ANGEL OF HOPE 3

(THE END).

I rushed upstairs to my room and packed my belongings. I left the house 5 minutes later with my bags slung over my shoulders and strapped across my back. I took a cab to Victoria Island and I had to wait at her workplace reception for almost 50 minutes before she was able to see me because she was in the bank's board meeting when I got there.

"Hey Mike!" she said smiling as she came smiling towards where I sat "You look as if the sky is about to fall and destroy the whole earth. What's…" She trailed off when she sighted my bags beside me. her expression quickly changed "What's happening?" She asked frightfully.

"Please you just have to let me go. I don't suppose to even see you before I leave because I'll be putting L:izzy's life in danger but I can't stop myself from saying thank you and goodbye to you for changing my life forever. Please take care of Seyi and Reuben and tell them how sorry I am . I need to save Lizzy. Thank you for making us smile and standing as a mum when we were all alone in this world. I hope we'll meet again but till then, I'll never stop thinking about you for a moment…." I took her into a very tight embrace and we both cried. All the while she was patting my back "Mike calm down, what's all this about?" she begged through tears but I shook my head to let her know that I won't tell her.

"I can't tell you" was all I could say as I sobbed violently. After a very long time, she told me to wait for her and she left for her office. She placed a call and came back to the lobby. She gave me her card and told me to get in touch with her wherever I am so that she can be at ease that we are safe. Then she told me to take a very good care of Lizzy and protect her with my life. While we were still talking, sobbing and saying goodbyes, a lady in black suit came in with a white customized nylon bag and gave it to her. The lady left and Miss April gave me the bag. "Take, that's two hundred thousand naira. That's the max I can withdraw from my account for now. Any other amount will involve paper works and that may be dangerous to Lizzy's safety. I'll send you more once you get back in touch with me and let me know where you are"

"Thank you…" I cried louder.

When I got to the address that was indicated in the letter, I only saw an old house that was deserted. I went inside and hollered good morning but there was no response. I walked through the narrow passage to the backyard then I saw an uncompleted building afar off. Two giants who looked like King Kong in that movie were in the house and Lizzy was in front of them, gagged and blindfolded. I broke into a run and got to them as fast as I could.

"Stand back!" One of them commanded huskily. There was something about his voice that reminded of the rumbles of thunder during a destructive downpour. I froze in my tracks. I was about to ungagged and loose the blindfold when. "Now step back a great deal if you don't want me to cut off your forefinger." The man said. "Now come here" they said and I drew slowly closer to them. They smelled very foul – full of alcohol and what scented like unwashed bodies of several weeks. I wanted to retch and vomit but this may cost me my life and my little sis too so I suppressed my disgust and kept the feelings to myself and tired very hard not to puke. They took the money Miss. April gave me and the card that she gave me as well.

"We strictly warned you not to tell anyone, especially her but you told her and defied our sacred order. No sinner shall go unpunished so your sister will pay the price for your disobedience"

"Please don't hurt her!" I pleaded as one of them held me from behind while the other one began booting Lizzy whose hands were tied, mouth gagged and eyes blindfolded. She fell flat on the floor on her back and lay in a fatal position but the giant didn't stop the assault. All the while, I was wailing and struggling to be free but the giant's grip was so tight that all my twisting efforts didn't even shake him. When the other giant was done, the one holding me let go and I ran to where Lizzy lay on the floor. I knelt down beside her and reached for the blindfold and the gag, I removed both ad she gasped convulsively for breath and an anguish cries escaped her throat in quick and epileptic bursts. I was still kneeling over her, resuscitating her when I was hit on the head from behind with a heavy stick. I fell down on her and darkness fell.

When I woke up, she has passed out. She was cold and lifeless. I scrambled up to my feet and looked feverishly for help around but nobody was there except the two giants. They sat some distance away from where we were on the floor, smoking and drinking alcohol. I ran to them and begged them to her mew but they didn't steer from their places. I heaved my sister onto my shoulders and ran to the nearest hospital.

It was hard to locate any hospital at the area so I had to flag down a motorcyclist and told him to get me to the nearest hospital. We found one after moving around for 25 minutes. I gave her to the nurses and bolted from the hospital. The nurses must have thought that I've dropped her and wanted to run away and never to come back because they ran after me and were shouting for help that people should stop me but nobody did. I went back to the house, packed all my things from the floor and was about to leave when the kidnappers called me back. I dared not ignore them or I would be in a bigger jam. They gave me fifty thousand naira out of the money they collected from me and gave me strict warning that I must not stay anywhere in Lagos State or Ogun State or Oyo and Osun State. They said apart from those, I can live anywhere else in Nigeria. They said they have contacts in those states and that they would fish me out in a matter of weeks if I live in any of those. I said I'll obey their instruction and left the place.

Five days later, Lizzy was discharged after we've already spent twenty thousand naira naira out of the money on bills, drugs and foods. That day we left Lagos and boarded a bus to Ondo State. There were a lot of differences between Lagos and the state. The quietness of the environment sharply contrasted with the buzzing Lagos hum. I found a cheap hotel in a street that charged 300 naira per night and I booked for a week, thinking that at the end of the week, we'll be able to secure an accommodation.

Two months after our deportation from Lagos state, we settled down in Ondo State's capital city- Akure and got a room in a slummy area (because of the amount of money we had left. ). When the problem of accommodation had been solved, I enrolled her at a public primary school in the area and I began teaching in the same street in a private primary school that pays 5000 naira to SSCE holders.

The New Dawn.

While I was still battling with the accommodation problems, JAMB result came out. I've already given up all thoughts of pursuing higher education since I've been separated from Miss April who was the source of my finances. I scored 366- the highest score ever since the examination began in 1976. I didn't even know that I was the highest scorer until the result was sent to my phone and that I was to report at the nearest JAMB office with my JAMB slip.

When I got there, I was photographed and interviewed on how I passed the exam especially when 90% of the candidates that sat for the same exam scored below 200. I told the people there that I had all the books I needed then and that I was free from thinking about anything and that I prayed. These answers seemed to make the people happy so there was a round of applause then I was given my prize for coming first which includes a full scholarship to any public Nigerian University, a sum of two hundred thousand naira and an opportunity to publish a book on how I succeeded (If I had writing talent) and I did. In the book, I narrated the story of my life. How I began well and ended up very badly in my senior classes at secondary school. That book that I wrote is the one you are reading now.

I was at home two weeks after JAMB's interview, working seriously on this book in order to meet JAMB's deadline. Lizzy was outside, playing with the landlady's daughter who was her age mate when someone knocked at the door. I thought it was one of our co—tenants because they sometimes use to disturb someone at crucial times and that particular time was very crucial "Yes who it?" I snapped angrily. Instead of replying, the knocker simply opened the door and came in.

It was Miss April!

I almost ran mad with joy seeing her standing there. It's been almost a year since I saw her last. I rose up slowly from the floor, my heart beating wildly in my chest and I took three tentative steps towards her. I took her hands in mine and felt their softness and warmth.

"Is this really you?" I asked unbelievably.

She wanted to speak but her voice was teary. She choked back the tear and nodded her head, unable to find her voice.

No matter how much you've tried to hide your feelings or suppress it, loved will one day push you to the edge and make you misbehave and that was what happened. I took her in my arms and crushed my mouth against hers. For a very long time, I've been desiring her so much that whenever I couldn't see her, I used to miss her so much that it hurts but I've been suppressing that feeling because of many reasons. One, she was engaged to Uncle Nat and should I fool around with her and she tells him, they might be the beginning of my end. Two, she was 2 years older than I was then. She was a graduate of second degree with her Ph.D. in view while I was just a JAMBITE. It'll take me almost 10 years to achieve all she had achieved academically. Three, she was financially blessed more than I could ever dream of being in the next 30 or 40 years. So with all these, I used to think that what I felt for her was just a normal crush for her beauty and that it's because she used to help me in trying times and that because we've seen much of each other for the past year so it made the feelings stronger.

I don't know how long it lasted but the kiss was the best in my life. You know when someone ask you for your most memorable moment, that kiss was one of my most memorable moments. All the while I was expecting her to restrain me or pull away from the kiss but what I got was open admission. She held me tightly and yielded totally to me and we rendezvous in a blazing desire as we kissed as if if stopped, we will never be able to do it EVER again. We kissed with burning passion and each of us was reluctant to stop it. When we finally pulled apart, we were both still unsatisfied and gasping for breath.

"I am so sorry…" I stammered "I…I…it was a mis…" I began to apologize but couldn't find the right words. She scoffed.

"Why are you? I thought you've been having this feeling all along and what happened between us now is just a flunk?" she asked, her expression changed immediately.

"NO! all I feel for you is true. I have a crush on you alright but that can never be. You are 2 years older than I am, a second degree holder and affluent. You have everything that I don't have and you've done what will take me over 10 years to do- if ever I have the means to achieve them" I said.

She looked at me for a very long time, searching my eyes to fish out the lies that I might be locking inside my heart but I was plain Jane, I had nothing to hide.

"Now tell me in one sentence what you feel for me" She said seriously "Because I don't understand you at all"

"Okay. If I say it, won't you be mad at me? Maybe walk away from me forever and never look back?"

"It depends on what you say. If you say the wrong thing then I'll be gone" She said seriously. God she was so beautiful even when she was angry, sad, furious or serious or anytime!

"I love you!" I sputtered "that's how I feel and I can't hide it any longer. I don't care if you think that I'm weird or harm me or do anything to me. I don't expect to be loved by you in return but that's what I feel for you"

All the while when I was speaking she was shaking her head.

"Yes. It's weird though. It's weird that you say you love me and I'm crazily in love with you too. Maybe Nat was right all along. We shouldn't have been this close, each moment we spend together inflames our passion for each other. My question now Michael is this; are you as deeply in love with me as I am with you?"

I was about to respond when Lizzy busted into the room. At first, she didn't see her but when she saw her, she jumped at her and wrapped her arms tightly around her neck. April held her as harder as her strength could go. I left the two of them and decided to cool off my head. To sort out my life and to wake up if I had been dreaming about what happened between me and her the past five minutes. To know if I was ready to spend the rest of my life with April despite all the odds against us. I took a short walk to the end of the street then I saw him.

Mr. or Uncle Nat parked his car across from the street where I was and was leaning against the vehicle with his arms crossed on his chest. We both stared at each other for long moments without breaking the connection. All the while, vehicles and passersby were passing on the road that separated us. After a very long time, he signaled to me to come to him but I was scared of him. What if he attacks and assaults me again? I deliberated upon this again and again then I decided to give him the last chance. Besides, he wouldn't dare attack me in the open street and in the broad daylight. I crossed the road and went up to him. I bowed slightly when i got to where he was, afraid of being jumped at.

"Good evening–sir" I added the 'sir' as an afterthought.

"Can we talk, Mike?" he asked coolly.

"Yes" I replied uneasily.

"Alright then, get in the car and let's go for a ride". He said and it took me another couple of minutes to get in in the car. After he had promised and sworn not to hurt me in anyway. We drove the streets of Oja-Oba in Akure till we reached a beer joint. He parked in front of the bar and told me to follow him. When we've settled down and been served beer and pepper soup, he began to talk.

"What's between you and April?" he asked, looking steadily at my every move.

"Nothing" I lied glibly. The lie was so obvious that you could touch it with bare hands.

"That's crap. Open it up. Tell me" He demanded and I began to fear him again but I didn't say anything again. He continued "OK let me make it simple for you; you are in love with her right? You like her and you wish she could be your gf? Is that not so? Fine. Is she in love with you too?" He asked, touching the sore point.

I became defensive. "Nooooo!" I said, a little too loudly. He relaxed back on his chair and looked at me the way a pathologist will look at strange bacteria. His eyes were piercing and burning into me. I looked away. All the while my heart was beating and racing wildly in my chest.

"She is in love with you" He said as if pondering that sentence but I didn't say anything. A silence that ensued after that was threatening and formidable. Neither of us touched our drinks nor spoke. He was looking murderously at me and I was looking prayerfully at the ground. Suddenly he busted into a wild laughter. It was dry and humorless. "It's so funny that I who has never been beaten on anything before have just been floored by a poor, insignificant, unsophisticated, ugly and a lowlife like you. It's just so funny!" He said then the laughter stopped abruptly as it started and he leaned over table between us. I almost melt in my chair because of the expression on his face. He looked as if he wanted to tear me to pieces but he didn't touch me.

"Listen dude," He said his voice barely above whispers but it slices through the air like a cold steel slicing through a slab of meat "I don't like rivals and I will do anything to crush anyone that is silly enough to rise up against me on anything. You've just gotten yourself into the most dangerous situation you'll ever find yourself in life. I'll overlook all the pains and embarrassment you've caused me if you'll back off and disappear into thin air. I'll travel you out of this country into any country of your choice apart from USA because I don't want you to run into her or any of her family members there. I'll give you enough money to make you comfortable for the rest of your life BUT if you refuse, you'll put your life and your siblings' lives in danger. I know where the other two are and it won't take long at all before I deal with them. Tell me, does this stupid feeling you have for her worth the lives of your sibs combined together? I think I have been fair and generous enough. Do you agree?"

I didn't answer. He asked me one more time but I remained mute. Then he stood up, opening his blazers to reveal a pistol hidden under his belt.

"I'll take your silence as no. between us the war just began" with that he walked away and got behind his wheel and drove off. Thirty minutes after he had gone, I still remained on my seat, heart pounding madly in my chest and I looked vacantly at the seat where he had sat as if he was still there, sitting across from me. I rose up slowly and made my way out of the bar back home.

"It's Mike, he is back Aunty!' Lizzy shouted as I pushed open the door into our room. I was too dazed by Mr. Nat's threat to notice the brain numbing and mind blowing aroma of food April was cooking in a corner of the room that serves as the kitchen. She looked as if she'd been living there all her life. I felt like going up behind her and taking her in my arms but I resisted the urge. Instead I just pecked her on the cheek and fell heavily on the bed, no chair in the room.

After dinner, we watched a movie on her laptop and Lizzy fell asleep in the middle of the movie, leaving us. We've watched the movie together at her place but there was something about that movie that relates to us and I was the one that insisted on watching it again. After the movie, we sat down and talked about the movie- especially the end of the movie where Jack laid down his life to save Rose. We also talked about the book I was writing for JAMB (this book) and we wrote few pages together. She told me that she found us by reading the newspaper and seeing my picture on the front page and all the interviews and award. She said she made enquires till she got my address the previous day and travelled down to Ondo sate. Somewhere in the middle of our discussion, our minds wandered away from it and united as one as we inched closer to each other and made love.

At first, we were awkward. We made love tentatively as if we were being watched but as it grew intense, we lost ourselves in the ecstasy.

We were woken up the next day by a knock from a co-tenant. When the co-tenant had gone, we woke Lizzy and we said our prayers. After the prayer, she began tidying up the room and I took the opportunity to jog. I seldom jog but finding me idle was the perfect motivation I needed to jog and to put my life on the right track.

When I came back in an hour later, Lizzy had gone out to lesson so only April was left. I quickly showered and came back in to the sumptuous jollof rice whose aroma could be perceived miles away from the house. While I was eating, I noticed that she was strangely calm and quiet. Naturally, April was the chatty type. She likes talking even when she was reading so it didn't take me long to notice the change.

"What's wrong?" I asked, moving close to her on the bed.

"Hmmm…..nothing" She said "I've just been thinking about yesterday-about us"

"I know, I've been thinking about us too but do you want us to talk about it?"

"I don't know but sooner or later we have to do it so why not now?"

"Okay" I said and pushed the plate aside, leaving most of the food uneaten.

"Uh, uh" she said "Finish your food. It can wait…."

"No, the food can wait instead. So tell me, what have you been thinking about us?"

"Does it make sense that we do this…..as in, have a relationship?"

"Why not?" I asked hotly "You love me madly and I love you back same way, what's there to be worried about? Though I may not have money to buy you the most beautiful things and take you round the world today but someday, I swear and promise you with my life I will do all these and more. Just take me as I am now and let's be grateful for what we have. Or are you reluctant because of my financial status?"

She discarded the question with the wave of her hand "That's nothing. Money is a prostitute, it sleeps wherever it pleases. What I am really worried about is our age difference" "Age is just a set of meaningless numbers devised by humans. In the long run, it doesn't really make sense who is older or younger. What matters is love and we already have that in abundance"

"Your arguments are reasonable and logical but not practicable" she said

"How so?"

"Well, you are a guy and I am a lady. Let's look beyond now and think about the future; women age faster than men. What if in the next twenty or thirty years I look too old such that I lost all my beauty and qualities, did you know that even by then you would still look almost like you do now? Then it would be too late for me to start all over again, looking for whom to marry but you definitely would have a bevy of ladies at your beck and call…."

I busted into fits of uncontrollable laughter.

"What's funny, this isn't a laughing matter" she said seriously.

'I know but I can't just stop laughing all the same" I said. "Look at you, what worries me is nothing like that. I am more concerned about Uncle Nat and his threats. If he could send kidnappers to us in the first place, who knows how far he would go again?" I asked seriously "That is my concern and if not for that, I would have taken you to a priest right now and begged to be joined together with you for the rest of my life"

I took her face in my palms and kissed her salty tears.

"Don't you get it; I can't live without you. There is a reason why fate crossed our paths in life together; it's been basically for this. We are destined to be together. Uncle Nat was just a factor in this fateful game. And nothing- not he, age, disease or death can separate us. Each moment out of your presence is like moments spent without air." I said and kissed her fully on the lips, my tongue traversing the deep corners of her mouth.

She tasted heavenly and I felt myself hardened. She returned the kiss with equal fervor.

"I love you too. O God, I wish I could show you how much it hurts my heart the love I have for you. I can't lie without you and the thought of spending the rest of my life without you in it is like a death sentence" She said "Why does it hurt when you are madly in love with someone? Why does my heart beat faster at the slightest touch from you? Have you casted a spell on me?"

"I wish" I said honestly "I honestly wish I have a spell that could bind you and me together forever"

"Me too" she withdrew from the kiss, stood up from the bed and began to pace the room. "My greatest fear is that we might not be destined to live together. I have this horrible feeling that something will eventually go wrong. Love that is as strong and powerful as ours hardly ever lasts for long. Look at Romeo and Juliet, Anthony and Cleopatra, Jack and Rose….."

"Please stop" I said "Our fate could be different. God is the writer of this story and HE is not a sadist, he would end our story differently from those that you are mentioning. Besides, we still have a very long way in dealing with fates and destinies. Let's enjoy this moment before it's gone"

We began to kiss and undress but we stopped and quickly pulled apart as Lizzy busted into the room.

We busted into laughter at this untimely and unfortunate intrusion.

A couple of days later, I cancelled my tenancy in the house and we all travelled back to Lagos. To start a new life there against all odds.

When I got to Lagos, I went to Abuja that same week to write my Post UTME in the University of Abuja then I took a flight back-first class to Lagos that same day. Life resumed as it did before and the following week, she resumed her work at the bank but I remained at home, expecting the post UTME result to come out.

A week after our arrival in Lagos, her mum called and told us that all preparations to make Lizzy travel to the USA were ready during a video call.

"Michael, are you and April sure that you don't want to come to the US too?" she asked on the night that Lizzy was to travel, during a conference phone call.

"No ma" I said unregretfully. A year back, I would have given anything in the world to be offered such opportunity but now, it doesn't really mean anything to me again "I think we'll stay here together"

"No problem" she consented "But I'm concerned about Nathaniel. I've called him several times to talk to him about you two but he wouldn't pick my calls and I'm very sure that he is very mad at what happened"

"Mum, don't worry yourself about it; he would get over it with time" April assured.

"I hope so and I don't want to experience any more childish dramas from him because I won't tolerate any nonsense again…"

"Mum, don't worry, it would hurt anyone and it's hard to let go but eventually he would be okay"

"Good to hear" her mum said.

"We have booked the ticket for the first flight tomorrow so she should be in the US by 12 noon." I said with nostalgic, I was missing Lizzy already.

"Okay. Reuben and Seyi are here too, they want to talk to you"

Seyi and Reuben's smiling faces appeared on the screen.

"Hi!" they chorused excitedly.

"Hey, yo kiddies, how you?!" I hollered excitedly, "How you two holding forth over there? Look at you guys, so exuberance!"

They busted into laughter.

"Where's Liz" Seyi asked.

"In her room, sleeping"

"Awwwn" they both said, disappointed but they perked up again and began to talk to Miss April. Their conversation was so long that I finally excused myself and went to bed because I had to wake up early to drive Lizzy to the airport so she wouldn't miss her flight.

A week later and two weeks after writing my Post UTME in the University, I was finally offered admission to study Law in the school. The news came through my email one afternoon while I was at home, writing. Finally I could do what had seemed impossible to me all these years. Though Rose (my ex-girlfriend) had graduated from the same school a year back as a lawyer. Miss April was behind herself with joy when she came home in the evening and got the news.

"I was actually thinking of it today; I was wondering if you would go to a private Uni instead of waiting endlessly for admission to come through in a public school but thank God, our prayer has been answered" she said as she flopped down on the couch beside me, making the couch to squirm. I lifted my legs off the floor and placed them on her laps and she began to absent-mindedly fiddle with my toes.

"What would you eat?"

"Anything you give me" she said.

"Okay, I made a delicacy, let me set the table for us"

"We could eat it here instead of the dining room. What's it by the way?" she suggested.

"Amala and egusi, your favourite" I said with lots of smiles like a mischievous monkey.

"Wawwu! Let me go and check it out" she said and jumped off the couch.

"Wait right here, I'll….."

"If I hear, let's see this together!"

A week later, we both travelled to Abuja for registration and paying for the hostel where I would stay. Though the hostel costs much more than I was comfortable with but she insisted that I should take it, stating that comfortability should first be considered before considering money. I was dumbfounded but grateful for all her efforts.

The registration and packing took almost ten hours and we finally ended everything by six PM after all my things had been moved to my hostel.

"Whew!" She whooped. "Thank God we are finally done since morning." She said pleasantly as she threw herself down on the bed, discarding her shoes in the process. I did the same beside her; doing the same. Both of us were staring at the ceiling but our minds were wandering through the silence that ensued after that.

"What now?" she asked silently after several minutes of silence.

"Like, what are we doing next tonight after all the stress of the day?" I teased.

"O God!" She said "Don't be a bore, answer my question. What now after all these. Now you are in school and I will be going back to Lagos. For some time, we might not see each other but is that the end of…. EVERYTHING?" she despaired.

I couldn't respond out rightly cuz I didn't know what to say. I had been very busy throughout the whole day that I haven't thought about it for once but before then I had been thinking a lot about it.

"Why are you so silent?" she asked when I didn't say anything.

"Nothing, I'm thinking about this-about us" I said. "After now is something I'd rather not talk about because I have…." "I'm lost too" she admitted.

"Maybe we should let things sort themselves out?"

"Yeah but it doesn't look good. What if in the end, we don't end up together?" she quipped.

"That's impossible" I said seriously "Why would you even think of that?"

"Because this is reality; not some kind of dreams. Look at you, you are already in school, brilliant, ambitious and handsome, it won't take long before you are hooked by one of those girls and what happens to me after that?" Then I understood her perfectly. I howled with laughter at this. So when I was thinking of taking our relationship to another level she was thinking of me with another person and being jealous?

"Don't tell me you are jealous?"

She blushed from her head downward.

"Of course I'm not…..okay, maybe I am but it's not because I am jealous or something and that's why I am asking….."

I rolled on my side and kissed her deeply, cutting her off what she was saying and taking her breath away. She responded with equal fervor and for the next couple of minutes we were tangled together on the bed until I pulled back and dipped my hand secretly into my pocket and extracted a small pouch.

"What's that?" she asked, half dazed from the tumble and tangle and deeply upset that I stopped "And why did you stop?"

"I wanted you to see this" I said and opened the small pouch, a diamond ring gleamed and sparkled, converging all the nearby lights to itself and reflecting in a thousand fragments of different colours. She gasped excitedly like I knew she would. The diamond ring had cost me a fortune but she worth far more than any amount of money I could think off. The diamond had cost me one hundred and twenty five thousand naira.

The previous week, her mum had sent me one thousand US dollars through western Union to "use it to buy some things you would need in the school" as she put it. When converted to naira, the money was two thousand naira short of three hundred thousand. So it was out of this that I used to buy the ring.

"Baby, I want to make a request, will you wait for me please?"

She began to cry and smile at the same time and didn't speak for a very long time but I didn't pressure her. When she could put herself together, she said yes, choking on her tears.

"Yes, she said" I'll wait till you are ready and I promise to stay faithful; to you alone."

Early the following day, she left for the Nnamdi Azikwe airport and I drove her. She cried all the way to the airport but I didn't bother to console her or do anything because I felt the same way she felt too. When I couldn't cope with the silence anymore, I switched on the radio, searching for a station that would be playing a cheerful music but there was none. The first station that came on air was playing Celine Dion's 'Goodbye' so I quickly tuned away to another station but the next one too was playing Charlie Putt's 'See you again'. It was as if all of them have decided to be gloomy so I switched off the radio angrily and contented myself with the impregnable silence.

Out of frustration and for lack of anything to say or do, I switched off the radio again, Celine Dion's "Goodbye" had stopped and it's been replaced with Westlife's 'No Place That Far'. I let the music playing and hummed the lyrics "If I had to go, if I had to run, if I had to swim a hundred rivers and to climb a thousand walls, always know that I will find the way, to get to where you are, there's no place that far...…"

At the airport, we arrived a few minutes before the scheduled flight so we had a couple of minutes on our hands. For those couple of minutes, we stood locked in each other's arms, not minding the people who were passing us by at both sides.

At last, her flight was announced and we drew apart reluctantly.

"I'll be counting the days when this semester would be over and I would set my eyes on you again." She said amid tears.

"I can't wait to see you too, there are lots of things we need to talk about but you have to go now, else you will miss your flight"

I watched with longing as she walked towards the waiting craft. I stood till it took off and flew out of the airport, wishing that she could stay longer. Perhaps till the next day or spend few more hours with me. I walked away to the car park when I couldn't see the aircraft again. Fortunately, there were lots of urgent matters waiting for me when I returned to the hostel so I was kept busy throughout the whole day.

Later in the evening, while I was on bed, I began to wonder why she had not called me since we parted at the airport. I dialed her number but it was switched off. I began to think that probably it was the network. I kept trying the number till I fell asleep. I woke up in the middle of the night in pitch darkness. My bedside clock read 3:02 AM, PHCN must have interrupted the power while I was asleep but that was not why I woke up. It was because of a troubling nightmare that I had. In the dream, she was in a moving train, sitting by the window and waving to me while I kept running after the train to keep her in sight. No matter how fast I run, I couldn't catch up with the train that seemed to be going nowhere but moving very fast. I picked my phone and tried her number again but it was switched off as well. She uses three phones but none of her numbers was reachable. I began to despair.

I placed a call to Janet, her bosom friend and co-worker. April was her maid of honour two years back when she got married. I asked if she had heard f5rom her since she left Abuja but she said no.

"Calm down Mike, she is probably in a place where she couldn't keep her lines on, wait till the day break; you will see that her numbers will go through"

"Well, I hope so but I don't know….thanks anyway, sorry for disturbing you"

"No problem, goodnight"

I tried three more friends but none of them had heard from her after she left Abuja. I tossed restlessly on the bed till the day broke. I sprang out of bed with the first Muezzin call to prayer and threw on a shirt. I left my hostel by 6;12 AM and took a cab to the Airport in. I didn't know why I went there but there was a nagging thought at the darkest corner of my mind that was telling me that the pane4 she took had crashed. My fears were confirmed as I reached the airports gates because a throng of people were already there, weeping, shouting and screaming.

"No, no, God no, pleaser no…" I said as I pushed my way through the crowed to reach the front. A man in his late fifties was standing in the front and addressing the people

"Once again, the aircraft Transatlantic Airlines that took off here yesterday by 8AM had unfortunately crashed on its way to Lagos. Efforts are ongoing to rescue the passengers but many of them have been found dead. Move to the left and go to the West wing, there is an electronic board where passe4ngers and their names and status are displayed…."

I didn't wait any longer, I l3eft the crowed and went to the place he indicated. A large was strategically placed there and it displayed the names of the passe3ngers aboard the ill-fated flight alphabetically. I jumped down the list to S and I found her; she was number 46, Smith April. I felt like fainting and if I was not in the midst of people where our bodies were touching, I would have fallen.

There was nothing else to do. I walked away from the gathering and out of the airport. I walked the thirteen mile distance between the Airport and Asokoro before I stopped under a tree and howled with madness, not caring who was passing by or looking at me. I didn't know how long I stayed there but I fell asleep under the tree and woke up later. By then, the sun was up and high in the sky. A quick glance through my watch showed 3:21 PM. Tears sprang to my eyes again when I saw the watch because it was one of her birthday gifts for my last birthday, including the shirt that I was wearing. The sleep seemed to calm my nerves. I put a call through to some of her closet friends who were around in the country and many of them offered to come out to Abuja. By 6PM, Janet, Chioma and Fatimah were in Abuja and the four of us were already at the airport to fill the forms and inquire about her. While we were waiting to be attended to, I told her friends that i wanted to put a call through to her mother and they all said it was a good idea but I should finds a way of breaking the sad news.

I made the call and told her that April had met with an accident and if she could come over to Nigeria. She asked if the accident was serious but I didn't answer, I pretend as if I couldn't hear her anymore and hung the call. After about two hours, we were driven, alongside the other people who had lost their loved ones in the fatal crash to the FCT hospital morgue. None of her friends could enter the morgue for fear so I went alone to find her body while the friends waited at the reception. I moved from cabinet to cabinet, finding her but her nowhere to be found.

After an hour of endless search, the airport spokesman who followed us to the hospital said that we should check at the emergency unit of the hospital, maybe she was there "But I thought that there no survivor in the crash?"

"Some people survived it, though their conditions are too critical at the moment to raise our hopes. Maybe she would be there if you can't find her here" the man said and spurn away to attend to another family that demanded his attention.

We all trooped to the unit and found her that she was in the theater undergoing a surgical operation. We waited with bated breath at the reception while the door to the theater was locked against no medical personnel. By 6PM, I drove back to the airport to welcome her mom and bring to the hospital. On the way, she tried to know the extent of the accident but I kept hinting at the edges, not daring to tell her exactly what has happened till we reach the hospital.

When we got to the hospital, the operation was still going on. Then we gently broke the news to her mum who didn't utter a word or a sound. We all waited, expecting the outburst we were sure would come but she was so calm about it. There was something in the calm way she took the news that shows how hurt she was by the news. An outburst would have expended some of the pains and agony but holding the grief in is worse; it like sleeping on a bomb that was about to explode; it'll tear the flesh, bones and veins to pieces. I sat on the iron bench beside her and held her hand in mine. She gripped it tightly as if she wanted to crush it as she shut her eyes tight and pressed her lips against the tears and sobs that were threatening to escape.

By 9PM, the first of the doctors came out of the OR and he was trailed by a half dozen of other surgeons and medical practitioners. April was wheeled on a gurney from the OR to the intensive care unit by two orderlies and we followed them into the room. All of us converged on them instantly like a swarm of bees attacking a cube of sugar. We didn't say anything but our silence was louder than words could say "We tried out best but let's hope for the best" he said and walked away. Asked if we could check her and the two nurses in charge said no problem as long as we didn't touch her or anything in the ward.

She was totally covered from head to toe with white bandages save for her face; all other parts of her body were wrapped in bandage.

"She suffered a lot of injuries from the crash. It's a miracle that is she is alive even." One of the nurses said.

"What are the chances of her pulling through this?" her mother asked quietly, with trepidation. "Less than zero point one percent. Even if she pulls through, she might be vegetative all her life…."

"Is there anything we can do increase the chances, money is not a problem?"

"There's none. This is the time to start praying for miracles if you believe in miracles" the nurse said and exited. There was a heavy silence as the door closed softly behind the nurses. We all remained in the room. I persuaded Janet and her friends to go and book an hotel for the night and that the following day, they could come to check on April. They left reluctantly and it remained April's mum and I.

"Won't you too go and sleep now after all the stress you must have pass through in the day?" she asked to break the silence that I ensued.

I shook my head firmly.

"Thank you for all these" she said and quickly looked away from me. She took slow-deliberate steps towards the window and pulled the cotton, looking out at the dark sleeping night. "It must be very hard for you, passing through this after all that you both have been through together"

"Yes it is but I know it is harder for you as a mother to see your beloved daughter in this state. I am sorry, if not for me, she would still active and healthy now and you wouldn't be here in this country right now"

"Don't be silly" she rebuked firmly "Don't you believe in fate and destiny? Whatever that has been destined for someone will surely come to pass and that is the way I see this now. You haven't done anything wrong top bring this, it was preordained"

"I don't think I will be able to live with myself if I lose her, she's all I have" I said miserably and two ripe tears ran down my cheeks before I could pull myself together. We talked deep into the night, both of us sitting at her bedside4, afraid to fall asleep and lose her.

Around 3 AM the following morning, she opened her eyes. I was behind myself with joy. Her mother and I jumped up excitedly made joyful noises. For some moments, she looked vacantly at us but with time, she recognized who we were and her face creased into the smile I knew and admired so much. But our joy was short lived because almost immediately, she had cardiac arrest. We called the doctors in and soon, she was wheeled out of the ICU, back into the operating room.

The doctors came out of the operating room by 5:15AM.

"I'm sorry," the chief surgeon said "We lost her a couple of minutes ago"

"Jesus!" her mother said under her breath. Cried and wished that I was dead, to join her in at the gates of heaven.

THE END.