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His doorbell woke him up, he had fallen asleep holding a
bible in his hands, waiting for Odibo to call he had lost consciousness, he
looked at the time it was 1.00 a.m . the bell chimed again
“who is that?” he
asked
“its me odibo” he was relieved, he flung the door open
“guy I have been
waiting for you” but the man standing in front of him was not his best friend
anymore, he saw a crazy looking man with red eyes and torn clothes at his door
step before he could ask odibo if he was ok he found himself being punched in
the face.
“you bastard..you dirty sneaking bastard.” Nnamdi fell flat on his
arm chair
“Odibo what?..” but he was not allowed to finish as Odibo hit him
with another one straight in the ribs, doubling up in pain he staggered to the
side missing another punch.
“you raped her didn’t you?? You just couldn’t
control yourself.”
“raped who Lolita ?, I swear I didn’t touch her”
Odibo picked
up his glass table and swung at him missing by inches, it was clear this was a
re enactment of their ancestors fight many years ago and his best friend had
come to kill him.
Mary filled with worry for her brother told everything to
her parish priest,
”I am just scared he will do something hurtful to himself”
she cried out, Rev Gabriel had been aware of the family troubles of Mary for a
long time, she had always confided in him and even though her brother had not
taken his advise and come to church for prayers he still felt there was
something else he could do,
“you know what go and call me father Anthony lets
go and pay a visit to your brother.”
That was six hours ago, Mary could not believe how many times
their car had spoilt on the road to Nnamdi’s house, it was if something didn’t
want them to get there on time. When the car refused to start for the fifth
time Mary suggested they spend the night in a hotel since they had endured a lot of stress to get to Nnamdi's house, but father Gabriel insisted..
” No we must go, I have a bad feeling about this,
we need to reach Nnamdi before it is too late.”
Hours later as they entered her
brother’s compound she was surprised by what she saw, someone seemed to be
throwing a street party at the end of the road so the whole street was blocked,
the noise from the party was deafening but her brothers flat door was wide
open, panicking they rushed upstairs to Nnamdi’s flat, bursting in they were
surprised by what they saw, everywhere was scattered, broken glasses and bits
of furniture lay everywhere,
“Nnamdi!!” Mary screamed in fear and that was when
they saw Odibo rushing at them with a broken bottle, Mary screamed and ran out from
fear, Father Anthony was not so lucky , Odibo stabbed him right on the arm
screaming
“ you will all die , you will die.” That was when they saw that Nnamdi he
had locked himself in the room, he suddenly ran out and broke a wooden chair on
Odibo’s back, odibo went out flat.
Nnamdi sat down exhausted, he was bleeding from head to toe,
Odibo had stabbed him with glass, hit him with table ornaments, it was crazy he
thought he was going to die. his friend had been acting like a deranged animal,
his sides were hurting everywhere he was just glad to be alive, they had tied
Odibo to a chair with a rope so that he would not attack them when he regained
consciousness, he remembered the old man’s words
“would your best friend
forgive you anything?”
If not for his sister and the Reverend fathers he had no
doubt Odibo would have killed him,
“your friend is possessed “ Father Gabriel
announced after they had called the ambulance, Nnamdi nodded
“ I know he is and
I know exactly the demon that has possessed him.”
Two weeks after the incident Nnamdi sat down in the church beside
his best friend, they had performed a series of deliverance services on him and
finally Odibo was getting better,
“ND I am really sorry I cant believe I gave
you that ugly wound” Nnamdi stared down
at his arm covered with bandages and shrugged
“it wasn’t you , I know you
didn’t know what you were doing”
“I cannot believe me Odibo got engaged to some
girl I met on the street..never” Thankfully Odibo could not remember anything
else after picking up Lolita from the streets, they were not surprised when
Lolita was nowhere to be found when they got back to Odibo's flat, all her
clothes, perfumes everything was gone. It was as if she never existed. Nnamdi
said his farewell to his friend and headed to his village.
Just like the last time he was there the driver carrying him
almost hit the old man on the road, Agwu came out from nowhere with his stick
on one side and the dwarf on the other..
”Ahh you made it back??’ Nnamdi got
down from the car and knelt down in front of the old man crying
“its ok my son,
you have the egg?” Nnamdi nodded,
“Take it back to the river side, my guide
will show you the way.”
Abandoning his luggage and the driver Nnamdi followed
the dwarf deep into the forest till they got to a thatched hut, The Dwarf pointed but Nnamdi
knew exactly where to drop the egg, he had been to this place so many times in his dreams. There was an empty basket in the middle of
the compound and Nnamdi dropped it there, just then it started raining and for
the first time he saw the dwarf smile, turning around and running, he ran all the way back losing
track of the dwarf along the way, as he ran across the bushes in the pouring
rain Nnamdi had never felt so alive, he thought he heard someone singing deep in
the forest but it was dark and he was in a strange place so he didn’t look
back, if he did he would have seen a sad woman singing by the river side, her
long black hair glistening wet in the rain and her sad eyes following his move,
if he looked back he would have seen the old man staring her down and saying
“the feud has ended, everything is back where it should be now you have to let
his blood go”
If he had looked back he would have seen the dwarf smiling in the
rain and tying a rope round the woman’s neck. But Nnamdi did not look back, the
future awaited for him, the living called his name he wanted to make it back in
time to see his mother for they had received the good news..his mother was alive
and well.
Moses was clear in his instructions to the boys,
“I know
this gold exists because I have seen firsthand what it looks like, go deep in
the forest and look for a boy/man, do not be afraid, bring that egg to me , we
shall never know poverty again.”
Excited three young men went deep into the
forest a huge fortune was waiting for them, they were going to be rich… in
his cave Agwu shook his head with pity, as long as men remained greedy this
fable would never end, the egg glistened in the hut waiting..waiting for the
next man to make its prey.
The end.
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