Revenge - A short story

She let the brown sugar ants dance around her arm and the pesky flies, drone around her ankle. It wasn't because she didn't care, their movements just reminded her of her very own existence. Her eyes were fixed on nothing, but she was staring, staring right into her soul. She heard the squeaky swing of the oil-thirsty door and forced her head up. The doctor took the empty seat beside her. His face was without emotion, she couldn't tell if it was good or bad news. She felt a lump in her throat, she reached towards it as if to melt it away.

"She won't walk again" He said in his clinical voice.

She analysed his voice. It was white, colour white. She looked into his eyes, they were black and distant. She took in the nauseous smell of antiseptic surrounding his entire being. Then she laughed. She threw her head back and let out a loud howl, it sounded like something from the belly of a werewolf. She laughed till she cried, then she started crying. Loud heavy sobs, then child-like whimpers.

Dumbfounded, he held her hand. He asked her if she wanted to see her, she said No.

As a trained nurse, the doctor had only confirmed what she feared. She lifted herself off the chair, disturbing the party of flies, and she walked towards her car. She walked with a limp and her frame appeared lopsided.

The driver as usual, had left the car. She stood and waited patiently for him to return. He did.

"Where are we going mah?" the driver asked
"Where did we come from?" She asked

Sitting in the backseat, she cried silently. She let the tears flow freely, not bothering to wipe them. They flowed to her nostrils, mixed with catarrh and made their way to her chin; like a river without boundaries. She cried for Toni. Toni, her baby.Toni, her only child. She cried for the 7 other children she had lost before her womb said goodbye. She cried for their lives that were reduced to blood . She cried for her family. She cried for her husband, because he was about to die.

Bimpe met Femi at her graduation party hosted for her by her elite parents. He was too old for her, she knew it. She was 23, he was 43. A typical money-bag politician; not the type with pot-belly and flabby muscles though. No, he was physically fit. She never fell in love with him, she never liked him. "He would grow on you", they said. He never did. She played the role of a perfect wife, hosting premium functions and fund-raising events but all was not picture perfect. In the night, he beat her too sleep. In the morning, he woke her with punches. Half of her dentition wasn't hers.He just had to be the Nigerian Rocky Balboa.

She lost 3 pregnancies before Toni and 4 after her. She didn't think he'd ever come after Toni, he treated he like an angel. She was satisfied if this meant that she was the only punching bag in the family. Then Toni stayed out late one night, 30 minutes after her curfew. He locked her in the room and beat Toni to a pulp. She screamed all night long to block out Toni's screams. The beatings continued after then.

He never even had the decency to take them to the elite hospitals on the Island. No, he had his reputation to protect. He hired the services of a medium-scale hospital in the slums of Oshodi, Lagos. They were regular patients there.

"Welcome mah" the MaiGuard greeted
She was home.
"Where Toni mah?" He inquired
She was mute.

She entered the house and ran to her bedroom. She flung herself at her bed and cried once more. It would be her last tears. She made a few phone calls, then settled back again. This time, she was smiling.

She heard the thick thud of the mahogany entrance door. He was back. They should be here by now. She tip-toed down the spiral staircase and caught a glimpse of him as he entered the toilet. He never used public toilets, even the one in his office, so the toilet was always his first point of call. She heard a loud scream, then silence. She saw them walk out.

"Good evening mah" they greeted. Two of them.
"Have you done it?" she asked
They responsed with a swift sweeping motion across their neck, she responded with a thick brown manilla envelope .
"Are you ready?" they asked
She stretched out her arm to them, the taller of them cut her in two swift strokes, carefully missing her vein.

She walked them to the door and waved to them. The guard open the gate. Then she started wailing and screaming. The guard rushed towards her, seeing her bleeding arm, he panicked.

"Madam, wetin happen?" he asked
"Those two men. They attacked Oga and they did this to me. Call the police." She replied
"Which two man. The one wey comot for here now now?"
"Yes. Call the police."

He looked at her in disbelieve, rubbing his eyes as if to clear them. Did he just see his madam wave to Oga's killers? He rubbed his eyes again, then ran off to call the police.

P.S: I wrote this a while back, thanks to google reader for getting it back. You like?

P.P.S : I was ill on sunday, kept throwing up everything I ate. I'm fine now (don't panic). :)

Preparing to go back to school and hating it. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone!