______________Part 2 (Cont'd)
Agnes, the girl who had divulged the mysteries behind Aunty Monika's fame and opulence went on to unveil more skeletons in her cupboard. She revealed that she had been a one-time ally to Aunty Monika before their eventual fallout. She further narrated how Aunty Monika who was a drug addict and trafficker had made so much money off the illegal trade.
Her fallout with Aunty Monika had begun when she, out of frustration had told Aunty Monika of her desire to quit their illicit lifestyle and lead a normal life with the little savings she had gathered up so far. This revelation unknown to her had infuriated Aunty Monika and she had secretly orchestrated her downfall. Aunty Monika had feared that she might eventually leak out her affairs someday so she acted smart and right on time. She narrated how they had had a parting party later that day and she passed out, only to wake up in the confines of her cell.
Days turned weeks and weeks became months and the glimmer of hope I ever mustered up evaporated. The chains that held me bound were so strong and gripping that i could barely feel the flesh around my wrist. The only time the chains were off was only when we were served meals, this was to enable us eat. Most times we go days without food or water.
The man in charge of bringing us food was also the cell's warder. I never saw his face because he was always masked, and he never spoke to us either. His job was to bring us food and water, and also to evacuate any girl who had eventually died in the cell. I could recall pleading with him on a number of occasions to set me free but he wouldn't give me audience. He was always strict and very focused.
One day, due to the long absence of food, one of the girls died in the cell. This was nothing new, infact we lost a soul every week. Agnes had discovered it first and called our attention to it. The said girl was one of the longest serving inmates and was also an asthmatic patient. She rarely spoke to anyone and would always sing in her local dialect. I also heard her pray sometimes. Her death meant the girls were now reduced to fourteen, as against the twenty I had met upon my arrival.
Agnes called a meeting with the rest of us and announced an escape ploy. She told us whenever the warder would come to serve us our next meal, we should wait until he had unchained us before calling our attention to the corpse, that way he would try to evacuate the corpse while we seek for an escape unchained. It was a perfect plan, and we hoped it worked out as predicted.
Unfortunately for us, the warder didn't show up soon, infact we waited a bit longer before he eventually came. Now the corpse had began to decompose, and the funk freely possessed the airtight room. Upon his arrival, it was expected he will first evacuate the corpse before serving us our meal but the reverse became the outcome. He unchained us and served us our meal before taking time to move the corpse. The process was an eyesore to behold, and we barely ate watching such horror.
Immediately the corpse had been taken out, we noticed the door was left ajar, perfecting our escape.
"It's time, girls" Agnes announced, ensure you don't get caught!"
"Are you not moving with us?" I demanded
"No, i can't" Agnes snapped "My legs are paralyzed. Just go, and when he returns I will keep him distracted"
Those were the most painful words I had ever heard, and despite our collective plea to get Agnes join us, she remained adamant. We picked ourselves up and painfully set out to our freedom. Our sore feet could barely carry us, our bones too weak to set us in motion. We set out regardless, one by one, across the door and finally up a small ladder right in the open of what looked like a forest. We were being held in an underground cell.
From whence we stood, we could sight the warder in a distance burying the corpse in a grave he had dug not too far from the cell. We set out in the opposite direction unnoticed, but somehow he caught a glimpse of us and gave us a hot chase, we also took to our heels. Some of the girls who couldn't keep up the pace soon tripped and came crashing on the grasses while the rest of us kept ahead even though our feet were extremely weary.
The warder, determined not to lose any one of us pulled out a pistol amidst the chase and aimed at us, what ensured were sporadic gunshots. Some of us were hit by the stray bullets and me, somehow came crashing too amongst the scrubs right into a ditch. Whether i was hit too, I couldn't tell. But i felt life slowing leaving me.
Death? I still couldn't tell.
✍️ Ogbuagu Emmanuel Nsimba
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