THE UNION

RICHARD & GBOYEGA

Richard is looking for his cigarette around his room as usual, it has always been his way to cool off and not think of the world but he couldn't find it. He stares at his hand and in his head they were all filled with blood, bloods of John and bloods of other people he had killed.

"She's right, I shouldn't have killed John."

In 1989, Richard was two years old and he had just discovered his power. His mom Mariam, a middle age light lady wearing heavy accessories is talking with a doctor, she is clearly disappointed by Richard's power.

"This young boy is expected to take over the throne and rule the mafia underworld but his only power is teleportation." She talks arrogantly, the doctor tries to reason with her.

"Teleportation is quite a useful power Ma but there's no way I can change his powers." The doctor says, she sighs.

"He'll need alot of training, I need to prepare him." That night, Mariam goes to her room to join her husband, Jacob about same age with Mariam, very tall sits at the edge of the bed.

"What did the doctor say?" Jacob ask curiously, Mariam sits beside him.

"He has teleportation." She places her head on her knee, unlike Mariam Jacob is optimistic about it.

"That's good news, he can help with all the stealth missions." Jacob gets really excited and stands up to check on his son, Mariam grabs his hand.

"We can't make him excited about this, we have to intensify his training. The only reason why people are afraid of you is because of your transformation to monsters, we need to make him work hard." Mariam says deeply.

By 1995, Richard has started getting different training on how to handle and take care of himself. Be moves to a dining room and he is given a timetable.

Mondays for physical training.

Tuesdays for Language study.

Wednesdays for power training.

Thursdays for participation in missions.

Fridays for Dinner with other Families.

Jacob insisted that Saturdays and Sundays should not be added and Richard should rest after all the stress, Mariam isn't happy about this but she plays along. On one particular Tuesday, Mariam is with Richard listening to him speak in French, she stares at him firmly.

"Start." She says boldly, Richard stares at her and his feet starts shaking but he manages to speak.

"Je ne dois pas être faible car les faibles perdent toujours et finissent par mourir, je ne dois montrer aucune émo

tion.........." He stammers he was scared of his mum presence.

"I'm so sorry..........." He quickly begs, she slaps him on the right cheek before he could complete his statement. She grabs his cheek with her hand.

"You're a man, you must be strong and not show any sign of weakness" Mariam says and walks away disappointed.

In 2004, it's Richard birthday. He sits on the dining table hoping his parents will show up, he knew they wouldn't cause they never showed up for his birthday but he had some kind of hope in him, his doctor walks in with a chocolate cake and drops it on the dining table. The doctor looks around and sits down on a chair beside Richard.

"I'm sorry." He pats Richard on the shoulder, the doctor had always taken care of Richard immediately he knew his mom didn't like him he made a promise to himself that he'll always look out for him.

"I knew they won't show up." Richard says and runs off to a bathroom, a teardrop rolled by his cheek then followed in an unbroken stream. He grabs a tissue with his hand and cleans off his eyes, he remembered what Mariam said that he couldn't show emotions so he stood firmly and walked out of the bathroom. Richard wanders around the house looking for the doctor he then spots him sitting all alone in the backyard but the doctor was sniffing and inhaling different forms of drugs, Richard walks towards him.

"Thank you for the cake. It looks amazing." Richard says, he sniffed and wiped his eyes while trying to smile, he stares at the Doctor's different drugs he had seen different people use it and wanted to know more about it.

"What does this drug do? I'm confused, you're always with it." Richard says gently, he tries to grab it but the doctor hits his hand with a cane beside him.

"I shouldn't be telling you........... But, it helps me handle my emotions forget about everything that is going on with me." The doctor says quietly, he made sure no one was around them listening.

"Huh?" Richard is still quite confused about the whole thing.

"See, you're going to be a man and a man is suppose to be seen as strong, bold. You can't just start crying anywhere or doing emotional shit." The doctor cautions Richard and Richard really listened.

"And another advise is don't show your soft side to ladies, trust me when I say it won't end well just tell men and make sure they are your close friends." The doctor kept on feeding Richard with different advises.

"Aren't you married?" Richard asked confused.

"And who said I'm happy about it, I need these drugs to help me handle my s**t. Don't love women it's not worth it." The doctor says as he continues to sniff his drugs.

The next day, Richard is training with a sword against one of the family's guard, Jacob and Mariam stand at a corner of the room watching him. The guard hits Richard head with the back of the sword, scared that he might get in trouble for hitting the Boss son the guard loses focus Richard sees this as a opportunity and teleports behind the guard, sweeps his feet. The guard falls on the floor, Mariam runs towards her son happy he is already getting better.

"Nice going son, now kill him!" Jacob hears what Mariam said and runs toward them.

"What?!" Jacob yells, he moves to the front of the guard, Mariam pushes him aside.

"Our son needs to start joining us for missions, this is the perfect way to make him understand." Mariam says, Jacob isn't happy with the idea, he had always shown more sympathy to the guards unlike Mariam.

"I won't let this stand." Jacob walks out, Mariam points her finger to the guard which meant that Richard should stab him. "This is a good lesson for you son, he lost focus and the weak never make it in this world."

After five minutes, Richard runs off to his room. Blood is dripping down from his hand, he grabs his pillow and squeezes his head on it, Richard just had his first kill while his mom expected him to be exicted about this achievement Richard felt he had made the biggest mistake of his life.

The next day very early in the morning Richard puts on a all black cloth. He and his parents were going on a mission, this was Richard first mission and for very good reasons he was very nervous not only did he just kill someone but he'll have to kill more he couldn't risk losing or else his parents will be disappointed. He brings out a pack of hard drugs he stole from the doctor and remembers what he told him."Make me emotionless." Richard says to himself.

Years had passed and by 2008 Richard was already into drugs, it helped him with control over his power and he didn't bother about anyone he killed. He did anything to always hide his emotions and master his powers. One night Richard is looking for his credit card he needed to head out to get drinks as usual, he couldn't do without it after a long time of searching he decides to go to his dad for money. He walks into his parents room and sees Mariam slicing Jacob throat.

"No!" Richard screams out of confusion and disgust, he never liked his parents but his dad was much nicer to him than Mariam.

"Shut up, I can explain." Mariam talks in a very low tone but Richard isn't ready to listen, he didn't want to see her and didn't want to stay in the house either, a huge blue coloured wave starts coming out of his body and he suddenly vanishes out of the room.

Richard finds himself in a forest, he looks around and runs out of the place. He leaves the forest and gets to a roadside Richard is quite confused about where he is, a huge wave of emotions hit him when he used his power something he had never done, a woman passes his side and he talks to her in a very awkward and creepy way.

"Where I'm I?" The lady uses her purse to his him on his face scared that he might be a kidn*pped.

"Fimile jare." The lady says and runs off, Richard sees a newspaper on the floor and picks it up to look at the location, he sees his in Abuja and screams.

"I've never gotten this far with my powers, from Lagos to Abuja." Richard talks to himself, Richard wasn't planning to head back to Lagos he had no family apart from his Mom or even friends apart from the other mafia children he didn't plan to visit the doctor cause he knew he'll put him in a lot of trouble but even if he wanted to go back to Lagos he couldn't cause his power weren't working.

"Come on, at least get me out of this forest." Richard walks around the road with no family, no phone, no money and no way back home.

Two months later, Richard doesn't stop drinking and smoking his condition has gotten quite worse since he had on where to stay. Most times he ends up sleeping on the ground of the street or uncompleted buildings he used his clothes to cover his body and at one point he had to start wearing rags. One particular morning Richard sleeps off outside in front of Papa's house, Papa and Ayo come out of the house starting at him Ayo is particularly disgusted by the way Ayo sleeps cause he snores.

"Should I carry him out of here?" Ayo says, Papa feels pity for Richard.

"Bring him in, he probably doesn't have a place to stay." Papa says slowly.

A hour later, Richard wakes up and finds himself on a comfy chair unlike other days he woke up peacefully, he looks around and finds Papa starring at him from behind.

"Who are you?" Richard quickly gets up, Papa sits down on the chair.

"I saw you sleeping in front of my house and I thought that you might need help." Papa talks gently and folds his arm, Richard is dizzy cause of the drinks he drank yesterday.

"I don't know what you think........" Richard throws up on the floor before he could finish his statement, Papa stands up.

"Stay and heal, go and meet Ayo you'll probably find him intriguing." He points to the kitchen, after few minutes Richard knows he has no place to stay and Papa is actually kind to him he thinks of staying, he goes to the kitchen and sees Ayo cleaning the dishes. He isn't shocked about Ayo looks he had seen worst during his time.

"So you're some kind of robot?" Richard says and chuckles, Ayo turns around to confirm who was talking he sees it's Richard and sighs.

"You look terrible." Richard didn't bother to look at his body, he hadn't a shower for a very long time and he wasn't even bothered.

"What is this place?" Richard asked, Ayo drops the dishes and cleans his hand hand.

"I guess for people like us to heal."Ayo replies.

Four months later, Richard settles in Papa's house and has a very strong brotherly friendship with Ayo. Papa always referred to Ayo as the elder brother while Richard as the younger one, due to Richard multiple training whole he was growing up he helped Ayo with his powers. One night they are both coming out of a forest, Ayo is flabbergasted about Richard's knowledge of Supernaturals power.

"How do you know so much about this?" Ayo ask, Richard laughs out loud.

"My parents." Richard replies thinking about his family back home, Ayo hits Richard hand.

"Aren't you lucky?" Ayo says not knowing anything about Richard past, Richard sighs and starts talking about everything he had gone through to Ayo, he never told Papa about this Ayo was the first and Richard felt comfortable about it, he knew Ayo actually cared about him and would actually protect and watch over him. Richard was happy and he never had any plan to go back to Mariam but he wondered why she hasn't sent a search team to look for him.

Gboyega wakes up after having a terrible dream, he stands up from his bed and starts packing his clothes taking it to his traveling box. Gboyega has had enough of everything and planned to leave very early. He stares at his hand with fear.

"These hands have done some really terrible things."

In 1999, Gboyega is in school with his male friend. They both are working on a maths assignment together, Gboyega isn't quite understanding it.

"This maths is really confusing." Gboyega says uses his pencil to itch his head, his friend puts his hand around his neck.

"Don't worry, we'll get it." His friend gently pats him, a group of bullies gather around them, they pushed Gboyega around the classroom. Gboyega was always the one mocked in class, he had issues with catching up with others in the subjects they were taught, he went to a prestigious school cause his parents were well known politician so unlike the other students who were brought up to be perfect Gboyega couldn't fit in, he couldn't catch up with the lifestyle.

"Awon ode." One of the bully mocks Gboyega in Yoruba.

"Just forget about them." His friend tells him.

"Yeah, listen to your son Gboyega." The bullies end up attacking Gboyega friend for defending him, they've always warned him to stay away from Gboyega but he never listened, Gboyega gets triggered by this and this event activates his powers. A wave of fire unleashes out of Gboyega body burning down the whole classroom and his classmates, he was confused he had never felt such powerful energy in him before he never meant to hurt his mates. They all stare at him in pain, blood flows down from most of them and even his friend his frightened by what just happened.

The next day, with the power of Gboyega parent and his age, he is kept in a hospital meant for Supernaturals. His Mom Tayo a fair woman and his father Olamide a dark skinned man questions the doctor about their child

.

"What's wrong with our son?" Tayo gets very concerned, the doctor brings out a file of Gboyega's body scan.

"Turns out your son is a Supernatural." The doctor shows them the file, Olamide throws the file on the floor already pissed and confused.

"Bullshit, I and my wife aren't Supernaturals so it can't be possible for my son to be one." Olamide says angrily, the doctor stands up and picks up the file.

"Some just get it naturally and I'm afraid that unlike other people your son is a outcast." He says firmly, Tayo rolls on the ground of the doctor's office and tears rolled down from her eyes, she knew what the doctor meant while Olamide was confused cause he didn't mingle with others unlike his wife.

"What's an outcast?" Olamide gets really scared due to his wife behavior.

"Outcast are people with very dangerous powers, he'll need months of training to master his powers." The doctor says, Olamide and Tayo felt threatened by what the doctor said, they were politicians and had to maintain a high standard life both didn't really have a issue with Gboyega being a Supernatural but had a issue with his uncontrollable powers, they couldn't risk their reputation.

That night, after their discussion with the doctor they both quickly take Gboyega to his room.

"You must not come out of here without our permission Gboyega." Olamide voice raises as he talks, Gboyega doesn't know what is going on.

"Did I do something wrong dad?" Gboyega tries to move to his parents but they push him aside.

"You're a curse to everyone son, I'm sorry you have to hear this." Tayo says this without sympathy, they didn't care about him but rather about their popularity. They run out of the room and lock him inside.

By 2001, Gboyega had already adapted to his new life. He was never allowed to come out of his room, the maid would always come to his room and serve him his meal, he was truly a outcast. One early morning, it was Christmas day and all of Gboyega Uncles, aunties and cousins had arrived to celebrate the festive season, Gboyega stares at them through his window wishing to be with them, he touches the window and it starts melting.

"No!" He notices this and runs back to his bed. Tayo walks in with a plate of rice and chicken, she hadn't seen him for almost all the part of the year.

"You should be happy I'm checking on you that should be a very a good Christmas gift." She drops his rice on his bed and quickly steps back.

"I want to come out and see everyone mom, I miss my brother Tomi and all my cousins are down there. I promise not to burn anything." Gboyega pleads and his voice shakens, he was tired of being kept like an animal for once in his life he wanted to be around people.

"You'll kill everyone Gboyega, I'm sorry to say this but you're not just going to be ready to come out of here." She turns around immediately she finished talking and walks out not a ounce of sympathy and love came out from her.

In 2009, Gboyega sits on his bed and recites a statement.

"I'm not good for the world, I'm not good for the world, I'm not good for the world............" Gboyega always said this anytime he felt he was tired of being locked up, he wanted to get out of his room but didn't want to hurt anyone the memory of him burning down his school keeps on haunting him. He sighs and a wave of fire comes out of his mouth, his powers were getting stronger day by day and he had no idea on how to handle it his parents had invited different therapist to help him but it didn't work. His whole room starts melting down which also melts the room door, scared Gboyega runs out of his room to alert his parents.

Olamide and Tayo are both sitting on a chair thinking on how to handle Gboyega situation.

"I know this place meant for worthless souls like Gboyega, he could go there and we could be free from him." Olamide says, they were already tired of Gboyega, he felt like a burden to them and bad publicity, they've both been asked alot of times by the press about their first son and his sudden disappearance but they'll both come up with excuses to cover it up.

"Good idea, we've tried out best for him. If we tell him to just leave our house he might try and ruin our reputation." Tayo responds, unknown to them Gboyega had been listening to both of them hiding, he never knew his parents didn't care about him he always thought they were protecting him and others from harm this wasn't about him it was about them. His hands start heating up and a cyclone of fire surrounds his body, he felt a powerful rage in him bursting out he had to release the energy he couldn't bottle it. After a few seconds of sudden silence, the whole house explodes into bits, Gboyega walks out of the burnt house unharmed and runs away before he could get caught.