Chapter 4

Thought of Revenge

"Hope I warned you not to fight but you wouldn’t listen,’’ Richard was blaming Martin in his mind, in his mind alone. "Here you are, humiliated before the juniors. What a shame you’ve brought on yourself?’’

He was walking him towards his hostel---Dormitory B. Richard felt like saying it aloud, but fear would not let him. Like a half-cut snake, Martin has become now. At the slightest provocation, he could vent his aroused venom on him. On the other hand, Martin wanted to tell Richard something but could not. His mouth and face have started swollen up from Adrian’s slaps and punches. From his mud-stained mouth, he was spitting out some pints of salivary mud.

After a brief walk, Martin stopped wearily. He bent down, forming the small letter ‘r’ and exasperatedly waving at Richard

"Go away!’’ Martin bellowed, and Richard shivered in fear. ‘’I can walk myself to his dormitory, or did I tell you I could not? I am not that hurt, so scram!’’

Richard didn’t wait for him to complete his rant before he started walking away from him briskly.

He had even forgotten the warning he rang to Richard’s ear not to separate them. The thought of how he would avenge the humiliation he has suffered in Adrian’s hands was ragging like fire of hell in his mind, covering any other thoughts. For sure, he knew he would definitely revenge in future. A painful revenge! So painful that Adrian would live to remember all his life and affect his football and academics dreams. But he has not fathomed how he would go about it yet.

Meanwhile, in Dormitory-A, Adrian has opened his eyes, looking red after a three-hour nap. He stretched and yawned, but couldn’t yawn freely or loudly as he would on normal day. A silent and painful impulse was traveling round his face and head. But it wasn’t painful enough to make him really feel uncomfortable. So, his mind was ignorant of the pain at that moment. The thought of the fight sprouted in his mind now. Feeling so glad he had conquered, his mouth opened with a tiny smile, slightly revealing his sparkling white and tiny sets of teeth.

"My son, Akanji,’’ his mother had once said after he had run errands for her, "nobody has smiles as bright as yours in the entire world.’’

In another occasions, after he had come the best student in a school exam and was smiling brightly home, she had told him, "your thirty-two teeth were well-arranged by the Creator like unripened white corn seeds on their cob."

These words would send pleasant surges, the kind you have when you sneeze, through his spine anytime he remembered them. And his face would break into sweet smiles or laughter, feeling proud of his teeth.

On the bed, something memorable suddenly sprouted in his mind. He rolled down from his bunk acrobatically. From his school old leather bag sitting atop the wardrobe, he took out his analogue wrist watch and fixed his large eyes on it.

"Eight O’clock!’’ he exclaimed.

It was already dark and there was no power supply. Just like an epileptic child would torment his parents with frequent and unexpected fainting, the college electricity current would go on and off to the agony of the students, who preferred studying at night because of its serene and assimilative nature.

The college depended on dust-taste and brown colored Well water. This had once led to the breakdown of Chicken Pox and Typhoid epidemic in the college. Many students were affected to the extent that the school sickbay’s few workers were handicap to attending to them all. More so, the drugs in the sickbay were not sufficient, even for one-third of the affected students. So, the principal had no option but to call the parents of the sick students to come pick their children to be taken to private hospitals. The private hospital charged heartbreaking treatment bills, but would rendered far better treatments than the Government ones.

Pangs of hunger started biting inside of Adrian’s intestine. He wanted to go to the dining hall but the painful impulse on his face and head started getting worse. Also, he was feeling some kind of boil-like sensation at the spot Martin had kicked him and wished to see it in his hand-mirror. He went to the dormitory pavement may be he could see it clearly. Still, he could not. Darkness was enveloping everywhere quite fast. The college becomes like a cemetery at night. What he could only see were fireflies carrying their lights like students going for ghosting or night studies with their fainted lanterns. The dining hall also served as the night study room or "ghosting" room. And also the common room. Two large, human-size Led Television sets were hanging on wall of the hall to entertain the students when they felt bored or tired of school activities. But Mr. Cowtail who could not share of these believes hardly allow they watch the Tv sets. He believed academics text books and novels and other school works served the same purpose as TV sets. They both were meant to educate, entertained, informed and enlightened, he had argued.

"These juniors, could they have gone to their rooms?’’ Adrian thought aloud. ‘’No, they might still be in the dining hall. "Why Adamu hasn’t returned? I would’ve sent him to the dining hall if he’s here."

He went back into the room; took his hurricane lantern which stood atop of the wardrobe and lit it with matches. With the hand mirror and lantern his in hands, he sank into his bunk bed, to check his cheek again but the lantern’s light was too deemed. He couldn’t see anything clearly. Suddenly, he heard his footsteps near the door, followed by fast and furious bangs on the door! Fear gripped his heart! Has Martin come in company of Taj, well-armed with dangerous weapons more than Jack knives to revenge on his him in a dreaded way? Not so soon! Won’t they even wait till the dust of the fight settle? He wondered and hesitated to open the door, stood panting for fear. He didn’t know what to do. To prepare for another fight was farfetched. He was very tired now, so tired. His body aches, his bone weak.