CHAPTER TWO(Melancholy)
1439 Words
Part one
*****Jeremiah*****
"Jesus Christ!" he exclaimed.
The way he looked at me, the stunned expression on his face like he knew me but I had never met him before.
"Good afternoon Sir, my name is Jeremiah Kalu." I introduced myself.
"Okay, how. How can I help you?" he asked.
He fixed gaze on me and my appearance.
"I'm here to see Elder Kalu, he's my grandfather," I said.
I thought about the dream, what my grandfather told me to do but I doubted because it wasn't real. There might be nobody here with the name Patrick, I think it's best I just meet my grandfather.
"What happened to you?" he asked.
" I don't know Sir" I answered honestly. I was so confused, what was I supposed to say...
" Is he around, please I'd like to speak to him."
" I’m sorry, Elder Kalu passed away three months ago."
"What!" how's my grandfather died and I don't know that the news caught me off guard like I just lost every shred of hope to find out what happened to me or get home.
"No, no, this can't be happening." Everything spinning, I had nowhere else to go, without my grandfather to identify me, I was a stranger to this man.
"Are you Mr. Patrick or does anyone who live here go by that name" the idea just popped up even if he wasn't confident even asking.
"Yes, I am Patrick. How do you know my name?" he sounded surprised.
" Elder told me to come to find you" I just went along with it.
"When was this?"
"Some time ago, to be honest, Sir, I don’t know" I answered, he kept staring at me then took a deep breath.
" I just needed to be sure, come in, I have been expecting you." he let me in, relief rushed through my body. I was just going to take the opportunity and not question what just happened, how a name given to in my dreams turned out to be real.
He led me to the house, we stepped into the living room, the place looked the same with the same old furniture as when Elder brought me here. The feeling of Deja vu.
Mr. Patrick kept staring astonishingly at me.
"The old man did it. I never believed it would be possible" he muttered to me like there's something he knew about me that I didn't.
" I don't understand?"
"You're not supposed to, not right now anyway but you will with time, are you hungry, do you want anything?"
Yeah, I was hungry but I couldn't even talk, he just concluded.
"You know what, I think you should clean up, I'll fix a bedroom for you?"
" No, there's no need for that Sir, I just need to call my parents."
" I am following Elder's instructions before you do that we need to talk," he said going upstairs.
Later, he took me to a room where I would spend the night, offered me a towel and some new clothes after I cleaned up. Suddenly, this man I hardly even knew was being nice to me, even brought me dinner.
I was famished, the second I returned the plate to the kitchen, I went to meet Mr. Patrick in the living room, I walked in on him making a call.
"Yes Sir, he came here this evening, I'm trying my best not be shocked but I am, what am I supposed to do now?"
From the conversation, I could guess they were talking about me. He was a bit startled when the call dropped and he saw me waiting for him at the entrance to the living room.
"Oh sorry, how...how long have you been standing there?" he asked not looking at my face, he seemed nervous.
"I just came down now, you said we needed to talk."
"Yeah, I was just on the phone with your grandfather's friend, uhmm. I think it's going to be a long talk and it's best we discuss tomorrow, take your time and rest," he replied. He was stalling in some way and I didn't understand why.
"Thank you for letting me spend the night here," I said gratefully.
"No problem, goodnight."
"Good night sir"
He began to turn off the living room's lights, I went back to the room. A long conversation that's what he said, to be honest from the feeling I had inside, I was nervous about what I was going to find out.
I picked up the watch I kept on the dressing mirror before bathing, taking a closer look at it, I knew the watch, it wasn't mine, it was my friend Chidi's, I don't remember him ever giving it to me even though I wanted it and when I asked him, he refused.
Why do I have Chidi's watch? I dropped it and let myself lay on the bed for a minute, I delved into unconsciousness. It was the first warm soft place my body had laid in a long time, this was real I hoped, the trembling from within my body didn't stop.
I felt different from within, something had happened to me, I can't explain what? I couldn't stop thinking about Vanessa.
A knock on the door sprung me up, it was morning, Mr. Patrick brought me breakfast to the room, a toothbrush and some toiletries with more clothes,
"This is for you, try some of these clothes they might be your size," he explained.
"Thank you, sir."
"Just call me Patrick, eat up then you come to the living room, we have a lot to discuss."
After taking the oatmeal with fried plantain and egg, I walked down to the living room to find Patrick doing chores, an old newspaper on the table. He stopped cleaning.
"You can sit," he walked to the door and bolted it with the key,
"There's something I'm going to tell you, you might find it hard to believe at first but it's the truth. I'll need you to calm down and let it sink in before you begin to make any decisions," he said..
"Okay," his tone made me a bit nervous about whatever shocking thing he was going to say.
"Do you know what today's date is?" he asked.
"No, I’m not sure," I answered
There have been so many lapses in my memory that I didn't know a lot about anything.
"Before you got here yesterday, where did you come from?"
I was quiet, trying to think back but nothing that made sense before I woke up yesterday morning at that school came to mind.
" I don't know Sir, all I can recall is yesterday when some children found me in their school, they told me where I was and led me here."
"Okay, what is the last clear thing you're sure you remember then?"
Memories from that night my sister Vanessa and I were abducted flashed through my mind when I was bleeding out on the floor after Christine's boyfriend had slit my throat.
"I was in Lagos, in school, my sister and I came back late from a night vigil, we got attacked by cultists while returning to our place." I tried explaining that night as best as I could.
"We were kidnapped, they tried to r**e my sister, I resisted, I got injured in the process, I can't recall anything else," I said.
"When was this?" he asked.
"February, on the 18th I think,"
Mr. Patrick picked up the newspaper on the table and passed it to me.
"Open to page 5, read the article."
The fifth page of the newspaper had a sub-heading when I flipped to it.
#Bodies of two siblings found in a bush near Iba-bridge, LASU road.
Victims were LASU students identified as Jeremiah and Vanessa Kalu with pictures of my face and Vanessa's.
I kept re-reading the same line on the paper with our names, it didn't make any sense to me.
"I don't understand."
" Today is August 19th, that's an old newspaper.
Something bad happened to you and your sister."
"I still don't understand Sir, what do mean?"
"To the rest of the world, you've been dead for seven months," he answered. The stupefied look on my face still trying to let what he just said sink in, it still didn't make any sense.
"You said don't remember much, I think that's why because there's nothing to remember except the last thing that happened to you when you were alive. "
"If what you're saying is true then how am I here?" I asked.
"It's your grandfather's doing." He replied.
- Writer
