Chasing Shadows (Episode 6)

As they drove into The Bells Guest House, Sade could not help herself. She was in awe. It was magnificent. She asked the driver a couple of times if he had the right address, and if this was a guest house indeed. It looked more like a presidential hotel. It was obviously new. The driver assured her that the address was correct. She called her mum immediately.

“Mum, I’m at this hotel. I think I have been kidnapped” She whispered.

“The driver… brought me to this…”

The driver stopped the engine and looked back.

Sade slowly and carefully dropped the phone from her ears and clung to the door. She was ready to take off any time she got the chance. She could not believe what was happening. She was frightened and began to shiver from within.

“We’re here ma. I think I should call madam” He said politely, with a smile.

“No, no, no. I’ll call her. Let me call her right away.” She knew he had heard her earlier conversation and was just pretending, acting all professional and polite.

This was it. Her father must have heard her conversation with her mother that morning and sent this other driver to pick her up. No wonder he arrived later than expected. She had wronged her father; she knew he was still hurting but she couldn’t believe he would send someone to hurt her just to get even. Or maybe he was not her real dad; that would explain why he wouldn’t forgive her and withstand her being sent away for more than a year. This was her final punishment. God did not come through for her like Mosun had said. A million thoughts ran through her mind as she fumbled with the phone. Her hands shook, she was cold and hot at the same time.

“Are you alright?” The driver tried to reach out to her. He couldn’t understand her nervousness.

“Don’t … touch me.” She screamed at the top of her voice.

“What is...” The driver was confused.

“I said don’t touch me.” She yelled at him.

As she turned to unlock the door, she saw a figure already standing by the door.

Sade screamed at the top of her voice…

The driver got down from the car to help out. He was totally confused.

“What is wrong with you?” Mrs Bello opened the door and held her daughter who seemed like she had seen a ghost.

“Folasade, are you alright?” she held her daughter close and began patting her on the back.

“Oh mum. It’s you.” She sobbed and clung to her mother.

“Of course it’s me. What is going on?”

Sade’s mother gently moved her daughter into the car so that she could take her seat beside her and calm her properly. The driver was standing by the door, ready to tell his side of the story just in case his madam questioned him. She turned to him and instructed him to get back into the car, start the engine and put the AC on.

“Yes ma.” He said as he hurried back to the driver’s seat.

“I’m sorry mum. I don’t know what came over me. I’ve not just been myself…” Sade kept her face buried in her mother’s embrace. She felt safe there. She had not been kidnapped after all.

“Pele my dear. Everything will be just fine. Okay?” Her mother kept rubbing her back.

“Besides, I’ve warned you about all those horror movies you watch. Your imagination without those movies is wild enough” Her mother smiled. She had missed her only child. She could sense the smile that was already forming on her daughter’s face.

“You still remember.” Sade let go of her mother’s embrace.

She wiped her face and looked up to meet her mother’s gaze. There was a short pause, just before mother and daughter burst into laughter.

“I think I’ve been kidnapped.” Her mother mimicked her voice and the laughter continued.

“You’re such a case. I knew it would be better to step out of the building and meet you at the parking lot. Else, you would have called the police and put poor Seun into trouble.” Sade’s mum pointed at the driver as she talked.

“Mummy, if you knew half of what I’ve been going through, you won’t laugh at me. But it’s so good to see you. You’re shining o.” Sade hugged her mother again.

She apologized to the driver and stepped out of the car with her mum into the guest house. Her mum looked even younger and more radiant than she could remember. She was obviously prettier than the pictures she sent her on whatsapp.

“See how fine you are, mummy. It’s not fair o.” She held her mum’s hand as they walked into the main building.

“You’re not bad, yourself. Hope you brought my aso-ofi? I won’t take any excuse this time.”

They both smiled at each other. Sade missed this bond, this kind of ‘best-friend’ conversation that she used to have with her mum. As bad as things were before she left, her mum was always there to gist with her and chip in one or two pieces of advise during the gist. She wanted to get all emotional, knowing that she had failed her mum just as much as she failed her dad, but she got hold of her emotions. This was not the time; she needed help with her relationship. She was sure about getting married to Siju but she could not handle any unnecessary secret. She had opened up to Siju and she expected him to reciprocate the gesture. She needed some motherly advise, the type she had not gotten from her aunt in Ibadan or from her mum physically. The phone calls and chats on whatsapp had been helpful but she needed this conversation so bad.

“By the way, is ‘the bells hotel’ for dad?” Sade was curious. Her dad owned a fleet of businesses but she didn’t know he had ventured into the hotel business.

“The Bells is a guest house or a relaxation arena for people that need somewhere to spend the night if they have to take a break on their journey. And ‘The Bells’ is mine.” Sade’s mum smiled widely.

“What?! Mu-mm-yy. And you didn’t tell me. Wow. This is grand” Sade was amazed and proud of her mum at the same time. She hugged her yet again.

“It was supposed to be a surprise. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this ‘date’? Now let’s get in and gist away. I want to know what’s been troubling my baby.”

Both mother and daughter laughed some more as they walked past the reception into her mum’s beautifully furnished and spacious office.

***

“He’s on his way to your place. I’ll be there as soon as I can. I need to stop by the outlet to conclude a few things with the agent.”

Supo dropped the call and got into the bathroom to take a quick shower. A thousand and one things ran through his mind as the water ran down body. He wondered why his brother could think he was trying to destroy his life. All he had ever done was protect his siblings, even it meant losing his own self and time along the way. He never pushed the blame on anyone for where he was at the moment, how it seemed his own life was not progressing any better than he had planned; he just took every day as it came. Yet his brother had the audacity to say awful things to him. He was going to set the record straight. He wouldn’t have his niceness taken for granted. The entire family had been torn apart by the horrible strings of incidences – his sister’s death, his father’s business, and of course his father’s state.

He was out of the shower in minutes. He put on a deep blue t-shirt and slid into a grey pair of jeans. He picked his afro comb, phone and wallet; began combing his hair with one hand and dialing his cab driver’s number with the other.

He made a few stops at the outlet he was about renting for the printing press, and at the bank, before heading to Alao Akala estate in Akobo where his mother lived.

“Thank you. I’ll call you when I’m done so that you can come pick me up.” He handed over few N200 notes to the cab man and walked into the compound.

His mum had done a good job in maintaining the place. It was still as beautiful as the last time he came visiting. He could hear voices as he approached the door. He knew Siju was already there, throwing tantrums based on mere speculations.

“Ekaaro ma (good morning ma).” He bent a little as he greeted his mum, and ignoring his brother who was seated at the other end of the sitting room, with his head buried in his hands.

“Olasupo. I don’t understand this. I need peace in my life. One full year without any stress from you two, that’s all I’ve asked of you. Kini gbogbo eleyi bayi? (what is all this?)”

She spread her palms and shook her head in confusion. She instructed Siju to get her a glass of water, while Supo relayed his own side of the story. When he was done, she looked right into the eyes of her boys who were now grown men, and began.

“Listen to me you two. You will stop this childishness. Today! I’m tired of you blaming yourselves for something you have no control over. We’ve been through a lot as a family but we can’t give up on ourselves. You hear me?” She said sternly.

“Yes ma.” The brothers replied in unison.

“And your brother is right. You need to tell her everything. If you want to marry this girl that has opened herself up to you and to me in particular, she has to know. If she doesn’t stay like Ranti, then it’s not your fault. Okay?” She said gently while facing Siju.

“But mum…” Siju started.

“No, no, no. No buts, son. It’s better she finds out from you. And you don’t have much time. She’s a good girl, and she has brought you so much good luck. You better do right by her.”

She got up from the chair and began making her way to the kitchen.

“Now, you two should sort out your differences. I’ll be right back.”

The brothers looked at each other from the two extremes where they sat. Siju buried his head in his hands again.

How was he going to tell Sade how badly the fire incidence had affected his family, and made his father go crazy? His father had watched his entire livelihood go up in flames and he lost it, even though it was not immediate. They had tried to resuscitate Sholafunmi to no avail.

Siju was young but he could recollect everything that happened. There were so many people in the hospital with them that day. A man in a white lab coat had come to break the news to them that they did all they could but Shola couldn’t be revived. His mother had broken into uncontrollable tears, while his father stared into the ceiling for so long. One of his father’s closest friends, Mr. Ajayi, had taken them to his house after much persuasion and help from the nurses and people around, especially since his mother wouldn’t stop rolling on the floor and insisting that she would stay by her daughter till she woke up. His father was just mute all through. All he did was to sigh heavily for days.

A week after the tragic incidence, they all sat at the table to have breakfast. The boys had been excused from school, and their mother from work. They had only began their silent breakfast when Mr Olajire, their father, suddenly began to laugh. Slowly and gently, everyone at the long dining table began to lift their heads from their food. The laughter started slowly, but it intensified. And without saying a word, he got up and laughed his way out of the house, bending his head once in a while. It was shocking at first and everyone tried to understand what was going on.

It happened so fast – the way Mr Olajire walked out of the house and out of the street in minutes.

Mr Ajayi, hurried out of the house, while his wife and their mother ran after him shouting and crying at the same time. Mr Ajayi started his peugot 504 car, and off they went leaving the boys at home. It took several days before they could find their father at the Ife-Ibadan express road. He had gone completely mad.

They had taken him to a psychiatric hospital for treatment, but he had escaped one too many times. Since their father had the biggest printing press in Ibadan at the time, the news had gone viral, and their lives were publicized in the papers.

A lot of speculations and rumours had gone out about their family’s success being founded on money rituals that came back to bite them in the face.

The boys had to change schools many times, but they eventually pull through the scandal.

Their mother had moved on with her life by changing locations from one end of Ibadan to the other. She started her own business and rebuilt her life again. She took solace in having her nieces and nephews come over every once in a while, and she even insisted on raising one of her nieces as her own child.

It was more difficult for the guys, especially Siju. He was the hopeless romantic, and the one who felt the pain the most. He had lost two closest people to him in the world.

He did his best to string along with his mum and brother anytime they visited their father at the psychiatric hospital, but he never had the courage to look at his dad, who was alive but yet dead and unconscious. He always cried when he heard the many jargons his father said, since he never summoned the courage to watch his display.

He decided to go with the ‘no more’ excuse anytime he got into a serious relationship. He had lost too many relationships because of the dots that connected him to the popular mentally deranged man that owned the renown Olajire Press, and he was not about to lose this one.

Siju suddenly raised his head from his palms, as if an idea popped into his mind. He took out his phone immediately and began dialing Sade’s number.

 

***CHASING SHADOWS by Faith Tunde-Yara

***Photo Credit: www.shutterstock.com

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