand, was no longer paying attention to the confession of the former robber turned lover, she was weeping bitterly. "How could she have been having sexual intercourse with the man that murdered her beloved husband without a single idea. He has been lying to her right from the first day they met in that forest. He certainly deserves to die.
In fact, she is no longer waiting for the Mmiri Ezioku to kick in, she is going to kill that liar herself" she said within her and stood up, went over to him, held his neck with her hands and began choking him saying "Ndubisi, you have finished me oh! You have killed me! You murdered my husband in cold blood, that wasn't enough; you also made my source of joy and money to vanish. You deserve everything you are about to get and even more. I curse the very day I met you Ndubisi!" she paused crying furiously as everyone watched with sympathy.
"How am I going to tell Osundu and the one in my stomach that their father was a thief, who raped their mother when she was unconscious, vulnerable and helpless? It is better they grow up fatherless than have a killer as a father" she hesitated, cried some more as tears stream down upon Ndubisi who doesn't seem to feel it.
"What have I done to deserve all this from you? Why all the lies? In fact, what did you say to me that was not a lie?" she asked freeing him from her grip and began shaking him.
Softly Ndubisi replied "That I will do anything to put a smile on your face. That you are beautiful in and out; I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you. These few years I have spent with you were the best of my life. You saw and brought out the best in me. You believed in me when the world gave me up. You gave me purpose and a reason to wake up every morning smiling. That's why I love you…" he couldn't finish the sentence as he began fidgeting like someone with epilepsy and fell sideways. White substances began pumping out from his mouth; the fidgeting intensified as the substances turned red. Moments after his pupil reappeared before it finally shut close and he became motionless.