HAWA’S RETURN
CHAPTER 7 (Special edition)
THE END
Mama Nerissa was no ordinary businesswoman. She had a shop in the market where she sold provisions and household wares. However, what most people didn’t know was that she used the shop as a cover up. Her real business was the sale of arms. She dealt in all sorts of arms and ammunitions. She had connections in high places of the government. That explained why up until now, she had never been caught. Actually, she had been caught a few times but just a call, just one call had always led to her release each time she had been caught.
Mama Nerissa wasn’t just an arms trafficker; she was also involved in other illegal activities. These included, human trafficking, contraband and many others. However, the most dangerous of all her activities was her involvement in cultism. She was a core member of the Fell Creatures, a very dangerous and deadly cult. The cult and its members helped her to carry out some of her illegal activities and also to silence some of her rivals, either by carrot or by stick.
The Fell Creatures was founded by Mama Nerissa’s husband. He ran the cult for many years until he married Mama Nerissa. Soon after he married Mama Nerissa, she became overzealous and over ambitious and started looking for a means to topple her husband. After many unsuccessful attempts to topple her husband, she decided to take away his life. He poisoned his food and waited for him to die.
The ailing Papa Nerissa on the other hand, realized that his wife was the cause of his demise. He found out that his wife wanted him to die so that she could take over the running of the cult. During the days of Papa Nerissa, the Fell Creatures wasn’t as deadly as it was now under Mama Nerissa, and that was her problem. She wanted to introduce new illegal activities into the cult. Papa Nerissa wanted none of her diabolical new innovations though and that always led to a clash between them.
Papa Nerissa had founded the cult in order to help its members. There were a few illegal activities here and there no doubt about that. However, it was nothing compared to what Mama Nerissa had now turned it into. When he found out that he was going to die, and that his impending death had been caused by his wife, he decided to frustrate her efforts. He decreed, in line with the code of conduct of the cult that, his wife Mama Nerissa would not be his successor.
According to the rules and regulations and the laws binding the cult, a female would only be allowed to become leader of the cult after she had reached twenty-two years and she must be a virgin at that time. She could get married later but she must be a virgin at the time she would be made leader. That section of the constitution immediately disqualified Mama Nerissa. However, since her daughter, Nerissa was not up to twenty-two years, Mama Nerissa was allowed to be a caretaker leader. She was allowed to hold the position in trust until her daughter reached the required age.
During her reign as caretaker leader, she was diabolic. She introduced many bad things into the cult. Things like kidnappings, robberies, money laundering, assassinations and others, became regular activities of the cult. There was a reign of terror during her tenure as she ruled with an iron fist, while waiting for her daughter to take over. As much as she hated the fact that her daughter would soon take over from her, she was at least consoled by the fact that the leadership would remain in her family.
However, her plans were seriously thwarted by me. I had taken her daughter’s virginity, which meant that she was no longer eligible for the post of leadership of the Fell Creatures. Mama Nerissa was greatly angered and terribly vexed when she learned that her daughter had lost her virginity to me. You might wonder how she came about knowing that her daughter had lost her virginity and I was responsible. I will explain it to you.
You might remember the first day I went to Mama Nerissa’s shop to buy; the day I met Nerissa. You might also remember that I was behaving strangely on that day because I had fallen in love with Nerissa and wanted to take her number. Mama Nerissa instead thought I was a policeman and had come to secretly investigate her. So, she excused herself and lied that she was going to get something from the warehouse. She wasn’t going to any warehouse. She instead went and called some of her guys and asked them to hang around until I was ready to leave. When I left her shop, I was followed until I got home. For months, the guys monitored me and gave feedback to Mama Nerissa.
When Nerissa spent the night in my house the day her mum travelled, they were aware and told Mama Nerissa. When she got back, she questioned Nerissa about what happened, and she confessed that we had s*x that night and that her virginity was gone. Mama Nerissa was deeply aggrieved. She was inconsolable for many days because she knew that was the end of her family’s rule over the Fell Creatures. She decided that she was going to kill me for ruining her daughter’s chances of becoming the next leader of her cult.
The guy who escaped from Hawa and I that night of the shootout was the one who begged her to spare me. He advised her instead to use her powers as caretaker leader to change the constitution and remove the virginity clause so that her daughter could still become leader when the time was right. She agreed to do that. She called the majority of the members, bribed them, intimidated some and the virginity clause was removed. With the virginity clause now gone, Nerissa once more became eligible for leadership.
Mama Nerissa, however, was still angry with me. She made a silent decision that she would only spare me if I remained faithful to her daughter. However, you know what happened between Hawa and me. I tried to hide it but the guys who were watching and monitoring me told her about it. She called Nerissa and told her everything. She promised to deal with me, but Nerissa begged her not to. She told her mum that I might have fallen into that trap because for a long while, she couldn’t give me what I wanted because she was still a virgin. She begged her mum to let me be and that she would handle things her own way.
Her mum grudgingly agreed but decided that someone had to pay for my sins. Hence, she decided to attack Hawa. Fearing that she might recognize her cult members, she decided to use random guys to attack her. The plan was to defile her and then kill her. However, after the guys had defiled Hawa, she was saved by one of them who realized that they were from the same part of the country. That was the guy Hawa killed first by drugging his drink and then strangling him. If the guys had carried out Mama Nerissa’s orders to the latter, this story would have ended on that day. Dear reader, I am sure you now understand Nerissa’s involvement in the whole bloodshed. Now let’s get back to recent events.
It was Nerissa’s birthday, so she called me because she wanted us to spend the day together. She was oblivious about all what had been happening. She didn’t even know that my life was in danger. She didn’t even know that I was involved in the shootout that was reported on TV and that claimed four lives in one night. She just wanted to have a good time with me.
“Hi babe. Today is my birthday, my twenty second birthday. My mother said she was busy and won’t be able to throw a party for me on this very day. So, can you come and let us spend the day together? I could come to your place instead. I need a good birthday s*x.” She said excitedly.
“I am sorry, Nerissa baby. I would have really loved to spend the day with you. But as it is, I can’t go in the open in good faith. Some guys are after me. They almost killed me once and they are still on the prowl. I have been keeping a low profile for a while now.”
“Oh! That’s sad and I was relying so much on you. By the way, what have you done? Why are they after you?”
“I don’t know babe. But I think it has something to do with Hawa. You know her house was burnt after some guys defiled her. So, she tried to revenge on them and actually got a number of them. However, the remainder of the guys came after her. I tried to defend her and now the guys are after me too. We got into a shootout with them and some were killed. It’s a very dangerous situation babe.”
Nerissa had learnt that a few members of The Fell Creatures were involved in a firefight with a rival gang, and some lost their lives. She had no idea that it was connected to me or Hawa.
“Be careful baby. That Hawa girl will put you in trouble. I think you should avoid her.” She cautioned.
“That’s what I intend to do, babe, as soon as all these is behind us.”
“Good boy. However, I must see you today, come rain or highwater. Look for a means and meet me at the Presbyterian Primary School field this night. Please try to be there. I miss you so much.”
“Ok babe, I will try.”
That night, around 7:00 PM, I sneaked out of the house and told Hawa that I would be back. She asked me where I was going, and I told her to mind her own business. She shook her head in frustration and let me go. I managed to get to our agreed location and Nerissa was already there waiting for me. She ran towards me and gave me a tight hug as soon as she saw me.
“I am sorry, babe. I won’t take long. I took a great risk coming here.” I whispered.
“It’s okay, babe. I am happy you are here. I am grateful.”
After singing her a hurried happy birthday song, we had a quickie in the standing position. There was no time for preliminaries. So, we finished as soon as we started. After we were done, I kissed her goodbye and left. But before I left, she made me promise that I would call her to let her know that I had got home safely. She insisted that I made the call. She said it was important to her. She had begun to suspect that her mum was behind my troubles and that I was being followed. I promised to call and left.
I hadn’t gone up to a hundred meters when two guys appeared in front of me and surrendered me with their guns. I went for my own gun but they advised me to keep my hands off my gun if I wanted to stay alive. I was kidnapped, my gun taken away from me, blindfolded and taken to a location that was strange to me. When I got there, I was hogtied, and a guard was kept watching over me.
Back in Nerissa’s home, she had waited for my call until she got tired. So, she decided to call my phone and the call was picked by her mum. Afraid, she knew her worst fears had been confirmed. Her mother had kidnapped me. She knew exactly where I was going to be held. So, she got a cab and went there. At that same time, Hawa too had been trying to get me to no avail. She concluded that I had been captured. She got her gun and enough ammunition and left the house.
It was around 9:30 PM now. I was still tied hands and feet and Nerissa’s mum was with me and six other members of her cult, the Fell Creatures, including the guy who had escaped during the shootout. I had been tortured seriously and just when they were going to pull the trigger on me, the door burst open and in came Hawa and Nerissa. Hawa had her gun on Nerissa.
“Let him go.” Hawa demanded. “Or your daughter dies.”
“You will do no such thing, Hawa. You were a member of this cult. You know the rules and you know what it means to pull a gun on a fellow member.” Mama Nerissa shouted.
“Yes, I was a member. But I opted out and you gave me a free pass. I opted out because I was no longer happy with the way things were going. It was because of your wickedness that I opted out. Instead of you to let me go, you sent people after me to destroy me. Why are you this wicked?”
“Fell Creatures is a one-way ticket, Hawa. Once you are in you don’t go out. However, because I took you like my own daughter, I was ready to make an exception but what did you do? You came after me by sleeping with my daughter’s boyfriend, this idiot here who took her virginity. If not for those foolish creatures who didn’t respect my orders, you would long be dead. Good thing they are all dead now, and by your own hands I heard.”
“Let Ike go. He is innocent.”
“He is going nowhere. He started all this trouble. He is going to die just like you.”
At that moment, another member of the Fell Creatures who had been hiding in the shadows appeared behind Hawa, surrendered her and took her gun. She was violently pushed to where I sat. Both of us now waited to be executed. We both knew we were living the last moments of our lives. Mama Hawa had no time to waste.
“Shoot them.” She ordered. “Shoot them both, and when they die, don’t burry them. Leave their bodies to rot.
The guy who had taken Hawa’s gun raised his gun and was about to shoot when Nerissa halted him.
“Stop!!! I order you to stop. Don’t you dare shoot them. Untie both of them and let them go.”
“What are you talking about?” Mama Nerissa asked, furiously. “What right do you have to make such a decision. You are not the leader of this cult.”
“But you are mistaken, Mum. I am the leader. So, stand down.”
“You are not the leader. I am the caretaker leader. You can only become the leader after you turn twenty-two.” She was furious.
“That is true, mum. But you have been so busy that you forgot that today is my birthday; my twenty second birthday. So, I am the new leader. I am so sorry, mum.” She laughed.
“This cannot happen. Shoot them.” She ordered the guy who had taken Hawa’s gun but the guy declined.
“I am sorry, Mam. But what she said is true. She is the new leader now and her order stands. I can’t shoot anyone until she says so. Untie them.” He ordered the other guys to untie us.
As the guys were untying us, Mama Nerissa, realizing that power had just slipped from her hands, became over taken with anger and frustration.
“Fool!!” She cried. “You are a weakling just like your father and that is why I killed him. I will never let this cult pass into the hands of someone like you. Your first minute as leader, and you have started with a bad decision. Hawa and this idiot called Ike deserve to die. They all deserve to die. You all deserve to die.” Mama Nerissa seemed to have gone mad.
“Mama!!” Nerissa shouted. “You killed Daddy?!”
“Yes, I did and you all deserve the same for betraying me.” She spoke. Her face was really transformed now.
She lunged at one of the cultists pulled his gun and was about to fire on her own daughter, but she was too late. The guy who had disarmed Hawa fired three bullets and they all caught her in the chest. She did a little dance of death as the gun dropped from her hand, tried to move but she couldn’t. Her body went limp and she fell on the tiled floor with a loud thud and died.
Two weeks later, after Mama Nerissa had been buried, Nerissa called all the remaining members of the Fell Creatures and told them that she had disbanded the cult. Everyone was now free to go about their own business. She gave everyone huge sums of money from her mother’s coffers and told them to be good citizens henceforth. True to their name, the Fell Creatures had finally fallen.
Hawa told me that she would be leaving the country. She thanked me for everything and apologized for all the trouble she caused me.
“I am very happy to have known you. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, I will never forget you, Ike. I kept my life a secret from you because I love you and I wanted you to be safe. However, fate decreed otherwise. But I thank God that we are all live. Now I want a remembrance of you. I know you have Nerissa; I can’t come between you both. She is going to be your wife someday. But I want a copy of you. I am unsafe now. Make love to me, let me carry your baby and I will be satisfied and contented.”
Hawa and my five years old son now live in Canada. The beautiful, kind but cold-blooded killer, Hawa was now a mother. You can never predict the outcome of life. Nerissa and I are happily married and we have a five years old daughter too. Hawa and I still keep our secret to this day.
THE END
Wow wow wow, what a great story