CHRONICLES OF CHUKS 2

andikan1 (59)in STEEM NIGERIA • 4 years ago

When I turned on the TV that morning, I switched to Channels, morning news, and I was greeted by reactions of the fatal accident that took place the day before. ‘So Adeyemi is truly gone,’ I cogitated.

‘Good riddance,’ my bad side interposed, ‘When he and Joe scared shit outta you back in secondary school, did they pity you, did they caution themselves? Those where your formative days, and they soiled it all in fear. They took your self-esteem – what you stand for, what you are – and left you out to dry. Think back, Chuks, the days you’d set out for school feeling small, smaller than an atom. The ways they embarrassed you in class, when they’d measure your height against that of the wastebin by the blackboard, the days they cornered you at the fence and drew lots deciding if they’d beat you up or not. They stole something from you, and now they must pay back.’

I was static. I never knew I still harboured so much anger. I mean, those were the old days, and they call them old for a reason. Yes, those were dark days indeed, but they made me grow nonetheless, they taught me things about the world.
I picked up my phone and dialled Uziel, my best friend since UniLag. I had not called him all that while. I guess I was consumed by all that had been happening the previous hours.
“Uzee, my guy.”

“Chuks baba. Am I guilty, my Lord?”
“Not guilty until proven innocent,” I cracked. It was our intro, “So how your side now?”
“…But, Chuks baba, no tell me say you forget say today na my day o.”

“Shit-shit-shit! Guy, I swear I no forget, there’s just been a lot on my mind, man. Happy birthday, bro. See, make I show your side, this is not a phone conversation.”

I hopped to Uziel’s, and as usual it was a full house, always a full house on his birthdays. I stole him for a second.
“Bro, there’s a lot happening to me, man. Weird shit has been happening to me. You know Malam Habdul just by the road now?”

“Yes now, wey dey always call you "my short man", mehn, what happened to him was just unreal, sad.”
“Yea… but what I didn’t tell you was that I bought bread from him the morning before, and as usual he was calling me "my short man", and I didn’t sha like it.”

“Chuks, mehn, you’re used to that crap now, all that time for UniLag… han han… na stale gist now.”
“Yea, but see, he died the day after! Did you hear of one of those guys wey I yarn you about for my secondary school now, that Adeyemi guy, Channels news now?”

“Yea-yea-yea. Wait o… for TV now! Adeyemi Oluwa-something. Na him be that? Swear! mehn… that shit was gha-a-a-astly.”

“Yea, damn right it was. But... I was there too, right where it happened. I saw everything, man.”
“Wait-wait-wait, hold on a sec… you where there, like there there, doing what?”

“Long story, man. Crazy long story. I just think all these things are happening to me for a reason. You sef reason am now; I was greeted by the first death, Malam Habdul’s, and then I kind of witnessed the second death, Adeyemi’s. It’s no coincidence now, Professor Emem Alexandra always said “nothing happens by accident”. Criminology class, you remember now?”

“Chuks, guy, you need to calm down, hold your horses. You’re becoming hysterical, man. Obviously you’ve been through a lot, just go lie down, I go show your side in the evening then we go go booze. Today na my day oo, no dulling.”
I had never missed any of Uziel’s birthday parties since I got to know him, but that day was different.

I truly needed to rest. Uziel didn’t believe me, how could he when I came on like that. In fact, if he didn’t know me better he’d have thought I was running mad, but he did know me better. We rocked Law School together, I graduated with a second class upper and he a first class, but my heart wasn’t in law. I wasn’t even sure I aced the interview at Black friars LLP. Uziel worked with the Ministry of Justice, he always wanted to become a judge ever since 100-level. Although dad always pestered me about taking on the family business full time, that it was my heritage and all that, it didn’t sit right with me, being employed by my father. To me, what was the rush; it was only a few months since Law School.

I was resting on my bed as Uziel advised and I thought, ‘Maybe he’s right, maybe I’m just being hysterical. Yea, an overestimation of self-significance. If not, why should I think that all these deaths occurred just so I can bear witness? It could just be that I was in the wrong place at the right time. After all, people witness cataclysmic events all the time in close succession. So why should mine be any different? Don’t ruin your Saturday, just rest.’ But it wasn’t that simple, there was something sacrosanct about these events. I could feel it.

I woke up later that evening and I wasn’t fully recovered, so I called Uziel and cancelled beer night plans. I turned on the TV and was scrambling with the channels when I came upon more reactions from Adeyemi’s fatality. The reporter said a correspondent was with family and friends of the deceased and they offered their condolences. I staggered and fell on my bed when I saw who was on the other side of the broadcast. Joe, Soogun, Malcolm, amid other sympathizers. The incident must have brought them together.

I grew really scared. I tried to catch my breath. I really needed to talk to someone. ‘But who, Mum? No, she wouldn’t understand, she’d tell me to come home for some time. It’s appealing, but I won’t call mum, I wouldn’t want to feed her with things she needn’t hear.’ I racked my brain and decided to call Mbagwu, a girl that lived in the same block as mine. She’s was into this sort of thing, “I have a knack for placing events, I write a lot, so…” she used to say.

I could have called her earlier, but we weren’t really on talking terms. I once thought she was crazy when she wouldn’t quit jabbering about characters and how real they were and how they existed as tiny voices in her head and so on, but at that moment she was the only one crazy enough to believe me. I untangled my phone from my jeans pocket and dialled her.