TALES OF THE ATLANTIC

CHAPTER SEVEN

The ‘big day’ had finally arrived for me as I sat on the edge of the bed. I thought about everything that had taken place from my father’s death to the revelation by my mother.

A minute later, I saw my sister at my door with a pink toothbrush between her lips, mumbling a word of greeting to me. I waited patiently for her to prepare for work, as I sat quietly in the dining room.

Everywhere was quiet except the drizzling on the roof. The entire compound was so quiet in this new place. Everyone kept to him or herself and the security was tight. Moments later, I beheld my sister in a bright red suit.

“Security here is as tight as your skirt.” I mumbled while Boma drank a cup of water from the water dispenser, near where I sat. She soon put the cup away and sat opposite me. She fixed her gaze on me like a suspect in the middle of a criminal investigation. I looked outside the window as the drizzling continued on the window, grass, flowers and cars outside.

“Boma,” I began in a very soft voice (which had little or no effect on her).

“Today is the beginning of a hellish experience for me…first I want you to keep a very low profile here in this new environment. The day mummy died, I promised myself that that goddess would end up the same way…”

“Spare me the warnings big brother, do you think I’m a little girl?” Of course, I know what this…’mission’  of yours entails, that’s why I’m going to be far more cautious than you can ever imagine.”

She interlocked her fingers on the small dining table and continued her gaze, while I tried to keep my eyes off her white camisole which exposed the better part of her cleavages.

“With a red suit and black high-heeled shoe, I believe your bank…Zahari Bank should ensure you get a salary raise within the shortest possible time.” She stood up from where she sat and I followed her with an umbrella. We walked until we reached the main road, as I folded the umbrella at her request and handed it to her.

“I wish it didn’t have to be this way,” I whispered while staring at her shoes.

“You want to back out now, or don’t tell me you are scared big brother.” I raised my head up when she emphasized on ‘big brother.’

“It’s going to be a while before you see me again dear sister. I’ll endeavour to drop the house keys at your office…”

A small taxi cab soon stopped near where we stood and, as Boma suddenly gave me a long embrace, which ended with a kiss on my right cheek.

“Take care of yourself,” she whispered while banging the passenger door. I waved at the vehicle until it sped out of sight. I smiled when I thought of the ‘real’ reason she’d entered the taxi cab without haggling the fare. It wasn’t because she had too much money, but rather because she didn’t want me to see the tears in her eyes. I walked briskly back to the flat and thought of my late mother once more.

Thirty minutes later, I was knotting a black tie on a white shirt, in front of a mirror in Boma’s bedroom. Thereafter, I turned on the fan in the dining room and settled down to some biscuits and chocolates from the refrigerator.

My face was slightly covered with stubble, alongside little hair on my head. I fastened a black leather wristwatch, cleared the dining room and put on my black jacket.

I went into Boma’s bedroom and placed the framed picture on her dressing mirror, before shutting the room. Entering into my room, I made sure everything was neat and in order, as I retrieved my wallet and Access Bank ATM Debit card.

The drizzling had ceased when I turned off the fan and looked around the sitting room as several thoughts passed through my mind. I cared less if I didn’t return to my apartment, or never saw my younger sister again.

Only one thing kept me going – the determination to kill that goddess by any means possible. Five minutes later, I was at the same spot my sister stood waiting for a taxi cab, in a black suit, white shirt and black neck tie.  I’d decided against wearing sunshades.

I wanted to be as ‘natural’ as possible, since the first impression was said to matter a lot. The sun was already shining down its fury on me, as I stopped a taxi cab driven by a middle-aged man.

He called out a price after I told him my destination and I subsequently insisted on sixty per cent of the amount. After some few minutes of haggling, I walked away from where the taxi cab parked and waited for another.

Seeing I was adamant, he agreed on seventy per cent of the price and decided to take me to my destination. Less than ten minutes later, I stood in front of Zahari Bank, watching customers come and go. Cars sped to and fro behind me on Aba road as I walked in through a mMarine Brothers Societyl detector and headed for ‘customer service.’

I talked with a pretty lady, who after listening to me, offered me a seat in a column of several chairs and went to fetch Boma.

“You resemble that guy in the transporter film…you look nice.” Boma complemented as she sat beside me. I didn’t know how to respond as I dug my hands into my pocket and gave her a bunch of keys and begged her to be careful.

“You better start going…before you seduce one of my female colleagues.” She winked at me as we stood up and headed for the exit. She offered her hand which I gently shook and whispered to her to be strong.

She responded with a smile and a nod, while I entered the capsule-like mMarine Brothers Societyl detector, which soon opened at the other end. Outside the bank, I took one last look at its signboard before I walked towards Waterlines House.

From there I intended to enter a taxi cab to Timothy’s residence. It was already ten-thirty in the morning as I sat inside the taxi cab with four other persons including an angry looking driver.

Few minutes later, I was the third person to alight at my destination on a street near Ikwerre Road. The driver kept looking at me with suspicion even when I paid him, collected my change and he drove off.

A short walk soon led me to Timothy’s green mansion, with well-manicured flowers all around the fence. I was standing in front of the main gate designed with black vertical steel rods, with the letter ‘T’ on a large part of each half of the main gate. Timothy was definitely in a lot of money,

I thought to myself while staring at the large fountain in the middle of the vast compound. The fountain was in the form of a mermaid pouring water from a small vase. I was soon brought back to ‘reality’ by a hefty stern looking man who asked me some questions while holding my picture.

When he felt satisfied with the answers I provided, he went into a large building beside the main gate. He soon returned with a brown envelope stapled at both ends, and handed it to me.

“The boss is at work…won’t be back until ten. He said if you come around, this envelope should be given to you”.

“What’s inside?” I asked suspiciously.

He peered at me and said, “Important instructions.”

Backing off to a small shop on the street, my eyes went back once again to the fountain and the mermaid. I wondered why he (Timothy), chose a mermaid, out of all things and animals as a model for his fountain.

The moment I finished reading the ‘instructions,’ I was unable to finish the canned drink I’d bought inside the shop. Despite the hot weather, I felt a strange chill around me as I slowly walked out of the shop to carry out the said ‘instructions.’

I couldn’t fail my late mother at this stage by changing my mind. After all I’d already vowed to destroy that goddess by whatever means necessary. She must be stopped no matter what, I thought to myself.

On the little sheet of paper I read over and over again, the first part instructed me to walk on the streets and roads of Port Harcourt until seven in the evening. It had a stringent warning never to talk to anyone I met while performing the task.

The second part instructed me, in carrying out the first task, to whisper certain incantations (already on the sheet of paper).

The last instruction, which I considered to be the weirdest, was for me to be at Rumuokoro junction by seven O’clock. The instructions on the sheet of paper assured me that upon reaching there, my body would be invisible to anyone in that vicinity. I was still walking slowly on the dusty road while feeling I’d memorised the incantations and the three instructions.

The thought of engaging in this kind of ‘exercise’ till seven O’clock made me queasy. I felt the envelope which was still heavy without the sheet of paper in it. Looking at the sheet once more, I saw something beginning with ‘NB’, instructing me to burn the sheet with the lighter inside the envelope.

Carefully, I extracted the lighter and set the sheet of paper and envelope on fire, while squatting in a secluded area. I only stood up to proceed on the ‘mission’ after I was satisfied that everything had turned to ash. A minute later, while whispering these incantations, I began to walk towards Agip junction.

I knew even the legendary Johnny Walker never carried out such a ‘walking task,’ I was presently doing. Soon, all my thoughts, imaginations and even fantasies were soon turned towards the initiation and nothing else mattered to me.

Perspiration soon flooded my body due to the walking exercise. It was almost twelve noon when I thought of stopping to take a rest.

The moment I contemplated doing so, something pushed me forward. At that moment, I knew that since I’d already started, there was no going back. My whole body soon felt as if I’d been slightly electrocuted, while walking through Hospital Road and whispering the incantations. The saliva in my mouth soon became ‘scarce.’

I didn’t bother to check the time anymore as I unknotted my necktie and folded it inside my suit. At this moment, only one thing mattered: walking and walking until seven o’clock in the evening. Hours later, the evening breeze was blowing all around me, while I dragged my tired body towards a bus stop near my late mother’s former school. Checking my wristwatch once more, it showed the time to be three-thirty. 

I looked so unkempt, dusty and tired, that I couldn’t believe it was I who fitted the description above.  Cars and buses kept moving past me as I managed to keep trekking towards the junction. If this was what Timothy went through to become so wealthy overnight, then it was worth it. More than two hours later, while whispering the incantations, I arrived at Rumuokoro junction and felt victorious.

It was six fifty-seven, three more minutes to the ‘deadline’ as I sat down at the junction. Strangely, since I’d been trekking, I didn’t bother to pay any attention to the weather. It wasn’t until now, as I waited patiently to cross the road to the traffic warden’s post, which was built right at the centre of the junction.

Maybe I was the only one who was seeing it, or other motorists and passers-by felt like ignoring it. The clouds in the sky turned purple and began to move in clockwise motion, with a noticeable space above the traffic warden’s post. At that moment, I wanted to stop someone and ask if he noticed the ‘mystery’ in the sky.

I discarded the thought when I remembered the warning not to converse with anyone. The female traffic warden at the post, who was dressed in her uniform, which consisted of an orange short-sleeved shirt and a pair of black trousers, soon stopped the movement of vehicles on the lane opposite where I stood. I didn’t hesitate for a second, as I ran across the road and stopped at the traffic post.

Still whispering the incantations, I was surprised that the female traffic warden did not even realise I stood near her. She even came near where I stood, face to face, and didn’t bother to say hi. It was at that moment I realised that I was invisible to everyone and everything around me. The time clocked seven on the dot, when the female traffic warden hurried out of the traffic post to stop two lanes from moving.

The movement of the purple clouds in circular motion became very intense, while the space above became crimson in colour. I became dizzy the next moment, while the wind began to blow from all directions. I soon became weightless where I stood, and remembered whispering the incantation once more, before I felt my body being pulled upwards into the space above in shreds, by a mysterious force.