By Akintayo Akinjide




Jadesola crouched behind a ravaged car and peered into the dark street of Ikorodu that used to be where his home was. The smoke from the vehicle, in collusion with the loudest of silence, made his heartbeat increase.
‘Jade…’ His brother, Oba, whispered. ‘You can still go back now’.
The fear in his brother’s voice shot him back into the reality of what he was trying to do. Once or twice, a flood of light would sweep through the street from afar. He nodded. ‘I can do this…’
‘Let me follow you’, Oba pleaded for the umpteenth time since they set out for their former home.
Jade shook his head and could feel a terrible vibration through his body. This type of vibration could only be produced by fear or cold. That night, his own was a result of fear, which was also visible on Oba. ‘I’ve got this…’
Oba grabbed Jade’s arm in a way Jade hated because saying goodbyes that way meant doom, but since it was speechless, he retaliated and tightened his grip on his brother’s arm.
In a few seconds, he was in the drainage. The stench was enough to choke any man, but he had become more than a man when he had to hide under several corpses for the two days the freedom fighters used his hiding place as their base.
As he crawled on, light flooded the drainage, and he had to lay still, pretending to be dead, holding his breath. He was lying atop a fallen fighter, whose splattered head reeked of dry blood. Despite lying awkwardly, the corpse had nothing to worry about. When the light moved away, he crawled on, climbing through several wet posters that used to be the call-for-justice placards of the freedom fighters before they turned violent.
Jade shouldn’t have been out here. Suddenly, a shot rang in the distance. He froze. Expecting to be shot at, he remained in the drainage and gurgled as he tried to ward off some rats, mopping away the dirty water flowing towards his mouth.
Assured of his safety, he clambered out of the drainage and hurried to the back of his house. Luckily, the door was just as his wife had said it would be. That was the first time in three weeks he would be returning home since they deserted it because the Nigeria government decided to shoot at some peaceful protesters, causing a bloody civil war, despite knowing how tensed the country was.
When he finally got what he came for, he crawled back through the drainage. The stench of corpses and their sticky stream of blood made their way with him as he climbed out to meet Oba. He groaned.
Someone caught the sound and raved. He wondered how the soldiers on the other end could have heard him. However, the glints of light from brandished machetes became his cue.
‘Oba, run’, he yelled and sprinted off.
The thick smoke from several scorched cars would be their fence. They ran into it and swerved into an uncompleted building. Someone shot at them, hitting him on the arm.
‘Jade…’ Oba called.
‘It’s a scratch…’ Jade yelled. ‘Run…’
In a few minutes, they were sprinting through bushes, brushing leaves out of their way, and smelling horrible. They jumped into another drainage and crawled towards their hideout.
Knocking thrice on the bark of a tree, another part of a bush opened, and they were pulled into the house.
‘Were you followed?’ Asked Uche, the man that saved them from day one. Jade shook his head and cold glare from Uche.
‘That was reckless…’ Uche said and walked off.
‘It was important…’
‘Important? Your wife had almost gone mad...It’s been how many days out there? Three!!! She assumed you both were dead…’ Uche raged and marched out.
Jade knew better than to utter a response. He glanced at Oba and got a naughty wink. ‘We did it again…’
His wife jumped up the stairs of their underground hideout and flung herself at him, kissing him.
‘Yuck!’ Oba murmured.
‘You smell… Horrible. Apayan ni e o’, she said.
‘Where’s she?’ He asked and led the way down the stairs.
‘Your room…’
Jade rushed to his room and found his little daughter, Sade, on his bed, gasping for breath. Her face was white from lack of blood. The intern-nurse had done numerous blood transfusions to no avail. The leukaemia wouldn’t stop draining her.
‘Baby, I got you the teddy bear’, he said as he sat near her.
Sade smiled warily at him, reminding him of the sweet feeling of peace.

The days seem nearer.

continue boss

Another one... Tuale baba nla. Jade went all through that for a teddy bear. my heart skipped a beat right there when he got hit.

Creeza:
Another one... Tuale baba nla. Jade went all through that for a teddy bear. my heart skipped a beat right there when he got hit.

Thanks boss. Yes o. For that tiny bitty fluffy teddy bear.

Divepen1:
Thanks boss. Yes o. For that tiny bitty fluffy teddy bear.

funny, the things we do For love

dojnr4real:
continue boss

Just a short one.