Now That You Are Here – Episode Fourteen (A Tale Of Deception, Betrayal And Murder)

He walked into the room and looked around him; everything was still the same way it was when he had dashed out in a hurry. His eyes went to Damilola’s lifeless body lying on the floor and for a second he cast his eyes down, the tears threatening to spill. He swallowed involuntary as he moved towards the body and turned her over. He pressed his face into her still heart and for the umpteenth time wished he had not come over. He allowed the tears flow into her dress, hoping she would stir in his arms and smile at him in that special way of hers and tell him she was faking it. That she was not dead, but he as a doctor, he knew she was gone.

He stood up and lifted the body on his shoulder like a labourer carrying a bag of cement and carried her to his car. He opened the door to the passenger’s seat and propped her against the chair. The body flopped forward lifelessly and he adjusted the position to give her the look of one who was resting or sleeping. He quickly strapped the seat belt to keep the body in place. He closed her unseeing eyes which seemed to be staring at him accusingly and then he went to the driver’s seat and drove out of the compound.

His heart was beating rapidly as he drove towards the Third Mainland Bridge. Every few minutes, he would sneak a peek at her, still longing for her to smile or stir but each time, she remained the same. As he climbed the bridge from Adekunle bus-stop, he increased the car’s speed and said a silent prayer of thanks to the heavens for the darkness of the night. The probability of getting rescued was slim and that was just the way he wanted it.

John Legend’s “All of Me” filled the interior of the car and he wished he had given his all to just one person. He wouldn’t have been in this mess then. He was on the bridge now and he increased the speed even further before making a sharp turn towards the water, closing his eyes and taking his hands off the steering wheel.

It happened in a split second; the car hit concrete and was sent flying into the air as it flipped over. He heard the splintering of glass and crunching metal and what seemed to have been a human’s scream before the car tumbled into the murky water below and darkness took over.

***

Anu looked around Damilola’s room with unseeing eyes, her hands were moving without any direction from her brain.  It was a month since Muyiwa and Damilola’s death but it still hurt as if it had happened just yesterday.  She had lost consciousness when she was told the news of the accident and when she came to again, she had wept inconsolably refusing to eat or drink for days till she had to be sedated. The task of clearing out Damilola’s apartment had fallen to her and as she sat in the once happy room, she wallowed in her grief again and wept bitterly.

Halima had left the country about two weeks after and had not even bothered to attend the funerals. Anu wiped her eyes and tried to get herself together but the pain was too raw so she collapsed back on the bed and screamed like one in agony. Her husband Tunji rushed into the room and embraced her like a baby.

“Hush baby, hush. It’s going to be alright, I told you already, you don’t have to do this just yet. Damilola won’t want you so torn apart. We all miss her, we all do.”

Anu’s sobs became louder.

“I should have done something Tunji, I should have done something to save her. She was on a self-destructive path and I didn’t try harder to save her. It’s all my fault. I can’t believe I watched her die. I want her back Tunji, I want her back, please just let her come back.”

Tunji’s heart felt like it was breaking to see his wife blame herself for something that was clearly not her fault and he clamped his mouth shut to control the anger he felt towards Muyiwa. There was no point being angry at a dead man. He led his wife out of the room and closed the door behind him and as he turned the key in the lock, he vowed that was the last time they were ever coming back there.

THE END