Episode 31
Dear Diary,
I woke up with a throbbing headache, it was dark and the ground I la!d on is very cold. I felt sand beneath my palms and I sat upright. It took me some minutes before realization dawned on me.
I was alone, I tried feeling around with my hands but I gathered handfuls of sand only. There were mosquitoes buzzing around and I remembered my experience in the cell, the headache worsened.
I began to imagine what would happen to me, perhaps Amina would kill me, or she would lock me here till I die of starvation. Or she would torture me and let me die a slow painful death, or she would bring vicious dogs to bite me to pieces.
I still prayed fervently to be woken into reality, I prayed my roommate will shake me furiously and chide me for being a heavy sleeper. I prayed I was still with Jhay and I never met Farhan. I prayed Farida and I never became friends. I prayed I was never Prof. Fajuyiâs lust interest. I prayed I never had anything to do with the Amazons. I prayed with my eyes tightly shut, when I realized the futility of everything, my eyes gave way, tears gush out freely like a busted pipe. I couldnât control it. The more the tears flowed the more things look more bleak. There is no hope. Amina would do whatever she wants with me and nobody would know she did it. Police would investigate and will continue to meet dead ends. And my mum, oh my poor mum, I remembered Natashaâs parents and I shuddered. God forbid I prayed fervently.
âCan you keep quiet for once and letâs concentrate on finding ourselves out of this situation?â a tired voice whispered.
âWho is in here? I canât see you, Farida is that you, Farida! Farida!!â I searched around aimlessly with my hands like a beggar who has lost her walking stick.
I felt a cold hand touch my legs and I jumped and grabbed her, I do not know where I grabbed but I grabbed her anyway. I resumed my sobs again and hugged her fiercely. Farida was like a balm on an aching chest, an anchor. I clung to her the way a child does to a mother who had gone out all day.
âThatâs my hair you are grabbing with my neck, arrgh-ahâ she pushed me away gently.
âI am so sorry, itâs long I hugged someone, God knows I need a hug after all that has happenedâ my voice shook
âLike you didnât hug my brother recentlyâ I can make out her face, her skin glowed in the darkness. I wondered the last time she had her bath
âFarida, I can explain, you should listen to me. Since there seems to be no hope anywayâ even I willed myself to disbelieve what I said
â I am not dying, I will die one day but I am not dying hereâ she scoffed
âYou know I donât understand you Lanre, one minute you were all angry at Farhan, the next minute I heard you guys were making out in the openâ she shook her head and continued âTo think that you never told meâ I imagined her shaking her head and biting her lips as she said this. Her face is still not clear enough.
âIt wasnât in the open, it was dark and it just happened, I actually felt guilty after and I-i-iii tried to stop things from getting out of hands but⊠â I sighed deeply.
âHope you know Natasha is deadâ I added
âI knew she was going to get hurtâ Farida said without emotion.
â So you knew about her death?â
âPlease I donât, I knew she had problems with the high priestess only, and I warned her not to step on her toes, she would not listen, she wanted to sell Amazons out. Nobody forced her to become an Amazon , nobody asked her to sÂŁduce the high priestess, the high priestess never loved her. Natasha wanted something but she never got itâ
âWhat was it she wantedâ I prodded
â and how is it your business what she wanted? I should tell you, you may be right. Amina could kill us before tomorrow. Natasha wanted freedom, she wanted freedom after all she had⊠We had done together, nobody will let her go freely with all those secretsâ Farida voice trembled
â What secrets?â I moved close to her and held her hands, they were still cold. It gets colder every minute.
â Lanre, I have done things I am not proud of, same with Natasha. Natasha and the high priestess saw to the killing of a lecturer that was disturbing her. Natasha saw to the killing of a man threatening her dad. Her dad was about to get this huge deal and he was getting threatened by his former business partner, the high priestess did everything for Natasha. Natasha developed cold feet and wanted out â Farida laughs hysterically as she said this â wanted outâ she repeated.
I didnât say a word lest Farida decides to go mum. She swallowed and went on
âMy brother loved you, he has always had a thing for you. But you were the big snub, you never gave him a second glance, he said you wouldnât even acknowledge his presence when he said hello, and God knows I hated you then. I thought you were a snub too, but I love your shape, and your perfect small ânyanshâ â she added in pidgin and we both laughed. Hollow dry laugh.
âI was with Jhay then, other guys look like Shrek to me â I sighed
âOh, lover girl, then I heard you guys met at Campus Blast that day, he asked me to keep an eye on you for him and find out if you had a boyfriend. I had to become your friend, I actually wanted to. Then he told me about how Amina had been threatening him when he was about to ask you outâ she freed her hands from mine and continued âshe told him she would kill herself and pin it on him, she actually pulled that stunt once. She SKYPEd Farhan one day and chug down bottles upon bottles of Codeine. Farhan was confused and didnât want to be the cause of her death. I asked him to explain things to you so you wonât think he is taking you for granted when Amina starts spreading silly love stories around school. He said he doubts if you would believe and he said he had to tell you he was with Amina so you guys would be apart for a while, even that doesnât make sense to meâ she held her head in her hands
My eyes were used to the darkness now.
âHow come Farhan never told her parents all these?â I asked.
âYou donât get it do you? They will think he is just being a crook, the last time he did that, our Father threatened to disown him. They all caused it, everyone used to call them husband and wife when we were youngâ she hissed
âBut how did I get into the mess, how did you get involved? Fine. Natashaâs death was by the Amazons, who killed Prof. Fajuyi, who?â my headache has returned
âProf. Fajuyi is dead? Woah!â
â donât pretend Farida, I am not even an amazon yet and you guys⊠â
â They didnât do it, the Amazons wouldnât kill unless you want them toâ she explained
â Why are you saying âthemâ are you not one?â Farida is confusing me
âI think I want out too. I wasnât as bad as Natasha, and I donât think they killed Natasha, they give warnings before killing a member, Natasha never received themâ she shook her head
âBut you befriended the high priestess too, didnât you?â
âShe likes me, but I never gave in to her demands. She loves and revered me at the same time. She still do, I guess and that got Natasha jealous at a point. Jeeez Lanre why will you think like that? I love me some good olâ d–kâ she laughed and I joined this time heartedly.
I do not know whom to believe but I donât think Farida will deny anything she has ever done.
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