Kaira ran like one pursued by a demon or a serial killer. Not that whom she ran from was any of those. Rather she feared the one who she was running to meet.
'Hail Mary full of grace, the LORD is with thee', the prayer left her lips like a flowing river over and over again.
Her heart pounded so hard in her chest, she thought she would pass out as her aching feet kept going. She knew the dangers that came with what she did, knew the dangers of getting caught too. But complaining would portray her as weak.
'Watch where you're going, fool!', a lady called behind her. Apparently she had startled her with her running and mistakenly jumped over her food cart as she pushed it along. The woman spat rapid Yoruba, along the lines of 'children these days are so wild', ' Your mother did not train you well when she was busy sleeping around with men before and after she gave birth to you' and 'who knows what she has stolen or who she had offended that is chasing her. Who knows whose husband she has offed pant for'. Kaira, however, did not stop to acknowledge what the woman said. She did not have the luxury of time to exchange words with a mama put, street food seller at that moment. It was almost fully dawn and the streets would be flooded at any moment. She wondered if the police was on her trail. Who was she kidding? Nigerian security was nothing but a joke. With their pot bellies, fake guns and somewhat illiterate, bribe collecting staff. The black overall was just a cover up for their shenanigans. She did not fear the police, no one really took them seriously unless they were actually at work, she feared the man who had sent her on this mission in the first place, she feared the man who could end her life and no one would ever know she existed, she feared the street lord street lords in Lagos, she feared her guardian, she feared Tiger. And he was not one to be reckoned with.
Approaching the familiar street, rather dirt track that led to the abandoned warehouse she knew as home, Kaira felt a bit relieved as it was quiet meaning everyone was asleep. The window to her makeshift room space was open and the cement bags set as steps. She would thank Aliyah for leaving the window open when she got home late and would have to deal with Tiger in the morning. For now her brain was too weak to come up with a tangible excuse for returning late.
Adrenaline coursed through her as she used her last strength to run towards the window unnoticed until she was hoisted over a shoulder. Her body, limp. Too weak to struggle.
'Where were you?'
The single and simple question that required a simple answer. Yet somehow the questioner was ruthless enough to cause a trickle of urine down an unfortunate prey's leg when in his presence. That was her case- with exception of the urine. She feared him, but not to the extent of embarrassing herself.
Tiger had his back to her. A thickly built man. Not stout. With four heavily built men surrounding him with loaded guns. His goons. All towering over him with their serious and ready faces. Yet he controlled them, just as he controlled all those acquainted with him, either by debt or something else. Danger in flesh and blood.
The silence was deafening. Only the occasional squeaking of a rat or dripping from a damaged pipe in a distance could be heard. Not a cough, not a sigh, no hissing either from the crowd as they stared in utter silence. It was a wonder if they were actually breathing or holding their breath. As if their breathing could cause an outburst. Tiger was that intimidating.
When he crushed his cigar beneath his foot and downed his drink in one heavy and loud gulp, Kaira felt blood rush into her ears as her heart pounded when he turned to face her.
She looked everywhere but his face. He stated at her expressionless which scared her even more. She looked towards the congregation with beseeching eyes pleading for help. But they either looked away when she caught their stare or some looked at her with pity that she couldn't even tell if it was genuine or not. As Tiger moved towards her, she considered running, but that would end her life in mere seconds. She felt her knees tremble and feared they may buckle. She had the strong urge to flee, yet her legs wouldn't move. There were stories of how those who thwarted Tiger ended up. Perhaps this was her case. She was going to end up either beaten to stupor or killed mercilessly.
Now, as he stood facing her, she was sure her chapter had ended and felt tears prick the back of her eyes along with the choking lump in her throat. She shut her eyes at the slight movement he made, expecting a heavy slap sending her down to the ground. But Tiger did something that dropped the jaws of everyone in the arena, including hers. He hugged her as he would hug a child if he had any.
' Don't ever scare me like that again. Understood'
He had said the words with an alien soft tune. But the last part was rather a warning which she would keep to diligently. For a moment she felt the almost fatherly side of Tiger. But it nothing more than a glimpse as his treacherous facade was back as he ordered everyone out of his sight.
Now in the safety of her supposed bedroom; a tiny space with cement bags filled with sand piled up to form a sort of squared barricade to other rooms, she fell on the creaking sorry state of a bed.
'Where have you been?', Aliyah, her best friend and room mate asked when she came in. It has been the only question she had heard before she stopped listening to her friend's lecture, rolling her eyes at intervals when she heard danger.
As Kaira started to take her clothes off, Aliyah screamed at the sight of blood gushing out of her back.
'How did this happen?, hold still. I'll get something to clean it up', she said before running to get a bowl of water and a clean cloth. Since they could not afford antiseptic, clean water and a clean cloth would have to do for their level.
'Ow. Jiri ya nwayoo, take it easy', Kaira said as Aliyah cleaned the blood, dabbing the cut a little bit, in Kaira's words, viciously.
' Ndo, sorry. How did this even happen? Why is there so much blood?!' Aliyah asked as she dipped the cloth in the bowl which discoloured the water immediately. And as Kaira said she was caught, Aliyah began her lecture of how she had warned her and how she, Kaira, being the head strong person she is refused to listen to advice. And as she rambled, her pitch rose which Kaira found funny
' What will Tiger have said if he saw -'. But Kaira had covered her mouth. 'Shh. Ngwa ozugo, that's enough. Tiger wouldn't know anything. He didn't see anything. And we will keep it that way. Inula, have you heard?' And she slowly took her hands off.
'Hmm. I'm not comfortable ó. Better for you to be careful and keep that cut hidden. You're lucky it isn't deep enough to get stitches. All the same, it can get infected. Be careful.' Finally, she poured the water out of the window and rinsed the bloody cloth while Kaira changed her clothes. And After they had gotten comfortable on the bed that had seen better days, covering themselves with their tattered wrappers, praying against mosquitoes that would feast on them,
Aliyah asked the question she had been dying to ask,
'So what even happened?',