When both women finally parted, Onome couldn't help but hug her daughter tightly from behind, patting her head and face with grateful kisses. It was as if she could finally smell freedom and she couldn't wait for the three days to come. The others around her congratulated her, wishing her luck ,and also wishing they could get some one who would pay for their freedom.
***************
That night, Onome was asleep when she felt someone tap her on the feet. opening her eyes after the third tap, in displeasure, she lifted her head up from. her folded arms to see who had disrupt her sleep, when she saw Pascal, the man That had been harassing her in the camp and who had also indirectly come to her defence when she had gotten into fight with Sandra.
"Wetin?" She asked harshly but in a quiet voice to avoid waking the others.
"Come" He beckoned to her with his fingers folding into his arm.
Onome frowned. "Come where?".
"Just come na" He Insisted.
Reluctantly,she got up from the floor close to her daughter and stepped out of the enclosure then followed him several fees away from where they could have some privacy.
Rubbing the rest of the sleep off her eyes,Onome impatiently asked. "Na wetin you want?"
"I hear say you dey comot on Saturday" Pascal said.
"Ehn....so?" Onome asked with her knuckles in her waist.
"I just wan give you this small thing. I know say e go hard for you to start life after wetin you and your daughter don pass through" He handed her a bundle of one thousand nails note with a piece of paper held upper the rubber band holding the money together. "Na three hundred k be that" He told her as she examine the bundle of money.
"Why you dey give me money?" She asked, baffled. She knew she had been nothing but rude to him since the first day they met and she couldn't phantom why he was being nice to her.
"Na because say i like you, you know say i dey try to show you since but you gree look my way. I like your pikin too, i know say i no be the Papa, but i know wetin you two dey pass through.....so, i no mind if you go be my babe, ago take care if you and your pikin".
Onome scoffed. "Me? Your babe? You no dey look class at all?"
"Girl, Chillax, see i go tell you the truth, if i wan fuck you, i go don do am since but i no fit bring my mind do am to you after i don study you know say you no be that kind of woman. I just wan make you know say no be about sex. I really like you" He resiliently said.
"So, you don dey give me this kind money to convince me make i be your friend?"
"I fit even marry you if you free self" He said boldly.
Onome couldn't help but laugh in mockery now. "Wetin you think say i be? Desperate woman wey dey find husband? Even if i dey find husband, wetin make you think say i go settle with person like you?, one, you dey do illegal business wey fit cost your life. Two, You no even go school".
"I finished secondary school, na poverty make me drop out, but i assure you say if you go friend me, i ready go back to school because of you, i even read quit this job because of you. Just give me chance" He said earnestly.
Onome stared at him for a moment, his words where genuine and she could sense the seriousness in his tone. She knew that Pascal was not really looking bad. All he needed was a little polish and he would look decent. She could even look over all the cheap tattoos on his body but she could not make drastic decision for now. When she spoke again, he voice had often. "So, na wetin dey for the paper?" She asked since she could not see what was written in it in the darkness.
"Na my phone number, just think if my proposal. Anytime wey you don settle down just call me".
On I me heaved a deep sigh now after a moment or two. "Okay...." She said. "But i no get where i go keep this money, you fit keep an for me till the day wey i go comot?" She asked, stretching the money towards him.
"No problem, i got keep an for you" He took the money back from her, smiling now that she was no longer harsh towards him. "No vex say i disturb your sleep, you fit to sleep now".
"Okay...." She turned and walked away while he hopped and pumped his fist in the air with a triumph with a quiet gesture so that she didn't noticed.
As Onome got back to the enclosure, she saw Dorathy coming out of it. "Where are you going?" She asked.
"I Can't sleep" Dorathy warily said then look at Bosco who was sitting close by, smoking. "Can i go for a walk?" She asked.
Bosco stared at her for a moment as if contemplating whether to permit her to go or not., then he finally replied. "Shah no go far. Snakes dey plenty by this time".
"No problem, i won't walk too far from the camp".
"No loss too o, i no fit waka upandan dey find you" Bosco replied.
"Should i go with you?" Onome asked her.
"No, I'll like to do this all alone, beside, Jane would freak out if she wakes up and finds non of us" Dorathy quickly said.
"Alright.." Onome involuntarily accepted and walked back to lie down on her sleep spot while Dorathy walked away.
"You need torch light?" Bosco asked in a partially loud voice.
"No, the moon light is enough for me to see the path" Dorathy politely declined and continued walking away as she stepped out of sight. Sandra who had been sitting in the dark in a corner far away, watched her with sinister eyes, then after a minute or two, Sandra slipped a dagger behind her into her waistband, then got up and followed her, making sure nobody saw her.
As Dorathy took a walk, she became wary and would often glance around and behind her, she was uneasy. She felt that someone was watching or following her but anytime she turned to check, their was no one in sight. She quickened herself, hoping to get out of the creepy area and was looking over her shoulder as she walked fast when she suddenly bumped into a solid chest. When she turned abruptly to see what she had bumped into, she realised it was Mikel.
"Going somewhere?" He asked.
She nervously swallowed hard, had he been the one following her? She wondered.
"A walk"
"Bosco let you live this camp all alone by this time of the night?"
Sandra who had been following Dorathy steadily drew back now and vanished back into the darkness. She knew that their was no way you carry out her plan with Mike in the scene.
"I told him that i wanted you to alone"
Dorathy quickly gave an excuse for Bosco.
"Still. You should not be out alone, you even have no torch light, what is there is a snake lurking in the path?".
"Well, you were the one lurking the path after all".
"Why are you not sleeping like the others anyway?" He asked.
"I just can't sleep".
"Me too.....,i have insomnia" He stated. "Can you climb?" He asked ad he glanced over his shoulder behind him.
"Climbing what?" She gave a puzzle frown.
"Trees"
"I could try"
"Come, I'll show you a good view of the forest" He said as he turned and started to walk away.
"Hope i don't have to climb that high?" She asked as she followed him. "Am a tad bit afraid of heights".
"Don't worry, i will make sure you don't fall" He promised as they approached the tree. Since the first branch was too high for her to climb, he bent down a bit, locked his fingers together and presented his joint palm. "here, get on it". When she placed her foot in his hands, he hoised her up the tree until she could comfortably get on the first branch then he climbed after her and started to lead her up to the higher branches, Instructing her to follow where he followed and avoid the Thinner branches because they could snap under her weight and cause her to fall. When he finally reached the boulder of his choice, he helped her sit on it, from that angle, they could see the big moon, the endless sky, the forest below and far around them and the silhouette of distant hills.
"Whao!" Dorathy exhaled in awe. "It's so beautiful".