TOM: (A COSTLY MISTAKE)
I yawned to the bright morning and stretched myself. I heaved a sigh of relief after I noticed how cold the weather had turned out to be. For the past few days the hot weather had been unbearable.
I turned to run my hands through his beards. I usually did that every morning, because tom’s beards were so warm and nice to touch.
When I couldn’t feel anything, I opened my eyes to discover that he wasn’t there. “Tom?” I called out, but there was no reply. My eyes moved to the door of the restroom which was half open; he wasn’t there.
I looked at the wall clock which hung on the wall, facing the bed where I lay. It was 7:25am. It was unlike Tom to be out of bed by such time. He usually worked late into the night and then slept late into the morning.
I went downstairs to check for my lover. With various thoughts like (‘maybe he’s hungry and has gone to eat in the kitchen’….’what if he couldn’t fall asleep just as he complained the other day and is probably pacing round the sitting room’), I descended the stairs and into the the sitting room.
The fist sign that something was wrong was seeing the door, wide open.
First off…I wasn’t angry that he left the house without telling me, or that he woke up quite early. It was the fact that he left the door wide open. What if someone broke into the house? What if people attacked the house without my consent?
I went upstairs to pick up my phone. I would call him to really understand what was going on.
A message popped up on the screen; “it’s Valentine’s Day…today, Vanessa” it was a reminder from my phone. I smiled; it was the long awaited lover’s day.
“Tom wants to spoil it for me” I muttered and quickly dialed his line in rage.
All through the moment his phone rang, I practiced on how to begin the conversation in a more serious and intimidating way.
‘So you left the door wide open so that these evil boys will rape me?!’
‘So you want them to rob us?? Is that why you left the door wide open?’
‘Don’t you value our house anymore? Why would you step out and leave the door wide open??’
‘I’m really angry with you….’
Well he didn’t pick any of his calls.
I rang Jack, his close friend.
“Have you seen Tom today?”
“No, we haven’t spoken since yesterday morning” he said and yawned.
“Sorry for waking you up, I can see you’re still feeling sleepy”
“It’s fine Vanessa, let me send my boys to look for him” he said and hung up.
I began to panic; I felt Tom wasn’t safe. The city were we lived in was so complicated and everyone’s life was at risk on a daily basis. Cases of crimes, rape, drug peddling and many forms of violence surfaced daily. Gotham city wasn’t the best place to live. But what choice had we. Due to the nature of Tom’s Job, it was a more concise and safe place for him to take cover and hide from the prying eyes of the Nigerian police.
I heard some noise outside. It was coming from a crowd which had gathered at a distance from the house where we lived.
“These Gotham boys are at it again” I muttered.
I climbed upstairs to see what was happening. I went to the window of my room to take a glimpse of everything. I saw boys running here and there. Some with guns, some with cutlasses, some with stones, some with vehicle tyres.
For the whole period I’d known Tom, he usually didn’t like doing things with the Gotham boys. He preferred to stay indoors with me.
“Those people are dangerous, they don’t even trust themselves” he would say.
Today got me thinking why he would suddenly leave the house and probably join them in what seemed like a protest on the street. Most of the guys came with their girlfriends who wore skimpy materials and looked so less concerned with whatever was going on. I knew that they only came to show off their bodies; it was a thing accustomed to my gender.
I watched as the crowd seemed to drag a culprit from one part of the road to another. Some stoned him, while the others whipped him with canes.
“Another criminal this morning?” I asked myself. I doubted if Tom would be among such people.
“Where then did he go?” Honestly, I was becoming desperate.
My phone rang suddenly; all I wished for, was for it to be Tom who was calling.
It wasn’t Tom, it was jack instead;
“I learnt that he was captured this morning by the city boys; they said he tried to scam the baron of Gotham street”
“Who? What?”
————————————————————————
I didn’t cut the call, I let the phone fall off my hands, and then I slumped.
“Hello, Vanessa, Vanessa are you there?” Jack asked, but there was no reply.
The police intervened when the Gotham boys were about to set the culprit ablaze.
At the sound of the gunshots, everyone took to their heels. The few who summoned courage to stay back, were shot dead by the blood thirsty bullets.
“We do not condone such in this place!!” One of the officers said.
“You have no right to take the laws into your hands!” Another officer shouted.
Some of the Gotham boys who had weapons, opened fire on the police, but were over powered in few minutes and fell down to the floor lifeless.
The police bundled the culprit into the booth of the car and drove off to the station, leaving the dead bodies on the floor.
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“Why una no kill am ehnnn?!!!” The street baron asked the young men angrily.
They all knelt down in shame, bowing their heads; no one dared to look at his scary face which wore a lot of scars and injuries, inflicted on him many years ago.
While the silence was still prolonged, he picked up a pistol and fired it at the one who knelt directly in front of him. He fell to the floor and breathed his last.
“Now listen to me!” He said.
“No matter where he is, I want him dead, or you all are dead!” He said and dismissed them.
The Gotham boys left and got their weapons ready to storm the station.
—————————————————————————
It was Jack who woke me up. I turned around to look at my environment; I was in the hospital.
“You’ll be fine, you just need to get some rest” he said, holding my hands gently.
I scanned his face and tried to read the expression on it, but I couldn’t. Then I asked.
“What about Tom?”
He turned his face away and would not talk to me.
“Jack” I held him tightly “what about Tom?”.
Tears dropped down his cheeks, but he summoned courage to speak;
“They’re after him, they’ll not rest till he’s dead”
I was silent for a while. I was angry with Tom for messing with a whole baron; someone who knew our every move and could end our both lives in few seconds.
“My boys have gone to rescue him from the station, hopefully they’ll get there in time before the Gotham boys arrive”
I remained speechless and lay hopeless on the bed; sobbing all to myself.
“Your house has been raided” he added another banger.
I was silent for several minutes.
“Tom what have you done?” I muttered.
“I warned him not to play games with the baron, but he wouldn’t listen, now see what it has caused him” Jack said.
————————————————————————
As soon as Jack’s boys arrived the station, they opened fire to the unprepared police who surrendered to them immediately and Tom was released in no time soon.
The boys drove off with Tom, and immediately phoned Jack.
“Wait behind the government house while I bring Vanessa with me; they’ll both leave the city from there” he ordered.
“Yes sir”
Not long after they left; the Gotham boys arrived, and with great fury; as if they had been charged with lightning, they opened fire to everything they could see around; both living and non-living. They didn’t rest till they set the station ablaze.
“Mission accomplished Baron, He’s burning with them” one of the Gotham boys said over the phone to the Baron.
When the Military arrived the scene, it was another exchange of blood thirsty bullets all the way.
—————————————————————————
Inside the moving car, I kissed him and held him tightly; I wept when I saw the scars all over his body. I also noticed that his breathing was a bit unstable. He was indeed aching from his injuries.
“You need to get to the hospital”
“We have to leave this city first” he replied.
My cellphone rang…it was Jack calling.
“Thank you Jack, we’re really grateful; I’m really grateful” I said with tears welling up in my eyes. I couldn’t speak anymore; I immediately hung up the call so that I could cry out my eyes.
Tom held me tight and whispered into my ears;
“I’m sorry Vanessa, I won’t put you through this, again”
“Please don’t. Promise me you won’t” I replied.
Soon, we were in Gold city.
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