Monday, May 8, 2017

WHO (Part 1)

BY OPEYEMI OREAGBA


PART 1

Made, Lara, Shayo, Rukky and Tope. Five women, who would rather be called girls (except for Lara) though older than 20 years of age. These girls each went to different universities, schooled in different states, brought up by different social classes so what was their connection? Well, they all met at the NYSC (National Youth Service Corp) Kogi camp.

Anyone who has attended this knows how easy friends are made since everyone is prohibited from taking a foot out of the camp. These certain ladies were roommates, just roommates, who knew their destiny lies in the hands of one...
During the camping of 3 weeks, these girls had already built their temple of friendship but Rukky was the odd one out. She was an introvert always unwilling to participate in anything, someone could easily tag her a sadist from afar but the girls didn't make it any bit easier for her either.
Made, the beautiful queen of the south so sly you would never know what she was up to. Lara, the most mature of them all, maybe it was just motherly instinct. She was very well married with a kid but found the camp an avenue to re-live the good old days.
Made and Shayo, so similar since they were both rich kids they had almost the same traits "spoilt brats", surprisingly they were both humble.
These girls (Lara; woman) , may have spents their weeks together consecutively at the camp thinking they knew each other so well. Even I didn't know them as I thought I did.
Oops, I forgot Tope. She was the most decent of  them all, that's what you need to know; for now.
Last day of camp
The room stayed grave like as the girls packed, it was time to leave the camp, to go their separate ways. "Rukky, you be bad person" Lara said, a playful gesture to lighten the air. "It's not my fault you guys didn't pack earlier" she replied laughing apparently, it worked. Shayo and Tope joined the conversion and within minutes, their laughter was all over the air.Moments passed before they realized Made sat still at the corner, her thoughts had taken her out of this world. Something was wrong, the girls went to her "Made, are you okay?" they asked at the same time, like it had been planned before.
She turned slowly to face and stared at them for a while before letting the cat out. "I'm pregnant...  but I don't know who the father is". Gasps followed gasps and choking followed cough. "My dad will kill me" she cried and they all tried their best to console. My dad's hospital is not far from here "let's go do a check-up on our way out, just to be sure" Shayo suggested. She lived in Kogi, luckily deployed there too. They all agreed and set out for the hospital in Shayo's car as they finally checked out of camp.
They were in the midst of bushes still far from town when Made said she wanted to 'pee'. After a while protesting, Shayo finally stopped the car and let Made go. "Don't go deep into the bush o" Lara shouted realizing Made was going too far. Made took longer than expected which got them all really worried,  Tope had started praying. Just when Rukky and Lara decided to go look for her, she appeared. Sighs of relief went round,  "What took you so long?" Lara asked looking pissed. "Thank you, Jesus" Tope whispered. "Can we just leave already" Shayo said impatiently. Only Rukky noticed Made was looking creepy, her hair was scattered "maybe she fell" Rukky thought but didn't bother saying anything. Made just went back in the car without saying a word.
Shayo and Lara sat at the front and the rest of them at the back. The former started the car but it refused to start, the latter grumbled. The sun was already setting and the car still refused to start, finally the car battery was drained, it stopped working completely. "I'll call my dad" Shayo said giving them hope. She turned on her phone "Oh, Shit! No signal" and so was everyone's phone, no signal.
"What are we going to do now? " Lara asked, no one answered and she turned to Shayo "You're the only one that knows this Kogi, is your dads place still really far?
"We cannot walk to the town, its too far. Made see what you caused now". Shayo replied as they stepped out of the car. "It's not my fault your car has problem, is it?" Made said. "See stupid talk, you no get sense" Shayo cursed. "Don't even start cursing me" she spat back. "Let's just pray to God, who knows, a miracle could happen" Tope adviced and they all hissed. "We could just wait for cars to pass and see if any one of them would help" Rukky said, "That's true" they all agreed except for Shayo. "Guys, people don't really pass this turn I took, its faster but really quiet" Shayo narrated. "So we're stuck here?" Lara asked. "We could wait a little and if we don't see anyone, we walk" Rukky said convincing them one more time.
The atmosphere was quiet for moments as they waited, the girls weren't finding the situation funny. They all just hoped for best.
"We're definitely waiting till eternity if we stay here" Made bursted the silence, took her bag out the car and started walking. "That's our que" Rukky said and rest of them followed suit. "So we're leaving my car here? In the middle of nowhere." Shayo shouted. "Stay and watch over your car Auntie" Lara replied and continued walking. Shayo left with no choice than to follow, cursed as she walked. "Wait for me!" She added.
They had been walking for hours, searching for signals on their phones. Most of their batteries had drained along the way, they were still complaining and contemplating when.. "Stop there!" They suddenly heard from the back. Two guys running towards them, they were obviously up to no good. "Run!" Shayo screamed and everyone of them fled. Two other men suddenly appeared before them blocking their path. Luckily, Tope noticed a pathway along the bush, ran in and the girls followed. They kept on running till they were so sure the men had lost them. Made fell to the ground,  she lost her balance, already worn out by the stress. Afterall she was the pregnant one. It was then they realized they had run so deep into the bush and now, completely lost. It was almost nightfall which freaked them out the more.Their day couldn't get worse. "We're all gonna die" Made cried, "God forbid, I reject it in Jesus name" Tope replied crossing her chest like a catholic but they could all sense the doubt in her voice. Three of them already sat on the dusty ground, just Shayo and Rukky left standing. It seemed they were out of luck, or so they thought. "We won't get any further if we just sit here, this part of Kogi is really dangerous" Shayo said,  leaving them all alert and they continued their journey with no idea where they were, or where they were headed.
Alas, there was a hut, few miles away. So happy, they ran and jumped for joy, God was with them. A bunch of firewood was torched right in front of the hut insinuating someone was around. "Hello, is anyone here?" They asked and no response came as they continued asking for minutes. "Are we going in or are we sleeping out here? " Made asked. "Its obvious there's no one in there" Tope replied, "but who lit the fire? " Lara asked. They were all freaked out since It was already so dark, they could barely see each other without the aid of the fire. "Well, I'm going in" Made said and went into the mysterious hut, only God knew where she got that courage from. Not even a fly followed, in less than a minute she came out. "Are you guys coming or not? " she asked before pulling the nearest person she could reach. "Let's go" and they all went in scared to bones. They would sleep in an unknown jungle. No one was getting any sleep, they all knew that.
The night was peacful, the girls talked about their lives at home and school days. It was like an unexpected vacation and it would have been if the night had not been really long.
They finally fell asleep, everyone of them, as if they were induced. Even the crickets made less noise. Tope woke up to pray as she always did at 12am, she had no watch but her instincts probably woke her up. She hadn't prayed for long before she noticed something. She could count 5 people still sleeping, it was so dark she wasnt too sure but something felt amiss.Yes! There was someone else there, not wearing an illuminated NYSC uniform but all black. Her head sparked and she was about to scream when something covered her mouth, hindering her motive.
The creature stood right behind her, it already left the midst of the others and whispered to her ears almost gibberish but enough for her to deduce what it said "Leave!" before it disappered into thin air.
To be continued...

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