Chapter four
"A brilliant man without character is an ugly phenomenal".
"Dedication would be more important than education"
"Perhaps in the coming struggles,a man force of action would be more important than his intellect".
"And vengeance would be devine".
"While forgiveness would be formidable".
Thank God,I listened to my uncle's advice,I said to emeka.while sitting under the mango tree.during the hours.
that what?he asked.
he said son, don't try it, once you did you will never leave it.
what is that?
Sex.
he frowned.
you two are here, John said rather playfully.
what happened?we chorused.
I heard, Fred is dead, and Timothy has been jailed.
so,he mentioned our names, good God we are done for.i pity myself.
oh! you are also part of those who sneak out of school?a voice came from behind.
cold sweat broke out non stop which sent shivers to my spine.only when John started running, Chris said it is me abeg come back.
we all turned, to Chris laughing as if he had wom some sort of lottery , my eyes turned red from anger.i could have stabbed that boy if we were not in school.
so you are a such a coward? he said to John.
you dey mad? guy I no follow you play.i go injure you.chris said getting ready to fight.
okay, the deed is done. what should we do now. Emeka tried to calm the situation.
After all that has happened lately. I kelvin Amos has turned a new leaf .I swore.
for good or bad.they mucked.
As for me, I'm still going hunting.emeka said.
yes my boy that's the spirit, they cheered.
I mean , only God saved me, from that HIV infested Tina.it is a second chance from God.why should I try again.i asked looking confused.
nah mumu you be nah, always scared.max added.
slow poison.i said to myself.
I scaled through my exams,my scores were not that bad .I didn't check on anyone , because they will definitely beat me up in the name of signing out.
.....
EMEKA.
there is no more hope for me emeka thought to himself,as he walked down the lonely path of the, during the dead hours of the night.
A tall awkward figure, walking in the direction towards Emeka, the figure was not only tall, but also has a well built body.my heart was racing tirelessly, not because I am afraid of the figure, but for the fear of what will happen.This street is well known for its criminal acts, such as theft, many of people went missing on this same path lately.even on broad daylight,my mind wandered back to the afternoon, when a lady was raped and murdered in cold blood.i would have never be this scared if the raping was for girls only,but no,on days with little or no girls following the path it would be the men turn to be raped.i mean filling in the space for girls.i was about to run when the figure held me my heart skipped a beat.he stopped right in front of me.
Why are you shivering.he asked.
nothing Sir,I said breaking out cold sweat.
dey run, make I no see you again ,if I see you for this place again nah your forefathers you go meet.
as soon as he stopped talking,I took to my hills , running as fast as possible.i jumped over the fence effortlessly into our house.i was startled to see the lights on. it was two in the morning.what happened I thought as I walked into the building.mum was laying on the floor motionless, close to dad.
Emeka where you go, my aunt asked.with tears falling freely from her eyes.
wetin do them.i said pointing to the bloody couple laying on the floor.
some come them say nah you them find come as them no see nah him they kill my sister and her husband.
ehh woohoo I am finished, my goodness, my god you let this happen me,who have I sin against.my village people have succeeded,my enemies have finally caught up with me.Emeka wailed.i am finished, kill me let me follow them I don die.he was rolling on the floor.
you never die , emeka gracey one of his sisters said.
Emeka,I will never forgive you, your friend made me an orphan at such a young age.amaka his older sister said sobbing.
he looked at the the bloody floor then his aunt,who did this? he asked.
them say kel, your friend nah him send them.
Emeka let out a sharp yell then fell to the ground sobbing.two weeks after the incident they picked a date for the burial.immediatly after the burial his sisters amaka and gracey break the brother and sister relationship saying not until you avenge our parents, you will never be our brother infact, our parents only have two children and they are both girls.we do not know you.
Emeka was taken by these words that he wept bitterly,he promised to avenge his parents no matter what.
starting from the scratch.
how many miles more till we get there emeka asked the driver.
nah small remain , oga no be only you dey this car.stop disturbing me abeg.the man said.
yes nah no be only you him dey pur this MOTA night don do, make we sleep.one Hausa man said.the whole bus laughed at the way he speaks, and he also joined.
The night was gloomy.Emeka thought within himself.even if I have the chance to revenge.am I really sure it was Kel but how sure am I it's not his doing .he is the only who knew about my parents.it is the middle of the night.he nobody here, infact he knew nothing about the whole city.in the middle of nowhere , he had to find somewhere.i thought I could trust that bastard kel,alas I managed to forget the great warri proverb "if trust dey,water for no boil fish."Lost in thought, the vehicle came to a stop.
oga you no want drop again? the driver said to him.
him dey enjoy the brease nah him make him no want drof prom that moto. the hausa man added, there was another round of laughter.emeka alighted from the car ,it was the middle of the night.he had saw the big words earlier "THIS IS LAGOS" .He had actually visited many places in the past, but they only say welcome to this , welcome to that , never for once this is Lagos . Lagos shouldn't be that hard he muttered to him self.He past the night at the motto park.woke up in the morning just to find his bag missing.suddenly he remembered the quote,"a man who can survive in Lagos, can survive anywhere". thankfully he had no valuables at all in that bag, Infact he had nothing in the bag, but still needs it.there Is the question again, where to go. thinking for a long time,he settled for under the bridge. many people live under the bridge right? he asked himself what could possibly go wrong, before heading to the bridge.
Mean while
Chris,are you coming to the party too?max asked
No I think I will spend the weekend at home Chris replied.
Chris and max both got admission into the university of massachusetts.althought they were poor , emeka's girl,lily helped with it.she is the only daughter of her parents,her father cherished her so much, and being the last child,her brothers would do anything for her.