Predestined

Chapter 14

Sarah....

September 1995... Somewhere in the Niger republic...

I can't believe what's going on. My mum just offered me to be friends with someone I don't even know and she just suddenly started talking to Efe, someone she has been telling me to stay away from saying that they're all animals. And now she's being very friendly with him. I don't understand what's going on. I wait till he leaves before I ask my mum.

"Do you like him now? Does this mean I can be friends with him?" I asked.

"No! I told you before, they are all savage beasts, they don't even deserve to look at us, or breathe the same air as we do. They could all rot in hell for all I care."

"But mum, you just said you would take him with us and that him and I can be friends."

"Forget about what I said, I just said that so he would help us steal the phone. I know these monkeys can be controlled to do anything. all it takes is learning how to push the right buttons. That's something you should learn to do in this world: how to manipulate lesser creatures. Not all of them can be your friends."

I looked at her puzzled. This is someone who has always scolded me for lying and stealing, but in a few moments, she had just lied to someone and convinced him to steal something for her. The same woman who raised me has suddenly lost all the morals I was raised with. Well, I guess she has to do something to get us out of here. I hate it here, but I can't help but wonder when it is okay to lie. Like why she didn't teach me that lying is okay for a good cause. But in this case, I don't get why she had to lie. Efe is my friend and I think he would do it for us without her lying. A lot of thoughts run through my head as I try to figure out the necessity of what my mum just did. I think she saw how confused I was because she just pulled me closer and said

"Don't worry, you will understand it when you are much older."

...... If you say so mum......

October 1995.....

Weeks passed and we didn't hear from Efe. I was starting to get scared that he couldn't fulfil his promise to us or maybe he was dead or had just simply left us here to die because he figured out that my mum lied to him and he didn't want to be friends anymore. Every day seems to make me more and more worried that we are going to spend the rest of our lives in this cell and I didn't know how long we could survive being here. Although our abuse seems to have been reduced, maybe they're tired of us and want new playthings or we have just gotten used to it, but I just know it seems to have gotten easier. Even my mum doesn't cry every night like she used to. But we still want to get out of here as soon as possible. Today was one of their party nights and I could hear their cheers coming from far off and something just told me they would soon be coming over here to end their festivities in abuse like they always do. I tried my best to prepare myself for it, but the fear was still creeping in.

Just when I was starting to feel the fear subside, I heard footsteps coming our way and instantly, my heart started pounding furiously as if to signify the beginning of another night of torture. The heartbeats got faster as the footsteps came closer and I was almost sure I would pass out before the person even got here. But I kept it together and just kept myself there, panicking and waiting. And when the face popped up, I was so relieved to see the least expected face - Efe, a huge wave of relief swept through all of me. Another wave of emotions which I can only describe as a mixture of relief, hope and joy swept through me when he unearthed a parcel hidden in his shorts and brought out what we'd been expecting since; the mobile phone. Instantly, my mum leapt up and grabbed the phone to start the round of calls that could get us our freedom.I turned to Efe to thank him and I noticed he had a really downcast look, like someone who just went through the pits of hell to get the phone to us.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "You look sad."

He looks at me, with his face lighting up a bit but still hints of sadness and replies "I'm fine. Just a lot of things happening and I'm glad we can finally leave this place."

An instant feeling of guilt fills my mind when I remember that my mum lied to him and she wasn't planning to take him with us. I try to fight the guilt and just think that maybe the people that will rescue us can take him back to his people. So I asked

"What about your parents? Wouldn't you like to go back to them? Won't you want to see them again?"

I could tell the sadness on his face multiplied and he replied, looking worse.

"My parents are dead. They were killed when they invaded our village and kidnapped us."

I knew it was possible for me to feel worse because I did when I thought about the fact that he was all alone. At least I had my mother and he had no one. Even the only friendship he thinks he has is based on a lie. I know I have to say something in case we get rescued, so he could have time to think of his own escape plan.

"I have to tell you something." I started and my heart started beating fast as he turned his face towards me. "My mum lied, she doesn't plan to....."

I was cut off by the sound of my mum screaming "No, No, No." We turned to her to see what was going on when she said

"It's not working, there's no service. I thought you said he makes calls with it?" She said, almost bellowing at Efe.

"He does. Maybe it doesn't work here. I don't know how it works." He responded.

Then she said "It's probably this place. We need to go someplace higher. Do you know how we could get to someplace higher?"

"What about that balcony with the stars?" I quickly cut in.

"Where's that?" My mum asked.

"It's where we threw those bodies out from. It leads to a river," Efe replied.

"Why didn't you tell us there was a way that led out? We could have tried to escape through there." My mum said, yelling.

"It's not his fault." I cut in, wanting to take some blame away from him. "Its too dangerous. It's a fast flowing river with so many rocks in it. We would die."

That seemed to calm my mum down because she stood quiet and just said, "Take us there."

Efe dashes away to get the keys to our cell and soon returns, opens the gate and we start sneaking up the stairs. It takes a while but we soon get to the balcony and, sure enough, the mobile phone has enough service and my mum starts making a call. I do not know who she called but she soon starts talking, narrating our ordeal, trying to figure out with them where we were. From what I could gather, they had been looking for us back in Nigeria and she asked them to direct their search to where we were. She soon started screaming when they told her it would take a while, saying she wanted to get out now. I think someone heard her because we started hearing screams and footsteps running towards us. I instantly started to panic because it meant that we would get caught. As soon as they got to our floor, my mum pulled me close and asked that we jump. My eyes grew wide open as I tried to pull back saying we would die, but she didn't care. She just said it was better to die rather than be a s*x tool to a bunch of monkeys. But I didn't want to die. It was such a high jump and the rocks in the river were visible from where we were, so we were probably not going to survive. I tried to pull back but she kept pulling me closer to the edge and just as we were close to the edge, Efe jumped in to separate our hands and my mum just staggered and I watched as she fell over.

........ My mum left me.......