Tanko, the agriculturalist, stood at the entrance of the farmland, looking, satisfied with what he saw. He had started doing this everyday since the herdsmen attack, he did not want another confrontation with Mr. Edegbe, and although he tried to convince himself that the reason he still worked with him was because of his assistant, but he knew it was because the man paid very well. It was one of the thrills of working for a rich man, they knew how to pay for good value. Crossing the threshold, he stepped into the farmland. The plant was still in its primary stage and even though he wanted speedy growth, more work to do meant more money to earn, Mr. Edegbe had been disappointed before, he would make sure it didn't happen again.
He was still looking around, weeding small growing grasses with his hand when he felt the ground shake. His hand paused halfway to the ground when he thought he had imagined it. But the vibration continued, becoming more steady as the seconds ticked and he would never have fled if he didn't see the cracks starting to appear on the ground.
…
Baba rang the bell the third time, why wasn't anybody answering? Had Abubakar eloped with his daughter? He had better not dared. He would not say his threat was light weight, and although it had a deep truth in it, he himself did not want it to happen. He did not want his daughter to be unhappy, he wanted her married and with children, but not unhappy and hence he was going to probe senses into the head of the young man or find a better man for his daughter. It was month end already and since he had not heard any good expected news, he had come for his daughter.
He knocked again and this time, a servant opened the door. "What took you so long?" He barked, the angry barking of somebody who had been frustrated from waiting when waiting had never been his thing.
"Sorry sir, but Oga is not around."
"I will wait for him." He brushed the servant to the side and walked into the yard. He made his way to the living room where he sat down and waited.
Few minutes into waiting, he tapped his feet impatiently and called the servant. "Did you call Abubakar?"
"He's not answering his phone, sir."
"Where did he go to?"
"I don't know, sir, he went out with Madame Yasmin and Ms. Soliat."
"Did they carry bag? Did he go with a bag?" He asked, his earlier fear returning.
"No, sir."
He was still tapping his feet and when the first vibration came, he thought it was his feet. But the flower vase on the center table vibrated too, vibrated off the table and smashed to the floor. Baba leapt to his feet.
…
Edegbe stirred the soup, satisfied with the thickness. He tasted it and added some salt before stirring again. "You should learn how to cook," he told Efe who sat himself at the edge of the cutting table, drinking water.
"Don't even start with me," he replied. "I would have a woman for that and after eating her food, I would place her on the table, spread her legs and eat her food.
Edegbe raised the spatula up. "You deserve a place in hell."
"How come only I deserved a place in hell when this is something we both do. Tell me, does Mrs. Yasmin know how to cook?"
"You—" a glass shattered to the floor, "Did you push that?" He asked although he knew he hadn't.
Efe who was confused was going to say something when he felt the table vibrate and the glass wares on it vibrated too and shattered to the floor. The cabinets above flew open and its content came tumbling to the floor; floor flying, sugar spilling, even Edegbe's pot if soup tumbled to the ground and he yelped when the hot liquid touched his feet. Victor came running in.
"Sah—"
"We need to get out of here!" Efe grabbed Edegbe's hand.
"What's happening?" Edegbe questioned above the sound of falling objects.
"Watch out!" Efe pushed Victor to the side and the cellar came crashing in his position.
"Jesus!" Victor was growing hysterical.
"Earthquake," Efe announced. "An earthquake is happening."
…
Baba stood up and reached for the phone inside his pocket. He strolled through his contacts with a shaking hand and a beating heart, he didn't know who to call. Soliat? No, his daughter was in a safe place. Or was she? Dread filled him and he looked for her number. The servants in the mansion moved, unsure of where they were going, they were moving out while they could, Baba should move too, but he looked for her number.
The tile underneath his feet cracked, he heard the sound, and looked down, distracted for a second. Then the tile dipped inside, and his feet followed, he lost his footing and fell to the ground so hard that he knew the warm liquid at the back of his head was blood.
"Sir, sir?" A servant who was swinging his hand, trying to stand on his feet, called.
Dizzy, Baba went on all fours, creeping. He shut his eyes tight a few times as though that would stop him from seeing things double. He heard the crashing sound of things, the breaking, the clinking and the resounding. Then cracks started to appear on the wall,splitting it in two. Some parts began to fall and break. Baba heard the servants shout and know that he had got caught under.
Baba successfully crept to the door and reached for the handle, and when he pulled it open, it fell on him, the wall by the side giving way. Lying on his back with the door on him, he groaned. He gathered his strength and tried to push the door. It budged just a little.
"Allah!" He ducked when he saw a brick falling in the direction of his head and he cursed. "What in Allah's name is this?" He tried again, and again until slowly he pushed it off, his strength depleting. He sat and saw that what now stood in the position of the door was bricks of wall.
Still dizzy, he brought himself to his feet, and shuffled himself to kitchen, anywhere that would mean safety. There was no place is such, even the servants didn't mind him, their respect replaced by the desire to survive. The wall was falling faster, harder, and more sounds were heard, more calls for Allah, more tumbling. Then he heard the loudest crack he would hear that evening. He looked up to where the sound came from and saw that the chandelier, the infamous golden chandelier Alhaji owned, was hanging on a thin wire, ready to snap on them.
"Get out! Run!" He did not even know when he shouted but he knew one thing was sure, the house was going to collapse and their chances of survival was slim.
…
The trio got out of the house safely.
"We should find a safe place to hide," Efe said. "An earthquake should last for about ninety seconds."
"Ninety seconds, are you crazy? This nonsense has gone on for about five minutes," Edegbe said.
"It lasts for a few seconds, what stretches is the destruction that comes after."
They heard a loud crash and looked to the direction of the sound and saw Ahmed's house, which shared a fence with Edegbe's, tumbling down.
"Jesus! Jesus!"
One side of the edifice of the building dipped and because of their shared fence, it crashed into Edegbe's compound. They turned and covered their nose from the dust that filled the air. The other side of the house fell too and with all its weight on the fence, the fence cracked and broke and fell on a side of the house which shared a close proximity with it. The house, shaken from the fall, began to crumble.
"Run!" Efe screamed.
The pillar came down first, and as they ran, it raced after them.
"Jesus!" Victor's hysterical voice was inaudible amongst the crashing sounds and even though he tried his best to run as fast as he could, he had never been an athlete and his breath was running out.
Edegbe was Efe had already gotten to the gate and they paused to wait for Victor, turned to see him running. Edegbe's eyes shone in horror. "Oh my God!" Efe huffed. "Faster!"
But Edegbe knew the odds was not going to be in his favour, he was too slow and the pillar was too fast—the pillars were too fast. He charged after him but Efe held him back. "We have to help him," he said.
"We can't."
"He's going to die," he argued, watching Victor's futile race.
"Edegbe, if we go back there, we're all going to die."
"But he's going to die," he repeated as though he had not heard him the first time.
Victor knew he would not make it to the gate on tim so he shouted after them. "Go sah, go, I'm coming." Then he first stone touched his leg and he tripped and fell on his stomach. The pillar rolled on top of him. "Jesus!" He screamed when the pain stretch through him. He tried to move but felt trapped. When another debris rolled on top of him, he screamed, "Help me!"
Edegbe fought harder, tried harder to get out of Efe's hold but the man was too strong.
The first stone rolled on top of him, the second, the third and the next tumbling block and soon, Victor was underneath a pile of stones. He was shouting, the sound agonizing, beads of sweat from the pain coming to cover his face and the numbness he felt was frightening.
But the front pillars that held the house in place was gone and so the house tumbled forward. "Oh God, it's going to fall on him."
"Are you blind? We have to get out of here."
But they never made it far from the gate. The few stones that had rolled past Victor rolled to the gate and the weight of the stone exerted pressure on the gate, pushing it and it too, came tumbling forward. Efe saw it first. He pushed Edegbe to the ground, jumped on top of him, so that when the gate fell on them, he received the impact.