Tisane: The King Of Mutants And The God Of Monsters

CHAPTER 6 - Ten Years Ago.......

Stepping out the door, his phone rang again.

*Ring.....ring*

Seeing the caller's name on the screen, he frowned and hesitated to pick it up. Waiting for the ringing duration to end, he inserted his door key into the keyhole and locked the door.

*Ring....ring*

The phone began ringing again, this time he had to pick it up.

"Hello mom" he said with a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice.

**Hello son, how is everything?**

"Am okay" he said grudgingly.

**I called to let you know that your sisters just finished their promotion exams and will be coming home soon**

"Yeah okay" there was a short pause "is that all? cos I have things to do"

Hearing the annoyance in his voice, his mother scolded **come on son, don't be like that. Aren't you happy for your sisters?**

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be? I just have somewhere important that I need to be right now"

**Oh you mean work? You have a job now?** she assumed expectantly.

"Ehm...no I.....am going for an interview" Tisane closed his eyes in embarrassment as he lied.

**Oh really? Well then son I wish you best of luck** she said with a hint of understanding in her voice.

**But you should know that there is still a chance to work things out, your fa---**

"Mom can we please not talk about that right now?" Tisane interrupted. "I really have to go, I'll call you later"

**.....o--okay son, take care** she said resignedly with a hint of sadness in her voice.

*sigh* after the call ended, he let out a long sigh and massaged his forehead. Speaking with his mother right now dampened his mood due to the unpleasant memories that he just remembered.

He was of African origin, Nigeria to be precise and the first son in a family of five, with two sisters behind him. His mother, a charismatic businesswoman and financial instructor was involved in various businesses across the country. In other words, she was quite a busy woman. While his father, a no nonsense military officer, who believed in establishing his opinion and having others follow accordingly.

His sisters were high school students with great beauty and promising future prospects. Also due to their brilliance, they advanced quickly in their academics.

As for Tisane, well...it would be quite disappointing to attribute him any achievement or accolades, only for you my dear readers to find out the truth later on.

Tisane was the 'black sheep' of the family, there I said it, 'the black sheep'

He had it rough during his early teenage years, especially in school, Tisane never saw anything good about schooling. A mindset that resulted to a lot of escapades from school which incurred his father's wrath and severe punishment.

He would have been a school dropout if not for the insistence and vehement support of his mother whom made sure he saw it through school and finally became a graduate.

As for Tisane, he led a sad life, he was never good enough for his father and was considered a shame to the family in every African way.

What pained him most, was how he was always compared to his younger sisters whom seemed more progressive in every aspect of their life.

Tisane never hated his sisters but held an unintentional grudge against them for the huge shadow they casted over him.

"Aish....." he pinched the centre in between his eyebrows as all this unpleasant memories came flooding in.

He was still standing in front of his door when his cellphone rang again. Deciding not to answer it if it was his mother calling again. He checked the screen with a deep frown on his face.

Seeing the caller's name on the screen, his frowned cleared immediately as he picked the call.

"Hey bayo"

**Hello Tisane, the whole crew's waiting, you coming or what?**

"Oh....s--sorry, I got carried away" Tisane scratched his head with an awkward smile on his face.

**Well, whatever it is that carried you away, we hope it dumps you at our crib no?** a series of laughter erupted in the background.

"Haha....very funny bro" Tisane shook his head in laughter. "Don't you guys worry, am on my way"

**Well, you better, cos little Mel ain't gonna wait for long**

Hearing a rebuking 'hey!' from a feminine voice in the background, Tisane couldn't help but freeze for a second as he stuttered "Uh....uh"

**Haha....don't worry melvina, we can give you both enough room to make up for lost time**

**Just shut up you clown!** the feminine voice rebuked again.

"Yeah bayo, please can you just shut up for Pete's sake?" Tisane timidly whispered over the phone.

**Hehe....alright, alright enough teasing for now, see you soon Tisane. Don't come late or you'll miss your date**

Tisane face palmed himself as he cut the call.

'Damn blabbermouth, why does he have to always say the first thing that comes to his mind without thinking about it first'

Tisane cursed as he walked down the stairs from his apartment.

Arriving at the expressway to hail down a transport vehicle, he noticed a little boy of around 8 years of age running up to him.

"Uncle, can you please spare some change? I am very hungry but I don't have any money to buy food" the little boy spoke anxiously.

Tisane sized up the boy. Torn clothes, dusty hairdo, bruised wrists and ankles with a haggard appearance.

Two words came to Tisane's mind while he stared at the boy, 'orphan.....beggar'. This was a common scene in Nigeria. As a third world country, poverty and starvation were rampant occurrences among the low class citizens.

Deciding to fulfil the little boy's request, Tisane reached into his wallet to take out some cash in it.

*Sigh* guess am no different from you little guy' he shook his head as he saw the pitiable amount of cash remaining in his wallet.

"Here you go" he stretched his hand towards the boy.

"Thanks uncle!" the little boy's face brightened as he collected the money and smiled showing his brown-stained teeth.

Tisane felt weird seeing the little boy smile. Nodding his head, he watched as the little boy skipped away.

Successfully hailing down a motorcycle, which was one of the most popular mode of transportation in Nigeria, Tisane gave his destination address and haggled the price with the motorcyclist, which was a common practice among the citizens of the country.

After agreeing on the transport fare, he stepped on the motorcycle and was taken off to his destination.

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Few minutes later, the motorcycle dropped him before a two storey building with a barbed wire fence and a large cream coloured gate.

Knocking at the gate, he had to wait for a few seconds before the security pigeon hole compartment slid open to reveal someone's face.

"What do you want?" the person asked.

"Am a friend of bayo, he called me over" Tisane replied.

"Called you over for what?" the person kept asking.

"Well, there is a party here right?" Tisane asked as he nocked his eyebrow.

"Yeah?"

"Well am the special guest of honour" Tisane spoke plainly and grinned.

"Eh?"

"Let me in Yusuf, I know that's you" Tisane spoke in irritation.

"Uh....." the person's eyeballs quaked.

"Well I guess I should call bayo then" Tisane said bringing out his phone.

That seemed to do the trick, as the person behind the gate panicked. "N---no need, no need sir" he hurriedly opened the gate.

Tisane stepped into the compound as the gate opened only to set his eyes on a short, black native looking man.

He stared at the man blankly, while the other scratched his head and revealed an awkward smile.

"What gives Yusuf?" Tisane scolded the native man with a frown.

"S--sorry Mr Tisane I just want to make sure master bayo and his friends are not disturbed" the native man replied righteously while bowing his head.

"Tisane?" a voice called out.

Turning towards to direction of the voice, Tisane smiled.

"Hey Ibrahim, what's up bro" Tisane said as he walked towards to a light skinned guy wearing a hoody and shorts. "Long time no see"

"Hoho! Tisane long time no see indeed!" Ibrahim, without warning hugged Tisane by his waist and lifted him straight up.

"Ha! dude what the hell?! drop me down!" Tisane exclaimed in shock.

Letting him go, Ibrahim had a smug look on his face.

"What do you think? Am quite strong aren't I" Ibrahim flexed his arms with pride.

Tisane rolled his eyes 'typical Ibrahim still kidding himself over his biceps and triceps'

"Tisane?" another voice called out.

Shifting his gaze to the source of the voice, Tisane felt every joint and muscle in his body freeze.

There she was, standing at the front door of the house. Her smile seemed to make the building behind her become a palace and she the residing queen.

'Mel--melvina?' Tisane's eyeballs quaked.