Saviour of The Night
The weeks that followed Shade’s sudden
disappearance from his life weakened the hope
that he had harbour within the corner of his
heart of ever having a relationship with her.
He had hoped that a miracle would bring back
the goddess-like Shade to him, just to tell him
what his life was like before now, but she did
not show up.
Seeing, that she had left him for good, he
decided to live a normal life, if it was anything
near normal. Fortunately, for him, he had
written the password to most of his things in
his diary, and that gave him ample
opportunities to withdraw money from the
bank when he discovered that he was rich,
two million naira rich.
Jerry started teaching English in the school,
and nothing made him happier than to know
that he was good at teaching English. He was
enjoying every stay there; in fact, the only
thing he enjoys most is listening to other
teachers tell their experiences, especially the
wayward ones describing their evil deed
enthusiastically, putting comma to every of
their sentences and using the appropriate
adjectives to describe their waywardness.
After school, he would walk about the area to
see if there was anything to remind him of
who he was but nothing brought back the
memory, so he decided to remain in his
comfort zone: go to school, sleep, eat, and the
rest, enjoying his new and perfect life.
Later, he joined a church and was active there,
studying the bible as if it was the only thing in
the world.
Sometimes, he would do some background
research on his background, but he always
meets a dead end. Therefore, he decided to
let it go- everything- because from what
teachers at his school had been saying,
having a family can even be a bad thing.
Nothing was as good as living alone; you get
the chance to enjoy your life. His laptop was
very useful as he watched many films on it.
Although, he did not know how he got the
films on it but after the third month of trying to
remember anything that can help him in quest
for knowledge of who he was, he decided that
he had to let go and enjoy every bit of his life.
People in the house do not really know him
and he loves it that way.
And it was it was with this mind-set he got
out of his room on the night of October 30,
around 12.30 a.m. The night was dry as
usual, PHCN had refused to restore the light of
the environment for four days and all his
gadget had died from his over working them-
he had used his phone to play game after his
laptop went off. Even the sky had been dry
ever since he woke up in July. There had
been no record of rain anywhere in Lagos,
Ibadan, Ogun state and Osun state, despite the
torrents of rain in the other part of Nigeria.
Sitting on a chair, in the dark night, was cool
and his heart lurched with happiness as he
imagined himself living in a dark world for
years. Generators from different homes were
already off, reducing the noise pollution at that
time. Jerry savoured the moment as he stared
at the outlines of trees, and watched the red
light of a mast blink continually from afar.
Suddenly, he heard someone or something
shuffling past him. He did not know what it
was but he knew subconsciously that he had
to enter his room, so he picked his chair, and
that one screeched in the dark as Jerry picked
it up hurriedly. He opened the door and
entered. As he turned to close the door,
someone pushed the door with so much force
that Jerry fell but he rose up almost
immediately, and the door closed gently. He
could make out the outline of someone
crouching around the door.
‘Who is there?’ He asked almost in a whisper
as against the noise he was expecting to
come from his mouth.
‘Shhh’, someone hissed angrily like a snake
whose tail was stepped on, that was ready to
spit out its venom on the person.
Several legs were shuffling outside his room.
Now, that made him wish his room were not
opened to the street as it was. The people
outside were beginning to raise their voices.
‘Catch him’.
‘‘He must not escape’
‘Today must be his last’
Jerry was transfixed on a spot and knew that
if he moves near that person there, he might
be injured. There was no light to show him
whom the person was but he was beginning
to understand from the people outside that
this person was thief and was going to receive
immediate death sentence, if caught.
Feeling terrible as he stood on his feet, Bidemi
shifted weight from one leg to another as he
wondered what can make this person become
a gentleman of the night especially when there
were many opportunities in this life, opened for
young and old, rich and poor, black and white.
Just when the people left his arena, and
decided to check other area, with the hope of
going back home satisfied that they have
caught the robber, PHCN restored the light.
The first thing to report this was the old fan,
which hummed on angrily like an injured cow.
The heat began scampering for hiding place
as the air began to draw coolness into the
room.
The person before Jerry was panting hard, and
was holding a gun so hard that if it were a
glass cup, it would have broken. He followed
the texture of the thief’s body and saw the
most surprising thing since the few days he
can remember. He swallowed hard, even his
Adam’s apple made a loud noise in the night,
making the thief look at him quickly, and he
was sure that he was seeing right; she is a
lady.
He began to shake his head gradually,
showing her that he was not going to be an
ally, and that he was not going to take side in
bad things, that he had to do the right thing.
‘I can’t let you stay here’, he said in a low
voice; yet loud enough for the thieves to hear.
Sensing he was going to do just what he said,
she rose suddenly. Jerry moved back with fear
and raised his hands to prepare himself.
Knowing subconsciously that thieves who are
threatened would do anything from maiming
their attacker to killing them; instead of doing
any of what Jerry thought she would, the lady
went on her kneel, joining her hands together.
‘Please, bros…’ she said, with a greasy voice,
and a rather high-pitched voice,’ don’t let
them catch me’.
‘But you are a lady, why did you join these
people… ehn’
‘It’s a long story. Please spare me and I
promise you will not regret it. Some days, I
will come back to help you’.
Help him?
He felt sad for her, a young lady of not more
than twenty-if his calculation was right-
joining armed robbers.
‘You can’t help me… I’m the one that can
help you and what I want of you and from you
is that you stop stealing’.
Almost immediately, she raised her hands in
the I-surrender position and cried out like one
that had been shown a greater wisdom. Her
mask was still on her face, making her look
like a robot.
‘I will not steal again’.
Jerry’s eyes went to the wall and knew that he
had to do something for her, and the first
thing was to put off the light, and the next was
to shelter her.
‘Alright, give me your gun till tomorrow’, he
commanded as he went to lock the door from
behind.
The lady looked at the gun and looked at him,
then shrugged. She brought her hands
forward, and looked at Jerry as if he has been
forewarned. When she handed the gun to
Jerry, he bursted into a terrible laughter that
jolted the lady, who almost ran to him to cover
his mouth.
‘You do not mean you are using a toy gun’,
he smiled.
She almost blushed as she nodded her head
slightly.
He turned the gun in his hand, and for a
fragment of seconds, he wished the gun were
real. So that he would use it to shoot himself
later in the day to end his trouble.
‘Well, you have to wait till tomorrow. So, sleep
here’ he said, pointing to his bed.
‘No… Don’t worry; I’ll sleep here on the floor’.
‘No…No. Do come and sleep here’.
She agreed and lay on the bed after putting off
her shoes, but instead of sleeping, she just sat
at the farthest corner of the bed holding herself
tightly.
Jerry went to the switch and put off the bulb,
plunging the room into utmost darkness, the
only light that was reflecting in the room was
that of the lights coming from the bulb outside
shining through the curtain. Not knowing how
he would do it, he remembered that he had
not charge his gadgets. So, moving about in
the night he went to charge them, and thinking
everything was going on smoothly he decided
to lie down, to sleep.
Suddenly, the noise of the searchers came
again and this time it came to his door. And
they knocked.