Episode 13
“You still haven’t told me why you came back home so early—what are you doing at home in the middle of the semester?” my mum asked for the umpteenth time. I sighed ‘won’t this woman give up already? I’ve been trying to avoid her questions since I arrived home two days ago because I didn’t want to lie to her but if she kept putting pressure on me, I would have no choice but to lie to her. How could I possibly tell her that the deadliest cult on campus was after my life because I sent “one of their dear brothers” to jail? She would definitely die of a heart attack, I was her only child and she was so close to menopause. I had vowed to keep my parents as far away from my problems as possible, I didn’t want them to be dragged into all the commotion in my life. They were innocent people who thought their “innocent” daughter was in school studying Physiotherapy and facing her studies. Unknown to them, their daughter was nothing but a useless girl who let stupid love ruin her life.
“Can’t I come to my father’s house whenever I like? Or am I not welcome here anymore?” I asked feigning sadness “If you don’t want me around, I’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning.” She immediately fell for my cheap antics “No my darling, you know that if it were up to me, you wouldn’t be so far away from me in the first place, I tried several times to convince your father to send you to any of the state universities here in Delta state but he insisted on sending you to a Federal university in Benin—I wish you could stay here with me so I can keep my eyes on my little princess.” I smiled and enveloped her in a warm embrace “I was missing you and dad so much, that’s why I came back.”
“But your exams are starting in about a month’s time, don’t you think you’ll miss out on valuable revision lectures? ” she asked looking worried.
“Trust me mum, you know I can never fail my exams or have you forgotten that your daughter is the next Albert Einstein?” I joked. She laughed heartily “Let’s go and prepare dinner before you crack my aging ribs.”
I followed her to the kitchen and we spent so much time together that evening. For a moment, I forgot about everything that was going on. With Lola’s help, I was able to sneak out of campus, heavily disguised as an old woman to escape the wrath of The blackbirds. I know I couldn’t run forever but I needed to stay alive in order to figure a way out of my predicament. I found it hard to sleep since the day I received the threat letter, most times I slept at 3a.m or even 4a.m. I lived in fear, any noise I heard in my room made my heart jump and whenever I went out to buy something, I trembled at the sight of any suspicious looking male. I sincerely hoped that the black birds would never discover my whereabouts.
I retired to bed after another awful day, it was 2a.m and I had stayed up all night thinking as usual but occasionally glancing at the TV. I woke up the next morning to find an awfully quiet house. I didn’t hear the sound of my dad’s radio and my mum wasn’t battling with her kitchen utensils noisily as she did every morning. I felt a chill run down my spine, I tiptoed out of my room and headed towards my parents room, I opened my mouth in shock when I entered the room. They were both lying still in the pool of their own blood. I saw the inscription “BB” written boldly on the wall with blood. As I was about to scream, I felt a strong grip on my throat. I struggled to free myself but the grip only got tighter. I was just about to breath my last when I woke up panting and sweating profusely.
“It was just a nightmare!” I heaved a sigh of relief “Thank goodness.” I was so terrified, I’ve never had such a terrible nightmare before. I jumped out of bed, it was 4:30a.m. I rushed to my parents room with trembling feet and found both of them sleeping soundly. “Thank God!” I muttered. I went back to my room and switched on my phone. I saw an email from an unknown account, it was a video with a short caption. I read the caption “You can run but your friend can’t!” I was horrified, i quickly opened the video and I received the shock of my life. Lola was tied to a chair and gagged with a masking tape, she was whimpering and I could see tears trickling down her beautiful face.
“Oh God! ” I screamed. Another innocent person had just been dragged into my mess.
