Enroute… Part 5

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for Bolanle, the Lord clearly had other plans for her life.

The plane hadn’t taken off as people were still coming in and taking their seats.

She could feel some heat at the back of her head and she was pretty sure that Alhaji’s eyes were fixated on her.

Why me? Why me?? Dem send this man to me? Who I offend na?

She turned and sure enough, his eyes were fixed on her.

Oh God!

Or was he looking out the window like she was.

“So you this rude girl, we meet again.”

Window kor, window ni! Choi.

“How did you manage to get on this plane? Ehn? Where are you travelling to?”

Chei! Na so this man wan dey enter me? We never even take off. Lie lie!

“Am I not talking….”

“Ehn, ehn, ehn!!!” Bolanle turned to face him fully and squarely.”

Alhaji stared, mouth open mid-sentence…

“Oga we don commot for shop o.  I dey use God beg you, no just try me try yaself for hia else I go settle ya matter once and for all for this plane. U fit do ya rubbish when we dey shop but for hia, u for like respect yaself cos as u see am, na so u go take am o!”

Before he could retort she added, “See your big lips sef. Mcheeeew” and turned back to face the window.

Big lips ke? Where that wan from come, haha. Him lips plenty full ground sha. Abeg make him no talk again, I don taya.

Beside her, Alhaji was stunned by her words. He felt a little bit threatened, a little embarrassed, a little excited?

It’s not every day he finds someone who can challenge him or match his ever lashing tongue.

Hmmm, and she’s not so bad looking too. With some money and proper polishing…hmm and I was thinking of another wife…

He closed his mouth, smiling sheepishly and settled in for the flight.

====================================================================================== 

Some seats away, Yinka was still shaking his head and laughing at the balls Cassandra had.

“Uh huh. Done laughing? Good. Now take your phone and call her.”

The blood drained from his face. Yeah, the call. He was subconsciously trying to push the thoughts of her infidelity away from his mind, and Cassandra was offering good enough distraction. Till now.

He turned to face Cassandra.

Wounded soul… just like him.

“Stop giving me that face dude. I know that face…I dislike that face.”

This woman was just something else.

“I’ll call when we land please.” I’m pleading with her now? Wow! “I don’t think I need any more attention today.” He used his hand to indicate the other passengers on the plane.

“Hmmm, fine if you say so. I wouldn’t have minded the drama though, but it’s your call.” She shrugged.

“Drama queen”, he muttered under his breath.

“Say what?”

Clearly it wasn’t ‘under’ enough.

“See I don’t have drama o.” He raised an eyebrow. “Okay, okay just a little.”

“Little? Hahahaha. You single handedly got the whole café on this issue. I’m still embarrassed, you’ve scarred me for life.”

“Now who’s being dramatic?”

He was about to say something else when the announcements started.

Seatbelts…exit ways…floating rafts…In case of emergency bla bla

He tuned out the voice of the air hostess and began to reflect on the day so far.

Left the house as a happily engaged man, met this sick woman at the airport, few minutes later he was practically single.

Hmmm, maybe he heard wrongly? No. you even recognized her voice

But maybe there’s some explanation of some sort. Just maybe. Really? Like it was an accident? She just slipped and fell on the bed with a man?

Why would she do this? Will find out when you see her.

But mehn! Cassandra!

Huh???

He turned and looked at her. She had leaned back as much as possible and had her eyes closed.

He wasn’t exactly attracted to her. In fact, before she told him her story, he was of the mind to give her a slap or two…save for public decency.

The plane had taxied and started speeding on the runway. As it got to the end and took off, Cassandra suddenly grabbed his hand. Eyes still closed, she trembled slightly.

He watched her and waited, saying nothing. After a few seconds, she calmly removed her hand and opened her eyes.

Smiling she said, “Sorry. Im abit of a wreck when it comes to taking off. Silly huh?”

He smiled. “Nah, it’s not silly. It’s actually…”

He was cut off as Cassandra promptly opened her bag, brought out a sanitizer and wiped her hands.

He instinctively looked down at his hands.

“Oh my goodness. I’m so sorry, I don’t mean to embarrass you or anything. It’s abit of a habit. Do you have an idea of how many hands I’ve grabbed in this life? Eewwwk”

He just gave her a blank stare and reached out for the sanitizer, also wiping his hands.

He closed his eyes amidst her laughter.

====================================================================================== 

Meanwhile, Alhaji was trying to make light conversation with Bolanle.

I no understand this mumu man. Fest eeem harass my life. He come join dat oda mumu madam harass me. He been wan harass me for hia sef if no be say I give am a piece of ma mind. So which kyn talk he wan dey talk now? Wetin consign am consign how many shildren my malle get?

She stared at him with a blank expression.

“Ahh, so you don’t want to answer me now?”

“My name is Bolanle.”

“Oh, Bolanle that’s good, that’s good.”

“What is good?”

“What?”

“You said that’s good, that’s good. So what is good?”

Alhaji was quiet for a second and then he laughed cheerfully.

“It’s merely an expression my dear. It is good. Your name is good. Everything is good.”

“Everything… is good. Okay o.” She turned back to face the window.

“So Bolanle…”

“Mr Alhaji, I don’t know why you think I want to talk to you. Please try and sleep or something, I want to watch the clouds.”

She turned just in time to see a half-grin and half-frown struggling to balance his face. He looked quite silly.

As she turned back to the window, the plane suddenly lurched forward abruptly.

She, alongside many others, slammed their heads on the seat in front of them.

Before she could get her bearing, it happened again. And again. And again.

By this time, a few people were shouting.

Shaking from head to toe, she turned to face an already pale looking Alhaji.

“Oga, please talk to me.”

======================================================================================= 

Yinka held Cassandra tightly through the turbulence. She had kept her eyes shut all through and looked a few seconds away from throwing up.

She squeezed the feeling out of his hands. I can’t say I don’t need the squeeze. That was some scary stuff mehn!

Over the public address system, the captain was apologizing and saying that the flight should resume as normal.

Then there was a loud sound.

And then, just like in slow motion, the plane began to drop.

Enroute… Part 4

Catch up on the earlier parts by clicking the links. Cheers.—-> Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3. ===============================================================================================================

YINKA was shocked. Not only did she start crying softly, she did tell her story.

CASSANDRA had just completed her NYSC and begun a real job. She had never for once considered the khaki-designed hussle to be anything like a real job. In fact, she endured the entire thing only
because of her father. He gave her a car, put her on his payroll and assured her of a job when she
was done. Heck yeah, she took the offer.

Her parents weren’t crazily loaded or anything, but they did ok. Ok is relative yeah, but still, as
far as she was concerned, they were in the middle class…. Well, slightly above (a tiny whiny bit),
but it didn’t mean much to her. She had enough to get by and she was more than grateful.

Her real job actually, was running her online marketing company. It started out as a hobby,
writing, reporting, and the whole online razzmatazz. Apparently it turned out that she was pretty
good at it and the right people noticed. A few months down the line, she had six employees, regular contracts and a steady flow of income.

Her boyfriend of the last five years was Chike.

Chike was as good as they came really, and they had been good all the while.

He had a good job, was decent, even cooked. Her parents liked him and he played the ‘hello-future-parents-in-law’ role very well too.

She lost her virginity to him too. Yes…lost.

After a crazy unexpected night out with friends in her final year, she ended up leaving the zone a
tit-bit more drunk than she planned. She really wasn’t much of a drinker, just the occasional
splurge now and then. Anyway so on this night, she practically had to beg Chike to take her home.
He had told her to hold on for about 10minutes, but after she somehow managed to do a full
cat-wheel and split right there, he rapidly changed his mind. They laughed all the way home and the rest of the night went in a haze. She really couldn’t remember all the details, but she figured a couple of things 5 seconds after opening her eyes.

1.   She wasn’t home
2.   She wasn’t dressed (this took half a second actually)
3.   She was about to throw up
4.   Chike was in her no. 2 state a few inches beside her
5.   She wasn’t a virgin anymore
6.   She threw up.

Chike seemed genuinely sorry. She couldn’t help but wonder if he really was. He had been asking for sex a lot more of late… no pressure or anything, but it was there. She had no plans to lose her virginity before getting married and she had stuck by that decision… well, till now.

That should have sounded alarms in her head, but she let it go. He seemed remorseful (Acting 301)
and his demands requests for sex all but ended.

Then…

They started planning their wedding. She was done with NYSC and he was settled, so they felt it was finally time. She had travelled for a meeting with a new client of hers and finished very early. In
fact, the meeting barely lasted an hour and she was just wondering why exactly the client had asked her to travel in the first place.

Oh well, they’re paying anyway. 1st class for that matter.

She shifted moved her flight up and surprisingly, the flight was timely. She didn’t let anyone know
of her change in plans. Chike, her parents, her employees… she just needed time to be on her own, clear her head and just rest. All the wedding planning, parents dropping their demands opinions and all the drama… she could do with a me-alone time.

She landed in one piece and took a cab to her apartment. She unlocked the door and didn’t notice
anything out of place till she went to the kitchen to have a cool drink. It looked like someone
cooked in it… she hadn’t cooked in a week. However, it smelt like, like… CHIKE’S DISH DE LA DISH!!!

Well that’s what he chose to call it. It was actually spaghetti in some funny but amazingly
delicious sauce. She never quite got the hang of how he made it, and he never quite shared either.

Excitement flooded her stomach! How on earth did he know she was coming back this early? The
client? Who? Hahaha!!!

She excitedly made a dash for the bedroom. She was sure he was there, waiting, dish-in-hand, ready to sweep her off her feet and then stuff her with his delicious dish.

“Oh my goodness, Chike you’re just the…”

The words eluded her mid-sentence as she opened the door.

Empty!

Huh? The loaded tray of food was there on the dresser, but nobody was…

It was then she noticed that the shower was running in the bathroom. As she made her way toward it, the door opened from the inside.

Out of it came Oluchi, her school roommate…best friend of six, in nothing but nature’s clothes.

Behind her, similarly dressed, was Chike. Her soon-to-be ex-fiance.
================================================================================
By the time the rage had cleared from her system, plates, mirrors and other things broken around
the room, Chike bleeding from a scratch on his face, Oluchi from her mouth where she had
head-butted her… Cassandra fell to the floor and wept.

The affair had been going on for the past 3 years. They were sorry…it was the devil… he wanted to
stop but Oluchi kept coming… no he was the one that kept coming…they were going to stop before the wedding…it was the devil…they were sorry…it was really the devil…they were sorry…they were very
sorry.

By the time she managed to throw them out of her house and her life… she passed out.

5 weeks later, after the news and the drama of the breakup had subsided (her dad had actually
kicked the idiot when he came begging, prostrating before him), she sold the majority shareholdings of her company for a worryingly huge amount of money (apparently, someone saw the potential) and then took a vacation out of the country for a month.

This was 5 months after and needless to say, she hadn’t really recovered. All men were idiots as
far as she was concerned.
===========================================================================
When she finished her story, cleaning her eyes with his hanky, Yinka was weak.
He really didn’t know what to do or say and in that uncertainty, so he held her close. She buried
herself in the hug and started sobbing again.

What a wounded soul

“I think they just called my flight Cassandra, I’m going to Lagos. You know, we can keep in touch
or something.”
She cleaned her nose. “I’m going to Lagos too. I guess we’re on the same flight.”

They checked and realized that they indeed were on the same flight, albeit different seats. They
walked to the plane together in silence.
“Okay, so we’ll talk right?”
Cass nodded. “Make sure you call her before we take off. Get it off your chest.” He nodded as he
walked off. What a day.
==================================================================================

Bolanle walked towards the plane; her heart pounded harder with every step.
Babe calm yaself. No go there go embarass yaself na. Arrange.

The self pep talk worked as her legs found strength again and she strode purposefully towards the
plane.

Back at the café, the irate woman had yelled her lungs out, with the angry looking Alhaji making
things worse by adding his own version of events. She hurled a few verbal missiles at them when all her pleading fell on deaf (very deaf) ears. Eventually, her boss had to come out from his office and calm everyone down. Before he could scold her, the flight was announced and she took off, glad for any opportunity to get away.

She struggled with the seat belt for abit but eventually figured it out.
I no go carry last finally finally. Hehe. Ehn? Who be this??

Cassandra had just come and taken her seat beside her.

Mcheeew. This disgu girl don come o, kai. Which kyn thing be this?

Cassandra was looking around the plane and after finding what she was looking for, got up and left.
Osheeey!
=========================================================================

Yinka was strapping up when Cassandra approached him and spoke to the man seated beside him.

“Sir, I’m soo sooo sorry to be a bother. But do you mind switching seats with me?”
The man was about to say something, probably refuse her, when she added.
“It’s just that we’re colleagues and we have work to do before landing, and we really don’t want to get fired. Our seats were erroneously separated at the counter. I’m so so sorry for the inconvenience sir, please please please”

And then she flashed the cutest smile he had seen in a long time. “Hmm, okay fine girl. Where’s
your seat?”
“It’s just over there. I’m eternally grateful sir.” Another smile. Gosh she DID know how to smile.

Yinka was quietly laughing and shaking his head as she strapped in beside him. “You’ve really got
some nerve you this woman.”
She just smiled.
=======================================================================

Some seats away, Bolanle was watching all the pre-take off activity happening out the window.
This flight fit make sense afterall sha.

She turned when she heard movement beside her.
This yeye geh don come a…..

A stone faced ALHAJI paused as he saw her and then, quietly sat down and strapped in beside her.
She turned her face back to the window
Kill me now. Kill me now oh Lord.

A February Story… the curtain falls!

 

 

This has to be a bad, bad dream!

Leye jumped off the bed and stumbled into a corner of the room.

Rex just eyed him, a gleeful expression on his face.

“Well, how do you like your lover now? Look at her; she died HOLY!”

“Holy?”

“Oh yeah, she was holy alright. HOLEY!”

Rex had a sick sense of humor didn’t he?

Leye tried to catch his breath and think.

How did Tina’s DEAD body get to the bed?

How on earth didn’t he notice?

Where is Linda? Is she hurt or worse, dead?

Was she behind this??????? Could she really hate him this much?

“Leye”

What am I going to do?

“Leye”

Am I going to die? Oh God!”

“LEYE!!!”

 Leye jumped. Was it time?

Rex almost looked tearful. “Why did you kill Tina? You shot her, through the head! So heartless of you!”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t… you… I…”

“You shot her.”

“I didn’t!”

“Oh but you did. It isn’t my prints that are all over the gun that killed her.” He looked at the direction of Leye’s fallen gun.

Leye’s heart sank even deeper. Oh no!

================================================================

A few meters away, Linda sat crossed legged on the couch in the living room, watching a movie!

She heard the occasional yell and definitely the cracking sound that must have been the breaking of some bone. She wasn’t moved… not anymore. The days of being an idiot were long gone.

She kept her eyes on the muted screen and thought back to the past three years.

They were once really happy. It didn’t matter that their marriage was actually somewhat forced on them because she was pregnant. They really didn’t mind at all and went into it with joy. She eventually lost that baby; unfortunate miscarriage, but they got over that as time passed on and moved on.

Still happy.

 And then, she got pregnant again, four months after the miscarriage. She also lost that baby, only this time, LEYE KILLED IT!

Started out as a harmless argument and before she could realize what was happening, they were exchanging blows! No, correction… she was blocking the blows!

And it was downhill from there on. He started seeing other women, staying out late, travelling for long periods of time and lying about everything. When she realized that he had no intention of stopping, she began an adventure of her own. Who said only men could have all the fun? Besides she had the cash, the time and definitely the looks!

Three months and three affairs later, they had another fight. After which they both broke down, crying and apologizing profusely. It was bittersweet.

Things got a lot better afterwards. And then the previous year’s valentine came; totally awesome. Flowers, chocolates, diamonds and a whole lot more.

They found themselves, they found their love again. They were back on track.

For about six months…

And then came Tina.

The first day she laid her eyes on the tramp, she knew that Leye was sleeping with her. She later confirmed it when she hired Rex to do some snooping around.

She sighed.

Tonight she was going to end everything. Tonight she would.

She idly changed the channel.

He must have been a fool to think that she’d just wait up for him to come from his ‘meeting’ and greet him with a passionate kiss. He swallowed the liquid Rex had provided, no wiser! Once he was sleeping like a rock, all she had to do was open the doors and let Rex do his thing.

The door opened behind her, she tried to resist the urge to look behind her.

=====================================================================================

Leye walked on shaky legs in front of Rex, who had the gun planted against the back of his head. The woman he called his wife turned back to face them, expressionless.

Rex pushed him to his knees.

Linda got up and turned to face them.

“Baby, p-p-please. Don’t do this!”

She looked at him, and then back at Rex. “You didn’t tell him?”

Leye looked back at Rex, who shrugged and said “I tried.”

He handed over the other gun to her

“My darling husband,” she looked at him again. “I’m not doing anything. You just shot your lover through the head and now you’re going to commit a thoroughly planned suicide. I really don’t understand what I shouldn’t do! You’re leaving your poor wife and unborn child behind in this cold hard world, I’m the victim here!”

Leye was dizzy. His wife was mad.

“Linda. Please don’t do this. Don’t go through with this.”

“It’s too late Leye. It’s too late.”

“I’m so sorry Linda.”

She nodded at Rex and he was immediately pushed to the ground.

Linda turned her back on them… she wasn’t going to watch this.

Leye closed his eyes… he wasn’t going to watch this.

The muted sound of the silenced bullet hung in the air… she turned to look at him as the second bullet hit target and then everything went dark.

=============================================================================

They moved the body to the bedroom. The scenario had to look as planned… and it did.

LEYE looked at his dead wife, what a waste really. To think that things had to come to this. He looked to the side, where Rex was doing his job… properly setting up the scene. Five million dollars richer than when he had first walked into his bedroom… money was indeed power. That was A LOT of it though, but he would recover, somehow.

When they were done, they stood at the door and looked at everything.

Leye sighed, he was relieved. The story would be simple…

Linda had come back unexpectedly from her trip, only to meet Tina, her husband’s lover, sleeping naked, on her bed. Her husband had apparently gone out for drinks and Tina had opted to sleep-in instead. Linda, being depressed and angry, took her husband’s gun, violently woke Tina up and shot her though the head. Depressed, she took her own life…and that of her unborn child.

Leye. The aggrieved husband came home to meet the mess.

Rex walked out of the room and headed for the main door..

Leye looked at both women one more time and turned to go too.

He had barely taken two steps when he felt the bullet hit his chest. His mouth remained open in shock as he fell to his death.

Rex walked towards him and dropped the gun beside him, laughing to himself.

“Stupid, stupid people!” he muttered. He walked into the room and rearranged the bodies as he intended.

Linda had come back unexpectedly from her trip, only to meet Tina, her husband’s lover, sleeping naked, on her bed, IN HER HIS ARMS. She got the gun, shot Linda, and as her husband made for the door, shot at him also. Missed, and then hit him with a second shot. He dislocated his shoulder while falling. She then proceeded to shoot herself, bringing an end to the triangle of deception, hatred and grief.

Five minutes later, he walked out of the building, sweating with excitement, mission accomplished!

As he walked out of the building into the cool night, he picked up his phone.

“Yes. It’s done. Yes, just as you said. Ok.”

Rex walked off into the night.

Another day in the life of the ordinary guy

THE END?