Desperate Moves

11

The night was longer than I would have loved it to be. It is surprising how, when sleep eludes a person, then night seems longer. By the time it was 3am, I had given up trying to sleep. I tried to pray, but couldn’t find the right words to say. I got up stealthily, so as not to wake Sam who was camped out on a blanket beside the bed. I made my way to the corner of the room that served as my kitchen to get a drink of water to wet my patched throat. As if on cue, my stomach grumbled, reminding me that I had gone to bed last night without food. As a matter of fact, I had not really taken anything throughout the previous day. I made a mental note to try and eat before stepping out. I went back to sit on the bed with the cup of water cradled in my hand. I needed to think. If there was to be any hope of Tosin being released, I had to think fast. I was very sure deep down inside of me that he was innocent. It was possible that the name was a set up to divert attention from the real culprit. I had passed out before the men left, so there was no way I could have known who was the first to come to my aid that night. I maybe, there will be a need to interrogate all those that were there that night. I wished I could turn back the hand of the clock. I could have been elsewhere or I could have asked for a gun to protect myself. I felt the tears coming and I sniffed them back.

The noise from me must have woken Sam, for he sat up looking around, probably taking in the strange environment.

“Good morning.” I greeted.

“Good morning.” His voice was gruff.

“Hope you slept well?” I asked

“Yes. What about you?”

I hesitated for a moment before responding. “I couldn’t sleep.”

He let out a heavy breath before saying, “I wish I could help.”

“I’ll be fine.” I was tempted to raise the issue of Tosin’s innocence, but I knew that I ran the risk of sounding unreasonable since I had no proof. I was going to wait till I get to the station before voicing my misgivings. Until then, I planned to keep my thoughts to myself.

“I’ll start breakfast.” I said, more to distract myself.

“Ok” was his simple response.

I fumbled around for a minute before settling on making tea. The leftover bread from the hospital proved useful and there were a few eggs. I broke two eggs into a plate, added dry pepper and a pinch of salt. Then I put on the stove and placed a frying pan on it. When the frying pan was dry, I added a little vegetable oil to it and poured the eggs after about thirty seconds. As the smell of the cooking wafted to my nose, my stomach churned. The contents of my stomach rose quickly to my throat. If I did not run out quickly enough, my entire floor would have been covered with vomit. On seeing the sudden movement, Sam ran out after me. I was bent over and so he placed his right hand on my back and rubbed soothingly. I kept heaving until my stomach was totally emptied of its content. When I stood up straight, Sam asked,

“Are you alright?”

“I don’t know, the smell of the eggs made me nauseous.” I responded with some difficulty.

“Sorry.”

“Thank you.”

By the time I was done, I went in to meet an almost charred egg. I flipped it over to the other side. Thank God it was not badly burnt. After I brought out the egg from the frying pan, I heated water and made tea. My appetite had disappeared by the time I set the food. I slowly picked at the food. If Sam noticed this, he never indicated it. He appeared to be preoccupied with something else. We ate the breakfast in comfortable silence. When we were done, I put away the plates and went to lay on the bed to ease out my aching back. Unconsciously, I drifted off to sleep. I must have slept for close to two hours when I heard a knock on the door. At first, I thought the knock was in my dream, but when it came a second time, I changed that line of thought. Sam went to answer the door. I heard Cynthia’s voice asking when we were leaving for the police station. My brain went into overdrive when I remembered Tosin. He had slept in the cell! I hurriedly got to my feet and made my way outside, just as Sam was telling Cynthia that we should be on our way soon. I mumbled a reply to Cynthia’s greeting and went back inside without saying another word. Sam also stepped back inside and sat on the bed.

I had to prepare something to take along to the station for Tosin. I made a mental note of what I could quickly prepare and settled for noodles. As I picked up the lighter to light the stove, Sam looked up from fiddling with his phone.

“Do you want to boil water for bathing?”

“No.”

He waited for me to continue, but I was not willing to say much. When he was certain I was not going to say anything else, he asked,

“Then what do you want to do?”

“I want to prepare something for Tosin.”

“Is that necessary?” he asked, with a quizzical look on his face.

“You are asking if it is necessary to prepare food for someone who we left to sleep in a holding cell. Seriously?”

“The same person who took advantage of your body...”

“Can you stop please? There is no proof that he is the culprit.” I had to turn away so he wouldn’t see the tears that were threatening to drop from my eyes. I sniffed to keep back the tears from falling and went back to what I was doing.

I still had packets of noodles in the house, so I hurriedly prepared it, fried some eggs and packaged them in a flask. When I finished, Sam stepped out to give me some privacy as I prepared to go to the bathroom. I came out from the bathroom fifteen minutes later to find Sam talking outside with Cynthia. I walked in and got dressed. I chose a beige chiffon top and a blue pair of jean trousers with black leather strapped sandals to match. Sam knocked soon after to ask if he could come in. I answered in the affirmative. As I made to go out in order to allow him space to bathe and dress, he called over my shoulder,

“Edidiong.”

“Yes.” I turned to face him.

“I’m sorry for being so difficult...”

“Sam please...”

He silenced me with a shake of the head, and continued.

“I know he has been a very wonderful neighbor as you’ve always said. I must have gone overboard while trying to protect you. I’m really sorry.” He moved closer to me and cupped my face in his two hands.

I lifted my hands and placed over his. I enjoyed the moment and would have wanted it to last forever. I realized at that moment that I had missed him so much. We had been apart for over a year with just two brief meetings. His visit would have been a huge relief but for the circumstances surrounding it. He gave me a peck on the forehead and then dropped his hands to his sides. I held his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, while looking into his eyes and giving him a smile. He smiled back and moved away.

“We have to get to the station soon.”

“Yeah. Let me allow you prepare.”

“You don’t need to step out, I am not a lady.” The corner of his mouth lifted in a smile.

“Abeg, I don’t want my eyes to be corrupt.” I continued in the light mood, making a face at him. I dodged and ran out just as he turned to grab me. I could hear him bellowing with a laugh.

The smile was still plastered on my face as I reminisced the good times we’ve always had. We had met at a friend’s album launch three years back. Since then, it had been so much love, dotted with lots of fun. He was four years older than myself, but never made the age difference come in between us. He had always been very respectful and supportive of me, my ideas, opinions and perspective. Yes, we had our differences, but he never tried to impose his opinions on me. Financially, I am not the dependent type, but he ensures I have anything he feels I would need, without me asking. Not that he is very well disposed financially; he is just naturally very caring. Just before I left for National Youth Service, he had dropped hints here and there indicating that he would love us to take our relationship to another level. He went ahead to meet my parents with a bottle of wine, to establish a relationship with them. I was eagerly looking forward to becoming his wife and now...