TUNNEL VISION

Source

The nurse told me it's Sunday today Ok? What difference does it make? Days are all the same.

They say money can't buy life but it can give you a more beautiful transition, plus pain is beauty right?

From the penthouse hospital I observed the life many floors below on the streets, you get to understand life better when you're outside it.
From my window I can see the traffic, static vehicles, pedestrians, people on bikes, they are all just trying to keep moving.

I'm not entirely sad it could have been worse, not necessarily my condition but the situation around me, imagine dying in a shared room, watching others pass on until it's my turn, poor electricity, the air condition not functioning properly or some other stuff.
I lived a good life, it might have been short but it was great, my wife and kids would lack nothing; ok, they might lack a father but they will understand that it was a sacrifice. The doctors haven't said I'll die yet but what's there to live for?

I own half this street and the next, who would have thought a son of Jacobee could do that? I own the largest airline in this country, my company produces half of the steel we use in this country. Fuck! I moved this country forward, this country rode on my back to revolution.
And I did it all before I was even 40! A son of Jacobee did all this, I have engraved our name in gold! No man or woman born into a Jacobee home would ever have to suffer anymore, i am the sacrifice Jacobee paid to be here. I don't regret a thing, let me die!

From a very young age I had realized it was money that runs the world, son of a poor cocoa farmer with nothing to his name, papa didn't even own a farm; he was a farmer for-hire, parambulating the environs hoping someone needs a helping hand. Luckily, things were easy in the early days and someone always needed a hand, mama never did much she stayed at home mostly looking after the five kids, she engaged in petty trading every now and then whenever there was capital to start a business and it lasted till we got hungry enough to feed off her goods.

Things moved at that pace until I was about four years old, papa was dragged home one day by almost half of our village then we were carried along to the market square, there papa was accused of stealing cocoa from his employer- an accusation which he denied but no one was listening to his version, he was stripped naked and dragged round the village with his wife and five kids including myself following closely, when we were done with our walk of shame a son of his employer who was particularly hot-tempered threw a huge cocoa pod at Papa, the pod landed on his forehead and created an injury which left an everlasting scar. I was very young then and could have easily forgotten but the stigma and scar remained and haunted us almost all my early life, till today I don't know if papa actually stole the cocoa but I know that man would have done anything for his family.

Life can only get worse for you and your family when you were publicly disgraced at the market square and have a scar to prove it and it did get worse. Papa left town six months later to work in the neigbouring villages since he was blacklisted in ours, we later found out he had left to commit sucide so we wouldn't be associated with his face. The name Jacobee was in mud and I made it my life mission to wipe it sparkling clean once again.

I become a man from then, I and my elder brother were shipped off to whatever wanted us, from seven till I was fourteen I toured the world, I was everywhere; the dirtiest and poorest slums, rich cities and palaces and the wide stretches in-between. I don't know they saw in a wide-eyed hungry boy but they loved me and I never lacked a master.

I was about 15 when I met Bamako the man that would change my life forever, I was serving Kunbi then but he had to leave the country for good so he arranged for me to meet one of his associates who turned out to be Bamako. Bamako was nice and took me as a son, I still believe he was one of the world's richest men. Unlike many of his friends Bamako maintained a low profile and earned the nickname 'Shadow' from his inner circle, he had large holdings in almost every major company on our continent all under different aliases, the castle he called home sat alone in a village he had built, complete with all the amenities one would find in a little town. Killing him broke my heart, his murder stings me till today. In my delusional state I wonder if I would be able to face him when I crossed over to the other side, he loved me like a son and taught me everything I know.

Bamako was getting bigger than the source of his wealth, the Huobi fratenity and they wanted him down. Who else could get to him than his supposed son, they offered me the world, Bamako was my reference point of success and the promise to make me bigger than he ever was got to me but there was a price; My Soul My Life. I could have the world and everything in it but would not live beyond 45. There was a blood oath and I didn't hesitate, Bamako knew all along and didn't fight me.

And thus began my race against Time, I erected massive structures, built palaces in no time, I needed my children at a reasonable age before my time came so I married early. I dabbled with politics just so I'd get in the news and the name Jacobee would be heard, my village reached out to me - Fuck them! I built a giant stature of Papa in the village square, built schools and hospitals in his name just so they would know.

Mama was finally doing good, I even forgot she had a smile, even the wrinkles on her face straightened out. Trust mothers she got the truth out of me, she cried that night for hours and didn't speak to me for a week.

I can't categorically say I regret the choices I made because I still believe a short fulfilled life is better than a long fruitless life but I don't feel fulfilled yet. My eldest child Pappu turns 16 next week and I'd love to see the girl he falls in love with, Jacobee III wants to be a doctor and I wish I could see my boy in his white suits.
Deals with the devil aren't negotiated he gives the terms and you just agree or maybe I was just too desperate to negotiate a better deal. I don't regret it but I just wish I could see my children grow older, I also wish I could grow old with my beautiful wife on that large farm I bought at Eastside, on the bright side my children will live comfortably for the rest of their lines, they will live in their father's house with their mother. The reputation their father leave behind will open doors for them, they won't regret being Jacobee.

I watch my stories on the news, some call it cancer, others say my liver failed me, others argue it's my kidney, one knockhead anchorman was adamant it was my heart that was failing me, they didn't know the devil was back to get what was promised years back.

I turned 45 three weeks ago, it could happen any moment from now.