HAWA’S RETURN
CHAPTER 4
That evening, Hawa and me waited and waited to no avail. The guy didn’t show up. We were becoming disappointed. We thought the guy had good instincts. We thought the guy had suspected that there was an ambush waiting for him and had therefore decided to change his mind at the last minute. By 8:00 PM, we became convinced that he wasn’t going to show up after all. So, we decided to attend to other things.
I went to see a friend while Hawa, as usual, went to her unknown place. I spent about three hours at my friend’s place before coming back home. When I got home, I didn’t see Hawa at home. She had not come back from wherever she went to. It was almost midnight, and she still hadn’t shown up. I was becoming worried. I tried to call her number but remembered that she didn’t have a phone anymore. Her phone had been taken the night she was assaulted.
That night, I didn’t catch any sleep. I thought she had been kidnapped again and maybe killed this time around. Why would Hawa keep putting herself in so much risk every time?
By 4:00 AM, I drifted off to sleep. In my sleep, I dreamt that Hawa had caught all the guys who had assaulted her. She had a machete in her hand, and with the machete, she cut off their privates. After she had killed them, she came to me and told me that I was going to die too because I had decided to have another girlfriend aside her. I tried to beg her but all my cries and pleas fell on deaf ears. She raised the machete, and as she was about to strike me, I woke up from the dream, sweating. I was terribly scared. It was already morning, and my neighbours were already awake.
I got up from bed and opened my door. I looked at Hawa’s door and realized that it was still locked from outside. I went back into my room, locked my door and laid back on the bed. Because I had had very little sleep last night, I drifted off to sleep again. This time, my sleep was a dreamless one.
I woke up a few hours later and went straight to see if Hawa had come back. Her door was still locked from outside. By now, I had become terribly worried. I was beginning to conclude that she had been killed, especially as I heard some women in the compound saying that someone had died last night. I moved close to Mama Kekoi and asked her who died last night, my heart beating fast.
“My son, terrible things are happening in this town these days.”
“What happened, Mama? Who died.”
“I don’t know, but people say he was a popular keke rider.”
“Oh my gosh! What happened to him. How did he die?” I asked, relieved that it was not Hawa.
“They said he was found unresponsive in his bed early this morning. He was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that, my son. Terrible things are happening these days. May his soul RIP.”
“Amen and amen.”
Just as I was about to go back into my room, Mama Eni, another neighbour joined the conversation.
“Have you heard the latest?” She asked Mama Kekoi, excitedly.
“Latest about what again, Mama Eni.” Mama Kekoi asked.
“About the guy who died last night of course, what else?”
“Really, please tell me.” Urged Mama Kekoi.
“They said he went back home with a prostitute last night. No one saw the girl left this morning and no one knows who the girl was.”
“It could be a ghost. This world is dangerous and mysterious.” Mama Kekoi shouted.
“My sister!!” Mama Eni exclaimed. “These young men today, I don’t know what is wrong with them. They cannot control their urges.”
I had heard enough. I went back into my room and started thinking. Could it be that Hawa was the one who had killed him? Was he one of the guys who had been in involved in her assault? There was no way I was able to make any connections because I hadn’t even met the guy. Where was Hawa? What was wrong with her?
I heard a knock on my door.
“Come in.”
The door opened and in came Hawa.
“Good afternoon, Ike.” She said, turned around and walked out of my room. I ran after her calling her name.
“Hawa! Hawa!!” What is wrong with you? Where have you been?” I asked as I followed her into her room.
She was sitting on her bed, her both palms covering her face and sobbing quietly.
“What is the matter, Hawa? You got me scared. Where have you been? Where were you last night? Why didn’t you come back home last night?”
“I killed him, Ike. I took away his life.” She said with no emotions.
“What who did you kill?”
“One of the guys who assaulted me. The one I recognized. The one who was supposed to come and see me last night.”
“Then that’s good news. Bravo!! Hawa. One down, three more to go. This is good news. You should be celebrating. Why are you mourning instead?”
“I have never taken a life before, and now that I have, I feel terribly guilty.”
“But you shouldn’t. He got exactly what he deserved.” I spoke.
“I know, but…”
“Forget it Hawa. In my opinion, you did the right thing. Stop feeling bad.”
“I know, but maybe I should have gone to the police instead.”
“Yes, going to the police seems like a proper thing to do? But then, do you have evidence? The law always asks for evidence. This is Nigeria, my dear. This is not America or Europe. In America, they have a very funny system. Once a man is accused of sexual assault, he is as good as doomed. However, in Nigeria, they will ask for evidence. If you can’t provide evidence, you will lose.”
“Ike, you look to me like a vigilante.”
“I have no trust in the system, I like handling things my own way. If he had shown up last night, I would have given him a fine necktie party. By now, his neck would have been dangling from the end of a rope. Anyway, I want to know how you did it. Please, tell me.”
“When we separated that night, I went to town and met him in front of a club. He took me to club and we danced and drank. He proposed that we go home and I accepted. When we got to his home, the party continued. He started playing very loud music, disturbing the whole neighbourhood. He asked us to dance again. I hated him so much but I decided to play along though I felt disgusted by his very presence. He poured us two glasses of whisky to drink and I drugged his. I put an overdose of sleeping pills that I had with me. As he started getting unconscious, I pulled a knife, grabbed him by the collar and told him to tell me the name of his friends if he valued his life. He complied. As soon as he finished, I strangled him, and he stopped breathing. I will never forget the look of his face as he breathed his last.”
“Good job, Hawa. Now, we have to track down the rest of them and make them pay.” I said, happily.
“Can I ask you a question, Ike?”
“Yes, you can.”
“Why are you so interested in helping me take revenge on those guys? This is my fight and not yours.”
“You are wrong, Hawa. This is our fight. And I will see to it that they meet a disastrous end.”
“Why are you so passionate about it?”
“It’s a long story. Some years ago, while I was still a student, I had this beautiful friend of mine called Chioma. Oh!! You needed to have seen her. She radiated with beauty, and she also had a very kind heart. All the boys in the neighbourhood wanted her but she wouldn’t give them her attention. She was still a virgin and had promised herself that she was going to stay that way until she marries.
“One day, she was coming from the farm with her mother and her other siblings. They all walked in a single file carrying their bags of cassava on their heads. She was the last in the line and she was far behind. From nowhere, six guys jumped out of the bushes and kidnapped her. They were all masked and she couldn’t see their faces. They told her that they gave her the chance to accept them willingly, but she chose the way of pain. For that reason, they were going to have her by force.
“They assaulted her, all six of them. After that, they carried her and dumped her by the side of the road. My friend was devastated. The worst part was that she knew they were guys from her neighbourhood but she couldn’t recognize any of them because of their masks. Hawa, I saw my friend sinking into depression every day until she finally took her life. From that day, I decided that whoever hurts any of my friends would pay dearly for it. I am that kind of person who takes friendship seriously.”
“OMG!! Poor girl. She needed a psychologist. I pity her. For someone who has gone through the same ordeal, I can really feel what she went through. Thank God I have you, Ike. You are my strength and my rock. By the way, were the guys ever caught?”
“They weren’t, but they are all dead now. Chioma’s spirit came back with a vengeance. She was buried with a charm that made her spirit to hunt the guys. One by one, she tracked them down and they all confessed before dying. I still miss my friend.”
“Good, I like the way they ended up. They should all burn in hell.”
That night, Hawa came to my room and told me that she would be going out at night. I didn’t want to ask her where she always went to at night. I knew that someday; time would reveal it. I was hoping that she would come back early. However, by midnight, I gave up and went to sleep.
Around 2:00 AM, I was woken by loud cries from my neighbours. There was serious commotion and pandemonium going on outside, I wondered what could have happened. I got out of bed and dashed outside only to find the whole place crowded. Everyone in the neighbourhood was there. They all had buckets filled with water with them and they were putting out roaring flames form Hawa’s room. Someone had broken into her room and set it on fire. If people hadn’t come out on time, the fire would have crossed to my section, and I would have probably been burnt in my sleep.
The next morning, Hawa came home and met her room burnt. All her belongings had been consumed by fire. She was beyond grief. She sat on a small tool that belonged to a neighbour and wept seriously. When she was done weeping, she came to me and said:
“Goodbye, Ike. My home has been burnt. I now have nowhere to live. I will be going out of town. I know who did it. I know who burnt my house. I am going now but I will be back. They should be prepared for me. They should wait for Hawa’s return.
TO BE CONTINUED…
