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2024-10-29 19:42:56I had the dream again that night, and, like the rest, I was caught in the middle of it. The snake coiled around the door’s handle and hissed. Then it slithered downward from the handle, its unblinking eyes fixed on me.
I looked around the room; there was no window in the room and the snake blocked the only way out of the room. How I allowed myself to be cornered in a room with no window and one inaccessible door remained a mystery that the dream did not care to reveal.
Talatu stood behind me and I felt a new burden to get out of the room overtook me. She whimpered from behind me and I guessed she had just seen the snake.
The snake reached the floor and coiled up, the head pointed towards me. It hissed angrily.
‘I want to go to London,’ Talatu screamed at my back. ‘I want to go to London. Take me out of this place. Take me out, please.’
I turned to the white wall on my left and scratched the surface. My fingers met bricks, solid as the ones used on the pyramids of Egypt.
I turned to the snake; it had drawn a foot closer and its tongue darted in and out of the curved mouth with rapidity. It inched closer, the flat head positioned for my legs.
Talatu’s body trembled against mine. ‘I want to go to London,’ she cried. ‘I want to go to London now.’
The sound of snake’s scales brushing the floor and Talatu’s cry filled the room. I turned to the wall and scratched again; not even a hammer can dig through this wall.
The snake lunged forward at that instant and I jumped away from the wall. Talatu screamed and jumped to my back. Her body shook like a reed in a storm.
The snake recoiled and lunged forward again. It missed my thigh by inches and slammed the flat head on the wall. I pressed on Talatu and she pressed on the wall behind us. She began to scream.
The snake hissed and turned towards me again. I felt the handle of the door on my back before I knew I had gone around the room to the door. I turned and grabbed it and yanked downward. I heard a click sound but the door refused to draw open. I bent the handle again and pulled.
It was locked.
I faced the snake, ready to feel its fangs on my leg. Then I gasped in terror, drawing back.
Talatu’s head sat in place of the snake’s head while the rest of the body was the snakes’. She smiled at me and I saw the fangs on the side of her mouth. I drew backward, feeling the wall with my hands. She came after me, slow and deliberate, with the beautiful eyes fixed on me and her lips spread in a smile.
‘Get a job, Paul,’ she hissed. ‘Get a job and marry me. Without a job you are nothing; you are less than a toad if you don’t have money. You are nothing.’
Her lips spread wider and the eyes turned amber red. She snapped the neck backward and, in a flash, the head zapped forward, aimed at my neck.
I felt the pain of the fangs and screamed.
I sat up straight from my bed with my heart jumping in a wild dance. I cleaned the sweat on my face and got up from the bed. I walked to the door and hit the switch; white flood of light hit the room and the darkness disappeared. I blinked several times and then I walked into the toilet, feeling my heart slowing down to its normal pace.
I came out of the toilet a minute later and laid on the bed. The thought of Talatu and the doctor crossed my mind and I felt disheartened, and I remained in this state until the sun deflowered the night and brought in the day.
I got out of bed by six thirty again and walked to the living room with the gait of a zombie. The determination I had felt the previous day was gone by now and in its place was a sense of hopelessness I had never felt before.
Today will be another typical day with nowhere to go and nothing to do, I thought.
But I was wrong about that day.
Oh, how wrong I was.
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Chapter 121 HOME AT LAST
I took Esther to her house at about quarter pass midnight. Esther had spoken to all the members of the family after I called and told them we were on the way. They were ecstatic and they kept asking if Esther was really with us.The road was rough, but I was driving a G-Wagon. I sped like I was coming out of hell, and since the traffic was light at that time of the right, I tested the car to see what made it thick.“I have to leave,” I said. “I have my driver in the car. I will drop him and head home.”Mr. James extended his hand and held my shoulder. “I can’t tell you how much we are grateful to you. I can’t thank you enough. Thank you for bringing our daughter back.”Mrs. James held my other hand. “We are grateful,” she and squeezed my hand. “You can come to our house anytime you want.”“Does that mean he can marry Esther?” Dorothy asked.“We will see what happened,” Mr. James said. “It’s no longer in my hands though.” He looked at Esther. “She has the final decision. We would just
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“Let me go back,” Isaac said. “I will find the key and return immediately.”“No; I have to come with you. You can’t go there alone. What if they wake up and you find three of them? what are you going to do?”He brough out the gun. “I have this; I will make sure none of them lives to tell what happened to them if they attack me.”“All the same,” I said. “I will still go with you. We have to do this together.” I turned to Esther. “Please, wait in the car. We will come back soon.”“I want to come with you,” Esther said. “I don’t want them to come and meet me alone. I want to come with you.”“You are safer here,” I said. “Lock yourself in the car and then you will be safe. We will come back now. I promise you we will be back soon.”She looked at me doubtfully.“I promise,” I said again. “Just wait in the car. No one would be able to get to you.”“Okay,” she said, and she walked back to the car. She looked lean and tired. She sat in the car and closed the door.“Let’s go,” I said to Isaac
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Chapter 119 BULLETS FLYING
I heard the footsteps at the door and knew that they were backs.Time to face the music, I thought. Maybe I should offer him more money. But I knew within my heart that Dangin will just collect the money and still kill me. I decided against the idea. But the thought of dying and leaving my money behind was one thought that I didn’t like at all.The footstep stops, as if waiting for the other man to come along.“What are you waiting for?” Dangin asked, his voice loud and angry.I heard the steps coming in our direction.“What are you guys waiting for?” Dangin asked. “Let’s finish what we are doing and get out of this place.”The door creaked opened, slowly.“Hurry up,” Dangin said and pointed the torchlight on my face.One of the men came into the room and tiptoed toward Dangin who was backing the door and facing me.I took in a deep breath and then I saw Dangin eyes widened. He reached for the pistol by his side, but Isaac was already upon him.I heard a punch, a hard punch, and I hea
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They dragged me with my hands and legs bound into a dark room, and they quickly closed the door behind us. Then they searched me and removed the packet of dollars I had kept in my pocket as soon as I had come into the dark corridor. “I found the money, boss,” one of the men who dragged into the room said. I heard footsteps coming toward us. “It is complete?” Dangin asked. “I don’t know,” the person said. “It better be,” Dangin said. “Or I will kill him.” “Relax,” I said. “It’s complete. Everything you asked for its in there.” “Relax?” Dangin asked. “Who are you to tell a police officer to relax? Who do you think you are?” “See,” I said. “You have gotten your money. Just let me and Esther go. I don’t want any trouble. You asked for money and I have given it to you; what else do you want?” Dangin laughed. “So, you thought I was going to let you go after giving me the money? Was that what you were thinking? I am sorry, that’s not possible. Remember you cut off one of my toes, and
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We waited for two more hours and by that time evening had come. No other call came and I was beginning to wonder if I had heard the instruction right. Isaac dropped from the car and bought some sausages and bottles of Coke for us and that was the food we eat for that day.At about six in the evening, another call came.“Take the route to Government College,” Dangin said. “Go to the gate and wait for further instructions. Remember, no police or she dies.”“I don’t know where the college is,” I said.“There is a man coming toward your car with a white shirt. Come down from the car and ask him.”I looked to the front but there was no one with a white shirt coming. I turned around, looking at my back.A man with a white shirt was coming toward the car. I came down from the car and waited for him.Isaac opened to the door,“Just stay inside,” I said. “There are watching us. I don’t know where they are, but they are watching.”Isaac closed the door and I waited for the man to reach the car.
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This was my chance to make things go my way. I was sure Esther’s parents were disappointed with the way Kennedy reacted to the rescuing effort I was putting in place to bring back Esther. He could he love her and not go to rescue her; I know that’s what would be on their minds.So, if I am able to rescue her without any incident, and without them knowing she was kidnapped because of me, then I will be the hero and they may give me their blessings to marry their daughter.The thing about life, I thought, is that people are ready to forgive your evil if you turn out to be do more than they expected. And I will do more than expected. I will not only rescue their daughter; I will marry her.I got the dollars that evening and then I came back to the house with Isaac by my side. I looked around but Kennedy was not there.I asked Dorothy where he was and she told me that he was going back to the UK.“Coward,” she added. “And he said he loved my sister.”I chuckled. “He never thought he would
