MY MARRIED GIRLFRIEND
CHAPTER 8
THE END
I hit the water with a huge splash and started sinking. I was losing blood in large amounts and the pain of the gunshots numbed my whole body. I tried to swim but I didn’t have the energy to. I felt life draining away from me. I struggled to stay alive but I couldn’t. Then, I saw my late father’s spirit. He was floating on the river, and he said: “Welcome, son. You fought a good fight.” I knew it was over for me. I closed my eyes and passed out peacefully.
Back in Larisa’s house, she and her husband were involved in a serious verbal onslaught.
“You are nothing but a cheap w***e, Larisa. I didn’t know you were that cheap. I gave you everything.” He shouted.
“And what are you? What kind of man would abandon his family for months at a time, and is busy raising another family out of the country.” Larisa retorted.
“That doesn’t make us the same. I am the boss here. You have to do as I say, and not as I do.” He replied, angrily.
“That’s what you think. I was used to living alone and whatever I did, you caused it.” Larisa replied.
“How did I cause it?”
“Don’t forget that you married me against my will. You used your money to buy my parents over. It was never my wish to marry you.”
“So, you wanted your family to remain in that pigsty where I found you. You wanted to get married to that your lowlife Segun of a boyfriend? Good thing I took care of him?”
“What? You did what?” Larisa asked in disbelief.
“I took care of him. Yes, I killed him. That was the only way I could get rid of any competition.”
Larisa ran towards him and started hitting him.
“You are wicked, Adewale. You are a demon. So, you were the one who killed Segun?”
“Yes, I did. I am a jealous husband and I tolerate no rivals. You have proven to me that you are a fool. So, as soon as you put to bed, I will divorce you and take the babies away.”
“You will do no such thing, Adewale. You will never have my babies.”
“Let’s wait and see.”
I was at the bottom of the river now, hanging to dear life. I didn’t know whether I was dead or alive. I am sure I was somewhere in between. Suddenly, I saw something like a hippopotamus coming towards me. Hippos aren’t carnivorous. However, they are known to be very aggressive and territorial. I knew that was the end of me. I couldn’t fight back, I couldn’t swim. I just laid there, waiting to breath my last. The hippo came and, I don’t know how he did it, but he carried me on its back and started swimming towards the surface. When we got to the shore, he gently dumped me on the shore and swam away.
I don’t know how long I laid on the shore, but when I woke up, I found myself beside a huge roaring fire in a kitchen. Sitting by me was an old, fair-skinned woman and her beautiful daughter with very wild eyes. I tried to wake up but my whole body was numb. I was still in severe pains. I passed out again. I slept all night and only woke up in the morning. When I opened my eyes, I saw just the woman’s daughter. The old woman was nowhere to be found. The fire had been put out and the sun was already shining outside. I managed to sit down, looked at my chest and realized that it had been bandaged.
“How did I get here?” I asked the old woman’s daughter.
“We found you at the riverbank. You were seriously injured and had a high fever. We thought you were dead.”
“Actually, I am surprised I am not. I was shot by some people. They pushed me into the river and left me for dead.”
“Poor you, why would anyone want to kill a handsome man like you?” She said and smiled.
Just then, her mum walked in, looked at me and smiled. She was an old woman, almost eighty but still radiated with beauty. She had the same wild eyes as her daughter.
“You are awake, my son.”
“Yes, mam. Thank you for rescuing me.”
“You should thank your good heart, my son, and not me. If you had a bad and evil heart, you would have died.”
“How do you mean, Mam?” I was confused.
“In this village, the witches and wizards control the river. In their underwater kingdom, they monitor anything that happens above. Whenever a boat capsizes, they rush in to help, sometimes in the form of a hippopotamus and other times in the form of a crocodile. However, they rescue only good people. The bad ones are left to perish. You were seen when you were pushed into the river. That’s why you were rescued.” She explained.
“But Mam, how do they know whether someone has a good heart or an evil heart?”
“When someone is in a live and death situation like you were, you soul begins to come to the reality that you are going to die. So, its starts leaving your body slowly, and during that period, any spiritual force around can communicate with it. That was how they were able to read into your mind and knew you were a good person.” She explained further.
“But I was shot. I was shot twice, both times at close range. I am supposed to be dead or is this the afterlife?” I asked.
“Fortunately for you, it was a flesh wound you had. The bullets didn’t hit any vital organ. They didn’t hit any bone too. So, you will be fine in no time. Now have some rest while I prepare your medicine.” She said and walked away, leaving me with her daughter again.
“Where do you come from?” Her daughter asked as soon as her mum had gone.
“From the city. Have you been to the city before?”
“Yes, I have an aunt who works there, my mum’s younger sister. She works in the hospital. I also have an uncle who is a driver in the city. He is a driver in the same hospital my aunt works. I have stayed in the city for a short while. What is your name?”
“Val.”
“What kind of a name is that? Give me another name.”
“Babalola.”
“Oh dear!! You have the same name as my late dad.”
“Really? I am sorry about the death of your dad.” I spoke.
“Stop being foolish.” She laughed. “Look at how old my mum is. Did you expect my dad to still be alive?”
“It’s alright. What kind of a woman is your mum?” I dared to ask.
“She is the chief of the village female cult. She is very wise and kind. You may call her a witch if you like, but she is very benevolent.” She said, laughing. She was about twenty-four and had cat-like eyes.
I had stayed in the village for about five months now. I was fully healed now and strong. However, I could not go to the city. I was afraid of what would happen to me if and when Mr. Adewale found out I was still alive. I hadn’t had any contact with anyone all that while. I missed Larisa and I wondered what would have happened to her. I wondered if she had put to bed already. I had no phone, and therefore no way to communicate. There was even no network coverage in the village.
Back in the city, Larisa had put to bed. She had given birth to my boys but there was no way I would have known this. She wanted to escape because she didn’t want her husband to get the kids. So, she sought the help of a midwife that was taking care of her. She told the midwife she should help her escape. The midwife was first afraid but after she had explained everything to her, she felt pity and decided to help. At the dead of night, she sought the help of the hospital driver, and they sneaked Larisa and her kids into her car and drove away to a remote village. By morning, they were back to work, and no one had suspected any foul play.
I woke up one morning and Omolara, the old woman’s daughter told me we had some guests. She said a woman and her children were brought here from the city last night. I never in the least suspected that it would be Larisa. You could imagine my shock when I saw Larisa. I ran towards her, and we hugged tightly. There were tears of joy everywhere especially after we had told everyone about our lives and the recent happenings. We now realized that the midwife who had helped her was the old woman’s sister and the driver was her brother. Fate had brought all of us together.
I was introduced to my kids for the first time. Two very beautiful boys. They looked exactly like me, and they were identical, just like me and my twin brother that I also lost in an unfortunate situation. I miss him terribly.
“Why are you here, Larisa?” I asked when we were alone.
“Are you not happy that I am here?”
“My happiness cannot be compared to anything.”
“Adewale, wanted to take the kids away from me and then divorce me. I had to escape.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?” I asked, ignorantly.
“Police?” She laughed. “Adewale is almost above the law. All the country’s top politicians are his friends, including the IG of the police. I wouldn’t have had a dog’s chance in hell. I had to take our kids and escape. Thank God for the midwife and her brother, the driver. Adewale is evil. I suspect he was going to try to kill me in order to avoid any further trouble.”
“How did you marry a man like that? How did you guys meet?” I asked, bewildered.
“Adewale met me in the village when I was still a young girl. Young and beautiful. You may think I am beautiful now but you needed to see me in my twenties. I was the dream of every young man. However, I avoided falling in love until I was above thirty. That was when I fell in love with this handsome young man. Ohh!! You needed to see him. He was about ten years younger than me. He was just in his twenties, but I loved him with everything I got. Fortunately for me, my father and his father were childhood friends and they had made a promise to Ogun that their children would marry each other. However, because of our age differences, they wondered if the promise could be kept.
“As time went by, my family fell into hard times. That was when Adewale showed up and rescued my father. I was forced to marry him in return. Oh! You needed to see how my lover wept when I was given off to marriage because of poverty. Adewale and I moved to the city and I became his wife. But I didn’t stop communicating with my lover. He was my one true love. Soon, he too moved to the city to better his life. Adewale found out, got jealous and insecure, set him up and killed him. His body was found by the river with bullet holes in his chest. They said he had joined an armed robbery gang and they were killed during an operation. I never believed the story. I knew he would never do a thing like that because he was God fearing and had a good upbringing. I mourned him in secret for a long time. It was only recently that Adewale confessed that he was the cause of his death.”
“He is a wicked man. I believe he is really the one who killed him because that was the same way he tried to kill me, shooting me in the chest, and then throwing my body in the river. It’s his execution style. But come to think of it, my twin brother died the exact same way. What was the name of that your lover?”
“His name was Segun.”
“Jesus Christ!! Segun was my brother. He was my twin brother. We were identical twins. I was taken to live with my uncle in the city and hardly ever went to the village again. He was the one who always came to see me in the city. Oh my God!!” I started crying.
“Everything makes sense to me now. The first day I saw you, I thought Segun had come to life again. I wondered who this guy could be that looked exactly like Segun. I fell in love all over again and waited for an opportunity to talk to you, until the day you lost your keys, and we started communicating. Truly, we were meant to be together. I found my Segun again. I have found my Segun in you, Babalola, his twin. Thank you, Lord.” She was shedding tears now. Tears of joy.
Back in the city, Mr. Adewale was spitting fire when he went to the hospital and couldn’t find Larisa and the kids. He ordered the police to lock up everyone who was on duty that night. However, the commissioner of police told him that was impossible. Larisa’s car was missing. That meant Larisa voluntarily left the hospital.
Adewale promised hell to whoever was keeping his wife and the kids. The owner and director of the hospital was his former course mate in the university. They were both cult members and had had a bitter rivalry back in the days. However, they had long made up. Mr. Adewale started suspecting that he was behind Larisa’s disappearance.
He went to his house to confront him, and they had a bitter exchange. Mr. Adewale had been responsible for the death of his girlfriend during a shootout in the university many years ago. He believed that the doctor had decided to pay him back by kidnapping his wife and kids. However, the doctor denied having anything to do with Larisa’s disappearance.
“Don’t push me, Arinze.” He warned as he left the Doctor’s house. “If you don’t produce my wife and kids by tomorrow, you will hear from me.”
“I have told you, Adewale. I don’t have anything to do with this incident. However, since you have resorted to threatening me, you may do your worst.”
Mr. Adewale decided to go back to America. This was the worst trip he had ever made to Africa since he moved abroad. However, he decided to pay one last visit to Dr. Arinze before leaving. Two nights later, he and his men invaded Arinze’s residence, hoping to take him by surprise and kill him. However, Arinze was of course, a former cultist and had anticipated their move. He notified the police and there was shootout between the police and Adewale and his men.
When the police were identifying the bodies in the morning, it was discovered that one of the bodies belonged to Mr. Adewale. He had been riddled in the back by a dying policeman he thought he had killed.
Mr. Adewale’s death was major news in the city. In fact, it was breaking news. Larisa and I learnt of it through our local village radio. None of us mourned him. Instead, we were happy he was gone forever. We started making plans to move to the city so that we could be united with Larisa’s other two female children who were being taken care of by their nannies. The promise made by my father and Larisa’s father had finally been fulfilled but at a bitter cost.
THE END
Twist twist twist and twist at the last minutes anyway marvolous story