I've been banned five times. I'll try again. I'll remove the locations and split the post.

S02E02a


Sansa was a special breed. At least, this was my conclusion after she told me her story.
Her father, a policeman, had met an untimely death in the hands of armed robbers when she was five years old, and being the eldest of eight children, she’d had to join her mother’s business, trading crayfish, sleeping on cold floors and traversing different states on foot for survival. After secondary school, she laid off her studies so that her younger ones could continue. When she decided to go to the university, they laughed her to scorn. What girl went to the university when she would end up in a man’s kitchen? They said. As though to silence her, one uncle promised to obtain the Jamb form for her. On evening, he asked her to come get it. He lured her into his apartment, locked the door, violated her, and gave her a brown envelope filled with blank paper. She was sixteen at the time. She’d cried hard, but in the end, resolved to get what she wanted by all means. She left home and became friends with a general’s son who made her do all sort of things to satisfy his cravings. She didn’t mind, as long as she got the funds she required. Then she lost her mother, and had to double up her hustle to play mother to her siblings.

S02E02b


I thought her eyes glazed over at this point, it turned out to be a play of lights. She stared straight on at the passing traffic outside the busy restaurant where we were having a date and continued her story.
Eventually, she rounded up her education, had her National Youth Service and went to seek a job. In those first few months, she worked as a dish washer, laundry assistant, store keeper, poultry attendant—anything other than being friends with men who constantly used her for their purposes and broke her heart in the end.
Then she applied for the opening at TrustMond and there we met, both interviewed and granted jobs as marketers on the same day. She admitted to having crushed on me for a while, then we got close, became partners, then her heart broke when she perceived my involvement with Kome. And she vowed to not be in a relationship for a long while. Here she was, breaking her own promise. She said this and gave a coy laugh.
“I’m curious though, why did you come back? Why did you try to help me back at TrustMond?” I said.

S02E02c


She nodded and continued. She’d tagged along with some friends to Church one Sunday, but had gotten changed in that service and a few weeks later, dreamt that I was in trouble and that the trouble would lead to death. On discussing with the pastor, he’d advised that she offered assistance.
It had all begun as some form of ‘help.’ Ironic—we both thought and laughed.
This profiling took place a few weeks before I took her to see my family. They’d liked her instantly. And oh, they loved that she was a banker.
I laughed at my luck and glanced at the wall clock. I was to have dinner in her place in two hours, I still had time to kill. I whipped out my phone and commenced a session of Shadow Fight.
A phone call from an unknown number distracted me as I made to finish off my assailant. I ignored it, smirking at the malevolent intent of the fraudster at the other end of the line.
Soon, the phone rang again. I picked up, determined to rain a barrage of insults on the caller.
“Hello bros.”
A million synapses went off in my brain. This was a voice I knew intimately but hadn’t heard in months. A voice thought lost, gone.
“Cletus?”
“Yes bros, na me, your boy.”
“Cletus!”

Looks like it worked. Thanks for the advice guys.
Onward!

S02E03


Whether to go crazy or not, I did not know. It indeed was Cletus on the line. Cletus, my long lost brother who in April 2016 decided against all odds to travel to Malaysia. My younger brother whom I’d planned to stop because I thought he was walking into a flytrap. Cletus at whose absence mama had fallen deathly ill. Cletus.
“Idiot! See as you fresh!” I teased.
“Fresh ke. No dey wine me. How far naa?”
His voice had this strange guttural tune to it. But it was he all right and was I glad to hear from him. On the announcement of my marriage, my mother’s joy would have been perfect but for Cletus' absence. It was as though she’d rather lose us in place of him
“But you no try Cletus, almost one year you no call…”
“No go there at all. You know how many times I call you? When yawa gas for Libya, I call you tire. Remain small mek I die.”
“But I no see missed call na. I been find you go Lag, airport sef, I no see you.”
Cletus laughed, “Abeg leave matter for Matthias. Na bird wey fly for sky na im know wetin he dey see for ground.”
I thought for a moment. What if Cletus had called me? All those strange numbers when I was at Centre of Joy. Shaggy told me someone had called and he’d picked up but he couldn’t hear much because of static. I traced back the date. It was sometime in May 2016.
“Where you bin dey for May?" I asked.
“Mehn, that May ehn, na that time immigration catch me for Libya. I call you that time too.”
“Choi oh boy. If you know as things be here that time ehn. No be small something o.”
“How you dey naa Mac? How maale?”
“I dey. Maale dey too. All of us don miss you taya. When you dey come house?”
Cletus laughed, a mean throaty laugh.
“Abeg no use mouth spoil show for me. Anything wey dem want I go send am, but Naija far from my plans now. Abeg send me maale number. Na Eke be give me your number sef. I lost all my contacts.”
“Eke? That mad man! If I catch am.”
Cletus laughed again. “No go there o. Eke na big boy now, na one of the top goons for here. You don see the house wey im dey build for villa? God go soon do my own too.” “How work?” He asked.
I sighed. How was I to tell him that I messed up and got sacked?
“I don comot for TrustMond jare.” I said. “Those people just dey use me anyhow. I dey find another work for now…”
“Ehn-en. How Onyeka them and the rest of my goons?”
“I don move from that my apartment that year. Where I dey now na one room. Na only Nonso and Moses dey my side. Onyeka be see one small work for Sapele. Frederick don enter Lag...”
On and on I went while he oohed and aahed. Choice, another of his friends was dead. He’d drowned at a poolside party. Some of the others were in the village. I still kept in touch with them.
“That your bank babe that year sef? That one wey una dey knack una self anyhow.”
I chuckled. “Sansa. We be even dey marry soon sef. End of this year by God’s grace.”
“Shoo. Na wa o. Ehm…, That other babe wey una dey waka together nko?”
“Which...?”
“Wey you carry come house one night like that.”
I laughed hard this time.
“That time when Shaggy be wan set me up. That one na winch. She pregnant con lie say na that night I give her belle.”
“Shoo! Na Bluetooth dem dey use collect am?” Cletus said and gave a short clipped laugh.
“Be like na for her dream the belle from come. Remain small mek she carry me go court. She say make I go do paternity test. But God pass them. Dem free me last last.”
There was a brief click in the background, then a lady chuckled. When Cletus returned, he said,
“Bros we go talk later... I go yarn you every every. I get one issue wey I gats resolve now…”
Click.
He had begun to sound nervous in those last moments. But I decided not to worry about it. My brother who was lost was now found. I couldn’t wait to break the news to Sansa and Mama.
But how’d he fared all this while? How was he doing?

S02E04


Mama was beside herself when she heard that her Cletus was alive and well; my brothers as well, although their excitement was hinged on the fact that Cletus would be sending them gifts soon and would possibly ask some of them to come over. They sat many long nights arguing who it should be. The seeming sense of relief in our village was more on the premise that ‘we’ had family in 'obodo-oyinbo'. I thought it was a dangerous move for Mama to have let slip in her excitement and told everyone the story of her son who was once lost but now was found.
Sansa was just as glad, but she felt I urgently needed to find out how Cletus was doing. Did he need help? She pressed further when I asked her what help could I be, impecunious as I was.
I tried to reach Cletus on that line but I couldn't get through. I kept trying for another two weeks, wondering what could possibly have happened to Cletus this time. Just when I was getting thoroughly troubled, my phone rang. Same number, Cletus, his voice bustling over the line like freshly tapped palmwine.
When I asked why he got off the phone, he said he worked as a delivery boy and had prompt deliveries to make. What deliveries? Fresh groceries. Groceries? Yes groceries. What kind? Mumble mumble...
When I sensed he didn't want to talk about it, I asked how he was getting through.
Cletus paused for a long moment and ended the silence with a huge sigh.
He'd rather tell me how he'd been doing than how he was doing, he said. I knew he was up to something but what it was I never knew until he finished. And he didn't finish telling the story until weeks later.
That fateful day in April 2017, he'd sent me a text message as soon as he set out of our apartment in Okpanam which somehow I never got it. The text was a scalding one, it said, he was leaving for yankee and I needn’t bother looking for him since I couldn't provide the money he'd asked me.
The correct process was to fly to Dubai, and take a connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur, but Cletus did not have enough money, so he followed Eke’s advice. After all, Eke had done it and had successfully ‘crossed over’ to the other side. Eke's advice and therefore the plan was to travel to Libya through Niger by road, cross into Italy by sea, and end the rest of the trip by road. It was really easy, said Eke. And since Cletus loved travelling, he'd relish every moment.
By the time I was ransacking garages and friends’ homes for my brother—going as far as MM2 in Lagos, Cletus was safely in Asaba, in an associate's house, chilling and waiting for night to dawn. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one, there were four others whom Eke had ‘mobilised’ to come over to Malaysia. They were to follow a small VW Golf by night journey which was meant to be delivered to a client in Lagos the following day. So while I was sweating my hide travelling to Lagos, combing MM2 for Cletus, my rascally brother was in a car cruising down to Lagos, and when I was on my way back the following day, he was in a bus headed for Niger republic. This hot bumpy bone-crunching twenty-something-hour journey to Agadez, the southernmost edge of the Sahara was where the bus, the comfort and the ease stopped.
It was where the nightmare began

What an interesting piece. Thank you for sharing this.

Interesting



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Hydronium:
Ep. 1

The soft purring of air-conditioner units and the whirr of money counters in the bulk room was unusually bothersome that day. I was having a terrible day and I knew better than to permit my feelings to interfere with my work; one sissy mistake and I would be shoved out. Fine, I wanted out, but not just yet, not with what I was down with.
The youngster I was attending to was unsmiling, he seemed rather in a haste to leave. I scrounged up a dutiful smile anyway and handed him the duplicate copy of his slip. He stalked off with a glimmer in his eyes. He had paid in N950,000 to some private holdings and his swagger was as though he owned the world.
‘Next customer please,’ I said.
A large stately woman lumbered towards me, a black polythene in her hand. A wave of garlic assaulted me as she sank into the chair before me.
She pulled out bundles of cash from the bag and handed me her slip.
As I entered her details into the machine, I found I kept making mistakes.
Her voice rang out ‘A… G … A … M… B… Agambala Eboferiore! Did you get that, love?’
I smiled. She did not smile back.
Just before I got to counting the bundles of notes, I took one last look around. Sansa’s cubicle was next to mine. She stood backing me. Oh the view! Her rounded behind which was further accentuated by her tight plaid skirt was in my face, just beyond the glass partition. On her finger sat the sham engagement ring. It had been a while since I had her …
Mrs Agambala snorted and I fell from cloud Sansa back to my cubicle.
That was when I heard it, the crack of automatic weapons. My heart lurched and suddenly I knew it was what had been bothering me.
Hooded men tramped into the bulk room and brandished their deadly weapons in our faces.
‘Down, everybody! Get down! On the floor! Get down!’
I dropped to the cold tiles wishing I had one of those alarm buttons under my desk. Was this how I was to die? In spite of all my labour?
Three hooded men stood over us. ‘Ngwa, all of you behind the counter, come out.’
We crawled out on all fours.

They collected our phones and heralded us to the main banking hall

OP, might I make a suggestion? I think the word "heralded" should be substituted with "herded" which in my opinion would have been more appropriate.

herald
VERB
heralded (past tense) - heralded (past participle)

be a sign that (something) is about to happen.


herd
VERB
herded (past tense) - herded (past participle)
(with reference to a group of people or animals) move in a group.
"they were herded into a bus"

I just stumbled on this series this morning and I couldn't drop my phone or do anything else until I read it all. Waiting expectantly for continuation.
You're an extremely good writer. Bravo!

Just one question.

How did one man get himself into so much trouble

Nice write. Nice read.

Not bad, man.. Well done!

OP you're doing great, can't wait for the next episode.

mansakhalifa:


OP, might I make a suggestion? I think the word "heralded" should be substituted with "herded" which in my opinion would have been more appropriate.

herald
VERB
heralded (past tense) - heralded (past participle)

be a sign that (something) is about to happen.


herd
VERB
herded (past tense) - herded (past participle)
(with reference to a group of people or animals) move in a group.
"they were herded into a bus"

You're right. I corrected it elsewhere, but didn't effect it here. Thanks a great deal.

I just stumbled on this morning, and it made my day... Wish I could like this Gooooood why naaaa!!!

Just stumbled on this great work this morning....very interesting.... Keep it up

great story

Nice story line!
'Maclean Agu's Metamorphosis' should be the title of Season 2.
Keep it up Hydronium

Speechless.

I was once again banned by the spambot. I guess it's the content of the story. If by any chance you do not hear from me in a while, you can read from here [url]superiorwords.com/blog[/url]

Interesting piece.

S02E05A


Agadez was a squat town, Cletus said, a warren of low clay buildings circling the thirty-meter-high minaret of the grand mosque which could be seen from most parts of the Islamic town. The houses were mostly single-storied with courtyards and windowless walls. The place was mostly quiet until Monday afternoons when preparations went into top gear for the journeys which were to be at night.
Eke had given him the number of a ‘connection man’, and had warned him not to trust anyone. Since Cletus was technically in charge of the gang with him, he bought a new line and called the number. The man, Abu, a Nigerian living and trading in Niger, referred them to his compound and there the haggling began. He would take a hundred and fifty thousand Naira per person. He boasted that he made the journey once a week, that the Sahara was a dangerous place to be—each time the route looked different, thanks to the regular sandstorms which changed the shape of the desert after each gust. He knew the Sahara ‘like his bedroom’ but others didn’t get so lucky, that’s why they died and people heard all that bad news on TV. And once you got lost, you ran out of fuel—and then water. And if there was no water, you couldn’t survive for more than three days. Then there were the bandits, Jihadis and other opportunists looking to steal cars, and kill you or leave you in the desert. Besides, driving them was illegal. What if they were caught? That meant he had to settle policemen and all sorts. By the time he finished, Cletus and the boys were pretty shaken up, so they agreed to a hundred thousand per head, although they later found that they could have paid as low as fifty thousand had they not been sweet-talked by Abu.

S02E05B


The boys arrived on Monday night, the day most smugglers left town. Abu decided that since it was late, he'd leave with the boys if they had enough passengers by Wednesday night. Till then, everyone had to pay for lodgings and food and water.
On Wednesday morning, a white Toyota Hilux revved up in front of the compound. The car had blacked-out windows and ripped-off license plates and the boys gave a satisfied nod, but a short while later, a dusty truck plodded into the yard, belched a satisfied puff of smoke and halted in the center of the compound.
It was loaded with about five hundred liters of fuel and about three hundred liters of water for the three-day journey. When at last it was time to board, Cletus couldn’t believe how many people showed up outside the compound—over 50 passengers. He and the boys went to reason with Abu but were met with stern looks. The more they argued, the more seemingly comfortable spaces were taken up. When they finally conceded, they had to be crammed at the back of the truck, faces outwards, legs dangling from the parapet and gripping to the sticks attached to the truck to keep them from falling out when the vehicle picked up pace.
They went in a line, a caravan of three cars from Agadez to Durku, near the border of Libya, and when the vehicles zoomed off in a cloud of dust, a loud cry of prayer went up from the passengers, each calling upon his own god to bless the journey.
Prayer or not, this supposed journey of three days through the wilderness took twelve.

USTAppreciation:
Interesting piece.

You're mighty welcome. Hope you'll keep following

USTAppreciation:
Interesting piece.

You're mighty welcome. Hope you'll keep following

KelvinCoaster:
Speechless.

Hey KelvinCoaster, thanks a great deal. Just trying my little best over here. Hope I'll keep seeing you.
And... Great idea. I'll consider that title... Metamorphosis...

Electricboy:
great story

I'm Honored electricboy. Keep following, lots more coming.

gokecont:
I just stumbled on this morning, and it made my day... Wish I could like this Gooooood why naaaa!!!

Glad to have been able to make as much as a glimmer of your day.

jenifer007:
Just stumbled on this great work this morning....very interesting.... Keep it up

Thanks for the kind words. Do keep reading.

ChiefSweetus:
Not bad, man.. Well done!

Thanks a great deal man.

ThePreachersSon:
OP you're doing great, can't wait for the next episode.

Honored, man. I hope you'll keep following