"Holy...sh..." Dan nearly cussed in a whisper but somehow, his voice had echoed through the room. My heart raced madly, I felt like It would stop pumping blood at a point. He looked at me pleadingly like he still had something left to do before jumping into the home with me.
The gun fired louder now. The loan shark was close. We did not have any more time. Oh God. I bit my lip hard in anxiety till it hurt.
"What do we do with the ropes? I don't want to leave anything in here." Dan asked me. That was such a foolish question.
"Throw the ropes into the fire, Dan!! Are you really asking me that?!" I rolled my eyes impatiently. Dan needs a big slap.
"I already did that." He winked with a smile on his face. This idiot really does have the time to joke at a moment like this. Such a nitwit!
He jumped into the hole at last. Then he held me firmly by the hand as we began to run down the tunnel. Thankfully the tunnel was wide and high enough to stay a little above Dan's head. It was very dark and my chest was still hurting but I clutched it hard, promising myself to get though with this before passing out or falling completely sick. I'm finally going to go home. I knew that even if I was out of the castle, I was still far away from home but I had faith in Dan to be able to take me home for some reason. He annoyed me a lot but he was nevertheless, reliable.
Dan, slowed down on his steps a little and so did I. Telling from the way, we were striding athletically, devouring the muddy ground beneath us by each thumping of the foot, I could ascertain that we were far war from the dungeon now but we still had a long way to go since the tunnel looked pretty much endless.
But another gun shot ran through the air. The loan shark was chasing after us.
"Oh shit. I forgot to cover the bike with the rag. Now the loan shark has definitely jumped into it and—"
"He already found out from his brother so that's irrelevant. He already knew. Is this why you slowed down from running? Come on now, we have to keep running!!" I pressed impatiently, my heart racing madly, that I could hear it.
We both were panting loudly in a husky unison, energy at it's peak and soon to diminish once it does not get a booster. Dan brought out a lighter from his pocket, something I had seen very frequently in my neighborhood from some mallams that smoked a lot by the old rusty caravan at the end of the third street. Then he lit the lighter and a small flicker of fire burned at the top. Then he looked at me briefly. "It's getting darker. We need some illumination." He said.
Another bullet ricocheted to our hearing. It sounded very much closer now. Dan gripped my hand fully and held the lighter in front of him with another hand as we began to run speedily, reenergizing ourselves with the last dose of our stamina. Oh God! I'm already on my way home, please let me get home safely. I thought of my family for a brief second and pictured the best reactions possible on each of their faces once I ran back home into their arms. A tear ran down my cheek. God, I've had enough.
But now, my chest was hurting more than I could bear and the gun was blasting through the air sporadically. I could not even see my foot as I ran, all I held on to was that small flicker of light from the lighter ahead of us but now, it seemed like it was that little source of illumination that was going to implicate us. But we could not put out the light.
Another bullet pierced through the air. Now we were beginning to hear footsteps. Dan and I hastened our paces but now faster could we run them we already were? My chest would not let me run much. It was as though the pain was slowing my limbs.
"YOU SCOUNDRELS HAD BETTER STOP RUNNING NOW AND STOP WITH THESE SILLY GAMES. I CAN INHALE THE FUMES FROM THAT FIRE!!!"
Dan and I shared frightened looks. The loan shark was very close now. For him to have been able to perceive the fumes from the little flicker of fire on the lighter, then he really was very close to us. Maybe just a few inches away in fact but thankfully, the tunnel had its twists and turns so he could not see us just yet.
I could not run any longer and Dan noticed it before I could make an attempt to talk about it. I was panting like some dog under the rain. He scooped me up in his arms like a feather and in the twinkle of an eye, he placed me right on his shoulder, and started to run twice the speed he initially ran to make up for my weight reading on his body.
Then he tossed the lighter farther away into the ground behind us which we had covered. The tunnel was still so dark. My heart raced. Why was Dan doing alarming things? He was always doing things that could make you mad and it was annoying and I outrightly wanted to call him stupid for doing what he just did but wince he always had a reason for the stupid things he did, I decided to ask why he did it instead.
"The fire in that lighter contains sulphuric content and brimstone, which could make fire burn very violently. Violently enough to burn this entire place since there's nothing stopping that fire now, it's going to burn badly. You always need a weapon with you wherever you go you know?" I couldn't see his face but I could tell he was smiling coyly as always when he was making comments like this.
"Jesus!" I exhaled sharply. "You have to run faster!" I gasped. I was so afraid, that I started to sob, inside as to what was in stock for me even in the next minute. Another bullet from the loan shark's gun boomed again, but it sounded a little distant now which was a good sign. But his voice was unfortunately still very audible. "GUARDS!! RUN FASTER AND GET THOSE TRAITORS!!"
Soon, more footsteps came to my hearing, the guards were stomping the muddy ground in a dangerous parade. The smell of musky earth wafted through. I covered my face for fear ha fine loan shark's bullet would hit me on the face the next time it fired.
But now, my vision whilst I closed my eyes was enshrouded by a bright orange, glowing through my closed eyelids. I opened my eyes. The fire has truly exploded in a mighty ferocious puff. A gasp escaped my lips. Oh my God. Oh my God. Not I was beginning to worry for our lives so desperately.
I knew the loan shark and his burly guys who could not even catch up with us had been stopped automatically by the fierce eruption of the fire so I knew they were going to be set ablaze and would die and all of the slaves would be set free, but now I was scared that we would not be able to get out of the tunnel quickly. There was always something to worry about. It was frustrating how endless the tunnel's seemed despite how long we had been running but when I thought of the castle and the fields and it's mighty entirety, it dawned on me that we were most likely passing through these places by running undergoing so we could get out of the castle entirely. So we were going to spend a long time running.
Dear Lord, please give Dan the strength to keep running!
"Dan, why do you always do so much for me?" I asked, after crying for minutes, terrified. He was still running. I held on to the fabric of his clothes firmly as I balled my fists. Nausea was tugging at my throat violently for a chanced to be released in a messy, implicating puke. The fire was roaring now, crackles of ashes flying through the air, and my body was aching.
"That's because...I love you and all the things I do for you are.....things I am supposed to do." He said his words in bits because he could barley breathe at all from his activity "The loan shark does not love you." He continued.
I was staring to inhale the smoke from the wild fire now but we were getting farther away from the fire. I could not stand, inhaling another batch of toxic particles of gas into my nostrils.
"The loan shark does not love anybody though." I countered. I had nearly bit my lip since my chin was resting on his running body and my tongue was colliding fiercely with my teeth. I was uncomfortable. He said nothing in response but kept running instead.
I was beginning to see the ray of the moonlight and the shadows of the trees resent on the far end of the tunnel and I could hear the subtle swishing and hissing of the familiar palm tees and the sea breeze fanning through my face. Oh My..! We were finally at the end of the tunnel!!
Dan's pace was slowing down now as the moonlight shone on the fields. I looked around. I could not find any castle, not dungeon nor anything synonymous to my place of enslavement. I could no longer smell the smoke the sulphuric fire had emitted in fact.
We seemed to be very far away now but I could not observe to see where we were because I had fallen to the ground where there was a bed of grass, or flowers rather. Dan had let go of me. He fell face flat onto the ground as well, humping and panting; swear toppled on his face, he really did a lot. It was unbelievable how he was able to run so fast while he carried me on his shoulders all along. He was a superhero. Like my brothers.
He spread out his arms on the ground, flapping them like a fish to generate a quick means of recovering air despite the night's cool breeze sweeping all over us. I sat up and looked around.
And then I saw the sea afar off; it was the same sea I had seen about six to seven months ago when I woke up in the bus, starving and short of air. Now it suddenly looked beautiful, as the full moon rested on the sea, it's reflections casting over the sea in dissipating lines left for the tides by the sea to crush or to stay still.
It was ironical how strange it looked when I was passing through this place and unto the mountains and then to the castle that turned my life into a hellhole. It did hurt when the view at first looked tantalizing and I remember dreaming that I was on my way home, unknowingly to me that I was only going rather away but now it was heart warming to look at; it was a sign I had never taken note of all along. It had always been a sign; like a landmark I had to get to so I could be read assured that I would return to my family.
I brought out the 100 kobo coin from my pocket; the treasure which i still kept and held on to dealer and was going to show to my Dad.
I would finally grow my hair back and plat it into beautiful braids; I was finally going to get good food to eat, I was going to do a check up on my lungs to know how damaged they already were which was sad but I had a supportive family and I was going to be with all of them again after a long, painful while.
Dan spoke, hence breaking the peaceful silence that existed minutes ago with only the sounds of the night owl on the branch of the sycamore tree and the cricket coming to hearing. "Do you know why the loan shark is being called the loan shark?"
"No?" I answered but it came out more like a question. I was looking at his face that bad smudges and patches of coal stains on them, due to the heat from the fire and then mud from the tunnel floors. I was sure my face was looking like that too. He stood up now and I stood next to him. He held me by the hand again and we began to walk through the grasses, the moon light serving as our only source of light.
I strangely felt happy again. It was like an equation. Holding Dan's hands plus feeling the air slash through my face was equals to inexplicable happiness. It had happened twice today and it felt pretty magical but it only lasted for a little while.
"By the way, are you not even worried that I might not know where your house is at hence I would not be able to take you home? Are you not wondering how you are going to get home?" He asked.
"No. Because I trust that you know it. You have been very reliable all through the months that I have known you. You never fail. So you can't fail me now." I said, assuredly.
"Hmm. Faith." He nodded. "Anyway, we would sleep over by a cottage tonight and wake up early tomorrow to continue our journey. You have not eaten anything for a while now and you need some warmth for your chest since you have inhaled too much bad stuff just today alone."
"Okay. Anyway, you were asking me about the loan shark. I really want to know who he is." I pressed on, hoping he would discuss the topic because I had been dying from curiosity for ages, the desire to know had only been suppressed but it was not quenched.
"The loan shark lends people in the society money and makes them promise they would pay the money back. If they are unable to, be makes them swear of a thing they would use as a collateral for the money they are unable to pay and whenever the date is due, he comes to either collect his money or the collateral. It depends on the borrower."
"What is a collateral?" I asked.
"It is something you give in exchange for the money you can not pay back to the person you borrowed it from. It is usually a signed agreement. The collateral could be a person or a property. The loan shark makes the borrowers promise one of their children as a collateral hence why he has all of these people as slaves. So until these people are able to pay the money back, their children or relatives remain as slaves to the loan shark and suffer of course, doing work that surmounts to the amount that was borrowed hence why they work forever because it is a huge sum of money.
He does this to the people who lack money and he does it like he's doing a huge favor, hence the people can barely resist. He lends them a huge amount of money that he knows they would never be able to play back even in the next five years and he keeps the due date away from them, so the borrowers think they have a lot of time to use the money and think they can pay the money back on time until he comes asking for his money and they realize that they can not pay the money back. The bait works, so the people remain slave's forever till they are bailed out by their members who can pay the loan shark in return which never happens so the slaves die."
My chest stared to hurt again as my mind speedily flashed back to the day the loan shark spoke about my mother to me and how it was her fault that I was being enslaved. My heart dropped. I already lost count of the number of times I had cried today but these set of tears that flowed through my cheeks were undeniably the most painful in my entire life.
Dan gave me a pat on the back and a sympathetic look that I loathed so much. I sniffed hard. "I know it hurts you very much but yes, your mum sold you into slavery."
My mind was reeling, my head was throbbing and my face felt hot with anger and livid pain. I could not believe my ears. Dan was right.
But God did not answer my prayer now that I thought of it because I had kept praying to God to give me a good cause to want to go home and I had prayed to God for protection but I had been protected from a room with no air flow, from a burning tunnel and even from a cold room only for me to be out by the sea to hear what I could not take. Now my freedom was at stake. I did not want to home any longer. I started to wish I had just died instead of having to hear this.
What was the point of it all now? The freedom was useless. How can I ever look at the woman who I loved the most but then sold me into slavery everyday of my life without running mad?
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Psalms 55:12-14 - "For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; Then I could hide from him. But it was you, a man my equal, my companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in the throng."