THE GREAT ESCAPE

Tolu knocked on the door leading to the living room around noon.

 'Help!' he called out. 'Joseph! Please help!'

We heard footsteps coming toward the door. I looked at Mr. Potter's legs sticking out of the toilet door with the rest of his body hidden behind the toilet door. I looked through the window; the long grasses swayed to the left and to the right as the wind wished, but no soul walked about in the compound. My heart ran wild, beating fast and loud, and my palms felt clammy and shook slightly.

'Hey?' Joseph barked from behind the door. 'What's going on in there?' 

'It's Mr. Potter,' Tolu said. 'He has collapsed in the toilet; he is dying.'

'What?' Joseph said. 'Are you sure? Where is Paul?'

'Paul is with him in the toilet,' Tolu shouted. 'I think he is dying.'

'Paul!' Joseph called out. 'Paul!'

'Come quickly, please,' I said. 'He is dying.'

I looked at the gate once more before I tiptoed to the toilet's door. I skipped over Mr. Potter's chest and entered the toilet and squatted beside him.

I waited.

'I hope this is not a trick?' Joseph shouted. 'Because I will shoot you first and ask questions later. Do you understand?' 

'He is dying,' I shouted, fighting the acrid urine smell in the toilet. 'Help him or he will die.'

'What's wrong with him?' Joseph asked. 'Is he bleeding?'

'No,' I said. 'He just...just collapsed in the toilet. Maybe it's a seizure or a heart attack.'

I heard the key turned in the keyhole. Tolu moved quickly and stood by the toilet door and I came out to join him. The bedroom door swung opened and Joseph's bulk body covered the door. His eyes roamed over the room—looking as suspicious as a wolf's—and his gun pointed forward with the nozzle aimed at us.

'What happened?' he said, moving slowly into the room. 'Is he breathing?'

'I don't know,' I said, my eyes on the gun. 'Maybe he had a stroke or a heart attack, I don't know.'

Joseph's eyes moved between us, searching our faces. He took four steps forward and stopped at an arm's length from us. He looked at Mr. Potter's stationary legs but could not see the rest of his body hidden by the toilet's door. 

'Check if he is breathing,' he said, waving the gun at me.

'I have checked.'

'Check again!' 

I turned into the toilet and bent over Mr. Potter's body, lowering my head to his face. I remained in this position for about three to five seconds and raised my head, turning. 'He is not breathing,' I said. 'I don't think he is alive.'

'Are you sure?' Joseph asked, coming closer. 'Check his pulse. Christ, all these white people are as fragile as glass. What have we done to him that he is already dead?'

I did what he said.

'No, pulse,' I said standing up. 'I can't feel anything. But check him yourself.'

Joseph's hesitated; his eyes looked as suspicious as a hyena's. He took another step forward. 'Get out of the way,' he ordered. I came out of the toilet and moved away from the door. 'Both of you move to the window. Try nothing; I'll shot first and asked what you wanted to do later.'

Tolu and I stood by the window, facing him. 

'Is that smell coming from him?' Joseph asked. 

'Part of it is pee,' I answered. 'Maybe the other part is from him.'

Joseph looked at us one more time and then he stepped into the toilet. I held my breath. I could feel the vein on my neck rising and falling with tremendous speed and my palms oozed sweat like the skin of a toad.

Joseph stepped out of the toilet in a flash, with the gun pointing at us, and walked briskly to the bedroom door. He inserted the key into the door and twisted it twice. He pulled the key out and dropped it into his hip pocket. He came back and walked back to the toilet's door, stepped over Mr. Potter's body and squatted.

In a moment now, I thought. In a moment—

'I got it!' Mr. Potter's voice blared from the toilet and Tolu and lurched toward the toilet. I got into the toilet ahead of Tolu and saw Joseph struggling over Mr. Potter. I punched him on the back with all the strength I could muster, and he fell flat over Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter's hands stretched backward, going under the toilet seat, dragging the gun away Joseph's clutching hands.

'I will kill all of you,' Joseph grunted. 'I will kill—'

I hit him again, cutting his sentence short. He grunted again in pain.

'Get him away,' Mr. Potter cried. 'He will get the gun; he will get the gun.'

I grabbed Joseph's collar and yanked him backward, the shirt cutting into his neck and windpipe. He squealed like a pig and swung his right hand backward. It slammed into my groins. A monstrous pain shot through my body and l let go of the collar and grabbed my stomach, groaning. He fell back on Mr. Potter who was trying to get up with one hand while the other handheld the gun under the toilet bowl. 

Where the hell is Tolu, I thought.

'He will get the gun,' Mr. Potter cried again. 'Pull him away.'

'Give me the gun,' Joseph croaked, heaving. 'I will kill all of you!'

His hand slammed into Mr. Potter's stomach and Mr. Potter screamed. I heard the sound of the gun hitting the floor, falling from Mr. Potter's hand. I bend forward again and circled my right arm around Joseph's neck just about the time his fingers reached the butt of the gun. I yanked backward, pulled his hand away from the gun, and we fell on Mr. Potter's legs. Joseph's breath came out in loud grunts, like the sound of a man choking under water. His hands struck backward again, clawing at my face and throat. I jerked my head to the left and to the right in quick movements, avoiding his hands. 

'Tolu, get the gun!' I cried. My breath came in rapid gasps, and I squeezed my arm around his neck. 'Get the gun for God's sake.'

Mr. Potter rose to a sitting position, but Joseph's left leg broke out from under and connected with his chest. Mr. Potter gasped and fell flat on his back again. The leg swung again, lashing at Mr. Potter's face. I squeezed my arm tighter and Joseph grunted. His fingers lashed toward my face again, clawing, grabbing and yanking.

Where is Tolu?

'Halt it,' Tolu said, his voice loud and threatening. 'Halt it or I blow your chest open.'

I looked up and saw Tolu pointing the gun at Joseph's chest. Joseph stopped struggling at once and I felt the warm sweat on his face dripped on the side of my arm. I didn't let his neck go.

'Get up, Paul,' Tolu said. His voice was harsh. 'Stay where you are, or I'll kill you.' 

'Let Mr. Potter get up first,' I said, panting, keeping my grip firm around Joseph's neck. 

Mr. Potter shoved Joseph's leg away and struggled up. He stood up at last and staggered a bit before his hands found the sides of the toilet walls. He turned and looked down at Joseph, still bend backward, his neck locked in my arm. Mr. Potter's leg shot forward and rammed into his rib. The force of the blow pushed us backward and Joseph grunted. 

'That's for my chest and face,' Mr. Potter said.

'I will kill you,' Joseph murmured. 'I will kill all of you.'

Mr. Potter rammed his shoe at the same spot and this time Joseph groaned.

'That's enough, Mr. Potter,' I said. 'Let me get up.' I turned to Tolu. 'Shoot him if he tries any funny business.'

I pushed Joseph to my left, and he fell on his left arm. I detached my arm from his neck and sprung up, moving out of his reach and out of Tolu's sight. Joseph turned slowly, laying on his back and looked up at us. A cold, murderous intent formed the features of his face. 

'Shoot him if he moves,' I said again and pushed the door to the left to create more space.

Tolu nodded. The gun trembled in his hand, but it pointed squarely on Joseph's chest.

I bent down over Joseph and looked into the dark eyes. His hands lay above his head, like a man surrendering at last. I plunged my right hand into his hip pocket and my fingers found the butt of a key holder. I tugged at it, drawing the bunch out. I stood up quickly, moving out of his reach.

'I hope you don't mind if we let ourselves out?' I said, jiggling the keys.

'You will regret this,' Joseph snarled from the floor, his eyes red as palm oil. His chest rose and fell like the chest of an angered gorilla. 'You will pay with your lives.'

Mr. Potter and I stepped out of the door. Tolu walked backward and out of the toilet, with the gun still leveled at Joseph's chest. I pulled the door shut and turned the key quickly. I heard Joseph scramble to his feet and pull the door's handle a second after I locked the door and left the key in the lock.

'I will kill all of you,' Joseph shouted. 'I will skin you alive.'

He turned the handle again, twisting it to the left and to the right, but the door was new and strong, and it held under the pressure. 'I will get you,' he growled from behind the door. 'You will pay with your lives. That's a promise you can take to the grave.'

'You have to find us first,' I said again. 'Make yourself comfortable in there.'

I moved to the window and looked into the compound. The gate stood the same way it was ten minutes ago. Tolu and Mr. Potter stood by the door leading to the living room, waiting for me. Joseph jabbed at the door's handle again and again, cursing at the top of his voice.

I rushed toward Tolu and Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter held his bag on his shoulder and his eyes looked droopy, like drunks'.

'Let's get out of here before the others come back,' I said and opened the bedroom door. 

I stretched my hand and collected the gun out of his hand; the weight drew my hand downward.

'Unlock the door,' I said and handed the keys to Tolu.

Tolu tried the first key and pulled it out. 'Wrong key.'

The third trial opened the door, and we went into the sitting room. No one was there; a mattress lay on the floor by the right corner of the room and the empty paint buckets sat askew to each other all over the room. The entrance to the house was opened and we walked out of the house into the compound. 

Tolu rushed upfront and opened the gate slightly. He stretched his neck out, looked to the left and then to the right. He pulled back and nodded and we walked out of the gate. 

'Where do we head to?' Mr. Potter asked, walking behind us. 'England or France?' 

He giggled. 

I turned and looked at him. He looked at me with sly eyes, eyes I didn't seem to recognize again. A smile had grown around his lips, and he stared into the space above my head like a child looking at falling kite.

'He is having another attack,' Tolu said. 'He has not taken his drug and today we don't have water.'

I held Mr. Potter's hand, while he stared at the cloud above my head. 

'Mr. Potter? Can you hear me?' I asked.

'Yes,' he said, but he did not seem to know I was there. 

'Can we go?' I asked. 'We are taking you the British Embassy. We will get water for your drugs on the way.' 

If he heard me this time, he gave no sign. 

'We need money,' Tolu said. 'How do we get to Walter Carrington Street without taking a cab?'

'We will cross that bridge when we get there,' I said. 'For now, let's get out of their reach.'

I lead Mr. Potter forward, and he came along without a fuss, like a child being taken to a new school. Tolu walked ahead of us, and we walked along the bushy path, heading for the Epe expressway.

I sighed. 'At this pace, it will take a year to get to the road—'

'Get off the road!' Tolu shouted and jumped off the road. 'A car is coming!'

He ran into the long grasses lining the sides of the road. I dragged Mr. Potter off the road, and we scrambled into the tall grass. I could hear the car now, with the engine roaring closer by the minute. We squatted in the grass, and I held Mr. Potter's arm down. His face held the stupid smile, and his eyes stared at the sky.

The sound of the car got to our position and roared pass. We waited in the grass for a couple of seconds before I raised my head and looked at the house. The car parked in front of the gate, and I saw Bayo sitting behind the steering wheel. Dracula sat next to him, and Eric sat at the back.

Bayo honked twice and waited for about ten seconds before he honked again. Eric came down from the back and walked to the gate. He opened the pedestrian gate and walked inside, and soon he opened the gate; Bayo drove into the compound.

'Hurry,' I said, standing up and pulling Mr. Potter's arm. 'Let's go!'

We came out of the grasses and ran along the road. Mr. Potter scurried along with the bag attached to his shoulder and a smile fixed on his face. His mind, however, was light years away from where we were. 

I heard the shouts a couple of seconds later and I knew Joseph had regained his freedom.

The chase had begun.